19 Shocking Things about New Yorkers

Last Updated on July 28, 2019 by Christine Kaaloa

New Yorker Bible
14 Commandments of the New Yorker Bible:  You know you’re a New Yorker when…

New York City.  The Big Apple. Manhattan.

Let’s face it, there are many shocking things about New Yorkers. The Manhattan lifestyle is a unique beast. New Yorkers are busy, time-calculating, straight-forward and don’t show remorse expressing how they feel, even if it’s blunt honesty. Hey, it’s business an we’ve all got places we need to be.  Nothing personal.

The city and its residents are intimidating but also surprisingly soft-hearted when you get to the core.  New Yorkers born and raised there are actually nicer than the transplants; and not all New Yorkers are angry or steel cold beasts, but there’s a silent community solidarity, as exampled during 9-11 when the entire city halted to mourn its loss.

The Big Apple is a pedestrian city, where residents commute by metro, bus, taxi and foot. Vulnerable to weather, other people and its zealous ambitions, makes New Yorkers survival based.

It’s a time-efficient city, where people walk quickly and you can get any service you want delivered to your door (just don’t forget to tip!).  It’s where the international food is as good as visiting its motherland country and food is cheap and good if you know where to go. It’s a metropolis full of stairs and ladders,where access to pieces of the sky and clouds are limited to those with penthouses, top level condos and offices. It’s where “the best of the best” come to get better.  It’s a city which never sleeps.

Many tourists love Manhattan for its endless possibilities, shopping, sightseeing and nightlife.

But could you live there?

As with all cities, there is a common lifestyle theme, which governs the New York City  mentality. New Yorkers have peculiar lifestyle quirks other cities the U.S. don’t have, which makes it badass, gladiator like. As long as you live in Manhattan, you’ll always be reaching for the next rung and surviving the jump.

19 Shocking Things about New Yorkers

You know you’re a New Yorker when…

1-  You find yourself fight for everything (…a place in line, your way at customer service, the subway, career opportunities…).

2-  You never walk around something if you can go through it.

3-  There is never enough time in the day to do all that you want, but still you try.

4-  “Sleeping in” on the weekends is nothing to congratulate yourself for or admit to. You’re always working on the next project and have many errands to take care of.  

5-  The world would be a better place without “indecisive or slow people” (or tourists that stop in the middle of the sidewalk!).

6-  Impossible does not exist (…and if it does, is either “hypothetical” or used as an example of how other cities run).

7-  The deadline is always “yesterday”. So make it happen. There are no excuses.

8-  Your life in the city is spent climbing stairs- literally and metaphorically.

9-  Each person has a closet Type A personality and it lives through “mental checklists”.

10-   You “engineer” your dreams and find ways to make them happen in reality vs. fly your dreams like kites...with “hope” strings.

11-  Juggling two to three career lives is so passe.

12-  Your motto is “Live to Work” (not vice-versa).

13-  You always look into the windows of other apartments, curious about its size.

14-   You can always recognize a tourist– they’re usually the ones smiling.

15.  Jaywalking is absolutely acceptable and you’ll always find yourself standing a foot -or ten- into the street when waiting on the corner for the light to change. It’s about getting that extra edge into your day; a way to slice time. Got your running shoes on? 

16 – As busy as you are, you’ll help give someone directions if they’re lost or will respond to help a stranger in an emergency.

17- You appreciate the Arts. Manhattan is big in Art and Fashion scene. There are approximately 1,500 art galleries and the city houses free concerts, opera and dance venues during the summer. Being New York is known for having world class art, you can get professional quality dance companies and artists playing at those free concerts.

18- You’re a bit of a food snob, even when you’re not. Given New York is a melting pot of the best in every culture, a simple burger at Mc Donalds won’t do if you have your secret hole-in-the-wall eatery or a favorite deli which prepares a pastrami sandwich just the way you like it.

19- Tipping is expected. Good service is not. You tip service people even if you don’t like them. And because you know if you don’t, you won’t get service when you need it.

Weigh in… You know when you’re a New Yorker when…? Would you want to live in this city?

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