So I recently had family in town for a wedding.

That meant playing the role so many Washingtonians are familiar with: host/tour guide, which I typically relish. Letting the kids guess how tall the Washington Monument is, showing the adults around the National Mall and the obligatory slow-down as you drive by the Pentagon, are musts. This time, my guests came from all over but almost all of them, from the suburbs outside of Chicago and Buffalo.

They were at times, a bit wide-eyed. Not by the sights however, but by the people here, more specifically, the behavior of the people.

There was the overtly rude service from behind the counter at the sandwich in Old Town. There was the nasty tone of the Metro station manager when the train never showed and when these out-of-towners (while leaving) asked if they had to pay since they never got to go anywhere were told gruffly, “Tough luck, you stood there so you have to pay.” There were the constant honks from cab drivers and more graphic gestures from local drivers.

It seems this city subsidized by sight-seers, is so unwelcoming that I can understand why Disney World wins out so often. At least Mickey and his cohorts are fixed with a constant, even if it is artificial, smile.

To qualify this, let me say, I’ve lived all over the country and traveled much of the world…so I’m not, nor is my family, simply some naïve bunch of first timers here seeing the ‘big city’. It’s not their ignorance that garnered such reaction.

Yahoo News last year cited a poll ranking DC’s drivers the 5^th, rudest in the country…on the Fourth of July this year I witnessed my photographer, while covering a parade, get barked at three times by police officers, and twice by people viewing the parade. That night, there was more yelling as people stood to watch fireworks, and some people wanted to sit. Hateful yelling. On a holiday celebrating this very city and nation!

My point is this: shouldn’t we be better?

What could and should be a melting pot of pride, is instead, appeared heading for a meltdown!

When people come to the nation’s capital, they should see and experience better? Shouldn’t they leave here marveling at what amazing sights and pieces of history they saw, not marveling at the rude nature with which they were treated? And shouldn’t we provide that?