I was thinking today about how different it is being overweight in New York, where I grew up and lived most of my life as opposed to being overweight in North Carolina, where I live now and have lived for the past four years.
If you haven't spent any time in NY, but have at least watched TV or have heard rumors about NYers being a$$holes, let me tell you it's completely true. I've been to many cities in various parts of the state, lived in both small and large communities where everyone knows who you are and no one knows who you are and it just doesn't matter, NYers are just generally bastards. There are individuals who can be nice, but for some reason the general attitude is rude, bitchy and downright nasty.
When you're constantly running into this kind of behavior on a day to day basis, it spreads fast and never goes away. If you're nice to someone, people are rude to you because they assume you want something from them immediately or that you're mocking them.
Anyway, facing those kind of people, it shouldn't be surprising to hear someone call you a fatass or a tub-o-lard if you're overweight and doing nothing more than just walking down the street, or eating at a restaurant. Yes, you get assaulted with insults for simply existing. I'm sure this happens everywhere, but I use to see it all the time in NY. Anyone who is different, not just overweight people, but anyone who might be different is likely to get an insult hurled at them. Those who weren't insulting you were sneering at you or rolling their eyes.
Coming to North Carolina, I honestly expected the same sort of behavior. I just assumed it was that way all over the U.S. However, as my husband and I started venturing off the base and checking out local establishments we found people were genuinely nicer down here. You could run into a perfect stranger in a grocery story and have a chat with them in an aisle for ten minutes and that is perfectly normal. Store clerks don't hide from customers around here and most fast food employees are polite. Hey, fast food service jobs suck, you have no idea how hard it is to smile in that kind of job so if they're polite and smiling, that's a big deal!
Sure I still ran into people who stare every now and then, but there was no eye rolling or sneering. In fact, people randomly greet you with hellos and smiles. Not just here in the town we live in either, but the bigger cities a few hours away as well. More often than not I find myself doing it back instead of keeping to myself and avoiding eye contact the way I use to as a NYer.
Now as far as what NCers are thinking? Maybe the same things are going through their heads as the NYers, I don't know. It doesn't matter, it's how they're treating people that I care about. I prefer being treated as a human being so I think I'll be sticking around here while I'm going through my weight loss. I feel comfortable in my own skin here.
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