Vent: I said the Wisconsin tourism ad was fake small town bait, then I found the bar
I rolled my eyes at that 90 second Wisconsin tourism ad where everybody waves at a truck and the bartender knows everyone's name. I grew up in a town of 800 in Iowa, and real small towns are not that friendly on camera, so I called it staged in a group chat with 5 people. Then in March my cousin got married in Viroqua, and our rental car broke down outside town. A guy named Dale jumped our battery in a church lot, then followed us 8 miles to the only open bar so we for sure made it. The bartender there did know everyone's name, including Dale, and she comped two of our beers because we were out of state. I get that ads pick the best 3 minutes out of the whole town, but I was wrong about the whole thing being fake. Anybody else get proven wrong by a hometown they thought was too nice to be real?
That line about the bartender knowing everyone's name got me... because I had almost the same thing happen in a town I'd been making fun of for years. My wife's family is from a little spot in Missouri, and every time we drove through I'd joke that the welcome sign should say "population: nosy." Then our tire blew on the highway at like 9pm on a Sunday and a farmer pulled over before I even got the jack out. He didn't just help, he called his buddy who owned the tire shop, and the guy opened up after hours in his pajamas to patch us up. Wouldn't take a dime either. I still feel bad about all the jokes.