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feeling very odd like I liv ein a diffrent time or place

3K views 44 replies 25 participants last post by  HandyMom 
#1 ·
I'm feeling very odd like I live in a different time or place then others.

Grapes in netting not loose. Produce managers not giving or suggesting you taste the grapes.

Security guards in stores

I'm feeling out of sorts out of place it doesn't compute like I'm in a different world or time. I'm having a hard time imaging it all.

Why would things be so different?
 
#2 ·
Personally, I need a better description of what you're talking about to understand this, imagine.

Is there some crisis going on in your area that would cause them to up the security?

I've never had anyone offer for me to taste the grapes. Is this the usual thing where you live?

Are things at HOME, or in your familiar surroundings also looking funny to you? Out of place or 'unreal' kind of?
 
#4 ·
Oh no,The way people are talking here at FV seems odd/strange. I'm having a hard time picturing their world.
I am not use to security guards and found it strange when someone mentioned them. I had never heard of security guards at stores.

yes, tasting grapes is normal. The grocery store has a man in the produce section. It is his section and he offers grapes and suggests you taste them if you are curious. He will cut open apples to let you taste them. He generally tastes them too. He asked us to let him know if any fruit looks bad or tastes sour. If we tell him he tastes them and if he finds them sour he pulls them right off the shelf.

Stores/banks have candy dishes and cookies set out to help yourself. The local sub shop sent over complimentary subs to hubby's work. free subs from a restaurant for no particular reason

There are still several home grown local stores. The local farm and ranch store has coffee available for free any time you come in. Popcorn available every weekend. One time they were selling live fish not to eat but to stock ponds. You picked out how many you wanted and what kind and you carried it home in a large clear trash bag with water just like you would a goldfish

I also feel different when everyone mentions all these different stores or how many walmarts are in there area. I only know of 1 walmart in a 5O mile radius and no other store similar in that 50 mile radius.

The public school dress code is fairly modest and the elementary dress code includes shorts or leggings or pants under girls dresses/skirts. IF you forget they send the girls down to the nurse to get some shorts. If elementary children are dressed inappropriate for the weather the nurse lends them something to wear.

It feels my corner of the world is so different then others are mentioning. It is is a though I live back to another place or time.
 
#3 ·
It is like it is because there are waaaaay too many people who think only of themselves ruining it for everyone else.

If everyone were more like you, we wouldn't need such precautions.:)
 
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#5 ·
oh and the bank has real coffee mugs. You are suppose to drink the coffee but leave the mugs so they can be washed and reused. Very rarely do the mugs walk off ( get stolen).
 
#6 ·
But imagine, you need to tell us what area of the country you live in. Doesn't sound that different from mine. I have to travel 45 minutes to find a super Walmart. But I don't shop there by choice. BTW I live in rural Western Washington.
 
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#10 · (Edited)
you are rural you say maybe it is more of a rural as contrast to a city thing. I live in a big city for here but not big when you think of NYC or anything like that. The town/city advertises being big and small at the same time. Know what I mean? But we are still rural cows still are the smell of money hence the very busy farm and ranch store.LOL
 
#12 ·
I can't even imagine that. How does that work?

I still see bicycle cops that we have here that get to know the neighborhood. The policeman in a car that didn't recognize us shortly after we moved here so he stopped to met us and make sure the child with me was suppose to be with me walking away from the school was suppose to be going in the direction from school. Before he left he said nice to me you and welcome to town.

Teenagers getting probation for high jinks. The school toilets got stopped up with tp. Three boys ended up going to juvenile court for it. They all received probation and had to stay away from each other because the judge couldn't figure out who actually did it as they all said the other did it. The school didn't even handle it, it went straight to the police.
 
#8 ·
Don't know where you live, but I would bet it is not here in Central Florida.

By the way some of your comments are, it sounds like life was when I was a kid back in the 50's. Sometimes I really wish my life was like that now.
 
#13 ·
But the comments are my real life. Life as in now.
I originally thought everyone lived like this now I'm not so sure that is true.

Is it just a different perception or is life truly different here?
 
#9 ·
I'm feeling very odd like I live in a different time or place then others.

This comment, just to be lighthearted, are you a "Time Traveler"? Just kidding. I agree with you, times have changed in our world so much it is unrecognizable from what once was.
 
#11 ·
I loved the movie the Time Traveler's Wife.
 
#14 ·
The US is a big place. It's hard sometimes to think about just how vastly hugely mind-bogglingly big it is and how many regions there are that have their own peculiarities. Language and customs here may seen strange to folks in other states. You can't expect everyone over thousands of miles to all live the same. I think it's wonderful how varied our country is.
 
#17 ·
very good point

I'm still having a hard time coming to grips with the alternate realities.

It is definitely something to keep in mind when FV poster say I can't do that or don't understand how something would work.
 
#15 · (Edited)
Here is one for you:

In our old house that we lived in 7 years ago the front door didn't even lock. It had a chain and we put a chair at the door when we would be gone on vacation as the wind sometime blew open the door.

And no one who knew thought it was strange
 
#19 ·
The only taste testing here is at Sams and its usually processed junk. I live in what I call small(75 thousand) east texas town. We have everything without freeways or too much crime.

It is NOT mayberry here. We lock our doors. It is also not Dallas, we know some of our neighbors.

That being said. If you drive an hour to where we keep our camper at the lake, there is a wagon on the side of the road that sells produce where you just put money in the box. All done by the honesty code.
 
#20 ·
You call 75,000 small and I call it big. LOL
 
#22 ·
I have been in grocery stores/walmarts etc that have a metal detector at the door. I walked into a CVS a couple months ago that had the metal detector and an ARMED guard at the door.

We have always locked our doors for the house and the cars. All windows are locked, dogs are trained.. etc.

To us, 75,000 in a town is a good start. It all depends on where you are at. I can't image not locking doors!
 
#24 ·
I live in a rural town of about 1000. The stuff Imagine is saying is totally normal here. It is very laid back with lots of Amish. A kid gets in trouble and he is likely to get a good scare from the local officer not a huge fine on a first offense. There are candy dishes in the bank and library and no security anywhere. Everyone knows everyone.

However drive 30 miles to the biggest town around (60,000) and there is a totally different vibe and atmosphere.
 
#26 ·
I have always lived in small towns for these reasons. Many of my friends wondered why we were willing to commute for years. My favorite Mayberry place was in Northern California, loved that place and will probably be moving back God willing someday....I hope soon, though I love my new "Mayberry" town. We could always leave our houses, cars etc unlocked. My friends tease me I live like the movie it is a Wonderful life or Mrs Reid in leave it to Beaver. Hey I love my town and life....hehe
 
#25 ·
Living in one of the top 25 most populated cities in the US... I can't relate to anything that you posted. None of it has ever existed in my lifetime. I've never seen (or heard) of a house without locks. It's not even safe to leave a car unlocked here. It's an open invitation to others to rummage through. There are okay sides of the city and then there are bad sides of town and there's also areas where if you go down the wrong street, you're likely to not come out alive. Walmart, Target, the mall, etc. all have their own security guards. The mall cops are on those upright electric things zooming around the mall. It's common to see a cop in a parking lot of various stores, especially CVS or Walgreens. Target and Walmart have parking lot security that drives around any hours of the day or night.

I'd love to be out of the city before things get any worse but with the gas prices being predicted $7/gal (if they predict it, it will happen... look at the cost of food starting to spike...) there's no way we could afford to live even 10 miles outside of the city which is really just the outskirts of the big city already as it is.
 
#27 ·
I live in a town approximately 11,000 (not all in town) and honestly, I feel less safe here than I did in So.California..

Most problems here is ignorance of "It wont happen here", a bad lack of common sense, and the "nepotism and who you know" standing is big here, so people that should be in trouble don't usually get in trouble.. Another big problem is "He/she goes to my church, they couldn't do wrong", even after it has been proven many times, they still say that...

It's scary...

My kids say I treat the house like it's Fort Knox, they hate that I keep the front door locked all the time and I refuse to leave a door unlocked even if I am going to be away for just a couple of minutes..... In po dunk ville, or a big city,,,, I trust no one........
 
#28 ·
We live in an upper middle class suburban area of a larger midwestern city and it is middle of the row here I'd say. No security guards in our Walmart/Target. We lock our doors. Some stores offer samples and some don't. Some have more personal touches and some don't. It doesn't make me frequent one over another quite honestly. BUT I have spent some time recently in a "poor" part of town and I must say the Walmart was VERY different. I needed to do a return and immediately when I walked in the store my item was scanned and tagged. Where we live we just walk in and go over to the customer service desk without having to check in with anyone. In the poorer area there are security guards and they even check your receipt on your way out. I've never had anyone look at my receipt around my home other than at Sams/Costco which is customary everywhere. The level of suspicion is just very different in the more inner city poorer areas. We don't have that near our home- in our suburban bubble! Around here they have the customer is always right theory and customers are treated well. At the other Walmart everyone was suspicious of everyone else. They were nice and polite, but suspicious. It is funny how the same thing can vary so much across the country.
 
#29 ·
I just wish that all of our lives could be just simple and safe. That everyone respected each other and were always "there" for the other person.

It would be wonderful if we rejoiced in the smallest of things that life has to offer and put aside the trappings that make us want to outdo each other.
 
#31 ·
Wow...I've never heard of the things you're talking about. Produce people have never offered samples here. If someone decides to "sample" here, it's stealing (store workers not offering them).

Most of the places have always had security here. The only thing that has been relatively new is a police sub-station put in the mall about 5 or so year ago. Seems pretty much the same as always here. Sorry things are feeling so "off" to you, there! :(
 
#32 ·
I agree with ou Luv2BeFrugal - I've never heard of the things you're talking about either.

We too do not have anyone offering any sampling in the produce dept and if you do it's considered stealing.
We have always has security in the stores you were really not suppose to know they were there as they were plain clothes and usually 'pretending' to be a shopper. Recently here at the local malls we have security guards that are wearing uniforms and riding around on those people movers (or whatever they are called).
I live in a very large town. Most of it is covered by a large state park, but we have a mixture of large stores and then we have some farms as well.
Where I live we lock our doors and cars.
It's definately not like it was when I was growing up.
 
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#36 ·
We have security at our church! Now that to me seems outrageous!
That did take some getting used to but the world has changed big time in my lifetime. If nothing is going on during the day, our church locks the doors and you have to ring the door bell to get in. They have parking lot patrol and people walking the halls and checking bathrooms. Most baby rooms are now behind locked doors instead of open from the little half door like we were.
 
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#35 ·
That's sort of how it is where I live in Denmark. If/when I move back to the US, I'm definitely going to be looking for my own little Mayberry.

I like that people are kind. A few weeks ago, my health card fell out of my pocket while biking. Our health cards have our address on the front and about 3 days after I realized it was missing, I received it back in the mail. Someone had found it and taken the time to mail it back to me.

I barely see any police here and I cannot imagine seeing security in a store. Last week in the grocery store, I was short the equivilent of about $1 and the cashier told me it was ok to pay her next time I shopped, and of course I did. There are routinely samples of fruit, baked goods, and cheese set out.

The shops here keep their merchandise outside, not just the sale stuff, regular priced, too and shoes, in pairs!

People ride bikes everywhere and go on picnics in the warmer weather. There is an outdoor ice skating rink in town.

It's just a lovely way to live!

I live in a mid-size city, but I don't even dream of finding a place this big in the US where people are so wonderful. So I accept that I will live in a small town if and when I return.
 
#37 ·
Thanks everyone for telling your stories. It has helped to see that the place I live is not so strange after all. I was just faced with all the "strange" things to me and started feeling like my hometown was odd not in step with the rest of you all. Now I see that is not true some are like me some are not.

Where I live the town calls itself the biggest little town. The high school has over 1,000 students so there are plenty of opportunities there and we have a university so there is lots of cultural events. There is local and chain shopping and restaurants. We have everything we need in town maybe not everything we want ( not much choices in clothes shopping for example). Plenty of people walking all over the place including elementary students to school. Big town stuff yet small town feel. Yeah I guess I am lucky.
 
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