I Hate Seattle

I fucking hate it here. I moved here for college and it has been the most miserable 4 years of my life. I'm moving in a few days and I'm ecstatic! Finally! When I first moved here, I was basically only concerned about the weather. I was used to over 300 days of sun per year so being in the rain for the majority of the year concerned me. While the weather is crap, it's actually the least of my concerns and the most minor of all things. I don't enjoy being under cloud cover for the majority of the year (the summers are shit too) but it's not the weather that makes me hate this place, it's the people and the environment as a whole.

Growing up in CA and NV, I had never once been exposed to people like this before. So many people here are idiotic, unnecessarily judgmental, and condescending. As someone previously mentioned, it's almost impossible to have a decent conversation with the people here. There's no reciprocation. It's not possible to carry on a conversation with someone who only gives one word responses. I've never had this hard of a time making friends before. It's simply not possible to make friends with people who immediately judge you and don't attempt connect with you. The people here are so strange! They aren't down to earth or easy going, they just seem to be cold and indifferent. For a while, I wondered if it's me but then I realized that immediately once I get out of the area, all of these issues stop. No one is friendly or considerate of others. People drop doors on you all the time (even when your arms are full). In the occasions that I've actually held a door for someone, people either glare or stare at me like they don't understand what I'm doing before walking through the door without saying anything - no thank you, nothing. If you smile at someone, don't expect to have that reciprocated. Instead, expect a glare or a blank stare.

The traffic is ridiculous. I've heard so many people say "Oh, the traffic in LA is horrible." I'd rather drive in LA rush hour than drive 5 blocks to the store here. At least people there know how to drive and seem like they're going somewhere. I seriously question whether anyone has actually taken driver's ed here. Turn signals are optional - a brilliant idea right? Not only are they optional, head checks apparently are as well. I've seen so many close calls on the freeway where people just swerve into the other lane, no warning, no checking. Furthermore, everyone paces! 4 cars pacing across 4 lanes of traffic = 1 massive traffic jam. Why is that so difficult to understand? If I speed up to pass you, don't speed up to pace me. I honestly don't feel like I'm asking for too much, I'm just asking for people to generally follow the rules of the road. People can't even go the fucking speed limit!

During the winter, it's like no one has ever seen snow before, despite that I've seen it snow every winter for the last four years. You'd imagine that they'd invest in some snow removal equipment by now. But nope, they have them all sent over from Spokane which is about 4 hours away. That's efficient right? People literally park their cars in the middle of the freeway when there is an inch of snow on the ground. Are you fucking kidding me?! That's a brilliant idea. My opinion may be biased considering that I've had to drive to school with 2 feet of snow on the ground but come on, this is still crossing some very basic lines. The amount of accidents I see as a result of an inch of snow and very light flutter is ridiculous. The fact that 16 year olds who just learned how to drive can navigate windy mountain roads with 2 feet of snow on the ground and 10 feet of visibility just goes to show how pathetic this situation is. Get your shit together, Seattle.

The roads are all crap too. I've never seen so many potholes in one area before. Many of the streets are paved over brick roads that were laid down a century ago. Look in some of the potholes, I guarantee you'll see brick down in some of them. It's not the proper way to lay down roads so everything is falling apart. Do they bother fixing them and actually doing it right? Nope, they just keep filling in the potholes and patching the massive cracks. Like that'll solve the problem.. The sewage system is also old and out of date. The storm water and sewage system are interlinked. If it rains a lot (which happens fairly often here - duh), the sewers will flood and begin flowing out of the drains on the street. Yeah, that river of crap going down the road during a rainstorm, it literally is crap. It might be good to think twice about stepping in that shit.

I don't understand the people who absolutely love this place. I don't understand the point of paying out of my ass for a mediocre apartment in a mediocre area. My rent is $1400 for a supposedly nice 700 sq ft 1 bedroom apartment in a super crappy area. Hobos sleep in the back alley that my apartment faces. In my search for sex offenders, I realized that there are approximately 30 in a 5 block radius. Great! Yeah, I can walk to the Safeway a couple blocks away (something some people would consider awesome or convenient - clearly I'm not one of those people) but in the process of doing so, I'll most likely see human shit on the sidewalk and be drenched by the rain in the process. I've even been stalked on my way to class at 8:30 in the morning! What is there to love about that?!

Despite being a city, there really isn't much to do around here other than getting drunk off your ass in Capitol Hill. The beaches are shit and actually have signs warning people to not eat the shellfish they find there because of the toxins in the water. Why are there toxins in the water? Look up where the sewage is pumped out, it's right around the corner. Yeah, I really want to go swimming in that shit.. That holds true for just about any beach you can find around here. The nearest ski resort is an hour and a half away and charges ridiculous prices for admission. A season pass to Crystal Mountain and a total of 2600 acres is at least $600 if you get a "good deal." Back in CA, a season pass to three different resorts and a total of 9800 acres (in the immediate area) is $300.

Nothing ever just works out like it should here. Customer service is practically nonexistent. So many times I've walked into a restaurant just to have the staff stare at me like I'm an idiot because I don't know to seat myself and buss my own table, despite there being a lack of signs or any instruction of any form. If you have a question at a store and need assistance, expect the shortest and most unhelpful response ever. That's assuming you can actually find someone to help you to begin with. The employees act like you're bothering them for asking them to do their jobs. What the hell do you think you're being payed for?! Recently, my bf took his car in to be serviced, have the oil changed, and to have his bumper adjusted (since they did the body work on it when someone backed into his car). The shop washed his car.. that's it. They literally "forgot" about everything else. This isn't something that happens once in a while either, it happens all the fucking time! On top of that, I've never seen so many homeless people in one area before, it's probably because this city caters to the homeless. I've even heard homeless people say that they like it here because of that!

Last but not least, the people who live here think they're the shit. They go around strutting their stuff and acting like hot shit when they're clearly not. They think they know what's going on since they live in this hellhole of a city. I'm so sick of this "I'm better than everyone else" mentality that everyone seems to share here. I would like to add that while this obviously doesn't apply to everyone in this city, I've noticed that it does apply to the majority. That's enough for me to hate this place. Clearly I'm not the only person who does either. I'm glad I found this site. I don't think I've ever despised a location and the majority it's people so much before. I'm so happy that I'm getting out of this shithole. I don't plan on ever coming back.

Seattle isn't the worst place I've ever lived, (of the 15 different states and twice as many cities) but there are a whole lot of fucking idiots here. I've read a lot on how much Seattlites pride themselves on their high college degree per-capita, but apparently all that book learnin' hasn't helped much.

1. Others have ranted in detail and accurately about all the absolutely fucking asshole idiot retard drivers so I'll just leave it there. (To the idiots: I'm dreaming of building a chemical laser to shoot out your tires as I pass you, cursing, on the right because you're driving slow in the fast lane. Or whatever other stupid-ass-fucking thing you're doing with your car.)

2. Fundamentalists. This place sure has a lot of far-leaning folks, on both the right and the left. To me, they're all the same, because they all act like fucking idiots who are somehow smarter and more righteous than anyone else.

3. Pussy parents. (I think the new term is 'helicopters.') I wanted kids before I moved here and met the whiniest, spoiled-brat kids I've ever seen. Too bad all these otherwise bright and talented kids will grow up to be fucking idiots like their parents.

4. Crazy fucking landlords who talk nice to your face and say "yeah you'll get some of your (huge fucking) deposit back" but you never do and then you read in the paper later about how they've embezzled hundreds of thousands of dollars from their companies. What the fuck??? That's a new one...

5. Asshole dog owners who live in Belltown and don't pick up after their dogs when they shit ON THE SIDEWALKS where people walk.

6. All the Feminists with traditional entitlement issues. Give me a fucking break. Talk about having your cake and eating it too. Quit your fucking idiot whining already.

7. Ugly people. My hat is off to the guy who ranted entirely about this subject (but somebody should tell him it is 100 times worse than this in Alaska.) It is ok to be ugly, or average, or whatever, but you're a fucking idiot if you act like you're some hot shit when you really ain't.

That's it for now. I'm sure I'll have a new list tomorrow. I only can hope for a website like this to rant about my employer, but I'll be satisfied for now with the fact that Scott Adams seems to have a fucking spy who reports on the idiocy there.

Oh yes, its THAT time of the year again-

Time for us to close the I90 bridge several times a day for 4 days (thursday-sunday) so the allegedly highly trained Blue Angels can come make noise over the gloomy city.

As if hydroplane accidents, mammouth parking lot queues, and little blue jets streaking barely visible overhead were worth all the inconvenience to the entire region on which they inflict. Perhaps Tacoma would love to have the Blue Angels next year, and marvel at the wonderous backups sure to occur when they close the narrows bridge 4 days in a row, right around morning and afternoon rush hour even!

But the faux liberals of Seattle have to have the Navy here to make them feel better about themselves as if they really gave a shit about our military at all other than the parades and revenue from the bases. Some of us haven't forgotten the protesters with GI Joe effigies, in downtown during the gulf wars. The average seattlite is about as patriotic as Jane Fonda, really.

This is really yet another reason to HATE this city. Every weekend is ruined by the traffic and congestion of various events that seem to easily warrant closing this or that freeway, just because. No wonder gas is so high here, as little as anyone is actually able to drive their cars anymore, many of these stations would probably never even sell enough... (ok I'm being a bit sarcastic there, but you get the picture)

Hey- I'm not the social director for seattle, but if they took a vote on whether or not the majority of people wanted all of this horseshit going on every weekend, I don't think we'd be seeing it near as often.

So its a nice sunny weekend. Would be great to get out and do something right? Wrong. EVERYWHERE you go, its traffic jams galore. And its not like there are accidents, and not even too many cars, just slow, incompetent, lazy morons behind the wheel. My favorite things about seattle "drivers":

-light is green, wait 20 seconds and hit gas as if an egg was under your right foot.
-merge onto freeway a 40mph, immediately cut off everyone and move to left lane, set cruise at 58mph
-4 way intersection: you go, no no, after you, just kidding, me first, no after you...
-let us slam on the brakes for every annoying pedestrian and bike that doesn't have the right-of-way
-the carpool lane is where you go when you want to go slower than every other lane of traffic. yes, even when theres 8 angry cars behind you.
-your hunk of shit toxic batteries and plastic Pius makes you the darling of all because you are 'making a statement' about driving a boring, ugly overpriced car.
-holding up the flow of traffic isn't rude, its your DUTY to slow down speeders and save gas at the same time.

It rains. They can't drive. Its sunny. they can't drive. It snows. they really can't drive. How funny they like to blame the canadians and californians, and only because at least californians can drive faster than 60mph without getting in a wreck.

I always visited Seattle every year or so...LOVED it. When my husbands job brought us here, I was thrilled. I was really excited about being able to live in such a cool, fun city.

Fast forward two years and I want to get the hell out. We're looking for a job transfer to pretty much anywhere else. What changed?

First, the weather is terrible. I knew that it rained a lot before we moved but it's different LIVING in it 24/7. Your nice weather season is pretty much July-September and it's been so f-ing hot and no one has airconditioning so it's miserable. During most of the year, it's hard to take kids to parks or go for walks without assuming that everyone will be wet, cold and complaining the whole time.

The real estate market is a joke. To buy a decent home in a decent area will cost you insane $$$. Most of the 300K homes outside the city are very basic with no backyards. Inside the city, you have to be prepared to pay at least $600K for anything over 1500 sq ft.

The people are cold. I have never had problems making friends before. And still, when we go out of town or on vacation, I meet way more people than I do in Seattle. No one smiles at you on the street or has any sense of politeness. It's much like NYC in that respect. It's very isolating here.

Traffic isn't great - if you compare it to the Bay Area or any other big city, it isn't that bad. But it takes my husband nearly an hour to get home from work and we technically live 20 minutes away.

Someone stole two lanes of the street between N 105th and N 85th this past week. Apparently, someone felt that traffic was moving too fast and/or efficiently through that part of north Seattle. In typical Seattle fashion, matters have been taken to clog things up by adding dedicated bicycle lanes for the 4 or 5 bikes that travel that stretch during any given hour as opposed to the several hundred cars moving through there in the same period of time.

I don't see much discussion about those that have a commute outside of the inner Seattle core. I live in south Renton and I want outsiders to understand that when I moved here I couldn't believe the poor driving skills.

*dead stopping in roundabouts
*lurching in 4 way stops and giving the vertical palm toggle despite having the right of way.
*slamming on the brakes at traffic speed to allow a car to turn in front of them or allowing someone to jaywalk causing all the drivers behind to slam on brakes too.
*traveling at least 10mph under any speed limit traveling in the left passing lane.
*using a turn signal is a sign of weakness.
*hastily making right turns on red but making no effort to haul ass to stay at or above traffic flow.
*accellerating using idle gas from a dead stop
*Driving Helen Keller style - they drive all over the road and specifically straddle the white line into the shoulder for miles.
*Poor roadway planning - roads constantly turn from 2 to 4 lanes causing people to speed up in front of you to merge and then lazily go under the speed limit.
*Too conservative speed limits - 25mph - everywhere you go is a dangerous "school zone" that's a disguise to generate revenue to compensate for no state income tax.
*Driving up 405 or 18 doing 70 but riding the brake all the way down a slight grade doing 45 in a 60mph.

Natives don't want urban sprawl (its already here!) and how it harms the environment to cover up how cheap the state is to avoid building efficient overramps, flyovers, and redesign god damn state "highways", which I call access roads, that end at mile long left turn stop lights! Who designed this shit? What about all these cars and semi's idling pollution at lights where a god damn over ramp oughta be?! But hey, they need to spend millions on multiple studies to determine ecology effects. At MINIMUM, a road should be 4 lanes - for breakdowns, passing, emergency vehicles, etc. There should also be dedicated right hand turn lanes.

King county loves to build subdivisions but won't build curbing, storm sewers, street lights, etc. They expect the HOMEOWNER to build their own sidewalks!?!! The amount of return you get for what you pay in this state is nothing. The excuse that land mass is limited is bullshit. There is room to do so just poor urban planning overrules all.

I don't know if this has been posted on here, but I thought it was funny and very very true.

Print and cut out this card, which has the 10 most likely responses you'll get from Seattleites if you bring up any negatives about their city. Wait for the discussion to end, hand them this card, and tell them to have a nice day. Better yet, if you're a betting person, bet them that you already know their responses and then hand this to them to collect your prize.
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1. That happens EVERYWHERE (response to a negative observation about Seattle)
2. Statistically, Seattle is top in ____
3. Oh, yeah? I visited [city name here] and it was a terrible place; I'd never go back, good luck to you.
4. Well, you're not from here, so you don't know.
5. Maybe if you changed your attitude the natives would like you. Sounds like you don't spend enough time outside. This is all your fault.
6. It's not us, it's the rude transplants who are giving you a hard time.
7. You must not be very well educated if you're criticizing Seattle. By the way, that was improper use of that word you just said, FYI.
8. If you don't like it, go home (this one cracks me up whenever said/posted in response to a person's gripe is that people in Seattle aren't very welcoming).
9. Oh, sure, it rains here, but it's so mild most of the year, you don't notice -- it's really warm and sunny in the summer, in fact, it can get downright balmy. Did you know that Seattle actually gets fewer inches of rain that New York, Miami, etc..?
10. Traffic, well, yeah, traffic could be better, but it still only takes me 10 minutes to get from Pike Place to Bellevue.

What did I tell you? Pretty true, huh?

I have owned a small business here in the higher end part of the U district for about 16 years. It used to be fun. The people used to be nice....well, the young guys still are sort of nice..it's the middle aged hags out there that are out of their minds with self love. I have a job that's fun.....nothing too extreme...but, in the end, product has to be perfect. The female customers that I've had for the last 16 years are still great..it's the new breed of women that are killing my spirit. I am high energy, wear bright clothing and talk to everyone about everything. Alot of people have told me that I don't belong in Seattle....I am more of a Southern girl...kind(mostly), gentle(mostly)..outgoing. I tried like heck to make it work ..I did....but lately, I've just been beaten up one too many times by smart a** ugly women that think their time is more valuable than mine. If I get one more hand in the face in the middle of one of my sentences..I'll scream..(they have to answer their phones, you know). Or..."I can't wait for you to do your job...I have kids in the car."..hurry hurry hurry.What the heck is the rush? I'm tired fo the fake friendliness that seems to be the norm here in Seattle. I'm tired of the RAIN..the gloom..the lack of friendships.. the jealousy..the miserable way women dress...(sloppy fleece..Oh Yeah!!! and they wonder why they're single?) I'm tired of the road rage...I'm tired of the rage against me as a Christian...(my fish symbol really gets people angry)..WHY??? I'm tired of the insulting way people talk to each other here...snippy snippy snippy. I'm tired of everone here thinking this hell hole is the BEST place on God's green earth to live..."Why on earth would you want to move?) Her's a tip Seattle..When it comes to driving....The lane on the far left..isn't a lane to mosey on down the highway in..it's a PASSING lane. Pass and then move over. (move over?) Ever been to England?? Get a clue people!! Don't honk your horn at me when I'm at a cross walk..letting someone actually cross. I've been road raged by a smart car..a smart car..raging against my pickup truck? I've also been raged against by a cyclist...he thumped his wheels into the back of my BMW sports car....that worked!! I'm tired of the "I'm better than you" attitude that all the young/middle aged women have here. I was single again at the age of 40...I had NO problem getting dates. Guys thought my personality was fun and festive. But all I hear is these women complain that they can't get a date...Well..there is some truth to that I guess. Some of the guys here in Seattle could use some good old fashioned mid west influence!! Go eat a steak, buy a gun, lift some weights, get a tan, get outside and get away from your iphones and computers. Stop asking young girls to "hang out"..Call them up..go on a date...grow some ba**s...be a man!!!! Open up a door for a lady...and you young gals...try being ladies. Have some self restraint...don't give it all away the first week. The conversations I hear are amazing! Financially..Seattle is DOOMED!!!!! The taxes keep getting higher, the debt keeps growing, nothing is going to be done with that death trap called the viaduct. The 520 bridge is soon to be tolled..that's going to be GREAT!!! The roads are in disrepair..try going aroun Lk. Washignton Blvd...right past the Arboretum....POT HOLE CITY. Good Grief. Ms. Gregoire will do her best to make WA ST look just like California...financially. We Are Broke..Seattle!!!! I like Starbucks, though. But don't go for the coffee!! It tastes burnt. I like chai tea lemonade..and the coffee cake. If everyone treated each other like the workers do at Starbucks..we'd be a much friendlier place. Instead of What Would Jesus Do? ..could Seattlites possibly embrace the notion of What Would Barristas Do? I'm going back East.....Hopefully I can find a farmhouse tucked in a cornfield somehwere...me, my husband, my dog, my bible and my gun.....Did that make you angry??? If I was a Starbucks, would you want to throw a rock through my window? Like the liberal "no gun" protester that smashed Starbuck window in Leschi? (And dowsed the front with red paint??) That is the real problem the IS Seattle. It's Filled to the brim with Liberals that stand for free speech, human rights, anti-violence...until they need to make a statement against violence -with violence. Passive aggressive, violent, rushed, angry, unfufilled, arrogant,holier than though, faith hating, mean spirited people..(not everyone). I need to be quiet now. My unders have gotten into a bunch, and now I need to go cool off.

I've heard Seattle's peculiar driving etiquette discussed a lot, but I've noticed something interesting and maybe you have, too.

When the driver at the intersection stops and insists that you go first, and you don't play the "you first" game back with them and instead proceed, have you noticed that some of these people will then gun it out into the intersection because you didn't play the wave game with them?

Weird. If they didn't want me to go first, then why all of the formalities?