NEWS for North Dakotans
Agriculture Communication, North Dakota State University
7 Morrill Hall, Fargo, ND 58105-5665

August 19, 1999

Plains Folk: Self-Fulfilling a Reputation?

Tom Isern, Professor of History
North Dakota State University

©1999 Plains Folk

So I checked into a decent-looking motel in a little prairie town, hoping for some good rest and hospitality after a hot day of work in the field. Things went all right until I asked about ice. The gal at the desk said, "There might be a machine somewhere outside. Go out and look around." This struck me as something less than accommodating in a place of accommodation, but I thought, "Maybe she's had a hard day, too."

So I drove over to the local steakhouse, starving, too desperate to be picky even though the waitress was cranky. I mean downright ill-tempered. This generally happens in places that hire kids for staff, but this woman has been ill-tempered for more than a half-century. She was not amenable to being charmed. I decided to cut my losses, eat, tip (more than usual, following the advice of St. Paul), and get out.

There was still the matter of ice, and the Dairy Queen was open. The manager was behind the counter. In a tone that was genial to the point of obsequiousness, I pleaded for a large beverage cup filled with ice. He said nothing, just filled a small cup with ice. Then he handed it over and sneered his only words: "Five cents."

This was a crisis. The only coin in my pocket was a dime. I had an urge to toss it onto the counter and say, "Gimme another cup." I realized, though, that I was sitting on a powder keg. I saw this once on "The Twilight Zone." (Cue theme music.) This episode was--"The Grumpy Town."

Smart people in the travel industry tell us we are entering a new era of tourism. Theme parks, glitzy packages and all things artificial are passe. From here on independent travelers will be looking for real things and real people in real places. What if these unsuspecting travelers wander into--The Grumpy Town?

One of my favorite stopping places on the World Wide Web is the suite of pages (http://acc.jc.edu/~stevenso/) maintained by Kate Stevenson of Jamestown, N.D. Here she offers the deliciously offensive quizzes, "Are You a Nodak?" and "Are You a Nodak German from Russia?" She also provides a page headed, "Grumpy Nodaks Explained," as a public service.

"Despite all my optimism about the value of taking a scenic detour through North Dakota," Kate writes, "I occasionally hear discouraging words from would-be tourists."

She quotes one of them: "The only time I've been in NoDak was in the month of August. I drove from Sioux Falls to Winnipeg, stopping three times in NoDak, and never saw a single smile."

Kate offers various intentionally lame reasons why this might have been the case, but it's plain she knows that a traveler in North Dakota might well come face to face with grumpy people. She says within the state, "The farther west you go, the friendlier the people are." I'm willing to go out on a long limb alongside Kate and agree with that.

Is this impression of grumpiness as a consistent thread in North Dakota true, or am I just being grumpy myself? Anyone who had tried to reach me by telephone knows I am extremely well-traveled, near and far, and Kate has been around the block a few times too. We've dealt with hospitality or the lack thereof around the world. To answer the question: It's true.

I'll offer a reason why I think it has come to be so. We live in a region that, from 1920 to 1990, knew nothing but out-migration. This has produced two types of grumpiness. First, we are reluctant to invest in personal relationships, because we figure the other party is going to leave town anyway. This makes us grumpy with one another.

Second, we know this is a place people go away from, and so if people come here, we figure they must be up to no good. They must be hauling drugs, or worse, getting ready to make fun of us. And sure enough, it happens.

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Source: Tom Isern (701) 231-8339
Editor: Dean Hulse (701) 231-6136

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