what's a NY minute?
A very, very short minute.

A Midwesterner is on his first trip to NY. As he wanders through the
city, he is looking for the sights to see. He stops a passer-by and
asks: "Excuse me, Sir, could you please tell me where the Empire State
Building is, or should I just go f... myself?" That's New York!

Funny example! Reality is that the mythical NY'er would have turned away
and been down the street before the punch line.

When this midwesterner (Pittsburgh) moved to NYC I was a bit put off by
people walking away from me when I asked directions. I soon learned to
shorten my requests to "where's the Empire State Building" and found that
people would not only tell me but were as likely to walk down the block with
me to make sure I wouldn't get lost.. Pretty soon I learned to ignore
"excuse me" requests too because that's how scam artists and beggars start
their pitch.

Now that I'm 'down south' in NC, I've had to unlearn what I grew up with in
Pittsburgh and learned in NY. The key here is to start with a "How are you
this morning", then wait for an answer, then ask for help. Shortening any
of this dialog marks you as one of those damn NYers.

In the end, people seem the same but they just like to move at different
speeds.