Pierce Mattie Public Relations New York & Los Angeles

In the Big Apple, it seems that everyone is in a rush to do something or be somewhere 24 hours a day. For instance, ever notice when crossing the street, New Yorkers are already halfway to the other side before that light turns green? With all this rushing around, who knew that New Yorkers would have time to be polite? According to Reader's Digest, New York is the "Most Courteous" city in the world!

Reader's Digest recently conducted an admittedly unscientific survey of 35 major cities around the world to measure courtesy. Through a series of three tests given to 2,000 participants, reporters from Reader's Digest walked into buildings to see if people held the door open, bought items from stores to see if salespeople would say "thank you," and dropped a folder full of papers in busy locations to see if anyone would help pick them up. Four out of five New Yorkers passed the courtesy tests scoring the highest on politeness beating out Zurich, Toronto and Berlin.

In a city where millions of people persistently push through the throngs in the streets each day, at least New Yorkers are doing it civilly with a smile. Gotta love NYC!