Washington, D.C., is a unique place and it doesn’t matter if you’re a power player or just an average citizen, there are plenty of things Washingtonians consider normal that tourists and outsiders just don’t understand! So we asked for your responses on things that are considered totally normal in D.C. but not anywhere else:
1. “Sorry I’m late, I got stuck behind a motorcade”
2. Constant aircraft being above you … Air Force base training helicopters, president and his accompaniment, commercial planes, fighter jets. Never know what’s going on
3. Being at a restaurant and seeing a cabinet member, a secretary, a senator, or someone else of political importance sitting at a neighboring table.
4. Not knowing whether someone you’re talking to at a bar is flirting, networking, looking for friends, or a spy
5. Go-go music 🎶
6. Knowing and loving mumbo sauce.
7. Free museums everywhere.
8. Metrorail delays—every day.
9. Not knowing if I’m making friends or networking…
10. Waving at the POTUS helicopter flyovers.
11. Using the Mall grounds and the stairs of the Lincoln Memorial as your gym.
12. Grocery stores immediately selling out of milk, eggs, bread, and toilet paper at the slightest hint of snow.
13. Canceling work/school before a single flake has fallen.
14. Casually spying secret service vehicles everywhere you go.
15. Taking two hours to drive 4 miles.
16. Mistaking rats for squirrels.
17. Seeing black, white, and albino squirrels.
18. People who live in the suburbs of Virginia and Maryland outside of D.C. saying they live “in D.C.”
19. Calling people or being called, “Moe!”
20. Seeing servicemen and servicewomen in full uniform just walking down the street.
21. Immediately being asked, “Who do you work for?” when meeting a new person.
22. U-turns anywhere and everywhere.
23. Waiting for politicians and their people to clear off and get on elevators at events.
24. Planning your commute time around whether Congress is in session
25. Stealing the Declaration of Independence (Completely normal, happens all the time 😂)
26. The cherry blossoms 😍
