Am hillbilly who visited Manhattan for the first time a few years ago. Shit was a little overwhelming ngl. But there is a nice kind of anonymity you find when there are that many people around. Just stand on the sidewalk and smoke a joint, nobody gives a shit.
Try that in a small town lol 😆
But yeah I was constantly thinking “my god what a pain in the ass it must be to get any work done here.” I’m in the trades and couldn’t fathom how different my job would be there than at home.
I was an electrician to pay for school in Manhattan, it was fucking awesome meeting all these dudes and ladies from all walks of life, truly a melting pot. I worked under a quality-centric Rasta, who answered to a way-overworked foreman from long island, we would all be fighting some days, laughing together some days and always getting shit done.
I don’t miss how much my fucking feet or shoulders hurt after being on ladders all day, 50 stories up where the wind fuckin’ gallops (till windows thankfully get installed), but I got so many stories and good/bad times out of the job.
I miss NYC, tell you the truth.
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But then look at how much a condo costs, or a sandwich, or a fricken shower floofie, and weep.
I hated Manhattan, I hate Milan which is way smaller but still huge to me… 300k people is my limit. I can get to work in 10 minutes, I can buy groceries down the street from my home, I’ve got 2 huge supermarkets at 5 minutes drive or 30 minutes walk, I’m on the outskirts so if I want to see some green (aside from that outside my window) I don’t even need to reach the park, I can bike out to the fields…
I start to feel uncomfortable if I stay in a city with less than about 300k people for too long. I grew up in San Diego.
butwhy.gif
Practically, there’s no mass transit and a general lack of goods and services. More personally, walking around on an empty street is creepy and makes me feel like I’m gonna get jumped.
Ah right, US car-centric infrastructure. Can’t confirm with Zurich.
In Texas. Would confirm, but I’m in a traffic shoot out.
There’s something that feel right living with so many strangers around, like it feels safer to me.
For me I just love the energy and the crowds. Can be tiring at times but if I’m away too long I really do miss it.
My experience has been that most of that is either the lights just being left on or cleaning crews. Oh, or coworkers hooking up.
And these pictures are probably taken in late autumn or winter when it’s dark before many people leave the office.
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although finishing up and jumping on a train and being home in 20 mins door to door is better than the same in an office park and then driving for an hour to get home which is great because if you did not have to work overtime the commute would have been two hours.
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is that /s or have you never been to chicago?
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its not hard to live close to an el station that is only a few stops down. its one reason wicker park is popular. granted you could do it with a bike to at that distance as well. bus to train works fine as well as its a bus that runs often. lived in bridgeport off halstead and did that.
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not sure what you mean but as for bridgeport it was 20 mins door to door downtown unless there was something wrong with the el for me and im sure wicker park could do likewise. 40 if you combine both commute there and commute back.
I had a 20 minute biking commute from Lakeview to the very north area of the loop but it was 30 minutes on an express bus or 45 minutes on the L door to door. A 20 minute door to door transit commute is lucky.
curious was this before or after covid. the redline runs all the time. It surprises me the express bus could beat it. again though it does depend on bus if its part. Halstead while not quite as good as say belmont does have regular busses running. One thing though is I was using the bus tracker so headed out the first door based on not having to wait long.
I was a two block walk from where the 135 went express and my work was a two blocks from a bus stop. The red line took longer because is was a >10 minute walk on each end. The brown line stopped closer to my work but still took longer than the bus (without traffic).
I would usually check the traffic on LSD before heading home and if it was really bad take the L, in the morning traffic was usually not bad enough to where the L was faster.
makes sense. My job and where I lived where pretty close to the el or one of the often bus routes that had a stop at an el station.
This is just about possible in NYC if you 1) work in a high-rise by a station 2) commute during peak times with frequent trains 3) live in a high-rise by a station.
For example: Downtown Brooklyn or Exchange Place high-rise <=> WTC.
The other option would be to live within walking distance. A <20 minute walking distance to a downtown or midtown office is reasonable.
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It is doable for many young professionals who work office jobs out of college, do not have dependents, and live with a roommate for a few years while getting established in their careers, finding a spouse, and then moving out to the suburbs.
They get cubicles?! Lucky!
Half-height cubicles, can’t have any of this privacy or personal space nonsense.
I always thought it would be so cool to work in a skyscraper, like… 55th floor or something and just take a break to look out over the city. Then I realized that taking a break would probably get you fired.
Oh, and I bet people be banging all the time on those top level floors.
I worked on the 22nd floor of a skyscraper for a few years. It was pretty cool. Nice views and we had a keg in the office.
I was put on the 24th floor of an office building with a desk facing the window while the company I worked for renovated our 10th floor office. It was really cool, there was a small hawk that liked to hang out on the window ledge and I had a nice view. When the renovation was done I was moved back to a cubicle with only florescence lights.
I love how your two paragraphs, read together, slightly imply that banging is part of the job and not taking a break.
what cities should be VS what cities are.
ITT: people who have never lived in NYC complaining about why they couldn’t do it
Complaining? More like counting blessings
I COULDN’T live in NYC because of the rent. I WOULDN’T live in NYC because of the noise, pollution, limited hobby possibilities and people density.
Don’t forget the stench of pee in the summer.
I can’t imagine living and/or working without a window or exit close to me.
