ramble through the bronx
yes, this here is ramble through the bronx, the continuing musings of a graduate student* who should be writing her dissertation, but honestly, living in new york city there's really so much else to do...* and her commenting friends. And guest blogger.
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Polite New York vs. Toronto
Ah, via Reuters, Readers Digest has something important for us to know:New York City tops in courtesy, says Reader's Digest
Wed Jun 21, 2006 08:17 AM ET
By Ellen Wulfhorst
NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York, despite a reputation as a fast-moving, tough-talking town, ranked as the world's most polite major city, according to a survey released on Tuesday.
Outscoring large cities in 35 countries, New York proved best in three tests of courtesy, according to the survey by Reader's Digest.
Reporters for the magazine conducted a "door test," to see who would hold open a door, a "document drop" to see who would help pick up dropped papers and a "service test" to measure if salesclerks said thank you for a purchase.
Four out of five New Yorkers passed the courtesy tests, the magazine reported.
"It certainly contradicts the popular stereotype that a lot of people have about New York," said Conrad Kiechel, international editorial director for the Pleasantville, N.Y.-based magazine.
Specifically, 90 percent of New Yorkers passed the door test, 55 percent passed the document drop and 19 out of 20 clerks passed the service test.
Coming in a close second was Zurich at 77 percent, Toronto at 70 percent, and Berlin, Sao Paulo and Zagreb, Croatia, all with 68 percent.
Following down the list were Auckland, Warsaw, Mexico City, Stockholm, Budapest, Madrid, Prague, Vienna, Buenos Aires, Johannesburg, Lisbon, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Helsinki, Manila, Milan, Sydney, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Ljubljana, Jakarta, Taipei, Moscow, Singapore, Seoul, Kuala Lumpur, Bucharest and Mumbai.
The more than 2,000 tests of behavior showed that people under 40 were more courteous than those over 40, men were more polite to other men and women were more polite to other women.
The region that most lacked courtesy was Asia, where eight out of nine cities tested finished in the bottom 11, Reader's Digest said.
It conducted the tests in the most populous cities in 35 nations worldwide from late February to mid-March.
People around the world tended to offer the same explanation for their polite behavior, Kiechel said.
"People said they were polite because they had been brought up to be that way," he said.
The study is published in Reader's Digest's July issue of its 50 editions worldwide.
jane 10:38 AM [+]
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