Comparisons

I guess it's just in my nature to compare things. Maybe it's because I feel everything that has a good side, always has a bad side. You know, like good and evil, ying and yang, etc.

Well, I can't help but notice one of Austin's "good sides". We do alot of fast food eating and store shopping and I amazed at the friendliness and promptness of the fast food workers and cashiers here. They always have a smile and they go out of their way to be helpful. This was something that I was not accustomed to in Mobile at all. You were lucky to get your order right and you could forget about "feeling welcomed". Here you don't have to hunt down help to find an item in a store, and if they take a little longer than usual to fill your order at a fast food place they give you a coupon for a free meal along with a smile behind it.

WOW, I am totally amazed! So, I ask my realtor friend Ginny about this strange behavior. She told me that they offer incentives here for friendliness and quickness in cashiering. I would say that the incentive works!

On the flip side, for Austin to have a large spanish influence, their mexican food leaves little to be desired. Don't get me wrong.....their food is good, we just havn't found anything that matches Mobile's mexican food. Mobile is furthur from the border, but they have Austin beat in the Mexican food area. The food here is predominantly Tex-Mex. I'm hoping that one day we will find the perfect little hole in the wall "real" mexican food place.

You'll notice for every good thing I say about Austin, it will be counter-acted with a bad thing about Mobile and vice-versa.

I lived in Mobile way too long not to defend it if necessary. Many years ago, I had a good friend who left Mobile to move to a new state. After she moved she never had a good thing to say about Mobile. She was very negative about it. I always said that if I ever moved away that I would always try to remember the good things about the places I have lived....because there is always something good about everyone and everything. The ying and the yang. :-)