Korean Job Discussion Forums

[coffeeman]

I lived there for a few years and didn't like it much. However, ask an Asian students and they almost always say that they love it. Some of them even say it's their favorite place in Canada. I found the people in Toronto to be very reserved (People seldom smile. I think smiling is illegal there.) and the city to be too grey. There's too much steel, glass and concrete. Not enough plants and trees. I also found that if you don't have a car, you'll have a miserable life there. The public transit is often crowded and unreliable (buses will often show up at bus stops in clusters of 3 or 4 buses after waiting 25 minutes for them). On the positive side, a lot of good musicians stop in Toronto and the International Film Festival is great.

[ajgeddes]

Why did you ask why people dislike Toronto, so much? Seems like everybody you are talking about likes it. I really like Toronto, especially during the summer. I think it has a good feel to it and a lot of unique stuff if you look around. It doesn't have the best parks, but it has a good feel overall.

[mindmetoo]

It's like why do Canadians hate America? It's the factory setting for Canadians. We hate what's bigger, more flashy. I know growing up in Windsor, everyone hated Toronto. Too big, too expensive, too many plastic people. At the same time everyone in Windsor talks about getting the hell out of the city because it's too small and boring. I think people tend to hate Toronto out of a fear they might have to admit there really is something bigger and better than them.

Toronto people also tend to bring it on themselves. There was a great exodus from Toronto to Vancouver. Nothing Vancouver people hated hearing more was a Toronto person piping up "well, in Toronto we have this. Why doesn't Vancouver have it?" If you liked it so much in Toronto, you should have stayed in Toronto...

I have no problem with Toronto, save for the fact the city can suck if you don't have a job/money. I've experienced living in Toronto making 20K a year and making 60K a year. When you're just getting by, all your money going to food and rent with little for luxuries, it can be very painful and demoralizing. It doesn't take much, frozen pipes, a car break down, to really throw you into a down mood. Let's not even talk about relationships. That movie "Goin' Down the Road" still captures the feeling of living in Toronto but making meager wages.

Having lived in the states for x number of years, going back to Toronto made me realize how unfriendly people are in Toronto. The service is wordless and mechanical.

I loved living High Park near a subway station and working in Mississauga. A reverse commute. The driving was easy.

[coffeeman]

[ddeubel]

I've traveled the world and lived in many cities. Used to think of Toronto as cold and dull and boring. Until I went back there 3 years ago and lived. Totally different and it offers a lot. Lived without a car and had no problems with transport, just limited myself to the downtownish area and used a rental (very cheap) whenever needed, even if for a week. Also, Toronto rocks for things to do , if you are in the know............

I think a lot of the comments about Torontonians being cold come from those who are not going to the ethnic areas. I taught in St. Jamestown, lived in Riverdale. World of difference. Riverdale was cold as hell and St. Jamestown full of smiles and people stopping to talk to you on the street (atleast in the day time...). But yeah, like so many BIG cities, there is a lot of the busy busy busy feel, the "no time to talk" feel.......

I hated Vancouver when I lived there. Horrible traffic and also felt the people were just all social climbers, very busy.....Also a bit like what my semi-senile grandmother would tell me everyday when we'd have morning coffee on her beautiful balcony in Evian France, on lake Geneva. Looking across at Lausanne , Switzerland , my grandmother (who is Swiss but abandoned the place 50 years ago) she would shake her head and say, "ahhhh Switzerland, so beautiful , so beautiful" and then shake her fist and loudly say, "only to look at, not to live in...!" This would repeat every day I was there....

DD

[TOGirl]

Since my name is TOGirl, perhaps I should comment. I lived in Toronto for about 8 years. I went to University there and then worked downtown.

I agree that people can be cold and some have attitudes but I think that I probably have one too. I know a group of other girls from Toronto who live here in Seoul and we always joke about our T.O. attitudes and doing things T.O. style. Maybe we're a little cult..haha.

I agree that you need to have money to have a decent life in Toronto but if you do and you know where the fun places are it can be a really great place. There is always something to do and see and you can experience other cultures in the city.

And lets face it, there is great shopping which is key to a girls life.

[coffeeman]

[Homer]

Born TO and lived there for most of my childhood. Then moved to Ottawa. Did my undergrad in TO and my grad in Montreal (McGill).

All I can say is that were I to choose where to live, I would choose Montreal hands down, no contest. People are just nicer there.

Toronto is not necessarily a bad place to live, but many torontonians do have an attitude that acts much like skunk spray when meeting non-torontonians...

[the_beaver]

[mindmetoo]

[coffeeman]

I knew a women who served the ugly rich people at her work. She worked in this high class department store called Holt Renfrew (Canada's Macy's I guess). She worked in the shoe department. She said it was disgusting how the store kissed their rich customers buns all the time. A rich woman would scratch up an expensive pair of shoes and demand a refund 6 months later. The store would always cave into these kinds of people. There are a lot of these people in Toronto. They walk around the Rosedale or Bloor & St. Clair area with their poodles and looking all self-important. They're pathetic-looking people with money.

[canuckistan]

The Toronto Maple Leafs.

There, I said it.

[bucheon bum]

I spent a whopping 8 hours or so there. Seemed pleasant enough to me.

[Moldy Rutabaga]

There is a sort of Canada-revolves-around-Toronto Globe & Mail arrogance that I think turns many people off. It's Canada's Chicago or NYC, I suppose, and those cities also provoke resentment in the states as well. I've been there once and liked Toronto, and found people more pleasant than in Montreal, where people treated me like an insect for my poor French. But this is all very first impression, and maybe I would feel different after more than a few days there.

Believe it or not, many of my students confuse Toronto with Niagara Falls and group it together, and maybe that's why they have so much interest in Toronto. People seem fascinated with those falls! To me it was just a bunch of water..

[coffeeman]