I live in Rochester, NY and I’m sure many of you have heard over the last couple of months that those of us in the Northeast (and some Great Lakes/Midwest states) have had an absolute brutal winter. You’ve either read about it in the news or have seen people bitch about it on social media. I’m here to testify that it’s true… it’s all true. And it sucks. It sucks more than wearing sandpaper underwear.
Facts are facts, Rochester suffered it’s coldest month ever (broke the record held in 1934) with a daily average temp of 12.4 degrees. Add to it, it was one of the snowiest as well. There have been mountains of snow covering the ground since early January. We had several days with below zero temps, some double digit below zero temps! I know a lot of folks with frozen or burst pipes and collapsed roofs. It’s been relentless. I just bought my house in the beginning of January, I’ve had to shovel every. single. day. Sometimes two or three times a day. However, I now have great biceps… but have tennis elbow.
Another pitfall of this not just annoying but dangerous weather is the a-holes on social media that live in warmer climates that say stupid things like “It’s 80 degrees here!” or “At the beach here!” or “Here’s the shoveling I’m doing!” with a picture of a sand pail and shovel on the beach. You all just get a big F-U! You’re not funny, you look like a douche. No really, you do. With a capital D.
And furthermore, and I say this with all due respect, you folks that live in warmer climes after running away from parts of the country with “inconvenient” weather… are wimps. People who were born and raised in warmer climes, it’s all you know and you probably have all of your family there so you are excused. But you’re still not excused from being a putz to people suffering bad weather.
Yes, I say that the people who left the Northeast for the South, just can’t hang. You aren’t strong enough. You feel entitled to not be bothered and have things your way. (before you get all pissy, realize this is a humor blog and sarcasm is my middle name) We up here in the Northeast may have incredibly crappy weather sometimes in the winter, but we are much heartier souls for it and we have a better sense of community. And usually a better sense of humor.

(This would be funny if it weren’t so true in the Northeast)
What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger. And what kills us, makes us dead… so there’s that. But seriously, the smaller stuff doesn’t bother us as much because we’ve had bigger fish to fry. I’ve lived in other areas of the US, in warmer climates that did have snow from time to time and the people were of absolutely no help to each other. Here, your car gets stuck, all of a sudden there are 3 different people coming out of their house to push or dig you out. Out there, people would look out their window just being annoyed at the sound of your wheels spinning.
Here, a neighbor knows you are older, or a single woman, or not so mobile, they will snow blow your driveway. Out there, they would come out and see you shoveling, snow blow their own driveway, get done and still see you shoveling and shoveling, and just close up the garage and go in.
I find it funny that many people in other parts of the country think people in the Northeast (especially New York City) are the grumpiest people in the world. I think they are some of the friendliest and most helpful. We may not all have the Michele Duggar vapid smile on our face, because actually our faces did “freeze like that” while grimacing during the winters. But it doesn’t make us less friendly. In my experience people are far more friendly and helpful in the Northeast.
Take 9/11 in New York. I have never seen strangers help strangers in such ways for months and months afterward. People feeding rescue workers for free, doctors working for free, people fixing widows homes for free. Can you imagine that happening in L.A. or Florida? They might write out a check to the Red Cross, but it’s unlikely many would want to get their hands dirty. Sorry, just my own experience.
We may have lots of cold and snow, but I’ll take the character of the people here over anywhere else. Gives us that at least, while you’re gloating. I don’t recall anyone from the Northeast writing stuff on Facebook like “Hey, I still have my house and no wind here!” on someone’s page who just lived through a tornado in Kansas. I don’t see anyone in the Northeast posting stuff about “We have plenty of water here!” with a picture of Lake Ontario to a friend in California who is suffering a drought.
It’s the I, Me, Mine mentality. “I got mine, I can’t be bothered” Yea, that’s right, I said it. You can have your warm weather, umbrella drinks, and suntans. I’ll keep my pale cancer-free skin, my layer of blubber, and my sense of caring and community. And even though you act like a schmuck, I’d still shovel your driveway… ‘cuz that’s the way I was raised. So there. :-)p
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