People ask me all the time, how do you like North Carolina now that you’ve been there for a couple of months??
Frankly, it sucks. Now while I know that’s a pretty damming statement, there are some good things about the state, but a whole lot of things that aren’t so nice about it. I’ll go into each in great detail, not just the bad things but the good also.
The weather sucks, and I don’t know how people put up with it. Remember, I’m from California. Average humidity here is 96%. It gets hot. It gets rainy. It will rain for no apparent reason. And not just a cold wintery like rain, a hot rain. In the winter time, like it’s getting to be now, it’s cold and rainy. Easier on the humidity for sure; but it’s still not good, especially if you’re on foot. The tap water here tastes funny and it never gets cold. It’s always luke warm in the summer and sort of like room temperature water during the winter. I admit, the weather is something that North Carolinians can do nothing about. But they can do other things to improve the quality of life here.
People here, always say hi or wave to you if you make eye contact. To me, that’s highly unusual. In California, they look at you like WTF? if you are that friendly to them.
People here don’t water their lawns, yet it grows so fast and so lushly green that you have to mow once a week at least. They say it’s the water in the humidity that self waters the lawns. Trucks pulling trailers with 1-3 lawn mowers in the back is as common a sight here as seeing any brand of Ford car on the road. The lawn care business must be booming. Also the hardware store business for mowers and weed eaters and blowers for those who do their own yard. People here also don’t use grass catchers with their mowers, and neither do the lawn care professionals. The city workers don’t even use them when they mow city property.
There is no bus system here. A town this size should have one. They should have fixed routes here.
Speaking from the prospective of where I happen to be staying, the nearest grocery store or major shopping area to look for a job at is over 2 miles away, more like 3 miles. With my knee being how it is, I’d never make it walking to work. I’d be so sore by the time I got there that I wouldn’t be able to do a full shift if my job involved standing at all.
Gas here WAS 3.54 pre-Ike, but now its 3.99, assuming you can find a station that even has any gas.
North Carolina was one of those states that even CNN had said was not suffering from the effects of the recession. Well they are wrong. Several large employers here have shut down and their plants sit idly by, rusting away.
North Carolina has no medical assistance or even cash aid for any single male who does not have children to feed.
Prices of food are very weird here. Weird in that compared to California, they’re way cheaper, yet customers here and even employees of the store say food prices here are getting out of hand. It makes me wonder how much lower things were here compared to California before they started rising. For example, I bought a can of tuna here for $1.92. The same can would cost me 3.69 where I was in California. Idahoan flavored mashed potato packets, CA price, $1.65, NC price $0.88. Milk is 3.65 per gallon in CA, $2.75 here in NC. Cereal in CA is priced $4-5.00, NC price is $2.50. 2 liter Pepsi is on sale in California for 1.39 or 3 for $4. Here in North Carolina the sale price is a buck.
Smoking is cheap here. In California I paid $26.00 per 1 lb bag of Gambler tobacco. In North Carolina I pay $15.09 for the same bag. Gambler’s 8 oz bag is about 5.65 here and $9 in California.
Marlboro cigarettes in California can run you from $4.29-5.50 per pack. In North Carolina you can find them at most places for $3.29 a pack total with tax included, $3.03 pre-tax.
Bugs are a problem in North Carolina. I have seen bugs and insects (flying and walking) that to me just look plain pre-historic because there is nothing like that in California. There is one that they call “the stick” because it can make itself look like one when a predator is near. We also found a snake in the washing machine. FUN, nOT!
One thing I didn’t figure this town for, nor the state itself, is the amount of drugs and alcohol consumption. Now beer, I could see, due to this being NASCAR’s home turf, but I could not believe how similar NC is to where I came from in California in drug usage. In Mt. Shasta CA, there is nothing to do but get high, drink, knock up your ole lady so you can collect more welfare or knock your ole lady around because you like using her as a punching bag. If it’s that way in Northern California and that way here in North Carolina AND if that has become a way of life in towns all across America, then DAYAM, Barack has his work cut out for him.
I figured here at least, since the economy is supposed to be better here, that people wouldn’t be like that, that they’d all have good jobs and hope for an even better tomorrow. I know with all that’s going on in the economy today and this stupid 700B bailout thing, we’re in trouble. But my point is, if Mooresville NC and Mt. Shasta CA were BOTH booze, drugs and wife beating BEFORE this national financial crisis, then I’d hate to see how bad it’s going to get when we hit the 2nd Great Depression of 2008-?
North Carolina has very few sidewalks on its major arteries. They don’t even have bike paths or emergency lanes on most of them. There is just a white line maybe 4” from the right edge of the asphalt. It is hardly wide enough to ride a bike let alone walk without getting hit. And most of the arteries have road numbers, like NC-150. Can’t they just call it N. Statesville Rd or whatever it is? Another problem is I don’t think that a lot of people in this state are all that observant. If someone came to you and asked you for directions in a British accent, wouldn’t your first thought be, “Hmm how do I give this guy directions in a way he’ll understand them since he’s not from around here?” Nope, it’s not that way in North Carolina. They’re like, (in my best attempt to spell like they sound here) “well, ya go dawn here ta NC-115, haing a right on SR21, make a left on N. Broad, and then another left on 801 and go up a hill, right at da fillin stayshun and look for Bucky’s hamburgers right up dare on da left and where you’re going is right dare around behind Buckys. I’m from California and I’m like “WTF? DO I SOUND LIKE I’M FROM AROUND HERE?” The British guy would be like, “Excuse me but do you really think from the sound of my accent that I’m all that familiar with the area that I’d know what all that nonsense meant?? What was your first clue that I don’t have the foggiest idea where you just told me to go? Or did you even have a clue?”
So basically, if you haven’t gotten my drift yet, Most roads have numbers not names, or they have both, and either way the signs are not that clearly marked nor visible from a distance. Also, very few traffic lights are on poles. Most are strung on cables over an intersection and occasionally the street name or number is too. Needless to say it’s easy to get lost here unless you have and use GPS till you learn where everything is via landmarks. But be careful if you use The Waffle House as a landmark, since they tend to be on both sides of any given highway. And be careful who you ask directions from. No two people seem to give the directions in the same way and you’ll be lucky to follow one set, let alone combine their directions with the other person’s.
As economically depressed as this town is, it should have a shelter, but it doesn’t and no one seems to want to put me in contact with anyone who would be in a position to cut through the red tape to open one. Mooresville does have though, and excellent soup kitchen where they serve a meal at 11:00 A.M. Mo-Sa. And why Mooresville spent so much money on jazzing up their library is beyond me. It is very ornate, in fact its one of the nicest looking libraries I have ever been in. It has Dell Computers that are around $2,000.00 each. It almost seems like a waste for such a poor town.
North Carolina also has some weird looking trees. There is one here that is especially pretty I think, but it’s very weird in that the whole trunk of the tree is surrounded by leaves all the way up. God only knows what kind of insects or other creatures are hiding behind the leaves. I certainly don’t want to find out either.
North Carolina has a lot of hills. Even in residential areas there are a lot of hills, and another odd thing I’m not used to is that most people don’t fence their yards, or if they do it’s just the front and in the back they use those trees I mentioned above as the privacy fencing for behind the house. It won’t keep anyone out but it sure keeps people from easily seeing what is going on in your yard. The only drawback to that is that someone could be watching you and you’d never know it.
I’ve heard bad things about the utility companies they have to offer here, and how your bills can be higher than your rent if you don’t have the right kind of utilities. For example the other day I was listening to two gals talk about their electric bill and heating bill. One was saying she has a gas water heater but electric heat and air and if she uses A/C during the summer her bill jumps to $400 a month and if she just uses a fan it’s like $120 per month and then when winter comes around, she doesn’t crank the heat up that high so her bill drops to like $68 a month. When the average rent here is $600 a month, you really have to make a lot of money or hold down more than one job to make your rent AND utility bills.
I see a great deal of people here who, despite their being a helmet law, use 2 wheel transportation year around. Be it a Vespa or a Harley, they save money on gas at the risk of safety in winter by 2-wheeling it everywhere.
I hear AT&T is in the area, but I have yet to see an AT&T truck or office, and it would appear to me anyway, that Windstream is the only game in town for local home phone service. Not having to worry about that for myself, I haven’t checked all the options available here yet, especially seeing as how the list of negatives here is outweighing the positives, so I’m probably not going to stay. I certainly don’t want to go back to California though. To me, that idea is just totally repugnant. I don’t even want to be within eyesight of a California border. Basically I don’t want to be in any of the 9 western states. I know if I take a job as an 18 wheeler, California travel will have to be an option, though I would want out as fast as possible.
Names of state agencies here are different too. In California, your unemployment office is the EDD (employment development department). In North Carolina it’s the ESC (employment security commission). In California they don’t mind asking you for your social security number and you’re expected to give it out loud where anyone else can steal your identity. In North Carolina ESC offices, they have you write your social down on a small piece of paper and hand it to the clerk who types it in on the forms he/she’s working on for you and the paper goes into the shredder under or beside his/her desk. That is ONE thing I like about North Carolina. They go the extra step to try to insure your privacy. Their system of giving you access to the job listing information though is a bit troubling in how they do it. It involves applying online, and them mailing you a letter saying to call, and then you call and they tell you how to apply. Half the time by the time you get that letter and call, the job is filled.
A lot of businesses have benches outside their establishment. If you happen to be walking by and want to sit for a spell, 99% of the owners won’t mind, in fact they’ll encourage you to sit and chill out for as long as you need to, so long as you don’t sit there long enough to be considered loitering. An hour or two is fine; just don’t sit there all day.
Most everywhere I have been in North Carolina; Ice Tea comes with lemon and sugar already in it. (just a weird fact) And every place that sells ice tea boasts that theirs is world famous.
State troopers have a radio mic in their car which is a telephone handset. I bet its real hilarious and safe, trying to control your car in a high speed pursuit and be on that phone handset at the same time. And no one can seem to tell me why they use those here.
Every town it seems has a tramp motel where they rent rooms by the hour. This town is no different. I have yet to see any hookers though, not that I’d look to buy one or even be able to afford one if I was looking.
The rain smells funny and when it’s coming down, it’s as solid a sheet of water as standing in your shower at home.
NO one admits to owning a snow plow here. And probably no one actually DOES.
There are a lot of houses on the outskirts of town that are about 1-3 yrs new, before the housing slump. The rest of the homes are 40-120 yrs old. This town at one point had a lot of company house neighborhoods. For those of you who may not know what a company house is, it’s a tract of houses that are all built the same, all cheap as crap and meant to house workers of the local plant. The company would take your rent out of your pay each month. The smaller ones were for the average peon, and the larger ones were for management level people or peons with lots of kids. Since factories are usually in the more run down parts of town, if you live in a company house, you’re probably living in a run down part of town. It’s ESPECIALLY true if that plant has closed and all the houses were bought up by investors to sell or use as rentals.
You see a LOT of OLD cars here. I don’t mean just people who haven’t bought a new car in 10-15 years; I mean OLD OLD cars, from the 30’s through 60’s.
Most funeral homes are in older homes IN a neighborhood. To me, that’s just plain creepy. And two on the same street, that’s just 2 times the freaky.
Most homes in town have venetian blinds instead of drapes. This even applies to newer homes.
People here can be very apolitical, and be right in your face about it. You’d think that as bad as the economy is, and the fact that most people squarely blame George Bush for it, even some financial institutions in town have McCain signs in their windows and/or NObama stickers on their windows. I told the owner of one such place that if I had money to invest and I was new in town, and I was looking for an investment banker, I’d see your McCain sign and run. So for the sake of your business you may want to keep your political views to yourself at work and you might attract more customers. She politely told me to go commit sexual intercourse on myself. It was only the 2nd time in my short time in North Carolina that someone has gotten rude with me.
Without referring to the lady above who gave me such lovely options of what to do, I also noticed that many people cuss within their business. In many businesses people also smoke cigarettes if it’s their business and they don’t mind telling customers that if they don’t like it, they can go elsewhere.
Most gas stations and repair garages still have that air hose dinger that cars run over when they come and go. Many stations still have public restrooms “around back” instead of inside the mini-mart portion.
Those are just a few of my observations about North Carolina, Hopefully I may find out that the rest of the state is better than Mooresville.
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