A place for people to gather and share their dislikes of this crazy awesome town.
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what the fuck are any of you people doing here?
what are you doing here?
apparently, your user name suits you well.
I have been lucky to live in several states, this by far has the most rude and crazy bunch of people I have ever worked with. Everything is a crisis, everyone is stupid and on the verge of being fired every week. Seriously, what would half of these people do if we had an emergency in Portland. Just picture it!! Seriously people, chill out.
Love this site. I’ve lived here for five years and I think this city gets worse with every year. It doesn’t help that I’ve now been to every version of the mellow quirky laid back boring Portland bar now. I thought Portland was a little oasis being from Detroit. But, the people here suck so much I would rather be back in Detroit. At least we know how to have fun and have good music. And sports teams and people with personalities.
I like the unable to walk on the sidewalk discussion. It is probably closely related to my personal hatred of how Portlanders board a plane. Are you in line? Are you up next? Are you just mulling around in an ignorant mob wondering what is going on? It never fails and you can be in any city anywhere in the country boarding a plain to Portland and it is the same mindless, mulling mob.
damn, i had no idea people though SF was rude. the first time i went, i was shocked at how overtly and genuinely nice people were there. i had no clue what i was doing or where i was driving in my obviously rent-a-car, which should have put a massive target on me. instead of being treated like a clueless out of towner, people were eager to help me get around town, invite me places that had things to do, tell me where all the good food spots were, invite me to come hang out with their friends at the bar (both male and female, gay and straight, so i know a lot of it was not just pickup ploys)…and it was all truly laid back. i figured being tshirt weather in late winter had something to do with the general happiness of the city, lol.
you want rude? go to seattle. people there think their shit doesn’t stink, like they’re some kind of grittier, realer, more original west coast version of new york. it is difficult to find people and areas where people are being genuinely nice. i can’t even count how much attitude radiates from seemingly all corners of that city, how quickly random strangers are to snipe off a sideswiping comment to you for absolutely no reason. neutoric city.
portlanders don’t strike me as particularly rude so much as they are…on their own planet. uncouth is a good word for it haha.
anyone saying the food is garbage here either doesn’t know what they are talking about, or has made no effort to find it. which, considering you can just walk into most random places and get good food, implies that you indeed just don’t know what you’re talking about. sorry, but if you can’t find good food here that betrays a dumbfounding cluelessness. i realize pdx is no nyc *rolls eyes* but there’s a reason this city is regarded as the next culinary mecca.
yeah, the foodie attitude can be awfully stinky here. and the food carts are hit and miss (i thought it was weird that one of the examples of the only good food cart in town is on 50th in se, when the one time i went to that truck was the nastiest inedible shit i have ever eaten from a food cart, anywhere) so they can be given a lot of credit where it’s not really due; i think people are simply excited about the concept and how many more options it opens up. i seriously recommend hitting up the grilled cheese grill in laurelhurst, it might just change your mind. awesome sammiches. the pod on belmont (& se 45th i believe?) has consistently good food as well, and i’ve liked every cart i’ve tried on se hawthorne and 9th-10thish.
cat–I’ve lived here for 14 years AND previously worked in hospitality—so it’s neither “lack of effort” or cluelessness. I probably know significantly more about food than you do, sorry. There isn’t “good food if you look for it” here—with a very few exceptions, it’s spin. Much like our status as a “destination city” even though there really isn’t all that much to do.
BTW, we’ve been “the next culinary mecca” for at least 20 years—it’s always been “on the brink” because we aren’t all that. At all. Honestly, while the restaurants are more expensive and the people less friendly, Seattle’s much better in that department.
I can make my own gourmet grilled cheese, thank you.
stinking hard-luck swamp. always has been. always will be.
Born in NYC and just moved to Portland. I just can’t believe this place has hiptards. Why, dude? I left Brooklyn thinking that’s where they all moved to. I get it, they’re all different just like everyone else. You got a sweet tattoo and some tight pants, congratulations – mommy’s proud. What probably bothers me is their flagrant apathy and absolute disregard for common sense. I have close friends who play the part, with their nut squeezing jeans and ridiculous tattoos of trees and turtles and I always say to them, “let it go… be free my child.” I’m no Armani, but a completely recycled style is trash – be original, dress up in styrofoam or something.
People drive here like they’re blindfolded. Why do they have to tailgate? If you’re gonna pass me, pass me, don’t f’ing hover next to me. If I’m letting you go, don’t tell me to go instead, just go. If you’re at a stop sign and there’s traffic at the intersection, B-E Agressive. And I saw a dude drive the wrong way on a freakin highway? I see most of this everyday.
Anyway… I’m not bitter. I came to Oregon for the Cascades, camping and the surf. Compared to Fallujah, Portland isn’t that bad, but maybe I haven’t been here long enough.
What sucks most about Portland are the morons who actually believe this: Occupy portland was about “the financial devastation of the middle class by policies from the era of Reagan to today”
Must be why they spent months occupying government buildings and the pearl district instead of causing the middle class and poor taxpayers to have pay for damage to a public park. Oh wait…
I hate Portland and everything about it. From the constant protests by the people who have no clue what they’re protesting (i.e. Occupy Portland) to the effing elitists who think everything is better cause it’s in Portland. The city is an out of control turd hole with an incompetent mayor and idiots for citizens.
Yes, all of Oregon sucks.
How can you not understand what Occupy Portland is protesting?
How about the financial devastation of the middle class by policies from the era of Reagan to today? Was that really so hard?
Portland has no elitists. Neither does Lake O. Nothing in Oregon qualifies as elite anything. What looks like an elitist is just another native afraid to look another human being in the face lest that human being strike up a conversation.
Horrors!
Oregon elitism is simply abject fear of being social.
a.grey, I think you and I have a LOT in common!!!! Agree completely about the food (and I used to work in hospitality). Probably the best “eat out” we’ve found is a burrito cart on 50th and Division. Otherwise, meh.
BTW, about parenting—1) I am one, so I know that you can raise your kids differently and it’ll be okay. 2) While there are certainly plenty of normal parents, everything I posted comes from the Urban Mamas blog (or the observation of my cousins, who embody every element above).
Good to meet someone who agrees about the “scene”. If you ever DARE to criticize and compare, everyone will whine about what a food snob you are.
Okay, honestly–I think this should be an entire piece of its own….but here goes. What I truly hate most are the uber PC/Wannabe Hippie Parents of Portland and their complete hypocrisy (and conformity)
I live in SE, so I see all of this tons: firstly, they’ve all persuaded themselves what individuals they are. Even though every freakin’ kid I meet seems to be named Zoe, Jake or Maya. But those are “creative” names. Even though they’ve become the equivalent of today’s Jennifer from the 60′s/70′s.
Moving past names, I hate how these same parents get all in a dither about “forcing traditional gender conformity” on their kids, so they dress them in “gender neutral” clothing. And endlessly insisting dolls are bad, Disney’s bad, but organized sports (which emphasize such non-hippie, circa 1950′s values as competitiveness and glorification of the jocktocracy) are good.
Along with sports competitiveness comes this need to push your kid in academics. Hey, I think it’s great for your child to perform well in school—but I also seriously doubt your 5 year old “loves” going to Kumon, year round school or any of the other tiger mom in disguise stuff you’re forcing on them.
Of course if your kid doesn’t enjoy wearing old clothes (not because of finances, but to appear more “earthy”), eating flavorless organic food, only enjoying gender neutral activities, having their lives micromanaged and generally lacking any actual fun—fear not! You can simply determine your kid has a psychiatric disorder and send them to a shrink for their “negativity”.
oh man… i can’t stand pdx-style “parenting”… i actually had a semi-argument with a mother who tried to validate the vegan diet she was forcing on her infant. ugh… if you wanna be a vegan, fine- just don’t force your pretentious dietary restrictions on your kids (or your pets, for that matter)… kids have entirely different dietary needs, and their parents should be charged with child abuse/endangerment.
i couldn’t reply to your reply on my other post about the local’s lack of manners, but i wasn’t necessarily implying that they were purposely rude (most people here are, at the very least, passingly nice), but just lacked basic couth, social graces, and common sense. no wonder drivers here are so bad… they barely know how to walk down the street. maybe it’s all the one-way streets that the city of portland loves to impose on drivers ^_^
and yes, the food here is mediocre at best. food carts, schmood farts… portlanders love to take already existing ideas, blow them all out of proportion and somehow claim them as their own. the worst one i’ve seen is the bbq place on se hawthorne that serves kimchi with a pulled pork bbg sandwich… really? why don’t i just bypass the middleman and stick a finger down my throat; the end result’s the same.
that said, there are a few spots (even a few food carts… gasp!) here that (almost) rival some of the places i haunted in nyc… small oases in a culinary desert.
there are quite a few things i love about this town, but i’ll be damned if people here seem to enjoy doing things in the most convoluted and annoying ways… gotta keep it “weird”, i guess… bleh. gimme “normal” any day.
post script… san fran is awful. i spent two weeks there once visiting friends. gorgeous scenery, but you can have the people… they make portlanders look like royalty in comparison.
George Carlin has a bit about that, the meaningless structure wannabe-hippie parents force on their kids.
Its pretty funny
is it just me, but are basic manners and couth not taught to the locals here? i’ve NEVER been in a city before where people don’t seem to understand the basic concept of walking down a sidewalk. every other place in america seems to understand that you STAY TO THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE SIDEWALK when walking, not too different that the basic rules of the road, right? not here in portland. i’ve noticed it’s usually more prevalent downtown amongst the more *ahem* white-trashy types who hang downtown & look like they rode the max in from Gresham/82nd/Vantucky to panhandle and score dope and meth. i live right across the river in SE and every day i come downtown, i deal with idiots for whom the basic concept of sidewalk rules are too hard to grasp. they look at you funny like you got in their way.
i swear, pdx has some of the most mannerless people i’ve ever run across… and yes, i’m talking about the natives, the in bred trash from the outer regions. i grew up in the south, and i swear that the white trash up here are more inbred than the breed that exists down south. people like to gloss over the fact that the south and the pacific nw are the two biggest strongholds for the white supremacist movement- remember the skinhead problem back in the 90′s and how bad it was?
maybe it’s the lack of vitamin d… or that their brains are waterlogged from birth from all the rain… or maybe it’s the piss-poor, under-funded education system… or the heroin and meth… or just plain redneck inbreeding. oregon is the alabama of the west coast.
btw… i moved here from nyc. try walking down the left side of the sidewalk there. you’ll learn a real quick lesson in basic manners after you’re forcefully shoved to the proper side.
Okay, seriously, you’re from NYC and you find Portlanders rude? Hey, I hail from New York, as well–and if you want to diss the food here, I’m with you. Ditto that no one seems able to use anything resembling common sense when bus riding. And yeah, they might walk on the “wrong” side of the street (which is less bad manners and more just not knowing any better, since they probably have only just discovered it IS possible to get somewhere by means other than a car).
BUT, New Yorkers are FAR ruder than people here. While there are things I hate here and things I love and still miss there, I couldn’t get over how impolite people were the last time I visited. Plus, if you want to see rude on the West Coast, go to San Francisco. Just appalling.
You are absolutely correct. Portlanders, perhaps it is all NorthWesterners, are cold and often outright mean. They are polite only the very surface but are venal just underneath.
I chalk it up to the subsistence existence of Portland natives and the abject fear it breeds. They have only ever scraped together a meager living from the land and that living has largely gone. Portlanders are deathly afraid of outsiders or of anything new. They may go for something derivative but never anything that is actually new.
When I meet a new person in Portland I try and find out if they are a native or have lived here a long time. If they have I immediately dismiss them…waste of time. I much prefer to spend all of my social (and business) time with transplants.
I recommend this process to all other transplants. Do not waste your time even talking to natives as they will never add to your enjoyment of life or your prosperity. It sounds HARSH but Portland is HARSH.
YOU ARE 100% CORRECT!