Why are you always expected to say "People here are friendly!" everywhere you go? Even if it's not true?

[Jsport]

I was never convinced with the whole 'being positive all the time' mentality either. It doesn't make any sense at all, because if something miserable happens to someone or an inconvenience comes along, people can't except that person going through those hardships to be positive all the time especially in hard times. Its like a guy going through involuntary celibacy and having to work in a stressful job at the same time, people can't expect a guy like this to be happy all the time, if anything it would make much more sense for this person to be negative most of the time until he gets his dating life straightened out. Great post and excellent job on your website Winston.

[GoingAwol]

I don't get this either.....
I was born and raised in the south (Tennessee) and people here in the south have an undeserved reputation for being friendly. Sure, some people are friendly just like any other place but overall it's no different than any other place. I think the reason the south has a reputation for friendliness is because people here are friendly on a very superficial level. People here will smile at you, wave at you, exchange pleasantries, and women will call you baby and darlin, but that's as far as it goes. People here may seem friendly but its superficial. When you get right down to it people here are just as anti-social and cliquish as people anywhere else. I have lived here my whole life and I'm still friends with the same people I have been friends with since grade school. Its extremely hard to make new friends.

[Wolfeye]

Maybe it's because the people they run into when doing these shows ARE that way, at least at that point. Maybe it's a case of them being on their best behavior? Take those shows about prison- do you think the guards are really like that all the time? Especailly when the convicts are calling them all kinds of stuff (or just being there). They're not going to show them flipping out on someone, they're going to show them being super-polite & acting almost like a camp counselor (not to say that camp counselors do all the same things to people as prison guards- even though there's plenty of potential overlap, just like there is with priests).

[xiongmao]

Lol for the topic.

I have to say I haven't found people that friendly in Barcelona. Some have been great, others couldn't give me the time of day. Some of the people doing the full time CELTA in my school have been assholes quite frankly.