People in New England are different.   There is NO doubt about it.   Here are my tips for working with them if you have clients, PR brethren, or vendors there (and for those of you unfamiliar with which states are technically in that part of the country, it includes Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island):

1).  Speak quickly.   Don’t dawdle or drawl.  They HATE that.

2).  Don’t make a joke unless it’s really witty.  

3).  Use humor as much as possible.   (see above)

4). Walk around with a Dunkin Donuts cup or box.  

5).  Wear darker colors.

6). Let your hair just grow – for goodness’ sakes, don’t style it – you’ll immediately look out of place.

7).  Learn the vernacular – “color” is coluh, “Rhode Island” is “ruh-disland,” “idea” is “idear,” “liquor” is “likka” – you get the idea. 

8). Ignore their gruff exterior.  They don’t even know they’re doing it.  Use some wit and they warm right up.

9).  Tell them you love the Red Sox.   Do NOT wear ANY Yankees shirts, caps.  (You might see a few Yankee logos in Connecticut, admittedly).

10).  Don’t hum in public.   My husband was doing that early at the gym this morning, and they all started backing away.  He can’t help it – he’s from Wisconsin.

Twenty years in Arizona have definitely warmed me up, literally and figuratively.  But I still get impatient if people don’t get to the point quickly or if they resort to humor I consider the “obvious, low hanging fruit on the apple tree.”   Seinfeld said once in an interview with Barbara Walters that he thought comedians on the east coast had the best humor because they had to work harder to overcome life’s daily weather and traffic challenges.   When you go futher west, he said, the lifestyle gets easier, so you don’t have as many hurdles, ergo less of a need to meet them with humor.    That’s debatable, but I see his point.