Reviews & Comments
Minneapolis, MN
re: Very, Very, Very expensive to live here - 2/22 -
3/11/2011I moved back here in December, after being in a different state for three years. I had originally moved to Minnesota in 1994, from the East Coast. I am leaving at the end of November, when the lease is up. I was lured here by a CPA (who despite his intelligence on accounting/taxation, is really your typical, insular, backward Minnesotan) with the promise of 500 tax clients and a decent income for only three months of work. Instead, his uneducated, Fargo sounding receptionist of 19 years stole my clients since she and her Fargo sounding husband needed more money. I had been in this line of work for 11 years; she two - preparing taxes. Then, of course, the CPA says I "disrupted" the office? Oh, I'm sure with my East Coast accent. It is not a friendly place; never has been. Minnesota Nice is BS, to say the least. People here don't work hard. They resent having to use their personal and free time for other matters. (Where I worked for all of one month, another employee's wife was going to physical therapy appointments on work time and then she and her husband wondered why she was called into the office, stating she has to do that on her days off, or without pay. You think food is high here. Try gas, due to the monopoly that Holiday has on the area, and is allowed to get away with it since it is a locally based employer. Minnesota and its people are very insular and inbred. One of my favorites here is how they will be "pretending" they are working - moving papers around, looking all over the place - when you are trying to have a conversation with them. They are very strange people. And, I know that since I have lived other places. And, you certainly don't want people to know you are not from here - weren't born here and didn't attend high school here (like a recently elected Council person does; she will never admit to anyone and doesn't bring up the fact she didn't live here for the first two decades of her life). They act on email and on the phone to be so damn nice, but in person, they back off and put up their walls. They'll take your money, but will never give your directions to their home. The roads are terrible. They don't fix their potholes. I fell later January - tripping over a commercial property owners built up ice since he was too lazy and cheap to clear it regularly - and I was told by lawyers with the county referral system that "this is Minnesota in January; these things happen." Oh, I guess that's the nice BS part. I figured I had to return here to finally realize that I will never look back on this place again. I'd rather pay a tax on cheaper food and clothing and lower gas prices and live in a more heavily traveled part of the country where you will not have an insular culture.
Albuquerque, NM
re: Pros and Cons After Eight Years - 11/13/2010 -
12/6/2010I left in November, too, and am very glad I finally did. I needed civility in my daily life and never found that in Albuquerque - too much shouting, too much "drama," too much panhandling, too much laziness, too much rude behavior, too much sloppy habits - not cleaning up after themselves at fast food restaurants or even better ones. It may be for some people; but not for me. And, yes, the cost of living does not equal the pay for jobs. If you are educated and not from the area, you won't get a job. I could go on and on, but it's not worth my time.
Albuquerque, NM
re: The best thing about Albuquerque is that it’s -
11/5/2010Agreed and agreed. I'm leaving in less than two months, but wish it were tomorrow. I'm going back to somewhere I lived for many years, and recently in 2008; it is still a very nice, metro area, with a talented, educated workforce. I'm sick of the ABQ crowd - people trying to sell you something in the aisles of Wal Mart, or asking you for money while your eating a hamburger at a local restaurant (not outside, but inside), or walking down the street, or filling up for gas.
You don't get a decent job in an office unless you are part and parcel of the New Mexican culture. Surnames are a plus; certain surnames. Or if you know someone. I never had this issue where I am returning. In New Mexico and ABQ, if you have an education beyond the lousy New Mexico school systems, then you are over qualified for anything. They like to hire their own, then those same people call in sick a week later and a week after that. In plain English, they don't want to work. They are cold when it is 65 degrees outside, yet continue to wear their clothes for a T and A show - that is they don't want to dress appropriately for the weather. Many employees around here are on drugs, can't get jobs - even at call centers - since they don't pass the drug tests. Then, even if you want some plain old restaurant kitchen job for the time being, you're asked "do you have experience." I tell them, no and if you want experience, then ask someone on the street who is panhandling since he has most likely worked in a kitchen and did nothing else, but can't keep the job for even more than a week due to their drug/alcohol and other cultural issues. Problem with this state is that New Mexico has allowed this culture to fester for years since it was always politically incorrect to say otherwise. Well, you can have it.
Albuquerque, NM
Had Enough -
10/29/2010After two years here, I would have to finally agree. When I first arrived, I was quite upset over some things - when the bed delivery guys arrived, could barely make it up the stairs due to their slovenly bodies, and then actually slamming the frame up against the wall, damaging it. How lazy. I was angry at the laziness in the parking lots - any parking lot - of people not taking their carts to the cart rack, which would be a few feet away. Last evening, I HAD TO REMOVE three carts from behind my car just to get out after shopping.
You don't get a response for a job if you have an education. They prefer their local bunch. I've even heard some employers say, "We want to give everyone a chance." No you don't have to give everyone a chance. If they lack and education, decent working skills, and are not healthy, you don't have to give them a chance. I had agencies snicker at my resume two years ago since I had the education.
Many people here like being poor, I believe, since they don't know anything else, and probably don't want anything else. I've seen people move here and stay, only years later to have not accomplished anything and their children develop problems.
I'm leaving by the end of this year, returning to where I lived for 14 years. No place is perfect, but I had a much better standard of living in an area where a talented, educated workforce is much appreciated.