I was born and raised just north of Seattle and, while I know you're in the Portland metro area (as am I now, near that Fred's), I'd recommend looking up someth

I was born and raised just north of Seattle and, while I know you're in the Portland metro area (as am I now, near that Fred's), I'd recommend looking up something called the "Seattle freeze", which sounds like what you're referring to. I had a very interesting experience in 2010, when I moved to Atlanta for a few years, kind of the opposite of what you're experiencing. Being from the PNW, the sort of attitude you described was ingrained in me, and I hated the forced outward politeness of "Southern hospitality". It was such a shock; I could never get used to it and quickly realized that it was a bullshit veneer that people put on in spite of whatever mood they might be feeling. That's not to say that, perhaps to your point, there's not a happy medium to be found, but I digress. I bring that up because in the first apartment complex I moved to in Atlanta, there was an older gentleman a few units down who had an Oregon license plate and looked stereotypically Oregonian. The highlight of my days would be my interactions with him as we passed by in the common area - they literally were only ever a quick head nod to one another with nary a word said between us. Never knew his name, never held a conversation, maybe only uttered the word, "Hi," once, but for someone who preferred those kinds of interactions and couldn't get used to that aspect of Southern culture I really, really cherished those moments. But that's just me. :)