While Toronto may lag behind other cities it our quest to be a “world-class city” (probably now the most over-hyped and meaningless word in this city) Toronto checks in as the third most polite big city in the world. From the home of investigative journalism, Reader’s Digest reports:
In her international bestselling death-of-manners manifesto Talk to the Hand, author Lynne Truss argues that common courtesies such as saying “Excuse me” are practically extinct. There are certainly plenty who would agree with her. Consider that in one recent survey, 70 percent of U.S. adults said people are ruder now than they were 20 years ago.
Is it really true? Reader’s Digest decided to find out if courtesy truly is kaput. RD sent reporters to major cities in 35 countries where the magazine is published — from Auckland, New Zealand, to Zagreb, Croatia.
Read the main story here.
If you just want to check out the rankings click here. Below is the top 10. Figures reflect the percentage of people who passed in each city.
 |
New York | USA | |
|
80% |
|
Zurich | Switzerland | |
|
77 |
|
Toronto | Canada | |
|
70 |
|
Berlin | Germany | |
|
68 |
|
Sà£o Paulo | Brazil | |
|
68 |
|
Zagreb | Croatia | |
|
68% |
|
Auckland | New Zealand | |
|
67 |
|
Warsaw | Poland | |
|
67 |
|
Mexico City | Mexico | |
|
65 |
|
Stockholm | Sweden | |
|
63 |
One comment
From the article, there were three tests: holding the door open, picking up dropped stuff, and for salespeople in stores, thanking customers for their purchase. I’d imagine that the third test skews the statistic in favour of North America, where customer service is like a religion, and has little to do with actual friendliness or courtesy. It would be interesting to see the results of just the first two tests.