New Jersey is surrounded by the rudest people in the country (Opinion)

If you’re a resident of New Jersey and you travel, most people’s perception is that we hear in New Jersey are the rudest people in the country.

We can understand how that might be the perception and while there may be some signs that this could be a reality, the state bird here in New Jersey is the middle finger, have no fear we are not the rudest people in the country.

The rudest people in the country are those from our neighbors in Philadelphia and those in New York City who came in third in a survey conducted recently by Preply.

Preply surveyed residents of 30 major metropolitan areas throughout the country and the results of the residents of each these areas resulted in determining the rudest areas of this country.

There were key findings that Preply found, something we knew already but here are the findings:

The rudest areas in the country

1. Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love is not so brotherly

2. Memphis, Tennessee: there is a reason Memphis is home to the blues. They are not fond of tourists and they have little time to be bothered.

3. New York City: enough said.

The most common behavior of rude people is the constant use of their cell phones during inappropriate times, refusing to allow people to merge in front of you in traffic and being noisy or loud in public or shared spaces.

Out of all the respondents surveyed, 76% agree that Americans have a tendency to act rude when traveling abroad and that includes unintentional behavior.

I think that the different rude behaviors could have been exacerbated by the stress that the pandemic caused. Day-to-day schedules and routines were tossed upside down and some people who were experiencing higher levels of stress to begin with became burdened with more stress as a result of the pandemic. Shorter fuses, lack of patience and general depression are all triggers for rude behavior.

So the next time you’re in Philly or make a trip to New York City put on your blinkers and be prepared to face a rude person. Give them a big Jersey smile.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 weekend host Big Joe Henry. Any opinions expressed are Big Joe’s own.