Wednesday, March 16, 2011

The Great Debate

If you are one of those opportunistic people who follow me on twitter, you may already know of the In-Town versus Out-Of-Town arguments that take place on an extremely frequent basis.

It's never anything new. The In-Towners discuss the fast-paced life in NY, where kosher food and a mincha minyan are available on every corner. The Out-Of-Towners counter with their extreme politeness.

Personally, I don't get it. I'd rather have a rude guy throw a kosher hot dog at me than a really nice man inform me- in the most polite manner possible- that I'll have to go hungry.

Now before I go making the arguments for those really, really nice people in Hicksville, let me clarify something. I love New York. I've lived here my whole life, and can't imagine life elsewhere. That being said, I have to point out a drawback to life in the greatest city in the world.

One morning, when packing my lunch for the day, I realized that we didn't have any fruit in the house. Making a mental note to buy some in the local grocery store that night, I headed out to work.

As I've mentioned before, I usually spend my lunch break going walking through the area near my office (midtown manhattan). I walked into the local Daune Reade, picked out a drink, and headed the the cashier to pay. On my way, my eye fell on a colorful display of fruit.

"How expensive can it be?" I asked myself as I picked one up and headed to the checkout. The cashier smiled and welcomed me to the store. "how much are these," I inquired, pointing at the apple.
Her smile froze. "That's 99 cents."

My eyes popped out of my head, my mouth dropped open, and my vocal cords shut down. My lack of words didn't deter the woman from understanding my reaction. I was shocked. And horrified.
Her response? "You must not be from New York."

I am. And I am a cheapskate. Can those two go together? If not, maybe I should be on the next plane to Yehupitsville.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

LoL

tembow said...

No joke-
Today I went into a store in Manhattan and asked how much an apple is.

The answer...
$1.50

I said... No way!

Anonymous said...

"Personally, I don't get it. I'd rather have a rude guy throw a kosher hot dog at me than a really nice man inform me- in the most polite manner possible- that I'll have to go hungry." - I know that this was not the real point of this post but I hope youare joking in this quote. If you were on an out of town date with a polite man, I'm sure you could go to the local supermarket and purchase a number of kosher items. You would not go hungry and you would (potentially) have a lovely date.

Troi said...

Serves you right for trying to buy an apple in Duane Reade!

of course they mark it up there - because those desperate for fiber will pay anything, even for the most bruised Golden Delicious in DR.

Comparing NYC fruit to OT prices isn't exactly fair. The outer boroughs, LI, NJ, and upstate NY has reasonable fruit.

That's why I bring EVERYTHING from home to my job in the city.

Michaltastik said...

Also, things are more reasonably priced in the boroughs, as opposed to Manhattan.

Anonymous said...

I'd also rather get a kosher hot dog thrown at me than go hungry. :-D

No kidding. I've been OOT where lunch had to be potato chips and Naked Juice, because the only store nearby with anything remotely kosher was Starbucks. Of course they were very polite and came out from behind the counter to help me search for those elusive kosher symbols, but ultimately, I had a lousy lunch.

Single on the Scene said...

Being an Out of Towner-I havta disagree=I would NEVER rather have a rude guy throw a Kosher hotdog in my face. I much rather the polite guy. You see, in the long run, the polite guy will go out of his way to find you food, where as the rude NY guy will not even ask if you LIKE hotdogs-throw it in your face and assume you're happy with it. You may starve with a NY guy, but a polite guy will ask if you're ok.

Single on the Scene said...

As an Out-of-Towner, I havta disagree with you. I'd NEVER take a rude guy throw a hot dog at me, over a polite mannered guy. A polite guy will go OUT OF HIS WAY to find you decent food. Whereas a rude NY guy will just throw the hotdog, assume you actually LIKE/EAT hotdogs and not care if you eat it or not. The polite guy will actually ASK what you wanna eat and make sure you're ok.

Anonymous said...

I don't get it. Weren't you shocked as well by the price of the drink at Duane Reade that you went in to the store to buy?