I’ve been traveling through New York City, Toronto, and Montreal for over three weeks (and counting), and I’ve been running this simple experiment:
How many people will smile at me?
It’s simple test, really. When I’m on the sidewalks, I walk with a hint of a smile dancing on my lips. Once I get eye contact, I’ll crack a nice, genuine smile and see if they return the gesture.
So how many people smiled back at me?
The answer, overall, is damn near no one. Most people won’t even give you eye contact even if you’re the only person on the sidewalk. And when they do — even if you have a smile on your face — they will rarely return it. (Usually their eyes just dart away.)
I’ve run this test well over several hundred times per week and I can count on one hand the number of people who smiled back. In New York, in total, it was about eight. Yet I will say that most New Yorkers are quite friendly.
Toronto wasn’t much better with about six.
The absolute worst, however, was Montreal with a whopping two. (I actually spent the most amount of days there than any other city.) I think it could be a cultural, Quebecois thing because people overall will go at great lengths to NOT look at you. Yet when you talk to them, they’re amazingly friendly in spite of the fact that my French only goes as far as bonjour and je m’appelle Anthony.
Perhaps in France, it’s rude to “stare” at someone you don’t know. For what it’s worth, Montreal was my favorite city. (Go figure.)
Sometimes, I think too much for my own good, but I really believe that the world would be a better place if we smiled at each other a lot more. Strangers on the street, coworkers, old ladies, babies, etc. — it just creates a deeper community and sense of togetherness and equality.
Try it sometime. You never know what’ll happen.
🙂 Muy Buenas Tardes Querido amigo trotamundo. Deseo comentarte que yo Erwin Trauth de Asunción, Paraguay Sur América, eh recorrido bastante mi país como también mis paises vecinos, Bolivia, Argentina e incluso Brasil (idioma portugués). Te comento extrañamente que en los países de habla hispana exactamente la de Sur América es muy agradable, te observan, te miran a los ojos, te brindan afecto en la mirada son corteses, te sonríen. En cambio en Brasil es un poquito más tosco, a lo mejor creo por el idioma pero no se nota un tanto la diferencia, también los brasileros son amables, cordiales, sonrientes, sumamente respetuosos.
Toda esta parte del continente es muy cálida y acogedora. Siento que tus experiencias por las ciudades del Norte de América no hayan sido las mas favorables en ese aspecto.
Te deseo un viaje de vida, si alguna vez te toca visitar nuestros países sabrás de lo que te estoy hablando.
Tampoco todo es tan perfecto, pero la mayor parte somos así.
Gracias! It took me a while to translate this, but I do agree that Central America and South America are VERY FRIENDLY cultures. Might be easier over there.