# You've lived here your entire life and don't know where anything is? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 7, 2016, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-lived-here-your-entire-life-and-dont-know-where-anything-is/759292 "2016-07-07T07:42:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![quimper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7c8e57/32.png) [@quimper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quimper)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2016, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-lived-here-your-entire-life-and-dont-know-where-anything-is/759292/61 "2016-07-07T21:18:41Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > I asked the hostess which way we’d have to walk from the restaurant to get to Boston Harbor. We knew we were close. > > She had no idea. > > After some questions I learned she’s lived in Boston for **32** years yet, because she’s never been there, has no idea which way we needed to walk to head towards the harbor. :eek: > > Then we talked to the waiter. **25** years for him. He wasn’t sure either. :rolleyes: > > Then we talked to some other guy working there and he got into an argument with a waitress because they each told us to walk in opposite directions. :smack: This is not surprising in the least to me. Up until the late 90s the Central Artery more or less completely blocked access to the waterfront (“Big Dig” [before](http://cdn1.bostonmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/boston-big-dig-before-after-photo-3.jpg) and [after](http://cdn1.bostonmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/boston-big-dig-before-after-photo-4.jpg)). Ironically, a younger person would’ve been far more familiar with the waterfront than the waitstaff you encountered. Also, the harbor is huge and almost no one refers to it as the ‘Boston Harbor’ unless they’re flying over it on final approach to Logan. You’d’ve had better luck referring to a specific feature like Rowes Wharf, Aquarium, Seaport, or Dorchester Bay. Hope you enjoyed your visit! ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2016, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-lived-here-your-entire-life-and-dont-know-where-anything-is/759292/62 "2016-07-07T22:04:37Z")
We’ve lived here a very long time. I could ask **Mrs. FtG** which way was east in the morning with the sunlight coming thru the windows on one side of the house and her response would be “How am I suppose to know something like that?” She is astonished, for example when we’re out somewhere I say “Look at those dark clouds to the north.” I then have to point. She has no idea how I know where north is. The people the OP encountered are just people. Not especially stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2016, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-lived-here-your-entire-life-and-dont-know-where-anything-is/759292/63 "2016-07-07T22:22:03Z")
The harbor isn’t necessarily to the east as some are assuming. Look at a map. It could be in pretty much any direction depending on where in the city you are. Or multiple directions. I can see how locals couldn’t agree on where to send you with an imprecise question. Especially if the part of the waterfront closest to them has nothing anyone would need to go to. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2016, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-lived-here-your-entire-life-and-dont-know-where-anything-is/759292/64 "2016-07-07T22:47:21Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > Not everyone is rich. People need to keep their privilege in mind. We’re actually quite well off. But I prefer a flip phone. It’s easier to carry in a pocket and I don’t butt dial anyone. When they make smart flip phones available here I’ll consider one. My wifes zillion dollar smart phone was useless as her nation wide service for some inexplicable reason didn’t include the Boston area. My lowly Walmart Straight Talk service worked perfectly. I’ve told here repeatedly to switch to it. It works on smart phones as well. The point is, we travel extensively and I’ve observed that nobody knows where anything is. There are a lot of numb nuts in the world and it’s pathetic that some of you defend them. My favorite was when we took my little niece to NYC. She pointed up and asked me “is that the Empire state Building?” A city worker who was standing on the sidewalk behind her thought she was speaking to her and said _“I’m not sure what building that is, honey.”_ Aw, c:eek:me on! You work for New York and you don’t know what the ESB is? Then she got pissed at me because I turned towards her and said “you’re kidding, right?” [**snap**] _“No, I’m not kidding! I can’t know what every building is!”_ I think I did a Pit thread on that. I’ll try to find it. ---
**Author:** ![missred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/missred/32/14096_2.png) [@missred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missred)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2016, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-lived-here-your-entire-life-and-dont-know-where-anything-is/759292/65 "2016-07-07T23:25:00Z")
I’m another local who doesn’t hang out in the same places that the tourons do. I know a lot of neighborhoods in Nashville, but would have to pull out my phone to tell you how to get to some of the touristy stuff downtown or out around Music Valley Drive. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2016, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-lived-here-your-entire-life-and-dont-know-where-anything-is/759292/66 "2016-07-08T00:32:00Z")
> [@adhemar](#): > > I stopped at a convenience store in a small town in Indiana where there were supposed to be 3 covered bridges quite close by. The cashier had no idea what I was talking about. The second said she had heard of them but didn’t know where they were. She reached over to a rack and pulled out a map of all of the covered bridges in the state. The 3 bridges were almost within walking distance of the store and the people there had no idea about them. I live in an area with several covered bridges, and I couldn’t tell you where they were either (and I’m not one of the people with no sense of direction or internal map). I know they’re northeast of town…and that’s it. I don’t know _which_ rural roads they’re on. They aren’t really that exciting or notable to the locals. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2016, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-lived-here-your-entire-life-and-dont-know-where-anything-is/759292/67 "2016-07-08T00:44:38Z")
Although I can see how locals wouldn’t know how to send you someplace as imprecise as “Boston Habor” he and I will both agree that there are plenty of people who have no idea what is in their own neighborhood beyond the one route they always take. All you have to do is block traffic and have to detour people away from their usual drive home. “Officer is the street closed?” -looks at the police car blocking the road with pretty red and blue lights- “Um, yes it is” “But I live that way.” “Sorry there is a fire. Fire trucks are blocking the street. They are running 8 inch hose across the street. There is no way you are getting through for quite a while.” “But this is the only way I know how to get home.” “How long have you lived here?” “15 years.” …:smack: Many times, many different situations, many different people, same story. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2016, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-lived-here-your-entire-life-and-dont-know-where-anything-is/759292/68 "2016-07-08T01:01:01Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > Aw, c:eek:me on! You work for New York and you don’t know what the ESB is? > > Then she got pissed at me because I turned towards her and said “you’re kidding, right?” [**snap**] _“No, I’m not kidding! I can’t know what every building is!”_ > > I think I did a Pit thread on that. I’ll try to find it. Well, here’s a little tidbit for you to keep in mind for whatever upcoming Pit thread you have brewing over this little contretemps: “A lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.” You want to cosplay as a 1990s hipster. Fine. Up your game and _act_ like you know what you’re doing, and maybe bring a couple maps along. Believe it or not, people made it in this world without GPS and smart phones, _and_ without pestering everyone in a five-foot radius with impertinent questions. ---
**Author:** ![lazybratsche](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ba8739/32.png) [@lazybratsche](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lazybratsche)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2016, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-lived-here-your-entire-life-and-dont-know-where-anything-is/759292/69 "2016-07-08T01:17:33Z")
Another thing: Wait staff probably can’t afford to live anywhere within walking distance of “the harbor”. They’re almost certainly taking the T from somewhere with less obscene rents. They could come into the city regularly, but not many are going to take a two hour round trip to “the harbor”, just to gawk at some rich fucker’s passing yacht. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2016, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-lived-here-your-entire-life-and-dont-know-where-anything-is/759292/70 "2016-07-08T01:33:53Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > You never got your Obama phone? I’m still waiting for my jet-pack! ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2016, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-lived-here-your-entire-life-and-dont-know-where-anything-is/759292/71 "2016-07-08T01:46:15Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > like you know what you’re doing, and maybe bring a couple maps along. Believe it or not, people made it in this world without GPS and smart phones, _and_ without pestering everyone in a five-foot radius with impertinent questions. I’ve been to all [50 states](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=495577) and over 2 dozen countries. I fare better than anyone. We went into the establishment from one of it’s several entrances and were departing through another. _“Do I go left or right out of this door to go towards Boston harbor”_ shouldn’t elicit deer in headlights looks. The defense of these dopes is telling. Perhaps if people looked up from their phones and Ipads once in a while they’d know where the hell they actually were and where some things are. > [@Gatopescado](#): > > I’m still waiting for my jet-pack! It’s in the trunk of your water powered flying car. ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2016, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-lived-here-your-entire-life-and-dont-know-where-anything-is/759292/72 "2016-07-08T02:06:58Z")
Well, here’s a slightly different perspective, because unlike a lot of people in this thread I actually know where EVERYthing in my home town is. In thirty plus years it’s possible I got stumped once, someone looking for a forty foot long street that had recently been constructed. Otherwise, if you’re lost in my community I’ll get you where you need to go…and I can usually calibrate pretty well which of two or three routes to take depending on someone’s general familiarity with the area. (I walk a lot and get asked for directions a lot.) What’s amusing to me is that I also get asked for directions when I visit other cities. I study maps, look at public transportation routes; and surprisingly often I know where the location is and how to get there. My favorite is the city in PA where I’ve campaigned several times for political candidates. Twice that I know of I’ve been asked BY PEOPLE WHO LIVE THERE how to get to such and such a place…and I have been able to tell them. So, I’m with the OP, right? No, sorry. In my experience I’m fairly unusual in my directional abilities/geographical sense/ interest in maps. I get that lots of people aren’t. They can do things I can’t, too. Stories like the OP’s neither surprise nor especially dismay me. ---
**Author:** ![spamforbrains](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@spamforbrains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spamforbrains)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2016, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-lived-here-your-entire-life-and-dont-know-where-anything-is/759292/73 "2016-07-08T02:14:58Z")
> [@](#): > > A lot of people don’t think cardinally. Stop a random person on the street and ask them to point north. About 10% of people will be able to do it instantly with no hesitation. And how do they do this without consulting a compass? Unless it’s some obvious time of day (sunset/sunrise) last I heard humans don’t have magnetic particles inside their heads like some birds do. I lived in Boston for a few years and I haven’t the slightest idea where the harbor is other than imaging it is probably near the ocean. No idea why anyone would want to go there. ---
**Author:** ![Pantastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3bc359/32.png) [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2016, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-lived-here-your-entire-life-and-dont-know-where-anything-is/759292/74 "2016-07-08T02:26:10Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > The point is, we travel extensively and I’ve observed that nobody knows where anything is. There are a lot of numb nuts in the world and it’s pathetic that some of you defend them. People who live their own lives and know things relevant to said lives, but not things that only you care about, are not ‘numb nuts’, they are people that aren’t you. It’s especially silly when you’re talking about wait staff in a touristy area who almost definitely can’t afford to live near work, and typically commute out late at night so wouldn’t go from work to a tourist attraction anyway. Your posts here are incredibly self-centered and show a complete unwillingness to contemplate what the world looks like from someone else’s perspective. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2016, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-lived-here-your-entire-life-and-dont-know-where-anything-is/759292/75 "2016-07-08T03:02:58Z")
> [@spamforbrains](#): > > And how do they do this without consulting a compass? Unless it’s some obvious time of day (sunset/sunrise) last I heard humans don’t have magnetic particles inside their heads like some birds do. I don’t have magnetic particles in my head, but I’ve seen maps of my neighborhood, and many of the places I visit, and I remember what they looked like and which way north is. I know the morning sun hits my bedroom window. I see planes climbing or descending over my house and I know they’re coming from, or going to, Logan Airport, and I know where that is. It’s little things like that. > [@](#): > > I lived in Boston for a few years and I haven’t the slightest idea where the harbor is other than imaging it is probably near the ocean. No idea why anyone would want to go there. Boston is tricky, though. The streets near where I live run kinda northwest-southeast, but they’re close enough to east-west that it’s easier to think of them that way. Nearby is an area where they’re closer to north-south, so I think of them that way. But it’s possible to go from one to the other with a subtle turn, or a five-way intersection. There are times I’ve been going east and found myself going south without noticing. Downtown has its own challenges; streets that curve or meet at odd angles, and there are all sorts of different areas of waterfront. If the OP had asked me, I hope I’d have been able to send him in the right direction, but it’s not as simple as a piece of graph paper. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2016, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-lived-here-your-entire-life-and-dont-know-where-anything-is/759292/76 "2016-07-08T03:52:04Z")
> [@mcgato](#): > > Or similarly, the OP may have said “Boston Harbor” meaning the nearest waterfront. The people being asked may have thought he meant a specific place where the ships come in. > > Or when you are on a peninsula in the harbor, there may be more than one way to the waterfront. Yeah, I don’t know where I’d call “Boston Harbor.” I’ve been to Boston many times, and I’d probably give you directions to get to the New England aquarium since that’s near the water and I know how to get there from North Station. Or I’d send you to the BCEC since there’s water and boats near there too. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2016, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-lived-here-your-entire-life-and-dont-know-where-anything-is/759292/77 "2016-07-08T04:52:42Z")
> [@Pantastic](#): > > you’re talking about wait staff in a touristy area Who get asked touristy questions all the time. You think I was the only person to ever ask them that? BTW, there was a poster on the wall @ the entrance for some event at the harbor 2 nights later. While I’m sure none of these dolts put it up, they live there, they work there, it’s 8 lousy blocks away. Not have a clue which way it is beyond moronically oblivious to ones surroundings and habitat. ---
**Author:** ![velomont](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8491ac/32.png) [@velomont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velomont)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2016, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-lived-here-your-entire-life-and-dont-know-where-anything-is/759292/78 "2016-07-08T10:31:28Z")
> [@lazybratsche](#): > > I only lived in Boston a few years, but I have no idea what to tell a tourist asking for directions to “The Harbor”. Sure, from downtown Boston there’s water within walking distance in several directions… but which of the umpteen miles of built up coast do you want to go to? Most of it is a mix of hotels, condos, private marinas, and functioning wharves. I suppose, at least, I’ve never had much reason to go to them. > > If the hypothetical tourist was a lot more specific, I could have told them precisely how to get to the USS Constitution, but only because I passed it on my way to work from the T. Yes, but can you tell me the directions to the T?😃 ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2016, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-lived-here-your-entire-life-and-dont-know-where-anything-is/759292/79 "2016-07-08T12:27:49Z")
> [@Periwinkle](#): > > There’s a possibility that they were just messing with you, although with several employees involved that seems less likely. I was in Boston on vacation when I was very young, and I overheard two clerks in a shop laughing about giving someone the wrong directions. Made me wonder if that’s a thing in tourist areas for people in those jobs who are assholes, when they think they can get away with it. Not that I think that Boston is especially overrun with tourist hating assholes, just a coincidence that I had that experience there (I assume). > > That being said, I agree with several posters saying that some otherwise intelligent people don’t have the same degree of spatial orientation that many others do. I am one of them, and the GPS capability in my car and smartphone is such a life enhancer. The word is “Masshole”–which may have been invented by General Thomas Gage. Yes, some intelligent people have no sense of direction; thus maps & Google Maps on your smartphones. But–locals working a few blocks away from–not a tourist trap–but a large geographical feature? If they “can’t afford” to live near the shore, they damn sure drive to work or take mass transit. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2016, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-lived-here-your-entire-life-and-dont-know-where-anything-is/759292/80 "2016-07-08T12:32:45Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > Who get asked touristy questions all the time. You think I was the only person to ever ask them that? Why do you think that? And so what if they did. They’re there to serve you food, not act as your personal tour guide. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-lived-here-your-entire-life-and-dont-know-where-anything-is/759292.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-lived-here-your-entire-life-and-dont-know-where-anything-is/759292.md?page=5)