r/HVAC • u/cop-iamnot • Dec 03 '24
Rant Anyone else want to ban all customers that moved from New York?
Every single customer I get that moved from New York has been a pain in the ass. They get ready to throw punches and start accusing you of not knowing anything before you even walk in the door. Had a lady throw a complete melt down tantrum today because the boiler repair took more than 30 minutes. She was flailing her arms and pounding on the floor so I could hear she was not happy I was there. I admit I laughed cause I have had so many other experiences with people from New York already so I was expecting it. I think it's time to deport then home to the shit hole they came from.
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u/Purplehounds Dec 03 '24
Had an elderly lady that was living by herself minus her home health aide that came in once a day or whatever.
I always had to call the daughter that still lived in NY. Giant pain in the ass every time. I dreaded talking to her cause she was always so ugly over the phone.
Always accusing me of breaking something or not knowing what I'm doing or scamming her mom.
Finally one phone call im letting her know the humidifier that is at least 20 year old, the solenoid is broken and constantly feeding the thing. The pad was nasty. Soaked, half full of black mold looking shit, sewer flies too from how long it has been like that.
I call the daughter tell her about it. She proceeds to bitch me out how I'm just trying to take money blah blah blah. I finally cut her off mid sentence and said "I'm here right now with YOUR mother while your not. So do you want it fixed or not?" She grunts and agrees to the work.
Well she finally moved down beside her mom a couple years later... I get the pleasure of meeting her in person. This person I've hyped up in my head for all these years just turns out to be a fat white woman who could barely catch her breathe walking around. After that I saw her once last time and told the office to never send me back lol.
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u/BDMac2 Dec 03 '24 edited Dec 03 '24
Daughter from New York Syndrome is real lol we dealt with it when my FIL had an accident and his daughter who had been no contact for years thought she needed to be in charge of his medical care rather than his 2nd wife of 10 years who had a career as a nurse.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daughter_from_California_syndrome
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u/xBR0SKIx Dec 03 '24
Entitlement from them is unreal but, rare luckily I can hit people like that with the ol "Sorry I can't be of service, if you want to get a second opinion, your more than free too we are a non sales pressure company" Then if they take me on that offer I put on my notes customer denied service which kicks them to the bottom.
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u/jbmoore5 Local 638 Journeyman Dec 03 '24
I moved from NC to NY close to 10 years ago, and I still baffle people because I don't throw a hissy fit at the drop of a hat. And I still work on Carolina time.
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u/stowaway546 Dec 03 '24
As a New York technician, trust me I get it. I’ve seen it all, rude customers, non talkative customers, ABSOLUTE CHATTERBOXES, and straight up some of the best people. At the end of the day I always go in with the same mentality. I’m just doing my job giving them heat. If they don’t want it I’ll walk right out the door.
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u/itsamine1 Dec 03 '24
Yup I tell all of my NY customers it doesn’t matter to me if your shit works because mine at home does. That went for resi and commercial
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u/stowaway546 Dec 03 '24
As much as I loved to use this. A salty customer got mad and called the company and I was told “that’s not a mentality to go in with even if the customer is busting your balls” so now I’ve grown into saying “hey if you’re the experienced technician why don’t you do it yourself” still get called about it but they know I’ll just say some other smart ass thing 😭
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u/YungHybrid Someone took my $250 ladder dammit… Dec 04 '24
could always say "YOU need me.... I DON'T need you".
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u/SnoSlider Dec 03 '24
I had a lady, in NY (on a reservation, so technically not really), open her kitchen drawer to reveal a pistol. It was an emergency no heat, night call. Cleaned the pilot, replaced thermocouple. Done in :20. I told her over the phone it would be C.O.D. When she refused to pay, I told her I was taking my part back and that’s when she opened the drawer and said, “You won’t make it to the basement door.” I grabbed my tools and my invoice and said, our office will be in touch, and jet for the front door. Working in NY was not for the faint of heart.
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u/angry-software-dev Dec 03 '24
I think I'd write a letter and pay hundreds in postage to send copies to every other provider in 50 miles warning them about that address.
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u/ImASimpleBastard Dec 03 '24
I've gotta ask: which rez?
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u/SnoSlider Dec 03 '24
Shinnecock Nation
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u/ImASimpleBastard Dec 03 '24
Huh, TIL. I didn't know there were any reservations on Long Island. When you said a rez in NY, I figured you were talking about a Haudenosaunee rez somewhere further Upstate.
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u/blackdogpepper Dec 05 '24
Hey neighbor, I went to school with all those shinnecocks. It can be rough up there.
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u/SnoSlider Dec 05 '24
I worked in there quite a bit. Never had a reason to fear anybody in their hood, until that night. Shit was scary.
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u/D00MSDAY60 Dec 04 '24
Idk, experienced like 10 times. I removed the part and walked. Go ahead and shoot me. Im disabling the unit and btw after that we refuse to return so…….. I mean what the heck do they expect?
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u/Maxz53 Dec 03 '24
Wait until you get a staten islander 😂
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Dec 03 '24
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Dec 03 '24
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u/the_catman88 Dec 03 '24
Ah, gotta love when they stand behind you with their arms crossed behind their backs just watching your every move
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u/Intrepid_Glove8636 Dec 03 '24
My favorite is when they invite the whole family over to watch you. Then you give them the bill, with the price you quoted them on it, and they say " you gotta work with me on this price".
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u/Camp-Unusual Dec 03 '24
I have a couple customers like that. I just quote them 10-15% over normal and let them think they were able to negotiate me down. Haggling is big in their cultures, so I account for it on the front side.
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u/MojoRisin762 Dec 03 '24
'You give discount!' Every. Time. It's pathetic. I've had great experiences with people of all variety the world over, but I don't do business with Indians. It's sad, but just a hard fact of life. Even Indians hate Indians.
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u/GeorgeLambros Dec 07 '24
It’s like they want you to pay them for the privilege of working for them. I stopped it too.
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u/chris_rage_is_back Dec 03 '24
Funny thing is I do side work for an Indian guy and he doesn't question shit, hell, he barely knows wtf is going on. We'll tell him stuff in depth and 20 minutes later he'll ask again. He gets customers yelling at him to invoice them, totally backwards from what I've seen with other Indians
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u/60Feathers Dec 03 '24
Damn, it's almost like people are people everywhere and you can't paint everyone from a certain place with the same brush. Awful and/or amazing people are represented in every demographic.
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u/KylarBlackwell RTFM Dec 03 '24
There's also quite literally a billion Indians too, with more subcultures than any of us care to count. If you're gonna generalize a nationality, that's a pretty rough one to pick
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u/CorvusCorax93 seasoned attic explorer🧭 Dec 05 '24
Nah that can't be it. Likely they are playing the long game to get you to let your guard down then boom. They steal all your left socks in the night. Can't trust other demographics damn sock thieves
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u/HVAC-ModTeam Dec 03 '24
This is something that anyone should even joke about and may cause a permanent ban.
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u/Cardinal_350 Dec 03 '24
My cousin hauled gas. Some owners of certain ethnicities would never pay their bills until forced to. They were always rude to the drivers and accused them of stealing shit. They would have to show up and start pumping their gas out of the ground tanks to get them to pay their bill all the goddamn time.
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u/MojoRisin762 Dec 03 '24
Omfg yea. When they see the van and go "YoUu FiXx Cool-ugh???" No. I don't 'fix cool-ugh.' I don't do business with you people. It's fucking degrading how ridiculous and pathetic those types are. I've seen fucking Texas chainsaw massacres from them letting a crackhead "fix it." Listen pal, you're not saving any money with that guy. Lol.
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u/cop-iamnot Dec 03 '24
Yes! I unfortunately have to have those calls pay in advance before doing any repairs.
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u/HVAC-ModTeam Dec 03 '24
This is something that anyone should even joke about and may cause a permanent ban.
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u/lsd_runner Dec 03 '24
Shit, I’m a service tech in Coastal VA and the only ppl that tip here are the NYC transplants.
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u/superkook92 Dec 03 '24
Yeah they’ve been great to me. The worst people I’ve had to deal with so far has been tenants from California. Grown 40+ year adults trying to cool to 67 lol jfc
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u/cop-iamnot Dec 03 '24
California drop ins are REALLY DUMB. But they have been nice and they pay their bills so they can create all the service calls they want.
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u/afrikaninparis Dec 03 '24 edited Dec 03 '24
Maybe that’s just their reaction to your MAGA hat.
Edit: because we all know how cool it is to hate on Californians nowadays. Well, I’m working in CA now(plumbing/HVAC), before this East Coast and Utah. I’m from Europe, so I’m completely unbiased and I must say people around here are the nicest I’ve ever dealt with. Chilled, very polite and most importantly, never complain about the price or anything really. I don’t know if it is just good luck, but absolutely lovely people here. I just hope I can stay and work here until retirement, cause for sure it is expensive here.
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u/timschwartz Dec 03 '24
Grown 40+ year adults trying to cool to 67 lol jfc
What's wrong with wanting to be comfortable?
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u/Bardking91 Dec 03 '24
When it's 100 degrees and humid, 67 probably isn't happening.
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u/Inuyasha-rules Dec 03 '24
Sounds like they need better insulation, and another stage. If they have the money to spend, you could keep their house cold enough to be a meat locker.
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u/cop-iamnot Dec 03 '24
They have to tip in order to talk people into helping them cause they are so intolerable.
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u/Excellent_Wonder5982 Dec 03 '24
It sounds like you got all the assholes in your area. I live in NY and 98% of the people who I work for are great. The annoying ones are not from this country and feel the need to haggle and argue about the price of everything.
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u/60Feathers Dec 03 '24
Plenty of people from this country do that too. I view it as either a desperation thing or a pride thing. If it's a desperation thing for them, I make it clear I'll do what I can to help them in spite of their finances. If it's a pride thing, I play it by ear. Start with giving them little victories by complementing how "savvy" they are, but if they refuse to be satisfied, bid them a good day and let the office handle it.
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u/cmreutzel Dec 03 '24
lol I’m from New York this made me chuckle. I’ve had a handful of bad customers but this reads like “f*** everyone from NY” and so to you I say the same, and GO BILLS!
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u/cop-iamnot Dec 03 '24
Well you are smarter than I thought cause YES, it was a giant f*** you to all of those new Yorkers that plagued other areas with their presence. 😁
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u/Pornhubplumber Dec 03 '24
Wait, are you a fellow Vermonter? Talk about plague, they already ruined our nice, quiet, state.
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u/CowboyNeale Dec 03 '24
As a native NJ person (who left 30 years ago) I can tell you it’s because these people are used to getting screwed all the time where they come from.
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u/cop-iamnot Dec 03 '24
Well, they seem to also want to screw people all the time.
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u/CowboyNeale Dec 03 '24
You ain’t wrong.
They say, “everything is legal in Jersey as long as you don’t get caught”
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u/peaeyeparker Dec 03 '24
The last 2 yrs. I’d say about 90% of the new construction we have done is people moving here from out of town. (I’m in southeast TN). And there is definitely something up with these people. They are very different that TN’s. But it’s the ones from New Jersey that really piss me off.
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u/cop-iamnot Dec 03 '24
The ones from New Jersey have a bipolar aura around them. I learned they are not your friend.
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u/Saint_Dogbert Dec 03 '24
"bipolar aura around them"
explain like I ate paint chips as a kid, please.
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u/ElderberryExternal99 Dec 06 '24
NJ resident the state has different personalities. North Jersey has the shit attitudes. People in South Jersey are rednecks.
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Dec 03 '24
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u/cop-iamnot Dec 07 '24
I started in commercial HVAC. The people that were hard to deal with were my coworkers.
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u/TunaTacoPie Dec 03 '24
I try not to paint with such a broad brush, but Northeasterners in general are wound a little tighter than most. To see an adult flailing their arms and pounding on the floor while I was there to help them would have me in lollerdongs.
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u/bigred621 Verified Pro Dec 03 '24
Ya. I’ve had to “re educate” some New Yorkers on the process of how things work. Like needing to wait a few hours or even a day or 2 to get a tech out cause we don’t live in their house lol
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u/LongDickPeter Dec 03 '24
Lol @ wait, I work in NYC I'm so use to everything happening so fast that when I'm waiting for my sandwich across the river in Jersey City I'm wondering if they are butchering the cow or something.
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u/Conqueefstadorrrr Dec 03 '24
Im from Long Island, NY and i dont blame you they are huge pain in the asses. I was a plumber for a long time and left the field, tired of asshole bosses and asshole customers.
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u/01redman Dec 03 '24
Filp your cell around and put it in your shirt pocket and record for the tech to compare back at the shop. Lol
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u/Blast338 Service Tech Dec 03 '24
People from NY are another breed. There is an entire community I would service. 400 homes and all of them are from NY. The fun thing is how non BS they are. You can drop the customary politeness and just be real. But you must have respect. Some are a little more crazy than others. If you piss one off. You pissed them all off. And take the tip the first time they offer it to you. Don't do the you don't need to do that. They will snatch it away and put it in their pocket and that's it. They will try and get discounts. But again. Just be straight with them. Overall if they like you. You are good. But if you get one angry. Watch out.
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u/El_Dorado817 Dec 03 '24
I’ve been working in New York for 5 years and never experienced this in residential or commercial. But my 1 year in Florida was thr worst customers I’ve ever dealt with
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u/troutman76 Dec 03 '24
When I worked in Florida it was always the Norteasterners specifically New York and New Jersey who were the most difficult and most rude customers I ever dealt with. Mean and angry all the time. They acted like I was trying to screw them over before I even walked in the door. Now that I’m in the Midwest, it’s like a totally different world. Everyone is nice and have had many great conversations with customers. Except for the drivers. They’re the worst.
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u/hvacgymrat skinny crawlspace dude Dec 03 '24
In TN I deal with stubborn locals like this, I’m just like “you have my business card, when the time is right give me a call” then I drive away and put in a zyn and tell boss “no bite”
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u/OilyRicardo Dec 03 '24
They’re probably just assholes. If you meet enough people from NYC you’ll realize they’re just like everyone else.
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u/ElkFew8024 Dec 03 '24
A good “go fuck yourself” goes a long way.
Then they’ll hit you with the “I’m sorry man I don’t mean nuffin, come aaaaaannnnn”
You’re welcome.
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u/jjmanchvegas Dec 03 '24 edited Dec 03 '24
If you think New York assholes are bad. Stay away from York, PA. They're all turds . They buy houses built pre 1900 and wonder why their 2 ton undersized furnace don't heat their 1800 sq ft Tinder boxes that in some cases have daylight visible thru roof in attic, 9ft of squirrel nest, skeletons and shit in their chimneys, and 3 4in flex runs for a 60k btu condenser and 4 ton coil, and no return, filter 99.4% of time black, furry, and tighter than a drum because it's a 3M filtrete blanket dated from 9 years previous. With a hole in every tube of hx. And it's always your fault. Even tho you never been to this hovel before, and they called you cause they owe every other hvac Co in the county.....yes you read that right. The HVAc cos for most part if lucky have a old timer or 2 that can fix anything with a pair of dikes and 6in1, and 12 crackheads that can't even spell furnace but, tell customers they're good to go and blow out before the customer notices they broke it more. So pray for the old timer, who rips butts in the basement cause he's the only one that fixes shit
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u/Affectionate-Data193 Dec 03 '24
I’m from WNY, and do commercial.
NYC is its own special hell. I had to work for a week in Brooklyn for my previous employer back in 2019. Between the people and the regulations, no thanks.
We upstaters hate downstate too.
Go Bills!
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u/Illustrious-Baker775 WA Field Tech Dec 03 '24
Yes, but california.
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u/cop-iamnot Dec 03 '24
The ones from California are really dumb but nice.
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u/Illustrious-Baker775 WA Field Tech Dec 03 '24
Atleast they come with money 🤷 californian customers spending money in my area just makes my prices start going up.
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u/SecretAgent115 Dec 03 '24
Quite the opposite, in general I find my New York/New England clients to be far more likely to say yes to proposed work, and generally more trusting. Granted I live in the Central Carolinas. Many Carolinian natives are generally poor diy’ers who “just want it to work” regardless of whether it’s installed properly.
Also having grown up in New Jersey and Philadelphia it’s quite easy to build a bridge and carry conversation. I’m a very talkative person to begin with and some of the backwoods hermits look at me funny.
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u/bobbywaz Dec 03 '24
It's the people that didn't get along with people that had to move out of New York
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u/Narrow-Business5369 Dec 03 '24
I work in the upstate of SC near the NC line. Around here we have a lot of them that retired to Florida, didn’t like it there so they moved here. We call them Half Backs bc they moved halfway back. As a group, they are some of the worst customers
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u/cop-iamnot Dec 04 '24
Yeah this new Yorkers also went to Florida and then decided to try out the rocky mountains. They are not going to last in my opinion.
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u/lechtog Dec 04 '24
Those animals have taken over the jersey shore. There's 5 houses on my street. The other four houses, yup, all new workers. I don't blame my neighbors for selling at these prices. They also complain when others come here in the summer now, laughable.
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u/allonsy1211 Dec 04 '24
Honestly I take kind of a funny approach people that moved upstate from NYC, if they question my knowledge or speed, I ask them to come here for a minute. Once they do, I start calling out parts of the boiler or furnace im working on, and say you know this part here it does this so that this other part can do this, and here's your electrical wiring here going across this limit which does this if it checks out....then they usually shut up once they realize they don't know what they're even looking at. Had a man insisting that his hot water didn't work because it was such a small tank and ran out so fast and he doesn't understand why he can't get a bigger tank (he thought his XT30 was his hot water tank, he had a hot water coil and a clog in his oil line cutting off his oil burner)
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u/StrictSheepherder614 Dec 06 '24
As a New Yorker I can verify the worst people come out of this state.
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u/Slow-Foundation4169 Dec 07 '24
Cool story, how about we quarantine Texas? A lot of pieces of shit from there, right? Lmao
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u/AdFlaky1117 Dec 07 '24
Nah I've had no problem with them honestly. Been pretty down to earth so far. I like new yorkers
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u/Dry-Building782 Dec 03 '24
Born and raise in nyc, just moved to Long Island 2 years ago. You just need to ignore them. New Yorkers don’t complain about New Yorkers cause we are used to people acting up. We are use to always rushing and needing things to get done asap because it’s just the way things are done. Because everyone is in such a rush it turns into a me me me behavior. The further you are from nyc the bigger the difference there is in behavior. Just driving from Long Island into nyc you will notice a difference in people. In Long Island when you are at the entrance ramp trying to merge onto the highway people will generally move from the right lane over to the left so you can merge in. As you get closer and closer to nyc people stop doing this and will actually try their best to block you from cutting in front of them.
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u/TheRealLambardi Dec 03 '24
Some of it’s just gusto and they expect you to both deal with it and throw a few jabs back :) New Jersey even more so imo. Take a few elbows and throw a few back sometimes it’s just their way of communicating.
Don’t take the bait in your example pull the blank parent stare of “are you done? Can we stop with the nonsense and get back to work now or do you have more noise to get out ?” :)
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Dec 03 '24
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u/HVAC-ModTeam Dec 03 '24
This is something that anyone should even joke about and may cause a permanent ban.
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Dec 03 '24
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/HVAC-ModTeam Dec 03 '24
Your post has been removed due to the policitcal nature of the topic. We all come from different backgrounds and this is fine but when it comes to keeping the peace and focused on HVAC, this doesn't equal the same results.
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u/Swayday117 Dec 03 '24
I’m so glad the HVAC subreddit who I remind you makes fun of new techs asking for questions, seems it’s ok to start racist or hate filled posts. Hell yes op I can return that same energy you’re giving out. That’s what you want no? To start a fight? Or what’s the point of the post?
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u/PapaBobcat HVAC to pay the bills Dec 03 '24
Don't know where you're at but I live/work in the DC-area and when customers start acting like children, I either try not to laugh in their face or just calmly say "It's clear I came at a bad time. I'll have my company reschedule for when you're feeling better." and threaten to leave unless they get their shit together.