# Why Does New Jersey Suck so Much????? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 9, 1999, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-new-jersey-suck-so-much/11992 "1999-12-09T03:59:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![theuglytruth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@theuglytruth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/theuglytruth)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 1999, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-new-jersey-suck-so-much/11992/1 "1999-12-09T03:59:00Z")
OK . . .I sit in traffic for an hour in Queens and Brooklyn . . … I cross into New Jersey . . .and I have a 2 hour ride home on 78. All I ask is that I can either pull into a rest stop . . .or find an exit with a gas station THAT SELLS COFFEE AND CANDY BARS!!! BUT THERE ARE NONE!!! Why are there NO convenience store/gas stops on 78? When is New Jersey going to get in the modern age? [http://pwbts.com](http://pwbts.com) * * * [http://www.geocities.com/capitolhill/parliament/1685/](http://www.geocities.com/capitolhill/parliament/1685/) ---
**Author:** ![psycat90](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@psycat90](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psycat90)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 1999, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-new-jersey-suck-so-much/11992/2 "1999-12-09T04:06:00Z")
New Jersey does not suck. It is an awesome state, with everything you could possibly want right there. Great schools in most areas, great jobs, NYC right there, Atlantic City, Great Adventure, skiing, the beach, Philly right there, some of the best hospitals in America, cultural diversity, and lots of other cool stuff. Not being able to find a chunky bar is no reason to slam one of the greatest states in the union. * * * so you found a girl who thinks really deep thoughts. what’s so amazing about really deep thoughts? Tori Amos ---
**Author:** ![psycat90](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@psycat90](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psycat90)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 1999, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-new-jersey-suck-so-much/11992/3 "1999-12-09T04:08:00Z")
and besides, ugly, if your gonna flame, so it in the pit… * * * so you found a girl who thinks really deep thoughts. what’s so amazing about really deep thoughts? Tori Amos ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 1999, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-new-jersey-suck-so-much/11992/4 "1999-12-09T06:16:00Z")
> [@](#): > > When is New Jersey going to get in the modern age? I spent a few months in Haddonfield NJ back in 1994. Couldn’t buy a drink in that town. Hadda drive to Cherry Hill for a freakin’ cocktail. Uncivilized. * * * **StoryTyler** _I am too in shape! :::muttering::: Round is a shape._ [C’mon up and see me sometime.](http://sites.netscape.net/storytyler/homepage) ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 1999, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-new-jersey-suck-so-much/11992/5 "1999-12-09T14:57:00Z")
NY has more lawyers per capita than any state in the US, New Jersey has more toxic waste dumps… why is that? New Jersey got to choose first! ---
**Author:** ![PurpleCrackwhore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc348/32.png) [@PurpleCrackwhore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PurpleCrackwhore)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 1999, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-new-jersey-suck-so-much/11992/6 "1999-12-09T15:12:00Z")
I dunno… does it have more Hoovers, Kirbys or Eurekas than any other state? * * * “Only when he no longer knows what he is doing, does the painter do good things.” --Edgar Degas ---
**Author:** ![Satan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Satan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satan)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 1999, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-new-jersey-suck-so-much/11992/7 "1999-12-09T15:59:00Z")
Ah, Jersey’s okay. It just has an inferiority complex being stuck between the biggest and best city in the world and Philadelphia, also a large urban place. * * * Yer pal, Satan ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 1999, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-new-jersey-suck-so-much/11992/8 "1999-12-09T16:05:00Z")
I don’t know about “North” Jersey, but the couple of times I’ve been to “South” Jersey (Camden-Atlantic City and south), I’ve really liked it. ---
**Author:** ![psycat90](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@psycat90](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psycat90)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 1999, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-new-jersey-suck-so-much/11992/9 "1999-12-09T16:24:00Z")
Huh? You LiKED Camden? wow, now I happen to be a Jersey girl and I gotta say I love it, but Camden. well, umm, no, Atlantic City is fun I must admit but I wouldn’t want to live there. And Philly does not give NJ an inferiority complex, PA can keep it. NJ rocks! * * * so you found a girl who thinks really deep thoughts. what’s so amazing about really deep thoughts? Tori Amos ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 1999, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-new-jersey-suck-so-much/11992/10 "1999-12-09T16:26:00Z")
I am not impartial, as my one trip to New Jersey was miserable for reasons completely unrelated to the state itself, but I have to concur with the OP. As evidence, I offer the following points: 1. What is WITH not being allowed to pump your own gas? 2. The rate of racism / classism / anti-Semitism seems to be unusually high among people from this area. (Sweeping generalization, yes, but I have heard several young New Jerseyites say things my 99-year-old Confederate flag wavin’ great-grandmother would blush at.) 3. Everything is just too damn expensive. I rest my case. * * * \\| |/ === '\> ---
**Author:** ![OfficeGirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/97f17d/32.png) [@OfficeGirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OfficeGirl)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 1999, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-new-jersey-suck-so-much/11992/11 "1999-12-09T16:30:00Z")
“I’m from New Jersey I don’t expect too much if the world ended today I would adjust” Who knows what song that is?? * * * [OfficeGirl’s Cubicle Farm](http://www.homestead.com/allusions/allusions.html) “Argue for your limitations; sure enough, they’re yours.” ---
**Author:** ![Falcon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/49beb7/32.png) [@Falcon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Falcon)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 1999, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-new-jersey-suck-so-much/11992/12 "1999-12-09T16:34:00Z")
Aw hell…I know the song, but can’t think of the title right now. Actually, the song _I_ was thinking of was: “No left turns in Jersey And no U-turns at all The out of state man finds no mercy Driving through the concrete Of a jersey wall.” MAJOR bonus points to anyone who knows the artist/title of this one. * * * “There is no worse lie than a truth misunderstood by those who hear it.” - William James ---
**Author:** ![Yankee\_Blue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/7ea924/32.png) [@Yankee\_Blue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yankee_Blue)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 1999, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-new-jersey-suck-so-much/11992/13 "1999-12-09T16:50:00Z")
There’s nothing wrong with Jersey that the complete removal of that cancerous growth - NYC - wouldn’t cure. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 1999, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-new-jersey-suck-so-much/11992/14 "1999-12-09T17:00:00Z")
True, I didn’t think Camden was so bad–as far as I was concerned, it was just East Philly, and I liked Philly, too. The only thing I didn’t like was my own fault–a lesson in false economics. I thought I’d save money on tolls by taking US 9 from Cape May to Atlantic City, instead of the Garden State Parkway (by the way, why do we drive. . .). Bad decision, and I will never make that one again. ---
**Author:** ![psycat90](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@psycat90](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psycat90)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 1999, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-new-jersey-suck-so-much/11992/15 "1999-12-09T17:33:00Z")
> [@](#): > > 1. What is WITH not being allowed to pump your own gas? What is WRONG with not having to pump gas? I moved to central PA 2 years ago (I will be BACK in NJ by the summer, thank the heavens) and did not have a CLUE as to how pump gas nor did i care to learn. Why get out in below zero weather when you can stay toasty in your car? And who wants to smell like a gas station? It is against the law to pump your own gas in NJ, i couldn’t give you a definitive answer, some hypotheticals may be since it is the most densely populated state it runs a higher risk of drive-aways. I personally saw a fleet of fire trucks, cops, ambulances, etc. completely engulf a station because some whacko was holding an (unlit) Zippo to a dispenser ranting and raving, so another maybe for safety reasons. > [@](#): > > 1. The rate of racism / classism / anti-Semitism seems to be unusually high among people from this area. I find this hard to believe as being so densely and diversely populated, New Jerseyians are a mix of every thinkable race, religion, and social class. We simply must get along. Of course there are people like this, but I would almost certainly guarantee the number is less than just about any other state in the Union. > [@](#): > > 1. Everything is just too damn expensive. Well, we are just used to the finer things in life and We earn twice as much for just about any job out there. I’d rather pay more for rent, earn more at my job, and have every possible leisure and entertainment form minutes away, than pay cheap rent, get paid half as much and live in the middle of nowhere where the biggest thrill in life is shooting a defenseless animal or watching a bunch of cars go in a circle. (Which is why I will call NJ home again ASAP.) Whew. You guys hit a nerve in me today, huh? * * * so you found a girl who thinks really deep thoughts. what’s so amazing about really deep thoughts? Tori Amos ---
**Author:** ![psycat90](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@psycat90](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psycat90)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 1999, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-new-jersey-suck-so-much/11992/16 "1999-12-09T17:35:00Z")
oops my little quote thingies failed. You got a problem wit it?? * * * so you found a girl who thinks really deep thoughts. what’s so amazing about really deep thoughts? Tori Amos ---
**Author:** ![G.B.H.Hornswoggler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c67d28/32.png) [@G.B.H.Hornswoggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G.B.H.Hornswoggler)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 1999, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-new-jersey-suck-so-much/11992/17 "1999-12-09T17:42:00Z")
Q: What’s with not being able to pump your own gas? A: It’s simple. Once upon a time, all gas stations were full service (really full service, as in they’d wash your windows, check the tire pressure, etc. for free). As often happens, gradually costs rose, the gas stations laid off as many people as they could, and they lobbied the states to allow drivers to pump their own gas, on the grounds that they could then provide the same service more cheaply (since they’d be able to employ fewer people). Most of the states bought this argument (help me out, anybody whose state doesn’t allow self-service, I thought there was still one other), but NJ said, “Huh. Well, if that’s true, let’s see if gas prices (all else being equal) go down in the states that change the law.” Well, of course the gas prices didn’t go down, so Jersey saw no reason to help oil conglomerates make even higher profits, and kept their laws the same. P.S. Being from Jersey myself, I must add that vast sections of NJ do not suck, but we do tend to keep the sucky sections along major Interstates. Perhaps that’s so you out-of-staters keep going and don’t try to stay and drive our housing costs any higher! * * * …but when you get blue, and you’ve lost all your dreams, there’s nothing like a campfire and a can of beans! ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 1999, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-new-jersey-suck-so-much/11992/18 "1999-12-09T17:42:00Z")
Re: Why can’t you pump your own gas in NJ? WAG: Unions. ---
**Author:** ![SanibelMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@SanibelMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanibelMan)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 1999, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-new-jersey-suck-so-much/11992/19 "1999-12-09T17:57:00Z")
Da Ace, I believe that Oregon is the other state you’re looking for. ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 1999, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-new-jersey-suck-so-much/11992/20 "1999-12-09T19:21:00Z")
Most of northeastern New Jersey sucks. You see, it’s largely swampland (the Meadowlands, the "swamps of Jersey, etc.). Anyone who has been stuck in a bog will tell you that the more you try to extricate yourself, the more the mud seems to suck you back in. I’ll leave it to others to decide whether this phenomenon works metaphorically as well. 😉 * * * Livin’ on Tums, Vitamin E and Rogaine [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-new-jersey-suck-so-much/11992.md?page=2)