I was in Tulsa through the weekend and yesterday for meetings. I work in a business that requires travel all over the nation, and I was blown away at the kindness of people in Tulsa. I've never seen anything like it. It was start to finish: airport, hotel, restaurants, business interaction, running interaction, and even just getting gasoline ($2.40 a gallon?!?!). Really cool out and back trail on a river for my long run yesterday- really enjoyable place. I'm an East Coast native, and regret all the times that I made fun of Oklahoma. I suppose I had to experience it to appreciate it. Hats off, Okies.
Anyone else with similar experiences in underhyped areas in the nation?
Oklahoma: kindest people in the nation?
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New York. FABulous Broadway shows and dirt cheap catburgers!
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Spent time in San Angelo, TX in the Military. I had much the same experience. When I got back home to California, my first thought was, "why is everyone in such a hurry"?
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Nah, my dude you haven't seen the real Oklahomans yet..
You've only seen the ones that still have hope. -
I agree on Tulsa(if you think so because you have met me), but disagree otherwise. The people here are not great to me and it is impossible to find a soulmate or be respected. My cousin Buck wanted me to move with him to Seattle a few years back but I bailed out. I'm reconsidering now.
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They grow there own trees, don't they? wrote:
I agree on Tulsa(if you think so because you have met me), but disagree otherwise. The people here are not great to me and it is impossible to find a soulmate or be respected. My cousin Buck wanted me to move with him to Seattle a few years back but I bailed out. I'm reconsidering now.
You should move Tennessee. Have you ever been to the Smokey mountains or DollyWood? -
I was born in Oklahoma. Home of Will Rogers. Yeah, most people will tell you I'm a kind and nice guy. I'm even nice to lefty liberals. They need extra special attention because they are so confused.
S.O.W.P. -
Try being a person of color or a non heterosexual in Oklahoma and you'll find out real fast how kind people are there. Answer: not very.
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I spent three months living out of my car in Southern Utah a few years back (rock climbing and running) and found the locals extremely nice and helpful almost without exception. Coming from the "too cool for school" West Coast it is very marked.
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What do you mean by ‘person of color?’ Color denotes specific wavelength properties of a substance. Are you saying that there are people without color? Please educate me on the basic science behind the phrase. I’m fascinated to find out more about these people without color - are you referring to a supernatural phenomenon?
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YMMV wrote:
I spent three months living out of my car in Southern Utah a few years back (rock climbing and running) and found the locals extremely nice and helpful almost without exception. Coming from the "too cool for school" West Coast it is very marked.
I should add that I looked like a long-haired hippy and most of the people were Mormon. -
Tulsa and Norman are a bit of outliers as far as Oklahoma is concerned. Agree Tulsa people are generally very nice and interesting within the city, lots of culture and big on cycling and some running. That quickly fades as you get out into the suburbs though. Overall a much more interesting state than people likely give it credit for but still very backwards in many respects. Seems to be slowly shiftinf though with more common sense liquor laws and hell they even voted to legalize weed.
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Underfunded public schools must resort to four-day weeks (https://newsok.com/article/5545768/map-where-schools-have-four-day-weeks?) , and where teachers have to panhandle to get classroom supplies (https://kfor.com/2017/07/25/donations-pour-in-after-oklahoma-teacher-turns-to-panhandling-for-school-supplies/)
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One of the 10 states with the highest hunger rates (http://www.bread.org/news/new-analysis-reveals-10-hungriest-states-us).
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Highest incarceration rate in the US (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_incarceration_and_correctional_supervision_rate), driven by a high rate of private prisons (https://www.tulsaworld.com/homepagelatest/why-does-oklahoma-need-billion-more-for-corrections-it-s/article_2df2fe5d-33f0-5df9-a80b-a165e5b7a72a.html)
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Leads the country in rates of special education students being expelled from schools (https://newsok.com/article/5441846/oklahoma-watch-schools-discipline-special-ed-students-at-higher-rates-records-show?)
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I guess they're good at smiling at visitors, but that doesn't make them nice. -
They grow there own trees, don't they? wrote:
I agree on Tulsa(if you think so because you have met me), but disagree otherwise. The people here are not great to me and it is impossible to find a soulmate or be respected. My cousin Buck wanted me to move with him to Seattle a few years back but I bailed out. I'm reconsidering now.
Why'd you change your name, BB? -
What does this have to do with the general population of Oklahoma being nice? Throw some articles in that response, please.
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CoachB wrote:
Spent time in San Angelo, TX in the Military. I had much the same experience. When I got back home to California, my first thought was, "why is everyone in such a hurry"?
Wait, there are places that make California seem fast? I'm from NY and every time I'm in LA I can barely handle the slow pace of everything. People waiting for the crossing signal rather than jaywalking? Lines at coffee shops taking for-freaking-ever! -
Dromano19 wrote:
What does this have to do with the general population of Oklahoma being nice? Throw some articles in that response, please.
Well, policies and political actions are determined by the populace. So, I think article poster was perhaps showing a two faced side of Oklahoma? Nice when they say hello to some people, but maybe not so nice to all of their citzens. -
ish wrote:
Try being a person of color or a non heterosexual in Oklahoma and you'll find out real fast how kind people are there. Answer: not very.
I'm openly gay and Puerto Rican. Perhaps it's just you? -
I've never been blown away by people in OK when visiting on business. But my one trip to TN was memorable for super nice, super cute TSA agents at the airport.
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Ya they are nice......until they find out you believe in evolution and you believe humans are part of the animal kingdom. Then they murder you with a gun.
