I did things in Boston that would have got me killed in Florida

[Baitball Blogger]

Last edited Wed Oct 12, 2022, 01:59 PM - Edit history (1)

Boston has its customs that just don’t translate in the Florida environment. First thing to know is that we flew up on moments notice to welcome a new member of the family. Shutting down the house for an undetermined number of days takes time, and I managed to squeeze in three days of chores in one day. So when we got to Boston I was achy, exhausted and sleep deprived. Hence, the reason for what happened next.

My in-law drove us around the entire time in a black suv. Do you know how many black SUV’s there are out there? Too many. The whole time I kept sleep walking to the car and going to the wrong car. The first time I opened the back door to get in my seat and looked up to see a surprised couple looking back at me. I sheepishly walked away, hearing the sounds of laughter from the couple and the car behind us. After I got in the right car I realized that everyone had responded with laughter and not what I would have received in Florida. Chances are they would have pegged me for a thief and treated me accordingly. Wish I could say I only did this once, but luckily the second time the door was locked.

The second custom involved leaving items on the side of the street in front of your house, as an invitation to others to pick it up for free if you found it useful. This custom made me nervous. My in-law saw a child’s trike by the street and she said if it was still there on our walk back, she was going to take it. I thought she was kidding but I was horrified when she did just that. That’s when she explained that it was a custom to leave things by the street for others to pick up. I explained to her that the atmosphere and property rights mentality would only end up with you getting your head blown up.

But you know, it’s a great custom. I saw a pressure treater curb on one guy’s lawn and 100 gallon tank with filter on another guy’s yard. Cool stuff.

And then, my vivacious in-law spoke to every neighbor she bumped into on the walk. Even introduced me to an old guy neighbor who was very likeable. Heard he got three pulitzers for his photography. She playfully gave him a hard time, which he took good-naturedly. Later, I told her that if she was in Florida talking like that to a married man the old wife would come out and call her a hussy.

Same country, different atmosphere,

[Biophilic]

1. Where the heck do you live in Florida? My community does the curbside 'if you want it's yours'

Thing and I saw hello to everyone I meet when walking. It’s way friendlier here then where I lived up north. Florida is not paradise in spite of the advertisements but I am way more relaxed down here.

[ZonkerHarris]

8. Wasnt the sidewalk thing in an episode of FRIENDS too? Or was in Seinfeld?

[jimfields33]

15. My community in Florida does as well.

And as far as getting the wrong car? Heck every SUV is white in Florida. No problem getting the wrong one. Florida is a wonderful place to live. Pretty safe. I rarely even lock the front door.

[Rebl2]

16. Around here where

I live, if you put something on the curb for the taking, we put a sign on it saying it’s free. Am in Midwest.

[CaptainTruth]

18. Yea, that's nothing like where I live in FL.

Nothing I recognize in that OP, not my area.

I've lived in the Midwest 20+ years, N CA 20+ years & FL 10+ years.

When I lived in CA there were people who lived in the same house for 5-10 years & literally didn't know their neighbors names, never talked to them. Here in my FL neighborhood I know all my neighbors, we all have each other's numbers, we've exchanged house keys with half of them. When we travel we feed each other's pets. Every 4th of July our neighborhood takes over a cult-de-sac & has a big BBQ. No one gets killed.

Everyone in our neighborhood puts things out to the curb for pickup. One of my neighbors picks up furniture all the time & does a beautiful job turning it into quaint "beach cottage" pieces, she's very creative. Even metal items like hot water heaters are put out & "alternative recyclers" pick them up for scrap. No one gets killed.

And I must say that drivers in my area of FL are by far the most polite I've encountered anywhere in the country. Even after 10+ years here it still amazes me how every time I'm turning out of a parking lot onto a busy street (or into traffic backed up at a light) someone will slow down or stop to let me out. I always wave to thank them & they wave back. No one gets killed.

[Croney]

2. You're comparing a city to a state.

Is there a particular part of Florida you're generalizing about? If you go to western Massachusetts you'll find many right-wing areas.

I can relate to the sidewalk-giveaway part. We leave things out every week because we're trying to declutter. Books, furniture, knick-knacks, they all get scooped right up.

We live in Cambridge, which is not Boston, but at least it's not Florida. 🙂

[yellowdogintexas]

22. when I lived in Cambridge, the annual depositing stuff on the curb

was a time honored tradition. Folks graduated, put stuff they weren't taking with them on the curb and some new person in the neighborhood adopted it.


Here we put stuff on the curb, with a sign that says free and it will be gone in no time.

[Ocelot II]

3. A black SUV in my city is probably stolen or being used by carjackers, but

leaving stuff by the curb or in an alley is common. I've picked up a nice side table, a needlepointed chair, a couple of paintings - shitty paintings but very nice frames. I've also gotten rid of stuff the same way. I also say hi to people on walks, and especially to their dogs, as well as any cats I meet.

[underpants]

4. I have to admit the SUV story made me laugh

[ret5hd]

5. The curb thing is very established where I live...

We’ve gotten a nice upholstered chair, a couple computer chairs over the years, a couple $100 worth of pvc plumbing pieces, etc etc.

And anything we put out is generally gone within 24 hrs.

It’s nice to know someone can use what we no longer want/need.

[ZonkerHarris]

6. Had a magic alley behind my last house. I could leave anything out there and it was gone in 60 minut

es or less
I miss that alley.
Now Im in a condo with an HOA
None of that here

[OAITW r.2.0]

7. Could have been a movie....

[Raftergirl]

9. We leave things at the curb in my town but people put up a "free" sign in front on the items.

I would never think to take something, especially a kid’s bike, left at the curb if there wasn’t a sign.

I have a black sedan and have tried many times to get into a car that wasn’t mine.

[ShazzieB]

11. I have a grey sedan, and I've headed for the wrong car in the parking lot many times.

Imo, there are way too many small grey/silver sedans that look like my Honda Civic!

[slightlv]

13. My hubby did it one time,

got into the wrong car, and the owner of the vehicle came flying out of the drugstore at him. She ended up calling the cops on him for a simple mix-up. BTW... although not black, the cars were the same color and both subcompacts. I felt so bad for him. He's having a hard enough time growing older... this did NOT make him feel any better. Especially after apologizing profusely and still having the cops called on him!

[Baitball Blogger]

28. It really is a terrible experience.

I know where my mind was preoccupied. The first thing I saw as I approached the car was a ding on the side next to the door. I just kept staring at the ding, wondering if it just happened. Then I opened the door and noticed that everything that was in the backseat was gone and I wondered if we had been robbed. and then I look up and see this couple looking at me with a puzzled look on their face and I wondered what they were doing in our car. And then I realized I was the one in the wrong.

I didn't sleep well until last night when I was in my own bed.

[Baitball Blogger]

14. Exactly my thoughts.

There were no signs.

[marble falls]

10. Anything you do in Florida might get you dead ...

https://www.floridadaily.com › weird
Weird Florida News Stories - Florida Daily
AUGUSTINE, FL - According to ActionNewsJax.com, a man in St. Johns County, Florida, was discovered dead in a chair in his home after it was determined he likely caught fire while smoking cigarettes. The 67-year-old man was discovered by his daughter, who said her father smoked cigarettes but usually turned off the oxygen.

[brush]

12. Seems to me the stand-your-ground law might get one in big...

trouble in Florida. I'd be very careful there.

[Baitball Blogger]

27. Exactly.

You just don't know how hostile someone is going to be in this State. And, unfortunately, the State laws encourage them, as does De Santis with his attempt to push everyone out of this state who doesn't agree with his racist agenda.

[Bev54]

17. We have the same custom here in Canada to put things on the street that are

available for free but we do tend to put a sign on it that will say free, so people are aware that has not just been left there accidentally.

[nolabear]

19. Weird. My experience is so different.

We have that leave-it-at-the-curb thing here in WA but it was the same on the Gulf Coast. And here people are cautious about being friendly on the street but down there “How’s your mamanem?” is a common greeting. I deliberately start conversations in the checkout line here because it’s “exotic.” There we’d have bonded over the front cover of the tabloids and found common cousins.

[yellowdogintexas]

21. Southerners love to play "do you know...so and so"

total strangers will bond over the strangest thing and before you know it you have exchanged your whole life story with someone you will never see again and you won't know each other's names either.

I truly believe that Kentuckians think that everybody knows everybody else, so when we meet someone from KY we ask each other where we are from and if either of us has the remotest acquaintance from that area then we start on the mutual friends.

[GopherGal]

20. Theory: Black cars are very undesirable in Southern climates

so maybe more of them end up being sold in northern states where the heat retention is less off a turn-off.

[Baitball Blogger]

26. Definitely easier to see them in a snow storm, too.

[AdamGG]

23. But do NOT move someone's furniture from the street when it's saving a parking spot

I'm glad you had a nice visit to Boston. My hometown is a great place, but generally doesn't get a lot of points for being friendly.

Around Cambridge/Allston/Brighton/Brookline the sidewalks are filled with free furniture each year because there's 200,000 college students moving on September 1st (it's best to let the garbage trucks take it because it could have bedbugs).

One time when people leave their furniture in the street and they'll get mad if you touch it is when they're saving a parking space that they've shoveled out after a snowstorm. If you move the space savers that they put in those spots and park there yourself, your car might get vandalized. I know people who that's happened to. Strictest gun laws in the country, though, so there's at least less of a chance getting shot here that nearly anywhere else.

[Baitball Blogger]

25. I knew about the chairs saving parking spots.

Didn't know the college students left the chairs out for people to pick up for free.

Yes, it is a much friendlier place than Florida.

[flvegan]

24. No you didn't, but nice story bro. n/t

[Shrek]

29. Nobody in Florida is going to kill you n/t