Difference within state culture
I have recently returned to Norway from a nice trip to Kentucky. In the meantime while I am working on a seperate, but longer post, I thought I'd share one of my experiences which generally speaking sums up a common stereotype between Newark and Kentucky.
As a Kentuckian, I admittedly am a bit biased and take pride in being from a place that is generally known as very friendly and hospitable.
The difference in Newark and Kentucky customer service (true story):
Newark Welcome Center
The employee is wearing earbuds and chewing gum sitting behind her desk. I walk up to the desk and ask for help and whether she can help me get in touch with a local hotel so my family and myself can stay the night. After waiting for a 5 hour layover, we were told our flight was going to be 3.5 hours late. We decided to rebook the flight for the next day and find a hotel. The employee behind the desk didn't make eye contact with me and just pointed to a phone about 30 feet away and said rudely, "Phone's over there" while going about her business.
Cincinatti/Northern Kentucky Baggage Claim
The next day we were told to come to baggage claim once we arrived at our next destination so we could pick up our bags which we were also told would have arrived with the very delayed flight we chose not to take. Well our luggage wasn't there. The lady behind the desk looked at my daughter and went on, "Oh my goodness she is like a little doll! I love your little sticker that says PEEP! You're just as cute as a little marshmallow! I love kids! Okay, well they didn't send your baggage. I can send them a request for you. It's like this, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. I can send this request to Newark, but I can't promise how fast it'll get here." So on and so forth.
I just thought this was a funny difference between the two places. Of course you can't rely on stereotypes to base your judgement from place to place, but it's just a bit humorous to look back on this situation as it does shine light on some state stereotypes whether we like them or not. :-)
As a Kentuckian, I admittedly am a bit biased and take pride in being from a place that is generally known as very friendly and hospitable.
The difference in Newark and Kentucky customer service (true story):
Newark Welcome Center
The employee is wearing earbuds and chewing gum sitting behind her desk. I walk up to the desk and ask for help and whether she can help me get in touch with a local hotel so my family and myself can stay the night. After waiting for a 5 hour layover, we were told our flight was going to be 3.5 hours late. We decided to rebook the flight for the next day and find a hotel. The employee behind the desk didn't make eye contact with me and just pointed to a phone about 30 feet away and said rudely, "Phone's over there" while going about her business.
Cincinatti/Northern Kentucky Baggage Claim
The next day we were told to come to baggage claim once we arrived at our next destination so we could pick up our bags which we were also told would have arrived with the very delayed flight we chose not to take. Well our luggage wasn't there. The lady behind the desk looked at my daughter and went on, "Oh my goodness she is like a little doll! I love your little sticker that says PEEP! You're just as cute as a little marshmallow! I love kids! Okay, well they didn't send your baggage. I can send them a request for you. It's like this, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. I can send this request to Newark, but I can't promise how fast it'll get here." So on and so forth.
I just thought this was a funny difference between the two places. Of course you can't rely on stereotypes to base your judgement from place to place, but it's just a bit humorous to look back on this situation as it does shine light on some state stereotypes whether we like them or not. :-)
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