I hardly ever go into the city, but I did Saturday night to see a play which was extraordinary. After the play, we met friends for dinner and cocktails. Now I’m not the kind of asshole that makes a scene of bad service, but I wanted a glass of wine so badly and the bottle was on a counter within arms length. No one at the table would let me grab it. If it was just me, I would have emptied it by the time the server asked me to sample it. My response:
Me: Oh just pour the damn thing.
Mate: That’s so rude.
Me: I honestly could care less. I did a % of her job.
Mate: Well she’s probably embarrassed now.
Me: Um not likely. She was busy breaking up with her boyfriend over her cell in the middle of the restaurant in Spanish.
So let rude = rude. And the scenario really set the tone for the next few hours. It’s a new city. Much younger, even compensating for me being older than when I left. But these occupants will bang you in the shoulder in lieu of texting on their phone. Imagine if secretaries in the 1940’s could work with a typewriter strapped to them while walking. Well imagine no more. The good old days are back with a twist. Holding the door for someone is such a “why even bother” moment. You end up feeling guilty, but a high society woman tipped me ten bucks! Not bad.
So may empty store fronts or buildings for sale. The city took a huge hit during COVID and a few years later isn’t recovering fast enough. The excitement of living in the city was the whole aura of a certain standard of high respect and responsibility for the image of their city. Well that’s gone as most of these people are gone. It’s all early twenty somethings and homeless. Very sad. And so quickly.
But the play is the thing as Shakespeare said, and it was worth all the inconveniences to get there. The quality of the stage has not succumbed to the grunge you have to pass through to get to it.
New York post 9/11 saw people at their most sympathetic, cordial and thoughtful. Everyone starting saying “hello” to each other. People apologized if they bumped into you. The camaraderie was genuine. Post-Covid New York does not at all reflect that respect for people.
No major conclusion, just an unfortunate observation. It used to be said that New York was the center of the world. I feel much differently now. Maybe it was at some point, but now it’s the center of a place that no one’s interested in making better. It’s the “what’s in it for me” attitude that prevails. Different time / different place.