Ahhh, the south

My buddy and I were at our favorite week end steak house this afternoon. We went out for a smoke, and I heard a familiar "click,click,click". I told my pal someone had a dead battery. Sure enough a caddie parked in the handicapped spot had two folk inside looking very upset. We went to the vehicle to ask if help was needed. At first they looked at us, then the male drive cracked his window bout 2 inches to hear. We offered to help again, both passengers looked at each other and then said yes. My pal went straight to get his Jeep and I blocked off the parking spot next to them. Took our cables and jumped the caddie off. I advised the folk to stop by any Advance or Auto Zone and they would check their battery for free. Bid them a safe trip and started back inside when they stopped us.

Here it gets funny to me....... they were from out of town...... just outside of Detroit they said. They were sorry for the coldness but .......... where they come from "no one just helps anyone". Smiling I said "welcome to the south". We all laughed. Contender, they were just coming back from a time share at Lure Lake, your neck of the woods. After a brief conversation they were fixing to leave and I said
"Ya'll come back now ya hear". The smiles on their faces and "we will" made it funny and good.

My pal and I went back inside to enjoy our ready meal and talked about it. How sad it must be to live somewhere folks will not help those in need. Not to mention the fear in that couples eyes when we tried to help them. I wonder if "back home" for them is a dangerous situation if some one tries to help?
Here if we see some one needing help we offer it, no questions, no reward needed or accepted. GOD teaches us that, as well as the rough remote areas of years ago we needed to look after each other.
Some would feel proud of such a deed, here it is just living.

*my post is not intended to offend, just to point out our differences between regions.

Good for you. I believe you will find the same in Utah, and perhaps throughout the mountain west. My daughter drove down here from Washington for a visit a couple of weeks ago. I reminded her to bring a couple of six packs of water just in case; even if it was to give to folks stopped along the highway. She did.

Dern you,, you have shared our southern hospitality, and now they'll go back north, tell their friends, & we'll get MORE of them moving down here. Sheesh!
A timeshare in Lake Lure,,, musta been Fairfield Mountains resort.
Well,,, maybe they'll move to Tn & not NC.

Ok, enough ribbing. You done good.

Priceless and I have lived, done and seen the same in these parts.

Not to rain on you good ol boy's back-patting but that would have been normal in the small Pa town I grew up in and left in 2005 as well. You can make it a north/south thing but I think it's probably a city/country thing and there is country outside the south you know. :wink:

Well done Volshooter, mighty neighborly of you.

Ouch. Living 50 miles from the D (in other words "just outside Detroit") I have to say they either lived dead center downtown or were just scared old folks that watch the news too much, because I can guarantee that implied scenario and unhelpful attitude is not the norm.

Just last summer I ruined my pocket knife jumping across starter solenoid terminals to help a girl get her car started.

These kinda of favors help are not limited to the south, happens here all the time.

Few months ago I see this oldtimer with his PU pulled over had a flat. He was having a hell
of a time getting the spare out from under the truck the mechanism as a little froze up due to rust.
A few taps with a hammer got it loose and I gave him a hand heck only took 20 min. or so.

I believe in Karma what goes around comes around. ps

I was driving through East Texas earlier this summer. I pulled off to the side of the road to send my wife a text message. Within about 10 minutes 2 cars pulled up asking if I needed help. That doesn't happen in Dallas.

ArmedinAZ said:

............You can make it a north/south thing but I think it's probably a city/country thing and there is country outside the south you know........

Click to expand...

Yup..... try any small town in the upper midwest and you'll find the same sort of neighborly, friendly behavior.

wwb said:

ArmedinAZ said:

............You can make it a north/south thing but I think it's probably a city/country thing and there is country outside the south you know........

Click to expand...

Yup..... try any small town in the upper midwest and you'll find the same sort of neighborly, friendly behavior.

Click to expand...

Agreed.
Detroit? Pretty much an extreme if these folks came from the city or nearby. My neighbor who just passed away spent 30 working years there and had nary a good thing to say about the place except that the Ford museum was great. They have a bit of fear and suspicion built in so their caution is understandable.
You did good Vol, glad you are my neighbor just one state over.

I would agree this is somewhat of a rural vs. urban thing. Living in the Atlanta area you don't see helping on the side of the road as much as you used to. I still help folks when I can but I am less inclined to stop on the side of the interstate than I used to be. I guess I just take it on a case by case basis.

I believe everyone is using a little more caution now?
It was common to see hitchhikers and more friendly attitudes to help people 40 or 50 years ago.
You can't really trust as much as you did, seems to be more harm out there?

I been helping people get their cars started, pushed, doors opened, for as long as I can remember. I did my next door neighbors SUV just the other day. She had kids in the car waiting to go to her parents house to go swimming and there was that dreaded click, click, no start.

That reminds me, I need a new set of jumper cables.

I agree with the rural/urban thing, will give the nod to the south as maybe helpful people are in a slightly higher percentage. I will say in my experience, this not true of any of the parts of W.Va. I've been to, and won't return to ever again. Broke down in near Seneca Rocks/Spruce Knob area yrs ago. AAA said they had no one that would go to that area. Thr guy that did tow us, did more damage to the vehicle, and in 3 days fixed nothing. I walked 7-8 miles from the nearest motel each day to help. Never offered a ride. Told the "mechanic/tow driver" that he'd done more damage than the tow was worth, and fixed nothing. He locked my truck up in his yard. Friend brought down bolt cutters and a tow bar. We stole the truck back. Stay safe.

Welcome to got the the south look around have fun then go home.

Welcome to got the the south look around have fun then go home.

Welcome to got the the south look around have fun then go home.

Do all southerners stutter? :lol:

Dan in MI said:

Do all southerners stutter? :lol:

Click to expand...

No

No

No
:mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

That wasn't a stutter. That was a triple tap.