Why do New Yorkers RUN when they get off the train?

I always heard that New York City ran at a different pace than most.

I fought it in high school and in college, when I didn't live there.

I always heard: "People from the Northeast work faster than most." I hated that thought. "I am just as productive as those f-ing New Yorkers," I thought. And I probably was.*

But I've lived in New York for a few years now. And it's not that New Yorkers are faster, or better - it's that they have to try harder. They have to take the dirty-ass subway in the morning - with people who look like they'd rather be looking at a corpse than you - and show up with a smile on their faces. They have to avert their eyes (to avoid looking like a creepy onlooker); they have to seem occupied. They have to gamble that they'll be on time, based on the whims of the unruly train service.

So, I appreciate New Yorkers. And there may be many reasons for their strange behaviors, but the fact remains: New Yorkers at rush hour sprint when they get off the train.


*I was probably more productive than when I was living in New York.