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30 People Share The Most ‘Small Town’ Things They’ve Ever Seen Happen In Real Life
Interview
If you have ever decided to stay for the summer or perhaps have a vacation in the countryside, you know that life absolutely moves at a very different pace. From everyone knowing each other, to random wildlife and farm animals showing up all over the place, rural areas are like no other.
Someone asked “What's the most "small town" thing you've witnessed?” and netizens from the suburbs and countryside shared their best examples. So get comfortable as you read through, upvote your favorites and if you have a memorable small-town experience, share it in the comments! We also got in touch with official_biz to learn more.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
45 people, a group exactly one shy of the entire adult male population, sitting in lawn chairs, on a fence, and on car hoods...
They were patiently waiting outside of the house of the 46th adult male, who had hit his child hard enough to fracture a rib earlier that day, and was known to smack his wife around a bit..
The best part of the story was when he threatened to call the police chief. "If you don't all leave, I'm calling Georgie!"
(Chief) Georgie quickly replied from near the guy's back door... "Present!"
I didn't get to witness the beating itself, apparently it happened a couple of days later. But he definitely spent the whole night in terror.
Lyone Fein 1 year ago
Beautiful example of male peer pressure doing something about toxic masculinity.
Orion Red 1 year ago
he was known to smack his wife around. so that was ok, he just needs to reign it in when bones get broken.
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Robin DJW 1 year ago
He abused a child, seriously injuring him, and Georgie didn't arrest him? Vigilante macho beatings over due process? May have been revenge best served cold, but I cringe to imagine what that child might be going through now. There are non-physical ways to abuse a child, ways that leave invisible injuries that never heal. Sad story all around.
Mysteria 1 year ago
Could’ve been a lack of concrete evidence. I don’t think Georgie could arrest him only based on seeing bruises (assuming the wife and child were too afraid to speak out about it). Unfortunately a lot of legal stuff is based on having evidence that couldn’t be brushed off as “oh he hit his head”, etc. I forget who the story is about, but I once heard of a guy who got falsely accused of something (murder I think?) and the judge knew he was innocent, but couldn’t let him go because there wasn’t enough evidence of him being innocent.
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I heart Boo-BI-es 1 year ago
Living in a small town can be a blessing and a curse, especially when everyone knows everyone else's business. In this particular case it was a blessing for an abused child and his beaten mother, but this sad excuse for a man, is going to feel like he's been cursed or he's going to wish that he was. Karma is a mothafùcka.
Jules 1 year ago
I don't know what it's like in other countries but in the UK there have been so many miscarriages of justice that a lot of people no longer have any faith in the legal system. In an ideal world everyone who behaves illegally, in whatever form that might be, will pay for their crimes. In reality that does not always happen. People get out on bail. Some get a suspended sentence. Life doesn't mean life any more and sometimes guilty people just have very good lawyers. So if a community feels driven to take matters into their own hands I totally understand.
Nimitz 1 year ago
Don't believe it. Lived in a town of 500 till I was 10 and the guys who beat the c**p out of their families felt safe there. My parents moved us there from a city of 1 mill so that my dad could keep getting away with it and Mom could keep covering it up. Small towns are not the refuge people pretend. They do not look out for each other
JayWantsACat 1 year ago
This isn't as cool, fun, or satisfying as it's making it out to be considering the implication that no one did anything about this, including the police chief, until the kid was finally beat enough for broken bones. Sure, we could infer that they did try everything, including legal channels, to stop this. But if that were true it's more likely that that detail would've been included than for us to assume that it did. Glad that something was done but it really shouldn't have gotten to this point, obviously, especially through vigilante justice.
Fickle_Pickle 1 year ago
Coming from a household fraught with DV (sperm donor used to beat mom black and blue), I LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS!!!
RELATED:
#2
Due to a traffic incident (ie. unfortunate meeting with a large buck) we were "stranded" in a small town for several days. In that time one of the local police officers gave us his number - said call me anytime if you need a lift somewhere. The manager at the hotel we stayed at offered us the same thing, and one of the staff at the hotel flat out offered us her car to use while she was at work. The irony was - it was such a small town everything we needed was within walking distance.
Every single person we met went out of their way to try to help us. To this day (4 years later) we still refer to this as the best bad experience we've ever had. In fact two years ago we went out of our way to swing through that small town again - and they remembered us. We had a nice chat with the mechanic / garage owner who got our vehicle fixed - showed him it was still on the road, running like a top. A small town will renew your faith in humanity.
David 1 year ago
Re loaning a stranger a vehicle - there is one house I still think about if I drive past it. Me, teen, at work about 5 miles away. Talking to mom on phone. Suddenly disconnected (back in land line days) and then when I call back it rings and rings. Very NOT like my mom so I'm thinking medical emergency or less likely - intruder. I jump in my car and race home. About a mile+ from my house I ran out of gas and coast into a driveway. Knock - quickly explain - ask them for a ride the rest of the way to our farm. Instead they just gave me their car keys. Mom was fine. turns out phone people were working on a box by the road and temporarily disconnected our line without telling anyone. So - false alarm but I was grateful for those people being so kind.
bob cameron 1 year ago
While traveling the east coast of the USA we got storm bound in a small Harbour. A random stranger offered us the use of his car and simply told us to drop the keys through the mail slot of the Harbour master's office when w through. The guy didn't know us at all other than w were Canadian registered boat flying our flag.
JayWantsACat 1 year ago
To be fair, if you took of with his car he could've taken off with your boat, so... lmao
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Huddo's sister 1 year ago
My sister and I had a really nice taxi driver when we were on Prince Edward Island. She dropped us off at our accommodation and then was also the driver when we called a taxi the next day to get to the bus stop we were going off the island from. When she picked us up, she asked if we had called the bus line to make sure the bus was running, because it was snowing heavily and that often caused problems. We hadn't, so she called them herself and found out it wasn't. We were stranded there and didn't really know what to do. The driver dropped us off at a coffee shop with free wifi and gave us the info to reach the bus line and arrange for a ticket on the next bus the following day. She also gave us tips to where we could find accommodation for that night and came back to check on us an hour later to make sure we got it sorted. She also introduced us to some cool Irish pirate rock, but we forgot who the artists were, which we regretted.
A. Starhawk Hunt 1 year ago
once had an exotic car break down in Flagstaff, AZ. we were camping with a 7 month old infant. one of the, at the time, one of only two mechanics certified for Citroens in the US lived in Flagstaff. He invited us to stay at his house overnight because it was cold. The next day, while he and my ex went to the junkyard for a part, his roommate made me taped copies of all of Tom Lehrer's recordings!
Andy Frobig 1 year ago
And the phone lineman is her high school sweetheart who is also a prince in a tiny country
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Mark Rudolph 1 year ago
My wife and I were bird watching near the small Oregon community of Frenchglen, population ca. 20, and staying in the historical Frenchglen Hotel. While we were driving on the nearby wildlife refuge, a piece of debris punctured and blew out one of our tires l. We mentioned our plight to the innkeeper when we returned late that evening. He said, "Let me call Jack who lives just across the way. He can repair tires." We were informed that Jack had been gone the whole day with a crew fighting a brush fire but if we would leave the tire leaned against our vehicle, he would take care of it when he returned. Sure enough, the repaired tire was there the next morning with the following note: "Make sure you do NOT go faster than 40 mph on the highway, and you MUST replace the tire in Burns. (Burns is the nearest town, 60 miles away.) Please leave $ (very modest sum) with John." When we went to thank him, he had already returned to the fire line.
michele mbennett101044@yahoo.c 1 year ago
Keep the location a secret, last thing they need is a bunch of tourons invading their town.
#3
My mail carrier bringing my dog to my office after she stopped at my house to deliver my mail and my dog, Lefty jumped in her mail truck and refused to get out.
PHOTOBOB 1 year ago
My grandmother lived in a small town. One day she mailed a letter at a box downtown but forgot to put a stamp on it. She did not put a return address either. Mail carrier brought it to her house because he recognized her handwriting. Sorry no dog involved. The mail truck reminded me.
Mary Obrien 1 year ago
Our FedEx and UPS driver will flag me down when they see me if I'm out and about to give me my package. Everyone waves at Everyone.
MrsFettesVette 1 year ago
My dog also loves my mail lady. I could 100% see this happening if she was able to get out when Jen, the mail carrier, gets here. She throws herself at the door when she hears a package arrive, unfortunately it's usually Amazon, and not Jen
Bored Panda got in touch with official_biz who made the original post and they were kind enough to answer some of our questions. Naturally, we were curious to learn why he asked this question in the first place.
“I was inspired to ask the question after a small-town experience of my own. I'd planned to just answer my own question by putting my experience in the comments. When I woke up to something like 4k comments the next morning, I decided to just let them keep rolling in,” they shared.
#4
We have a village Facebook page. Every time the ice cream man drives into the village, the entire page goes ballistic. People send live updates of where the van is and which direction he's heading. The ice cream man has started accepting DMs so he knows which streets to go down.
I heart Boo-BI-es 1 year ago (edited)
Are there any homes for sale in this ice cream loving village?
The Greatest JMS W Cool Animation 1 year ago
Haha! I guess everyone loves Ice Cream, no matter how old they are 😂
SkippityBoppityBoo 1 year ago
Unless you're lactose intolerant like I am! 😄😄😄... I love it but it doesn't love me!!!
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JayWantsACat 1 year ago
The ice cream truck rarely went down my road so when it did we all went ape s**t. Sometimes we could here it a block over and would scramble on our bikes to try and find it. lmao
Wendy Schkade 1 year ago
I actually had a similar experience. Cell phones were used. One lady ran a little burrito shop and she always insisted I take a burrito for coming to their town. It was kind of out of the way. Loved those people.
Kathy Harkness 1 year ago
We have two food trucks in our county (pit BBQ and lobster rolls) that come to my dinky little town a few times a month, and it's the same. As soon as someone spots them parked at the car wash or wherever, the town FB page Bat signal is lit.
Cassie 1 year ago
When we moved into a new neighborhood, my teens bought ice cream from the ice cram truck one time. After that, anytime we were coming home from something, if the driver spotted us, he would follow us home and then would just sit outside our house. Then the pandemic happened and the ice cream truck roaming the empty streets never stopping somehow managed to seem even creepier.
#5
A guy robbed a bank and everyone knew immediately who he was and the teller got mad at him.
Ima Manimal 1 year ago
I worked at a prison many years ago. One inmate told me a story that was very similar… He was the robber, and the teller said “dammit Bryan, I’m gonna tell your mother.”
Just Another Girl 1 year ago
Good way to escalate the situation. IRL tellers are specifically trained to not do this.
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Andy Frobig 1 year ago
I worked with a guy who'd been busted multiple times for burglary. I asked him why he kept doing it, he said, "it takes them longer to catch me each time, so I figure I'm getting better at it."
Maureen Matthew 1 year ago
Comedian Brent Butt tells a similar story, but the two RCMP officers were going to pick him up at work when one remembered that the robber would be at the curling rink because it was Wednesday, that's the twust from the Canadian prairies
Bouche and Audi and Shyla, Oh My! 1 year ago
I LOVE Brent Butt! Corner Gas was brilliant, in all its incarnations! I think my favorite thing, though, was when the animated version talked about Jane T. Wright. Janet Wright was the actress who played Emma Leroy on the original, but she passed before the animated version came out. It was just a sweet tribute, and something I'd never seen before.
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David Brown 1 year ago
The town I grew up in was small enough where if someone new movies in everyone knew about it in 24hrs. That said, if I got in trouble anywhere my mom knew about it before I made it home to tell her about it. And of course she'd be pissed because she didn't hear about it from me first.
The Original Bruno 1 year ago
I did prison ministry. One of the guys was sharing how stupid pot can make you. He robbed a 7-11 on a small island with a single bridge to the mainland.
Regina Kurfürst 1 year ago
One of my mums cousins (who has always been sort of the familys problem child, on an eternal cycle of prison mostly for drugs and stealing, rehab and doing dumb s**t) broke into a pub in our hometown (population: 3000) after closing hours, stole a stash of cigarettes, some money, the owners car keys and well, their car (they live upstairs from the pub). What he didn't know was that that car was actually in dire need of some repairs and they were going to get it to the repair shop. Broke down 3 blocks away from the pub. Dude left it there and threw the keys in the glovebox, along with an opened pack of smokes, with his fingerprints conveniently left all over the plastic wrap. He is not a smart man.
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sturmwesen 1 year ago
One village over some one robbed the Bank on a bicycle... I don't know if they caught him....
I heart Boo-BI-es 1 year ago
He thought by wearing pantyhose over his face, that no one would recognize him, since he had a disguise. /s
Nimitz 1 year ago
Seen this one. Town of 500 people. Small bar on the corner near the highway got robbed. Who robbed them? Josh, the guy who lived down the street. He was wearing a ski mask, but I'm pretty sure the cops just went straight to his house after the bar owner told them who did it on the phone.
#6
Left the grocery store and forgot a bag. Another customer brought it to my house.
Huddo's sister 1 year ago
I recently saw on my neighbourhood facebook page, someone trying to find someone who lost their wallet. They had found it when on holiday all the way across the country, but the town listed on the ID was from the hometown so they brought it back with them! Town not quite small enough for them to know them personally, but they did end up locating them.
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Daune Tullina 1 year ago
I once forgot my checkbook and didnt realize until ti time to oay for my $150 dollars worth of groceries. The cashier called over the manager to suspend the transaction. The manager told me to take the groceries home, put them away (he saw I had ice cream) and told me to come back to pay when I was done.
“What happened to me was this: I was visiting my long-time online friend who lives on a small, remote, mostly unknown island with a population close to 2000. When he picked me up from the ferry and we started driving down the island's one road, there was a man jogging, to which my friend rolled down the window and made some small talk. He was like, "Wagwan bro?" and such, which was returned before we drove off. Then he turned to me and very casually said, "That guy's cool... He's running for president."
#7
I’m from a town of less than 2,000 people. When I worked at the grocery store there people would often drop off stuff for my family members because they didn’t want to drive all the way down to our house. I no longer live there but recently got a call from my daughter. She had been stopped for speeding and handed over her license and insurance which happens to be in my mother’s name. The officer goes “Hey, you’re Donnie’s granddaughter! I ain’t gonna write you a ticket but I’m telling Donnie when I see him tomorrow cause we’re going fishing.” She replied “I think I’d rather have the ticket.”
Lothar Ohr 1 year ago
Jip, and no the family will make sure she never speeds again. She will be reminded every holiday and family dinner
hearditontheX 1 year ago
My mom owned a restaurant in our little town and people would call her when they saw me driving bad as a teenager
Fall F. 1 year ago (edited)
I don't wanna bash at, all just an honest question. From how many population is considered something already a village, and not a town? Because in Europe places under 4-5000 pop, are generally villages.
Annik Perrot 1 year ago
I don't think there are "vilages" in the US. Only small towns, towns and cities.
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Terry Guiles 1 year ago
My brother lives in a small town in Missouri. He knew all the cops in town and could be a bit of a pain (nothing bad) sarcastic, joking, teasing and just generally giving them a bad time (just good humor). One day he was seen speeding through town. Instead of pulling him over, the cop called our mother and asked if she could tell him to slow down lol
#8
Move to a small town. 30 years later, you are still the new guy
Verena 1 year ago (edited)
We have a "new quarter" in this 1000-year old tiny village. It is from the 60s....
geezeronthehill 1 year ago
Been here 20 years and I'm the guy that 'ain't from here'. This from a fellow who's been here all of 25 years. Yah, you ain't from here either, bub!
Mirabelle Stonegate 1 year ago
Can confirm. Moved into my house when I was 1. I'm now 36 and still living here. I'm still a blow in.
Jenna Kay 1 year ago
When my family moved to a small town, they called us "imports" for the entire time we lived there. They didn't want their children to hang out with ours, but got really mad when our kids would hang out with other "import" children. To this day, my son will tell you he is from Texas and lives in Florida, and skips where he actually grew up.
Tammy Kirks 1 year ago
My mom was born and raised in a small town. My grandparents moved there before she was born and they were officially outsiders until they had a "native" in the family. Mom made them legit.
#9
I grew up in a small Missouri river town that got wiped out in 1993. After rebuilding, the market became a combination hair salon and live bait shop. It was called Perms & Worms. I saw it in person and I still don't believe it.
I heart Boo-BI-es 1 year ago
Hahaha 😆 love the name. Reminds me when I was a kid visiting my great aunt in Maine and we drove by a hair salon called 'Curl up and Dye.'
Katie Lutesinger 1 year ago
Ooh, I heard Carrie Fisher worked there once!
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Christine Headrick 1 year ago
Osage Beach/brumley area had a Dave's shoes and booze.
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and_a_touch_of_the_’tism 1 year ago
Reminds me of a joke from a podcast, a bait and CrossFit place. Bait by day, exercise by night.
WayoftheStarPrincess 1 year ago
I went to a tiny town once and saw the combined florist and hunting store. It was called "Guns and Roses"
Kimberly Carlino 1 year ago
In my town, we have a business that is three stores in one: hardware, beer & wine, and outdoor gear. I have, in the same purchase, bought several types of nails, merlot, and a new pair of hiking boots.
The post, as mentioned, garnered over four thousand comments, so we were curious to hear OP’s opinion on why it was so popular. “I guess a lot of people have these very specific, random impressions of things they've seen in small towns that have been burned into their brains because they challenge the assumptions we have about what a normal society should look like. A lot of them are also pretty wholesome.”
#10
My wife grew up in a very very small town. The first time I went with her to her parent’s house, I drove and she was engrossed in reading a book. “Let’s go in the back way.” “Where is that?” “Turn left at Calvin Adams’ store.” We passed a rural intersection with nothing on the corner. She looks up and punches my arm. “You missed the turn.” “There was no store there!” “Oh, it burned down years ago. Now turn right at Jack Simpson’s house.” We pass another empty intersection. There is nothing to see but cotton fields and a clump of trees yonder in the distance. She looks up and punches my arm. “You missed the turn.” “Aw c’mon, there’s no house here.” “It’s behind those trees. You can’t see it from the road.” A couple of minutes later, without looking up, “He doesn’t live there anymore.” We finally got there and I’m talking to her mom. “Which way did you come in?” “We came in the back way. I missed the turn at Calvin Adams’ store.” She nodded. “It burned down years ago.” “Then I missed the turn at Jack Simpson’s house.” Another nod. “You can’t see it from the road.” There was a long pause and she added, “He doesn’t live there anymore.”
Saint Thomas 1 year ago
Maybe he was involved in the fire that burned the store down.
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JenC 1 year ago (edited)
I hated how people gave directions like this when I moved to a small town. 15 years later I realized I had officially become a local when I told someone to go past the Wileswood store (vacant 10 years) and turn left where the old gas station used to be (torn down 5 years ago).
witchling 1 year ago
Moved to a small town in pa and literally got this for directions. Followed by then go right at rumbles corner. There is no 'corner'. Just a field. Man did I get lost a lot.
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Helen Downey 1 year ago
We use long gone store names and the like here in ireland too!! At least it's not turn right at the sheep!!
DE Ray 1 year ago
In my town, there is a rather ordinary looking house which everyone calls "the Sullivan House". My grandfather admitted to me once that his grandfather hadn't been born yet when the Sullivans moved away. At least 150 years without anyone named Sullivan having any connection to it.
Agent of Karma 1 year ago
I kinda think your wife's a jerk for thinking you should know these things.
Nikki Gross 1 year ago
That's pretty much how the give directions in the little town my Sister and her family moved to years ago. It took a few trips and meeting everyone to figure out the directions to where everything is at. They have one school K-12 and kids ride their 4 wheelers, ATVs and occasionally a tractor to school, hell a couple of kids came to school on a riding lawn mower. My Sister worked there at the school for 25 years before she retired and her family knows EVERYONE in that town.
Javelina Poppers 1 year ago
Was trying to find a small lake that supposedly had record size bass. This was pre-GPS and Google maps so I stopped and asked directions and was told to go back and turn right at the yellow house, "you can't miss it". Drove up and down the road and no yellow house.............they painted it blue ten years ago.
#11
I love my small town! People genuinely care about each other and help each other out. Also one day a year it's Drive your tractor to School day. And the HS kids bring in sheep and bunnies and horses for the elem kids to come pet. It's not perfect but I would not trade it! And no it's not racist. Half Hispanic half white. We all get along! We even have a taco truck that's as good as anything in LA
Nikki Gross 1 year ago (edited)
When I was young and we would make trips to my Dad's hometown, you could pass by the school which was K-12 and damn near every truck had a rifle rack in the back. It was pretty normal for kids to go hunting and fishing right after school. So everyone brought their guns, fishing rods and camping gear with them to save time. It's still a tiny farming town and yes, everyone knows each other. I've went there a few times over the years to check on family and everyone knows me as Richard's daughter or Marie's granddaughter and they've been dead and hadn't been back there in years. Dad's been gone for 40 years in May and Grandma 25 years.
Sara Harvilla 1 year ago
When I taught in a small farm town in the 80s, kids brought guns to school all the time--rifles in the back window of their trucks. Farmers need guns to run off wild animals that mess with their stock!
FABULOUS1 1 year ago
The experience is different for everyone. My mom moved us to Turon, Kansas and we were the first and only people of color in that town of around 300. You would have thought we brought the plague with us. I only recall two people out of the entire town being pleasant to us, but never in the presence of other towns people.
Thomas Hunt, Jr. 1 year ago
Not all small villages are a good place. I go by this saying for the community I grew up in: Small town, small minds. If you don't fit in with their sense of normal, they'll make your life a living hell. That's what I grew up in.
Kaiti Yoder 1 year ago
Agree. I moved to one and holy hell the amount of cliquiness and judgment is insane. Everyone is in everyone else's business and it is rarely ever in a way that could be considered decent, let alone good. Not to mention the amount of racism and insanely backwards behavior and attitudes. I'd kill for a taco truck though. Or any good food actually. Or even fast food not being an hour round trip.
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Adira Bennett 1 year ago
:It's not racist in any way here, because we have a taco truck!" What?!
David 1 year ago
The taco truck is secondary. They are saying it is a mixed race town and people get along. If you are from a larger city then mixed race is usually a 'duh' but it makes more sense if you are from a small town. Some small towns / areas are very - what's the word? Insular? And pretty intolerant of anyone who is not like them. A town I know in Montana comes to mind as I type this and from stories I've heard some places in the south are a lot worse.
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Kristin Cook 1 year ago
We also have drive your tractor to school day here in Louisiana! My favorite day of the year!
Alyssa Phillips 1 year ago
We didn't have a tractor day...but we did have the gravel lot where kids parked their tractors if they drove them. We had at least 3 every year.
#12
I grew up in a town of 150 people. Moved away, but I keep in touch.
A friend of mine posted a picture on Facebook a few months ago, tagging another friend: "Hey, Bubba, your pig got loose and is running around the Dollar General parking lot. Come get him!"
People were more surprised that they'd gotten themselves a Dollar General store than they were about Bubba's pig.
Tabitha 1 year ago (edited)
A couple days after we moved to the small farming town we live in, we found out who used to have our new (to us) phone number. There was obviously a summer storm brewing outside, and we got a couple calls from people saying stuff like “Ruth, you might want to close your windows, there’s a storm headed your way!” We would just say Ruth doesn’t have this number anymore, introduce ourselves, and tell them thanks for the warning about the storm, we’ll get our windows shut right now. We thought it was kind of sweet, tbh.
Paula Lozar 1 year ago
The DJ on a Taos, NM radio station once announced, "There's a llama running loose on Lower Colonias Road. If this is your llama, please come get it." Only in Taos!
Huddo's sister 1 year ago
We have things like this on my town page a lot. In fact, it's how my mum found her sheep when they got out once (though the male lamb was never found)
Szzone 1 year ago
It's weird how couple hundred people living in a community could be comsidered a small town in some places. Here in the middle of Europe, a couple thousand people in a community is still a village. 150 people would be considered a small village.
E.V. 1 year ago
What would be considered a town there? In the US it's always called a town, regardless of how many people live in it. Either a city or town. I once lived in a suburban city with 100k pop and it was called a small town. Haha
Load More Replies... Janet Graham 1 year ago
My town's population has soared to 145. We don't have a Dollar Store, but there's one just 30 miles away!
Javelina Poppers 1 year ago
Grandma had a phone she kept under the kitchen sink and it was 4 way party line to boot.so everybody joined in and it was ok, kind of expected.
“There isn't really much of an outlet to share these with a wider audience so I guess my question gave them a chance to do that. For the people who live in rural, remote, and small towns where those things are considered normal, it can be a neat experience to share about your everyday life in a way that baffles others globally.”
#13
Small town girl here. When we moved here, we really had people talking. Rumor was "Joe's" granddaughter bought the house. No, it was "Bob's" son. They didn't know we had married each other and everyone was right.
Uncle Schmickle 1 year ago
My small town experience when I moved from the city and set up a clinic .... " who's this new city slicker " ? Upon discovering that I was related to a family which had been there for 150 years : " he's OK, he's one of us " ! It's all about family.
#14
We were having a machine shop, that was located in a small town, make a manufacturing machine for us. They could make the individual parts, but had no idea how everything went together. We sent a mechanic to be onsite for several weeks to assemble the machine. First day, he went to the local cafe to get coffee and breakfast. There are several people in there drinking coffee, reading the newspaper, chatting, etc. He goes in and sits at the counter. No one is there to wait on him. Finally, one of the guys says "if you want coffee, you'll have to get it yourself. They ain't open yet."
frederick clause 1 year ago
Way back I lived in a small town. When my friend, who lived two houses down the street, and I were going to go hunting birds in the morning before work, whichever of us was up first would walk into the others house to put coffee on for when he got up.
David 1 year ago
about 1980. Me poor but needed brake job. Old timer with auto mechanic shop let me do a DIY brake job in his shop and just pay him a very nominal fee for use of his shop and a bit of help / advice in a couple of places. I never forgot that. These days it would be an issue for their liability insurance but stuff was more laid back in those days.
Uncle Schmickle 1 year ago
I love this. Typical example of small town trust where everyone is safe and no need to lock doors because they're looking out for each other.
Linda Robinett 1 year ago
This actually happened with a library in Norway. It was closed for one of those minor holidays that no one celebrates and it was accidentally left open. People used it all day, checking out and returning books, sitting reading newspapers etc. The librarians said that all the books were eventually returned and nothing was missing.
Brian Allbright 1 year ago
In our small town, even when the tavern is open in the morning, whenever someone walks in they get their own coffee plus refill the cups of everyone already there.
#15
Heard over the scanner one day. Tourist passing through reports dog on roof at XX address. Can someone go get Frank off the roof please dunno how that son of a gun keeps getting up there”
Ancienthippie X 1 year ago
My neighbor's dogs used to get out an upper window and onto the roof. Huskies.
“As for my favorite comments, the one that stuck with me was the one that said if you called 911 after midnight, you'd be put on hold so the dispatcher could wake up the sheriff. I haven't read through them all yet. that's pretty ambitious. but thanks for the reminder to do that when I need a laugh.”
#16
The traffic on the "main street" of my town is so sparse, two drivers going opposite directions can stop and talk to each other for a few minutes without causing any problem.
Korrie Broos 1 year ago
I visited a small town to do some fly fishing on a local river. In the tiny coffee shop, that was also a hardware store, I enquired about a tiny drillbit, about 1,5mm diameter to fix something on my fly rod. The hardware store did not have such a small drill and I commented that this is a small town. The lady behind the till said "Yeah, it is so quiet here that you can hear a cat walking down the main road in the middle of the night." I enquired about a dentist and she said 2 shops down. The dentist had to come in on the Saturday for an emergency fix of a tooth. She used her dental drill to drill this tiny hole for me and my fly fishing holiday was saved. (my tip top guide broke off in the traveling and small piece of rod tip was stuck in the hollow section of the tip top guide)
David 1 year ago
VERY RELATABLE. Many times I've waited behind them to finish their conversation (usually it was kind of short) and once or twice I was the one having the conversation. Stop long enough to tell them you saw a cow out or when you plan to do the next hay cutting. No traffic - you could talk. If someone finally pulled up behind you then courtesy was to wrap up the conversation and move along.
Pandamonium 1 year ago (edited)
I briefly lived in a very small town, Joppa Illinois, and early one morning as I drove to pick up a coworker I saw what I thought was a dead dog in the middle of the street. I slowed down to get a good look so I could figure out whose dog it was and he got up and walked away. He was just taking a nap!
Shelley DuVal 1 year ago
In my small village, up to five people will have a yarn in the middle of the road, and just casually move over to the opposite side of the road a car is coming from.
#17
Dude moves here, goes to the local garden shop. Loads his pick up with bags of soil, garden implements, et al.
Oops, he forgot his wallet.
Old dude at the store, honest to God, says, "You can stop by and pay tomorrow"
Verena 1 year ago
If you are in need of hay, straw or other horse bedding, just call the farmer. He will tell you in which barn and which corner you have to be, you load the stuff, tell him how much you took and pay by Tikkie (sort of Venmo, I guess). Only interaction with a live being are the dog, who will sit next to the truck and count (?) and sometimes some livestock, having their shelter in the same barn.
Robert T 1 year ago
My dad wanted some manure for his vegetable garden. Farmer came and dumped it over the back wall. We still haven't let on about the onion incident - my dad harvested a bunch of onions from the same vegetable garden and put them on the wall to dry - the cows statred eating them - some funny tasting milk that week..... :D
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Bouche and Audi and Shyla, Oh My! 1 year ago
I was on a date at an ice cream shop/diner. The owners went to the same church I did, and I ate there a lot. This guy ordered the giant banana split that wasn't even on the menu, thinking it was $2. They made it, and gave it to him. They told him it was $7 something (this was 30+ years ago). He'd only brought $5. So the date consisted of my watching him eat an unpaid ice cream and being horribly embarrassed. The next time I went in, I paid for the ice cream. They'd forgotten by then, and gave me my meal free because they were tickled I wanted to make it right.
Ross Shaw 1 year ago
Not a small town, but I used to stop at a gas station by the interstate a few times a week for gas and snacks. I went in one afternoon and dude behind the counter says, "You fogot to pay for your gas last time, but I figured it was just an honest mistake and didn't report you. Wanna cover it now?" Fasmiliarity and being friendly with everyone pays dividends!
Joanne Earle 1 year ago
Years ago I was at the local PD getting an application to carry pepper spray and I didn't know I needed to pay $20. The cop loaned me the fee and I paid him back later that day after I went home and got my checkbook! He knew my dad and teased, 'if you don't pay me back I'll take it out of your old man's hide.' lolol
Kel_how 1 year ago (edited)
I was in Madrid studying abroad for a few weeks. We stayed in the college district and there were lots of small restaurants, bars, and clubs that got to know "the Americans." We went to a local pizza place and couldn't pay for some reason (system down, forgotten wallet... don't remember), so the owner said we could come back tomorrow to pay. When I went back the next day, she hugged me and was so lovely about it. We ate there a lot! And she threw several people's birthday parties.
Petra Schaap 1 year ago
Big city girl here. Went to get some weed and didnt have enough because I couldnt use my card for some reason. Went through all my pockets and was like 2 euro short (of 10) Guy said "you can pay tomorrow" which i did. #Amsterdam :-)
ColdSteelRonin 1 year ago
Moved to a small town in NC from FL, was already into kayaking. Go to the lake have some fun and head back. Left my wallet on the truck box and it falls into the road. Had a few phone numbers for local contacts in it so i get a call from one of the people on that list and they tell me someone had found it and gives me their number. Everything was still inside it and the guy who found it wanted nothing for returning it
Deborah B 1 year ago
I remember a hardware store in my grandparent's small town. The owner/manager liked to go off fishing, but the store needed to be open 6 days a week, because it was the only hardware store in town. So he put a sales recording book and a tin of change on the checkout bench, left the door unlocked, and went fishing. He was usually there at least a few days a week, and he'd put everything through the till, and do a rolling stock take. Local legend has it that he was never robbed or underpaid, but occasionally had overpayments when people weren't able to make correct change. This was explained as: "Well, Fred's an honest man, but he holds a grudge like nobodies business. Tell him you paid with a twenty for a buck and you didn't take change, and he'll give you that ninteen bucks, no debate. But if he comes up short one time, he'll lock the hardware store when he goes fishin." The system worked until Fred retired, and the new manager hired a shop assistant.
David 1 year ago
We used to have a local gas station that would leave gas out in case you got caught short after hours. Shelf above one of the pumps with a couple of gas cans. Use the gas - put some bills under the empty can. Was that way for years. Finally had to stop in later years due to some person / few people started abusing it.
#18
Lived in a town of about 5,000: A woman walked into the DMV on a Friday, saw that there were 3 people ahead of her and left to come back another time when they weren't so busy.
PeepPeep the duck 1 year ago
😂 this one made me laugh so hard, my mum is like this in the country, I’m a full fledged Gold Coast girl, I’m used to busy, I can’t imagine the ease of waiting behind 3 peoole 😂
Keating_5 1 year ago (edited)
Omg I’ve done this! Didn’t live in the small town but worked there (commuted 45 min one way to get there each day) and I had to update something at the DMV and figured it would be easier in the small town than where I lived. Got there and about 5 people were in line-I forgot it was around voting time and people wanted to update licenses. One of the workers knew me and was like “hey where ya going chief?” “I’ll come back on my next lag in work, too crowded rn” Came back right before they closed and the worker had my paperwork set up and everything so I was in and out in 5 minutes!
I heart Boo-BI-es 1 year ago
So many people don't realize that things could be so much worse. Even for a town of 5k, 3 people waiting ahead of you at the DMV is not very busy. If I walked into the DMV and saw that there was only 3 ahead of me, it would be like winning a mini lottery prize. I would also be very curious as to why?
Ralph Reinhold 1 year ago
I took my family on vacation to the small town where my then wife grew up and my mother now lived. My daughters walked downtown to do some shopping. They were in the drug store when one of the women said, "Look at the traffic." The girls looked out and there was like three cars.
UnpopularPanda 1 year ago (edited)
I have an opposite experience to share. I've lived all my life in Mumbai - parents moved ctities in Mid 70s so I didn't know anything about "non-crowdiness" I always thought there are supposed to be people, a lot of people EVERYWHERE. An uncle was visiting us from a small town and I volunteered to show him around, I waited till late afternoon to avoid the early hours rush. We get to the train station to head to town, he insists to skip the first train because "it looks crowded", next one arrives (there is a train every couple of minutes), he thinks he can't get on it either and asks how long before we can expect them to be emptier - I said never, they are the emptiest if you can enter and heaven if we can get a seat. That's when I realised the population of our city was too much - It only keeps increasing, I moved to a different contry in 2014 which is (unfortunately) infrastrucred around cars so don't get to experience public transport much but it is a LOT better thn wat I grw up wth
UnpopularPanda 1 year ago (edited)
chewed volwels as no enough characters left :) Google 'Mumbai Local' and go to images to see what I am talking about, and no the first results that pop up are not an exaggeration but something you'd experience in Mumbai on an average day. I can't believe I survived that and only glad I can give better life to my wife and daughter in this part of the world.
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Boop the Snoot. Pound the Paw. 1 year ago
Or there was one person in line ahead ofyku and decided to come back later. Raises hand.
#19
A “parade” that consisted of like, three goats and four children
I heart Boo-BI-es 1 year ago
The parade was created, so the parents of all the kids, could take a little break.
Coralinea 1 year ago
And the goats' mothers. All that bleating wears you down.
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Linda Robinett 1 year ago
I was visiting a small town in Nevada. They had a children's parade. It lasted five minutes.
Jared Robinson 1 year ago
that sounds like the only parade ever created ever that sounds like it would be worth going to. You get to see goats and it's over as soon as it starts. Parades are the stupidest goddamned things.
Bouche and Audi and Shyla, Oh My! 1 year ago
Parades are commercials with treats (thrown candy) and bad music (local schools). However, the Shriner groups charge for their participation, and the money is donated to the Shriner's Children's Hospitals, where the children are treated free.
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#20
I taught English in a small town in Japan for a couple of years. One day the principal said they were cancelling classes for the afternoon so the police could come give a safety talk. As the product of the American school system I was thinking drugs? gangs? STDs? Bicycle safety. Some of the students had been seen riding two to a bicycle through town. We were reminded that bicycles were for one person only, also wear your helmet and always signal your moves to drivers.
Robert T 1 year ago
In years gone by, we had cycling proficiency lessons and a test at primary school.
TheElderNom 1 year ago
We had bicycle safety days in school too. I think they're standard here.
Tabitha 1 year ago
Why someone would downvote you for your perfectly innocent comment, I do not know. Then again, there are nasty and spiteful people everywhere, especially online. I upvoted you to try and counteract it.
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Jan Willem ten Dam 1 year ago
I live in a Dutch city of about 600,000 people, and the police will also show up at the elementary school of my kids for these kind of safety talks.
Leviathan 1 year ago
I wish the village I was born in was filled with fewer elders who believed in "demons" and were more like this, it was only the late 80s but they still saw and treated me, an albino child, As a "Demon", Thankfully most of the old people there had no families and just passes away now, it was like ...98% 80/90-year-olds and a few grandkids, the youngest ones would beat me throw rocks or other hurting stuff like normal.. hateful kids, but the adults..... a group of 5 {the only non-elders, I was only 7 years old, this is just put together from cop reports and one old woman that liked me & my mom} They broke into our house while heavily drunk bragging how they were going to "kill the demon" once and for all... They had guns but only one of them shot and my mother took it for me... At that moment they got scared and tried to run but cops were called and they arrested them, I was found sitting by my mother... I was only 7 years old... But I'm 38 now..... Even Lil Town/Villages can be bad...
Andy Frobig 1 year ago
Sure, don't ride two to a bike, but fly off with Totoro or the catbus whenever you feel like 🙄
Pa Pa Panda 1 year ago
My small home town the local police were so bored they would make traffic stops on kids on bikes.
#21
Got a call ... neighbor 5 houses down the road:
"hey can you look out the window and tell me who is walking down the street?"
"yea, that's the guy from Louisdale who is going out with that Felix girl"
"mk, thanks"
Javelina Poppers 1 year ago (edited)
Went with my wife to visit her grandmother in a small town in the hills of Tennessee. As we drove into town, everyone stopped and stared at us and I mean a stink-eye kind of glare. Since she couldn't remember which road took you to the farm, we stopped at the general store to ask directions to Effie Smith's (not real name) house. The cold response we got was, "what business you got with Miss Effie?" My wife explained she was her grandma and the clerk said, "Oh you must Howie's daughter!" Another customer told us to follow him and he'd show us where the road was to her farm. Driving back through town all people who gave us the evil eye were now smiling and waving like the word got out through telepathy that we were ok, we were kin. Weirdest thing I've ever experienced.
Huddo's sister 1 year ago
I personally think this sounds kind of toxic, like the first step is always distrust...
Zoe Holmes 1 year ago
Another story: In our town, we all know each other. I was 12 and my dad was in the hardware shop, getting tools to help fix our elderly neighbors car. The shop owners name was Mr. B. Mr. B: Hey, I know your neighbor! Eliza S., right? Dad: Yeah. Her son moved out about a month ago. B: That Thayer girl? His high school sweetheart? Dad: Yep. *cue the talking about the nearby roads, intersections and new candy shop opening downtown* Dad (to me): Why don't you go check out that place right now? *hands me a 5* Get me some taffy too, and ask the owner the normal questions. Whenever someone new comes to town, we have a set of questions to ask them. I still know them by heart: Where are you from? Do you have family or friends here? Do you have any pets or property? And this may be strange, but we also tell them a few pieces of history and tips on what to do if: 1. Livestock got out 2. Find someone's pet 3. Need help with anything 4. What backroads not to use during any weather 5. Town events
Jens Nobel 1 year ago
I moved from Sværdborg (a village with perhaps 200 inhabitants) to Tappernøje. I arrived before the movers with my stuff. As I parked my car and got out, a lady passing on the sidewalk said that nobody was home and I might as well just move on. When I told her that I was the new tenant, she looked at me and muttered something about boody Copenhageners. I corrected her to Sværdborg, and all of the sudden I was very welcome. Not a Tapper, but at least a local guy. Now I know everybody in the town, and have done so since the first year I moved here. Oh, and BTW. Old Mrs Jørgensen up in number 57 is about to become a grandma for the second time around. Her daughter hasn't said anything, but Mrs Jørgensen mentioned that she had started to have a fondness for pickles again.
David 1 year ago
The road our family farm was on - all the phone numbers were in sequential order from when they first handed out the phone numbers years ago. Our farm ended in 1133. Our cousin's farm next door was 1132, neighbor the other way was 1134 and so on. Also back then you could reach those neighbors just by dialing the last four numbers. Didn't need all 7 (now 10) numbers.
Amelia Jade 1 year ago
Yes! I live in a city and used to be on the nextdoor app. Every darn day people were reporting weird people walking down the street. It was almost always someone's kids walking to the park, or the corner store, or to someone else's house. "Be careful everyone. There was a strange man in a hoodie walking slowly past people's driveways at midnight. He might have been scoping out cars to break into. Here is a pic of him from my doorbell cam." Response, "Uh, yeah, that's my sixteen year old son walking home from his friend's house last night." I don't use Nextdoor anymore.
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FloralDangerNoodle 1 year ago
We live just outside a small, rural village, and late one night, our neighbor across the road messaged my husband that someone with a flashlight was wandering up our driveway. It was our teenage son, who sometimes paces when he's got stuff on his mind.
#22
I lived in a small town. When I moved there, people would ask, "Whose house did you buy?"
Nina 1 year ago
I'm surprised they had to ask. In my experience they can tell you the whole history of the house
Kate 1 year ago
Oh, totally. Ours was "the old Bloom house." Pair of spinster sisters, the indoor bathroom was added by their nephew after they'd passed. They had been adamant about not wanting one. Didn't trust it (?).
Load More Replies... WFH Forever 1 year ago
I bought Mrs. Lindeen's house when I moved to town. She was the lady with the most beautiful rose bushes (old school, serious thorns!) and I have kept the tradition of leaving cutters and gloves out front for passers-by to take some flowers home with them for the last 20+ years I have lived here.
g90814 1 year ago
Those old-fashioned thorny roses are the best. Love their scents. Propagate them and give them away so they won't die out.
Load More Replies... ColdSteelRonin 1 year ago
Our house is Known as "The Big House". Tobacco farm house built in 1915 but apparently in the 80s and 90s it was a brothel/gambling house. I'm constantly running into people that tell me they used to live there because after they stopped farming the owners rented it out.
ROSESARERED 1 year ago (edited)
When I bought my home in a town of 7000, I had workmates, customers and neighbours tell me all sort of things, house is 50 years old, I know who built it, who rented it, even who planted the 18 yukkas in the backyard...the local postie...when she dropped off my mail oneday, I asked if she wanted any yukkas, she apologised for planting them, very popular in the 90s, now a nightmare. They are a forest, the biggest one is 8mx10m. N8ce she apologised
Mike D 1 year ago
Lived in a small town and houses were referred to by the previous owners name, never the current owner. Same town, if you needed some lumber the one lumber/hardware store would tell you to leave your garage door open while you were at work and they would deliver and stack it all neatly in your garage. Bought a lawn mower from them and they assembled it, gassed it up, started it to make sure it ran, and filled out and mailed the warranty card - and delivered it, of course.
geezeronthehill 1 year ago
My folks bought the 'Old Fitzpatrick place'. The last of the Fitzpatricks lived there in 1928.
#23
My dogs got out while i was working. the police called my niece's elementary school (she was a 5th grader) to get her to round them up and take them back home.
Jaime Borris 1 year ago
my mom and dad were divorced, dad bought a dog that had been abused and given cocaine by the then owner, dog did not like people but hated women more. dog got loose dad wasnt home. cops came to my mom, we only lived up the road less than 5 mins away. now cops knew my dad took in abused dogs and that they were usually mean so there's a dozen cop cars surrounding the house cops hiding behind there cars guns at the ready just in case. mom gets there yells' buddy house now!' he stops growling and went to the porch lol its like he was doing his job guarding the house you didn't need that many cops you could have just put one cop there to make sure no one went up to the house he wouldn't have left the yard.... he was a good dog- someone hit him on the head with a shovel in order to steal stuff, never found the bastard who did it
Mickie Shea 1 year ago
So sad to hear of Buddy’s pain. i asctually felt like crying. ‘’some folks are MF bast . . .
Load More Replies... Orion Red 1 year ago
I can understand why you think that's weird. if you never lived in a small town you don't realize that everyone knows everyone. I mean like really knows what's going on with everyone.
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#24
One spring, the front page of the local newspaper's top headline was "Deer finds grass in " The fact that someone had a picture of a deer who found some grass meant that winter might finally be over, which is the big news that everyone cares about.
Tabitha 1 year ago
If it’s a farming community, that would actually be really big and important news. I’m not being facetious either.
Keating_5 1 year ago
I was gonna say that almost as important as almanac readings in some farm communities, also to the hunting community that’s a pretty big sign too that hibernation is ending.
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Jeff White 1 year ago
When our small town "Dairy Queen" got it's chocolate ice cream machine fixed (after about 2-3 years), that "news" was the Banner headline on the local newspaper. It was epic.
Jeff White 1 year ago
Sorry to add, but EVERYBODY in town knew the chocolate machine was fixed within about 2 hours if it becoming functional. The newspaper article was just for kicks.
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Tommy DePaul 1 year ago
I lived in rural southeast Colorado. The headline in the newspaper immediately after 9/11 was "library hired new librarian."
CharliAnn Olney 1 year ago
In the small mountain town I used to live in, when the "snow rabbit" appeared on a certain hill (Rabbit Hill, of course) it was safe to plant your garden.
Stymied Egan 1 year ago
My friend was from a small town in Indiana. He got his local paper (just a few pages) delivered to him in FL. I loved reading it more than he did. It was lovely news about the people in town. It was like reading a letter rather than a newspaper.
Linda Robinett 1 year ago
Fun. I use baseball as my harbinger of spring since we have grass year around. If I see baseball being played anywhere, TV, the local park, the Little League fields, I know spring has come.
Javelina Poppers 1 year ago
Here's a funny story from the small town I grew up in that has now morphed from small town to big city. This has now taken on a cult like following and is celebrated every year. https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/518126/man-who-killed-santa-claus
#25
My fiancé took me to a popular festival in his tiny hometown. Some guy nodded and waved at him on the street. I asked how they knew each other. Fiancé told me he was the only other guy in town with the same name as him.
Also, his dad told him not to sleep with a particular chick because she might be his half-sister.
I heart Boo-BI-es 1 year ago
Great words of advice, be very cautious about who you choose to have relations with in a small town because you could be related. Don't procreate dozens with your cousins!
Sans Serif 1 year ago
My dad simply said "Don't marry an Italian girl!" I married an Italian girl!
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GrowingThruConcrete 1 year ago
My brothers best friend dated my friend. Neither knew their bio fathers. You guessed it, they found out they were half siblings later
SparkleFarts 1 year ago
One of the guys I work with said he could not date in high school because he was related to pretty much every one in town
hearditontheX 1 year ago
I've been to the meat pie festival in Natchitoches Louisiana. My husband got a photo with Miss Meat Pie
#26
One day, I was walking down the street in our small town and a guy stopped me and asked me for my watch. And I gave it to him because he was the local jeweler and knew I needed a new band.
#27
Oh, freaked out my big-city SIL when I named all 40ish people in a diner.
I heart Boo-BI-es 1 year ago
Tbf, I technically don't live in a big city, but I'm a little freaked out by someone knowing that many people and somehow he is able to remember all their names. 🤯
Peryton 1 year ago
Huh? It's not hard to remember 40 names. My work team has 38 people in it.
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Shirley Heyn 1 year ago
Wow, now that's a prosperous Diner - almost the whole town was there?!
The Phantom Stranger 1 year ago
My mom's town had a diner, but no way you could fit 40 people in there.
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Foxglove🇮🇪 1 year ago
I love in a village of about 2000 people, and while I knowmany by sight and/or their house, I don't know many by name
Gidget Lee 1 year ago
We moved to a small town, less than 1000 population, almost 40 years ago. My spouse is a hermit so we didn't get to know anyone in the town, but they all knew who we were. Until recently, the past 15 years or so, we were still "new". Our population increased to over 7k during those years and now there are lots of "new" folks and I'm one of the "old" folk, figuratively and literally. P.S. our church had only 24 people when we joined the congregation.
Stymied Egan 1 year ago
I visited my friend in Indiana. I stopped at a gas station to fill up, the attendant came out, noticed my tag and then asked if I was there to visit my friend. Everywhere we went they already knew me and she knew everyone. I saw a motorcycle and mentioned I hadn't ridden on one in years. She flagged down her nephew so he would give me a ride.
Amy Beckler 1 year ago
Just another frame of reference: I was an RN in long-term care and knew face/name/evening+morning meds for 40 patients- along with being aware of their particular health concerns. And I just integrated all that info. Couldn't be my idea of a good nurse any other way...
BubbleeRainbow 1 year ago
I knew everyone's full name, birthday, and favorite color in my class. It would be hard not to when you are with the same however many people through school from k-12th. I didn't move there until 4th grade, but still. It was a huge culture shock from SoCal to Podunk Missouri.
#28
Where I grew up if we called 911 after midnight the operator would have us hold so she could wake up the sheriff.
Jeremy Callahan 1 year ago (edited)
No, the 911 operator is a person at a call center. In a small town with only one LEO, that officer sleeps at night. So when there is an emergency, the 911 operator calls the sheriff's house and wakes him up instead of patching it through to a manned police station.
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Mickie Shea 1 year ago
apparently small towns are like this. Will, at least two are., this being the second.
Karen Bryan 1 year ago
Town of maybe 2,000. Window at post office wasn't open yet, but the very small lobby was. I knew my letter needed another stamp, but I was in a hurry, so I just dropped some coins through the slot along with the letter. There was CHANGE in my mailbox the next day. (This town was small enough that there was no house-to-house delivery. You had to go to the post office to pick up your mail.)
Kaiti Yoder 1 year ago
You're bigger than us 😂😭 we don't have anything after 9:00 because we only have two total from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. after that it connects to the sheriff's office almost an hour away
#29
My local beer store had dedicated snowmobile parking.
detective miller's hat 1 year ago
My village's pub used to always have snowmobiles parked outside in the winter, but we don't really get snow like that anymore. :/
Huddo's sister 1 year ago
I was stuck in the service centre/bus stop in a small town in Canada over NYE one year, because the bus was delayed by a snow storm. I watched many people come to pick up fuel and beer on snowmobiles before midnight, then more again about 1.30am!
Orion Red 1 year ago
dumb question... do those things reverse? or do they need to pull through?
Rostit. . 1 year ago
Depends on the brand and model. Most modern models do just like a car. some of the older ones had a specific lever you would pull the put it into a reverse gear.
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Debra Mabrey 1 year ago
I am from small town. Helped young man push his car out of the road, have seen him a few times, he tells ppl I saved his life...
Jude Mariposa 1 year ago
Ours local liquor store is next to the good outdoor shoe/boot store. They have the same clientele, so it works well in our little town. Also, the liquor store is the local sandwich shop.
ColdSteelRonin 1 year ago
Not exactly where I grew up but nearby, Davie, Fl. They still had horse crossings and hitches in front of the stores in the 80s
Teresa Yeates 1 year ago
In Simcoe Ontario, there is a parking area for farm equipment and horse driven buggies. Big farm community around the town and Amish.
#30
My prom was in a barn
The Alchemist 1 year ago
It was the Lehi Roller Mill where they used to make flour
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Nikki Gross 1 year ago
I saw a video on YouTube about a high school prom that was held in an old abandoned Wal-Mart building in their town.
Bruce Horton 1 year ago
My cousin's daughter had 8 people in her high school graduating class.
The Phantom Stranger 1 year ago
My mother used to brag about being, Prom Queen, but we'd always tease her and say, "Yeah, but there were only nine girls in your class!"
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Papa 1 year ago
It was probably a barn used for storing equipment, or hay or some other crop.
Load More Replies... #31
When we moved to a town of about 1,000 people, the local newspaper published our family portrait on the front page to announce the new preacher had arrived. Not a small pic either; it took up easily a sixth of the front page. My sisters and I would ride our bikes all over town with our gaggle of friends. Mom would get phone calls from strangers telling her they just saw us, and we were fine. It was just how the moms helped each other keep track of their kids.
I heart Boo-BI-es 1 year ago
Nice to know that you're supported and your community has your back.
Boopasnoot 1 year ago
Damn, the one truly small town I lived in was hella racist and everybody was sleeping with everyone else's husband or uncle. It was gross. It was also there that I formed the theory that depression is contagious.
Caroline Fraser 1 year ago
Our mothers in the 1970s couldn’t give a toss what we kids got up to!
#32
It happened at my small town bar. It was a busy night and the bartender went up around asking if anyone wanted a drink before she went downstairs to restock some beer. After she came back this guy started snapping and whistling and bitching at her for being gone for so long.
Half the crowd jumped to the waitress's defense and started calling this guy names. He eventually got booed out of the bar.
Ralph Reinhold 1 year ago
Back in th '50s, Wisconsin had beer bars and, for them, an 18 year old drinking law. My brother brought home an army buddy from Moneterey ALS (now DLI). They went to "Montana Jack's" it had a cutesy name like Dew Drop Inn or something, but everybody called it by the own'er's nickname. The owner also had a truck garden. He would tend the garden during the day and had a church collection plate where you paid and took your change. You went around the counter and got the beer. I would not be surprised if there is still a bar there with a similar honor system.
#33
I am the connecting point of 2 *MASSIVE* families in a smallish town. (About 20,000)
I have had people I never met figure out who I was based on my resemblance to my dad and brothers.
A cop came to my first apartment for a noise complaint... he was my cousin...
My girlfriend at the time, needed an ultrasound to check her gaul bladder. I went with her, the machines were all in the maternity ward... My phone was blowing up from family asking when we were expecting *before we left the building*...
My dad owned THE drivers ed school for like 20+ years. We can go literally no where without meeting at least 3 people he taught to drive.
Once got pulled over for, well, using a roundabout properly, but they're new to the area. The cop told me I'd signaled weirdly so he thought I was drunk... (Left going in then right when I exited at the 3rd exit. I explained that's how you do it... He checked my license, realized my dad taught him to drive and said "So uh... I'm gonna bet Mr.Driver's son knows how to use a roundabout better than me. Have a nice day."
I heart Boo-BI-es 1 year ago
If he put on his left turn signal to enter said roundabout and his right turn signal to exit said roundabout, then wouldn't he be exiting towards the middle of the roundabout? I'm trying to picture this in my head, but it isn't making sense to my extremely tired self.
nini 1 year ago
He probably put the right signal to leave the roundabout. Never heard of using the left signal to enter, though, we don't do this here. Besides. 20'000 people is a snall village?
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Shaun Coleman 1 year ago
What? If you are in a left-hand drive country, you only use your right signal in a roundabout to signal your exit. Opposite in a right-hand drive country.
#34
The radio station announces townspeople’s birthdays, and will say their name and job, eg, it’s Janice Smith’s birthday, the fifth grade teacher.
#36
A party in a potato field, it was only lighted by car headlights.
I heart Boo-BI-es 1 year ago
How to say you're from a small town, without saying you're from a small town...bonus part of the starter pack
#37
Squirrel festival and a new squirrel bridge reveal.
reemerger 1 year ago
I go to a park to read every day. I always pack a handful of hazelnuts to deposit in a tree somewhere along the way and imagine the look of joy on the unsuspecting squirrel that'll stumble across the surprise stash.
Jeanie 1 year ago
I got a family of squirrels in my yard and the biggest one likes to leave me gifts. He left me an almost whole shelled peanut lol. I don't know why they love me so much. I don't feed them because I'm afraid of them accidentally getting hurt by my dogs. But they are super cute.
Load More Replies... Isabel Care 1 year ago
Was walking my dog by a graveyard and overheard someone complaining that all the fat balls had been taken from the bird feeder that they had filled the day before. Bloody thieves. I told them that I had just seen the thief. At first sight I thought that the squirrel was carrying a very large walnut, then I got close enough to see it hugging a fat and seed ball to it's body whilst clambering along a chain link fence.
#38
The entire school had 27 students comprised of the offspring from twelve families. A game of kiss-chase is chaotic when you're related to more than half of the players. lol
Kate 1 year ago
I agree. That's why I bit a classmate in first grade. He tattled, of course, and the teacher asked him what he expected.
Load More Replies... Jared Robinson 1 year ago
I think kiss chase might BE a cousin thing. Cause I've never heard of that s**t. I was taught to keep hands feeet and all other body parts to myself.
Huddo's sister 1 year ago
When I was in Primary School in the 90s kids played kiss-chasey, but I refused for obvious reasons. I also told the teacher that one boy kept chasing me (not part of the game, happened a different time) saying he was going to kiss me, and all she said was 'stop running'!
Load More Replies... #39
Town drunk was paralyzed and used a motorized wheelchair to get around. I was driving home one Saturday night and said town drunk was passed out in his wheelchair doing circles almost directly in the town square. Had to call his brother who came and picked him up on a rollback truck. Strapped him down and drove off into the cold dark night.
I heart Boo-BI-es 1 year ago
Sounds like this wasn't the first time, that the brother of the town drunk had to pick him up while he's passed out on his scooter.
Tabitha 1 year ago (edited)
“Passed out in his scooter”, doing continuous doughnuts in the town square. At least he didn’t fall out of the scooter and continuously run over himself (I used to work with someone whose father died that way. Freak accident turned fatal. Sounds so ridiculous you think it’s a joke, but it’s not).
Load More Replies... #40
I entered a general store in a small town, and the owner was playing billiards with some of the other men in town. I asked to buy a coke, and the guy smiled from across the hall and asked me to just take what I needed and leave some cash on the counter, assuming it was approximately the correct amount.
#41
I lost my wallet, went to DMV to replace my license. The guy there asked me if i had any other ID, but i didn't. He said "you know, you look just like your daddy" and issued me a new license anyway.
Ralph Reinhold 1 year ago
You haven't lived in a small town. They don't care about little nuances like that.
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#42
Growing up in a town of 2,500 in the 80’s and early 90’s:
1. Several times in 3rd and 4th grade, we had to evacuate the playground and run inside because the farmer next door’s bull got loose again.
2. well-known local crime wave: the inmates used to break out of jail, go pick up a pizza, and bring it back for everyone. This ended when they finally built a new jail.
3. Our Chevy dealership never locked the new cars on their lot. Want to go consider options after-hours? Just climb on in and see how the interior feels.
4. I distinctly remember triplet calves being on the front page of our once-a-week town newspaper.
5. On designated days, all the farm boys would drive tractors to school. Pulling into the parking lot in the morning, it looked like the set of Footloose or something.
Jinx (she/her) 1 year ago (edited)
yes, after-hours means after they're closed
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#43
A friend's great aunt lived in a tiny town about 40-50 miles from the suburb we live in, we went to visit her and she had a newspaper laying out and I asked if I could read it. They had a lost and found section. It read like this:
FOUND A child's left glove, green then gave an address. I couldn't believe it.
#44
Cows escaped a farm and were hanging out in a field nearby and occasionally wandering into the road and holding up traffic. Took like a week or so to get them to wander back home
Mrs. EW 1 year ago
Growing up we had a local cow that was a serial escape artist, but only the nights before trash pick up. Cow was obsessed with eating garbage.
Puppy Dancing! 1 year ago
Yuck the milk must have tasted terrible unless you had a Chinese restaurant.
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Vera Diblikova 1 year ago
Great part of my life I live behind Iron curtain. The border was made by minefields, electric and barbed vire etc for kilometers wide and soldiers with german shepperd dogs, who shoot at anyone without warninig. After the change of regime I was on holidays there and cows from nearby farm walk into Germany, a german farmer calls to the Czech owner to give him them. For me it was a dream. A bit opposite from a pair years ago.
#45
“The cinema is a really long drive though, don’t know if I feel up for that.” -Me The cinema is a 15 minute drive
#46
Old people who've never been out of the town.. ever
#47
The grocery store social hour. In a big city, the store can be packed, but it's basically 100 different individuals/groups going about their day. In a small town, half the time, it's hard to get through the aisle because two people are chit chatting, regularly they both will stop talking to each other to say hi to someone else waking by. Everybody knows everybody, and everybody goes to the grocery store.
Katmama 1 year ago
My grandfather grew up in Eastport and took my mom and uncle back for vacations their whole childhood. The last time my mom went back, there were still people who remembered the family, and recognized her as 'Cals daughter'
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Huddo's sister 1 year ago
My mum managed to find someone she knew to talk to every time she went to the IGA, even before she moved to the country!
ROSESARERED 1 year ago
Found out when I moved to my town, if I go shopping on my day off, add at least 20 minutes to the time I'd estimate getting whatever done. So many people stop me, says hi, why am I not at work, when will I be back
Petra Schaap 1 year ago
This happens in every supermarket ive ever been in. And in Amsterdam there would always be old folks chatting around the coffee machine. If you would stop to get a free coffee and made eye contact you'd be "stuck"
Nichole Harris 1 year ago
This phenomenon is exactly why i NEVER make eye contact with anyone 😂
Load More Replies... #48
I am from a town of roughly 500 people. The primary industry was leather tanning and the town really peaked in the 1950s. Our school was K-12 and my graduation class was 7. I was one of 2 that went to college. I ended up doing grad school across the country at University of Arizona and it was an amazing experience and I’m still out here. When I was home for 4th of July and wearing my University tshirt more people that I can count on my hand asked me what Arizona was and where it was.
I heart Boo-BI-es 1 year ago
Curious about what was actually taught at this K-12 school? How does one end up in grad school and yet at least 6 people out of 500 in the town, have never heard of the state of Arizona, never mind where it is located?
HTakeover 1 year ago
Remember that ignorance and knowledge both have no limits. Remember when the Connecticut DMV refused to believe New Mexico was a state and thought it referred to the country Mexico?
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Priscilla Eliana Baylor 1 year ago
So I take that ignorance was really the standard there? A selling point?
Peryton 1 year ago
Maybe they were knowledgeable of farming, trades like leather tanning, etc, and had no need to memorize the states for no reason.
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What do you think ?
translucent galaxies 1 year ago
I honestly believe this is how we were supposed to live. No huge bustling cities, just small towns where everyone knows everyone. Actual human connections.
Peryton 1 year ago
I lived in a huge bustling city. Each neighborhood had a distinct flavour and everyone knew each other and looked after each other. Cities aren't the problem. Corporations and developers create horrible unlivable spaces in cities and it all falls apart.
Load More Replies...
DB 1 year ago
Visiting the small town where I was born but not raised after my parents retired and moved back. Woman at a store sees my name on my credit card, which is the same name as my father's, and proceeds to tell me that she used to date him in high school.
Glitcher 1 year ago
My great uncle on my mother's side went to elementary school and remained friends with my grandmother on my dad's side. I didn't know this until they were both in their 90s.
Load More Replies... Lyone Fein 1 year ago
What a great post. I grew up in a small town of about 12,000 people. I haven't lived there for 40 years. But whenever I go back to visit, people ask me how my dog is.....They are mistaking me for my mother, who used to take her dog for a 5 mile walk every day 20 years ago!
Andy Frobig 1 year ago
My dad was the pastor in a town in northern Vermont with a total population of about 1600, but it's split up into three villages a few miles apart. 12,000 isn't big but it's hard for me to think of it as small
Load More Replies... Kaiti Yoder 1 year ago
Well of course, that's why it's such a short list.
Load More Replies... Carl Roberts 1 year ago
In my town, the kids hang out in the corn field and tell scary stories of someone they call "he who walks behind the rows".
Alice Teasdale 1 year ago
Small Island, 4.5k population in 4.5k square km. 4 year old daughter wanders local agricultural show relatively unsupervised. Loses her hat, which has her name "Poppy" on it. Hat comes home in her Daycare bag the next day.
G 1 year ago
Last summer, my mom and I helped her parents move from MN to AZ. We drove their car and a u-haul, and had their two senior dogs. The car broke down just outside of a very small town, people directed us to "Jeff's store" which was a Ford dealership (with only 2 Fords on the lot XD). They told us the car would take at least 2 weeks to fix, so we looked at trading it in instead. We got a sedan with broken ac, they offered to fix it for free but it would have to wait till the next day. We couldn't get a hotel room (in the only hotel) because of a festival a town over, so everyone there started calling almost everyone in town to see if anyone had a spare room or cabin or something in the area. Nothing worked out and we ended up heading out that night, but every single person there stayed 4 hours after closing to help us get set up and back on the road safely. People in small towns care about each other and it's so refreshing sometimes.
My “in my head” Voice 1 year ago
My husband and I visited a little mountain town in New Mexico called Mogollon. We chatted with a lady who had a store there and asked how many people lived there. She said there were 13 year round residents. There used to be more, but her sister moved farther up the mountain. She said it was getting too crowded, and she wasn't a "city girl."
Andy Frobig 1 year ago
After generations in Brooklyn, my parents kept us pretty rootless when I was a kid. One town where we lived was less than ten miles south of the New York/Quebec border. About 80% of the residents had French surnames. Some sets of cousins would have the original name and others would have a phonetic spelling of the pronunciation. Years later I realized that even some families, like the Martins and Parents, were French too. Now when I think of anyone from there who didn't have a French surname, I wonder how they ended up there
JayWantsACat 1 year ago
Big cities can totally feel like small towns. Where I grew up was a large city (and county) it felt small when you dated around because of who we knew through friends, family, work, school, etc. Obviously not saying we knew so many people in a county of millions more that through our ethnic groups and our interests we get to know the same people. Or people who know people. The city I'm in now is well known worldwide and has about a million people but through the density of scenes and areas in the city you kind of match or run into the same people so I don't even bother anymore. lmao
translucent galaxies 1 year ago
I honestly believe this is how we were supposed to live. No huge bustling cities, just small towns where everyone knows everyone. Actual human connections.
Peryton 1 year ago
I lived in a huge bustling city. Each neighborhood had a distinct flavour and everyone knew each other and looked after each other. Cities aren't the problem. Corporations and developers create horrible unlivable spaces in cities and it all falls apart.
Load More Replies... DB 1 year ago
Visiting the small town where I was born but not raised after my parents retired and moved back. Woman at a store sees my name on my credit card, which is the same name as my father's, and proceeds to tell me that she used to date him in high school.
Glitcher 1 year ago
My great uncle on my mother's side went to elementary school and remained friends with my grandmother on my dad's side. I didn't know this until they were both in their 90s.
Load More Replies... Lyone Fein 1 year ago
What a great post. I grew up in a small town of about 12,000 people. I haven't lived there for 40 years. But whenever I go back to visit, people ask me how my dog is.....They are mistaking me for my mother, who used to take her dog for a 5 mile walk every day 20 years ago!
Andy Frobig 1 year ago
My dad was the pastor in a town in northern Vermont with a total population of about 1600, but it's split up into three villages a few miles apart. 12,000 isn't big but it's hard for me to think of it as small
Load More Replies... Kaiti Yoder 1 year ago
Well of course, that's why it's such a short list.
Load More Replies... Carl Roberts 1 year ago
In my town, the kids hang out in the corn field and tell scary stories of someone they call "he who walks behind the rows".
Alice Teasdale 1 year ago
Small Island, 4.5k population in 4.5k square km. 4 year old daughter wanders local agricultural show relatively unsupervised. Loses her hat, which has her name "Poppy" on it. Hat comes home in her Daycare bag the next day.
G 1 year ago
Last summer, my mom and I helped her parents move from MN to AZ. We drove their car and a u-haul, and had their two senior dogs. The car broke down just outside of a very small town, people directed us to "Jeff's store" which was a Ford dealership (with only 2 Fords on the lot XD). They told us the car would take at least 2 weeks to fix, so we looked at trading it in instead. We got a sedan with broken ac, they offered to fix it for free but it would have to wait till the next day. We couldn't get a hotel room (in the only hotel) because of a festival a town over, so everyone there started calling almost everyone in town to see if anyone had a spare room or cabin or something in the area. Nothing worked out and we ended up heading out that night, but every single person there stayed 4 hours after closing to help us get set up and back on the road safely. People in small towns care about each other and it's so refreshing sometimes.
My “in my head” Voice 1 year ago
My husband and I visited a little mountain town in New Mexico called Mogollon. We chatted with a lady who had a store there and asked how many people lived there. She said there were 13 year round residents. There used to be more, but her sister moved farther up the mountain. She said it was getting too crowded, and she wasn't a "city girl."
Andy Frobig 1 year ago
After generations in Brooklyn, my parents kept us pretty rootless when I was a kid. One town where we lived was less than ten miles south of the New York/Quebec border. About 80% of the residents had French surnames. Some sets of cousins would have the original name and others would have a phonetic spelling of the pronunciation. Years later I realized that even some families, like the Martins and Parents, were French too. Now when I think of anyone from there who didn't have a French surname, I wonder how they ended up there
JayWantsACat 1 year ago
Big cities can totally feel like small towns. Where I grew up was a large city (and county) it felt small when you dated around because of who we knew through friends, family, work, school, etc. Obviously not saying we knew so many people in a county of millions more that through our ethnic groups and our interests we get to know the same people. Or people who know people. The city I'm in now is well known worldwide and has about a million people but through the density of scenes and areas in the city you kind of match or run into the same people so I don't even bother anymore. lmao
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