I also realized the denizens of the Empire State were not rude as West Coasters maintained. Well, at least not everyone.

I had come to learn, we – speaking as a New Yorker now after living here for 20 years – are no-nonsense when in certain social interactions. We are very direct and not time wasters.

Which brings us to the subject of what city folks know over those who come small towns.

Redditor bruhcharlie asked:

"People who live in cities, what are some 'city things' country people don't understand?"

Something's Afoul

"That downtown smell that smells like piss? It's piss..."

– CantTakeMeSeriously

"Big cities make their own gravy when it rains."

– MontyVonWaddlebottom

Going The Distance

"Walking somewhere close will always be faster than going there by a car."

– nikamsumeetofficial

Where Nobody Knows Your Name

"The anonymity can be freeing."

– Pseudonymico

"I walk down the street in my small town assuming everyone has contact with my parents and that it will get back to them. The mom network was a truly devastating thing when in high school."

– pirated_vhsvendor

Pets

"Having a dog will make you socialize a lot. When you're walking it, people with other dogs will stop to let your dogs sniff each other and you'll chitchat. Little children will want to pet your dog, and old people will tell you that your dog reminds them of their old dogs. Also, the probability that people stop you to ask for directions will significantly increase, I guess because they assume you live in the neighbourhood."

– No_Face_Spirit

"Being polite and talking to everyone who talks to you will get you finessed."

"Eye contact is an invitation to talk. Smiling is an invitation to talk. People in the city aren't rude for avoiding these, they're just tired of every conversation they have with a stranger ending in them getting asked for something."

– Throwmeout43212345

Eyes Down

"I didn't really appreciate this sentiment when I first moved from the suburbs to the city. Any time someone would stop me for a question, I would always engage in dialogue. 99.9% of the time it was someone asking for money with some sob story about why they needed it. The first few months, I gave away all my spare change, every time (I moved to the city in October when the weather was starting to turn cooler)."

"By the time spring rolled around, I was starting to learn how to stop looking like an easy mark. I stopped making eye contact with everyone and ignored folks who were a reasonable distance away when they called out to me - pretending I couldn't hear them."

"But I'll never forget the first time I really got to that point of straight up no engagement. I was walking home from work and a woman standing right next to me said she wanted to ask me a question. I promptly shut her down with a 'Nope!' and kept walking. It was that moment that I realized, for good or bad... the city had changed me."

– row_the_boat_0115

Conveniences

"I just moved from a small town on the west coast to a medium sized city on the east coast. It's crazy that you can just go out and DO things. You don't have to drive for two hours to go to the mall, you just go. I can have food delivered to my house in minutes and Amazon does next day delivery! It's awesome!! Also, cable internet is pretty sweet after having satellite for so long. One question though: what's with all of the hibachi restaurants?"

– steampunkedunicorn

No Time For Chit Chat

"It's not that we aren't friendly, there are just so many people we can't say hello and chat with everyone or we never get to our destinations."

"I love going to small towns and just dialing my brain back 20mph and enjoying the people. Small talk, hitting yard sales, visiting small restaurants where the staff engage you."

– MadLintElf

The Compromise

"The suburbs/country gives you a lot of physical space and physical freedom. But no internal space or internal freedom. Everyone is up your business. HOAs, small town gossip etc"

"Big cities, you have no personal space. Everything is crowded. So the compromise is you get so much more internal space. There could be 100 people in a cafe but not a soul looks at you. Because the only space you have in the city is internal space."

"Country people think it's rude that city folk ignore people. It's not. It's a favor. It's nice."

– nderhjs