http://seattlest.com/2007/08/15/uptight_seattle.php All comments for Uptight Seattleites Abroad en-us 2009 seattle_katelyn Tue, 06 Jan 2009 16:00:00 -0800 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss kbhackett@gmail.com kbhackett@gmail.com 60 http://seattlest.com/2007/08/15/uptight_seattle.php#comment-1175549 http://seattlest.com/2007/08/15/uptight_seattle.php#comment-1175549 Comments Thu, 16 Aug 2007 17:28:13 -0800 <p>Who's not from Seattle? Bjorn? The Harper's story goes like this:One of the guides from the Ioffe, a man from Seattle with a bushy beard and a brown fedora, interrupted this long march to remind us to "leave no trace"--Devon's environment was fragile. Sergeant Strong looked at the American. "A lot of us have spent a lot of time in the north," he said.</p> http://seattlest.com/2007/08/15/uptight_seattle.php#comment-1175080 http://seattlest.com/2007/08/15/uptight_seattle.php#comment-1175080 Comments Thu, 16 Aug 2007 11:14:57 -0800 <p>He wasn't from Seattle, rather California (where Seattle gets much of it's uptightedness, if you ask me), but it's a classic pretentious ugly American story. I was at a hostel in Verona, Italy and stuck up conversation with the other obviously West Coast kid staying there. We went down the street to get a bite to eat. I plied my rudimentary Italian I had picked up in recent weeks on the waitress, as it was clear she didn't speak English. I ordered my food, and she moved on to Mr. Cali for his order. He rattled off his order in English as if he was at home. "I'll have this and this, and maybe this or this, but I'm not sure, I'll tell you after I've had the second course," which was met with a blank stare and confused acknowledgment. When our food came, I got precisely what I ordered, but Mr. Cali got EVERYTHING he mentioned to the waitress, including the 2 dishes he was indecisive about. He threw a complete fit, saying that he never ordered those items and she should have understood him, and stormed out without paying, only after gobbling most of his food. Being the nice person that I am (and unable to arrive at the word for "douchebag" in Italian) I picked up the bill and had them wrap up his leftovers. The next morning, I waited by the door to see if I could get him to pay me back for the meal he ordered and didn't pay for. Instead he tried to pick a fight with me in the middle of the common room of the hostel and stormed out and never came back. It's just yet another example of uptight West Coasters enforcing their expectations and passive aggressiveness on hapless locals elsewhere in the world. Shameful really...</p>