Silly Hillbillies

Last night Wife and I went out for pizza with another couple. The husband attends Law School. As we ate, he told of the great cultural shock he experienced coming from a small Midwestern town to New York City. Soon after arriving to Manhattan, he and his wife went to Best Buy to buy a small television. As he checked out, he asked the cashier for black bags to hide his purchase. The cashier was a bit puzzled, and inquired where he must be taking this television: a bad part of Brooklyn? Harlem? No, he pointed to a tall building on the next block in Greenwich Village. After enjoying a good belly-laugh, the cashier told him he would be fine. This guy then made wife walk directly behind the television, walking backwards, to guard against a mugger running up behind him as carried the television the half-block home. He explained that coming from his little town, all he really knew about NYC he learned from movies – which apparently painted our town as a crime-infested, sleazy ghetto.

Wife and I got a great laugh out of his tale. But thinking about this hillbilly’s perception of New York, makes me wonder how many others have a completely erroneous view of our new home.