Small town people hate big cities generally. Why?

Question

I live in rural Kentucky (hillbilly country, lol) but make the trek to Louisville between 10-25 times a month for school, socializing, and what have you. I used to live in Louisville, but financial circumstances caused me to move back in with my parents in the country.

I work at a Wal-Mart in my rural town. Whenever there's a product we don't have, I often have to recommend that people have to drive to the next town up (we have 10,000, the next town has 30,000 population.) People go ballistic because they have to drive only TEN MILES to this next town because they hate the "big city attitude" and "big city traffic."

I think to myself, "have you ever been to Louisville, much less Atlanta or Houston?" I've even said that out loud to a couple of customers!

Why do you suppose small towners can't stand big (or, "big") cities? Thanks!

Answer 1

I guess because they are used to life at their own pace, when you live in a big city it's all rush rush rush and it's organized chaos. I have live in both and I actually like what both has to offer. However you will never find both in one area (I live in Damascus, MD and we are 30mins from D.C and 45mins from Baltimore and Damascus is country but it's very peaceful and pretty I love living here, I like that the closer you get to the city, the more "Suburbs" you have.

Answer 2

I lived in Louisville for 17 years, up until 5 years ago, and then I moved to a rural town. I go back to see friends every few months, but the traffic is soo different, it's almost overwhelming, I'm not used to so many people either. The clerks in the store in Louisville are definitely friendlier, when you live in a city there are strangers everywhere so it's easy to learn to be friendly to strangers, in a small town when you see the same 2000 people over and over again I guess a stranger stands out. Both places have their good and bad points. In Louisville I can't leave my packages in my car with my windows rolled down, I can in a small town. Down here I don't have to worry about someone breaking into my apartment or stealing my car. I could keep my door unlocked for two months and no one would break in. Of course there's no art galleries or coffee houses, there's few stores and restaurants. But I can take a walk without worrying about getting mugged.

Answer 3

The attitude of many find that big city people will not talk or help the single individual. I lived in and around LA, San Diego and Seattle. I hated the traffic but over all most of the people were nice. I now live in a small community in Missouri and I wouldn't move back to the city and traffic for nothing. Visit once a year is fine.

Answer 4

I can't stand big cities mostly because of the people, the way they drive, park, and push their carts full force toward you in an aisle. I lived in Stamping Ground (pretty close to Lexington) for a while and a lot of times had a huge problem when I would go into Lexington. People didn't have respect, they would intentionally park in the front of a store over the line so that you wouldn't park next to their precious vehicle. They would tailgate real bad, and a lot of them had a holier than than art attitude that just made me want to smack them. You don't find this kind of attitude often in small towns. In fact my husband lived in Stamping Ground before Toyota was built. His father told him one day son they will catch up to us, that's how quiet it use to be. Then toyota was built, lots of people moved from Louisville to Georgetown and this you started seeing subdivisions, and more and more traffic, and more attitude. There is your prime example of the problem this caused, in fact, I worked at Walmart in Georgetown and we often had people come in and talk about how they would travel from Lexington to Georgetown because people were nicer, then was when Georgetown was smaller several years ago. The reason for that was because we didn't have people like them. People have a tendency to make their area bad it doesn't just happen. In large cities crime rate is higher, and your lucky if you have a yard because houses are so close together. No thank you, I would rather keep my country atmosphere.

Answer 5

I live in a rural small town but don't notice that attitude much around here. I have a theory. We aren't that close to any major cities (closest one is 3ish hours away). A bunch of people travel all over from this area to major cities, (new york, chicago, atlanta, etc) just on whims without any thought, as do I. I also travel outside the country without fear. But I have family in OH outside of a major city and they freak out at the thought of having to go into it. Like you said, if their local wal-mart don't have it, they will call me to see if I can find it and ship it to them. They are 10 minutes from 2 major cities, get in there and shop people! I wonder if it is just people who live nearby these cities that act like this?

Answer 6

That's a really stupid generalization.

I'm from a small town, and I just recently visited New York City for a few days. I loved it, and actually I am seriously considering moving there or somewhere like it once I graduate. In fact, most of the people I grew up with have moved away to big cities. More opportunites and more excitement. So you see, your generalization holds no water whatsoever, thanks.

Answer 7

Haha, i live in a small town, i love big cities. Only thing I don't like about big cities is all the noise at night.. ;)

Answer 8

From a country girl to one that lives in the city now, it's the crowds, dirt, noise, heat, inconvenience of parking, walking, lets see..did I leave anything out?
Some consider it a nice place to visit, but wouldn't want to live there....

Answer 9

Coming from a small town I would have to say that it is too much hustle and bustle for me. I like the laid back life, being a laid back person.

Answer 10

i like visits to cities but i would'nt want to live there y'know?
I feel dissorientated in the bigger cities, and enjoy the fact that everyone knows me here.