On a similar train of thought, I've thought about why people are often short tempered in cities and towns. I've come to the conclusion that it's largely because there's plenty of stuff to piss someone off before they can level their head from the last time something pissed them off. For example, someone in a small town is running late and hits a redlight. That sucks, but that might be the only negative thing that day. Meanwhile, someone in a larger town is hits redlights when they're running late, then deals with someone accidentally cutting them off in the parking lot, then some customer who's in a bad mood for similar reasons. Simply put, the more people in close proximity, the more things to piss each other off, and the more often it affects others as well. In your case, it could be because of construction on a major road pissing off large amounts of people, then they piss off coworkers and random people. Pretty soon everyone is in a bad mood until the weekend resets their pissed-off meter. ---------------- Rural folks are largely immune to this because it's hard to spread a bad mood when there's no one around, and you're less likely to stay in a bad mood when there's fewer people to piss you off, and really, really hard to stay in a bad mood when surrounded by Mother Nature.