I think it's very much a west-coast / upper-middle-class liberal thing. I noticed it dramatically when I moved to the west coast (Seattle, in my case). People

I think it's very much a west-coast / upper-middle-class liberal thing. I noticed it dramatically when I moved to the west coast (Seattle, in my case). People think it's being polite and decent but to me it just seems boring. Anecdotally I think 'taker'-ness is associated with immigrant cultures (Jewish and Italian come to mind, but I think it includes others also).