Something I have been eternally thankful for in my career is that I haven't had to work in New York City very often. Until I moved to this firm, which has a large NYC presence. Typically once or twice a month I have to go up there for some reason. Let's just say it's not my favorite place to go...
New York City is both a wonderful and a terrible place. Some of the best meals of my life were at NYC restaurants. I have several good friends living there. There's no better place to see plays or concerts.
But New York City is also full of people. Loud, obnoxious and arrogant people seem to congregate in NYC in a much higher ratio than any other American city. Everyone is always in a huge hurry. The more time you spend in NYC, these qualities infect you. You find yourself acting more and more like them, if only out of self-defense.
New York City also has, hands down, the worst Taxi drivers on the planet. Whoever invented the video game Frogger must have gotten their inspiration while riding in a NYC cab. I've been held up at gunpoint and felt safer than the last time I was in a NYC taxi.
With my recent frequent travels to NYC, I've discovered the pure, unmitigated, joyful insanity that is the New York Subway System. You can meet any and every type of human being there. Especially the crazy ones.
Bill Cosby did a stand-up routine called "A Nut In Every Car" back in the 60's, and that is still true today. There's always at least one entertaining nutcase to keep you amused on that long uptown ride. Last December I saw the most entertaining thing ever encountered in my New York travels. Two guys were arguing with each other, but one was speaking Italian and the other Arabic. If they spoke English, they were probably too pissed off to use it and lapsed into their native languages. I know, it's not PC to find that funny, but it was. This went on for the better part of 40 blocks before I had to switch trains.
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