I hate the control that TSCC has on laws and politics here. Ridiculous liquor laws, etc. TSCC had to give its stamp of approval before anything gets done. Take for example the recent 'gay rights' bill that was passed immediately after TSCC gave its support. It had failed to pass for a few years without church Approval.
Constant reminders of my TBM past...like passing 3 temples on my way to work, living a block from the church building, seeing people with their garments hanging out everywhere they go, etc...
Concerned TBM's in the neighborhood that left me alone before, but now are always smiling creepily at me, trying to talk, etc...
Being surrounded by TBM's at stores, restaurants, etc... that can't talk about anything not church related. It's the same with my TBM family...it's like none of them have a life outside of church.
Thankfully, I don't have any Mormon coworkers. I don't think I could stand it if my workweek was full of dealing with TBM's too.
The LDS control of local politics is annoying, but life is more than politics. And sanity does prevale now and again. Progress is glacial, but it does happen.
The February inversions suck, but it is only February for a few weeks. The heat of July and early August is no fun either, but there are mountains and air conditioners.
The weather is generally quite tolerable. Crime is low. Education systems, particularly at the university level, are adequate to good depending on the field. Active arts community for an urban area the size of the Wasatch front. The scenery is world class, as is the skiing.
All in all, the fact that the place is infected with Mormonism has never been that big a deal to me. I can usually navigate around it. Most of the people I associate with are either not LDS, former LDS, or I don't know what religion they are.
Utah County kind of creeps me out, but I try to not spend too much time there. Even that I could tolerate if I had to.
Definitely this. Also, any time you meet someone or they find out you are new to the area.... 'What Ward are you in'? It's always assumed that everyone is LDS, unless you make it obvious you are not, and it just becomes a point of reference for figuring out what area you live in, or what people you may know in common. And when you say you not have a ward, well, then Utes awkward, and they figure you for a jack mo, or one of the few 'others', and it then becomes 'us versus them', or you are a project.
As a nevermo I was bothered by the fact that nearly all neighborhood activities were "ward" events. We would get a paper tucked in our door about some holiday event or such and it would always be at the stake center.
Fortunately, we didn't have any school age kids because almost everything in the schools was adjusted for the Mo folks. For example, it seemed that state history began in July 1847 and that the area probably didn't even exist before that.
Not so bad at the job because it was a nationwide company with people being transferred in and out from all over the country.
The worst thing I ran into when I lived there, job decimation. During job interviews it would always come up about your "church duties". The clannishness and us vs you was prevalent. Could write a book. Glad to be out of Utah.
Booze is slightly pricier, but the distribution method is on par with Vermont or Pennsylvania. I wish it would change, but too many interests (both LDS and otherwise) are now beholden to the state distribution process.
Limited restaurants here at the north end of Utah County, but that's changing.
There are some ex-Mo's that still gripe about the state and are, in some ways, far more annoying than the Mormons that live here. Some of them have a persecution complex and keep griping about the Utah of 20 years ago while the state and its people have moved well beyond them.
I've never been asked about the church in a job interview, and I've been interviewed by plenty of Mormons. The culture, like anywhere else, has adapted, else all the tech dollars wouldn't be coming into the state.
I grew up in California. Given my hobbies, I'd much rather live here than there.
The belief among the "majority" that there is only one way to do things, and that would be whatever the Big15 says is the right way. Any alternate thinking is not only wrong, but shouldn't be tolerated. Everyone needs to do as the Morg collective decides and not think for themselves.
The constant sizing up of any new person I come in contact with. TBM? New Order Mormon? Jack Mormon? Ex-Mormon? Never-Mormon? I'm looking for clues on them, and they're looking for clues on me and it's just exhausting.
I moved to Salt Lake City after living many years away from Utah (I'm an ex-mo who grew up in Utah Valley) having been assured that Salt Lake is sooooo different from the Utah of my upbringing. Well, yes, it is different, but not nearly as different as I'd been lead to expect. And my husband and I purposely chose to buy a house in one of the most liberal area of Salt Lake, paid a premium for said house, trying to get ourselves situated around more progressively minded people, but this has still been our experience.
I wasn't prepared for the way I find myself iced out as soon as a new, very nice friend figures out that I'm not a Never-Mo, I'm an Ex-Mo. Their demeanor changes, I can see, hear and feel the budding friendship retreating, never to return. Even the very nicest, most progressive TBMs are so much more welcoming and friendly when they're operating under the assumption that I'm a Never-Mo.
That's the worst thing.
A close runner-up is the inversions. Followed by the ludicrous under-funding of the schools.
Next to stalking my children, I didn't like them stalking me.
The inversions.
The drivers are the rudest outside of New York and Miami, IMO. Utahns don't know how to merge. You let people merge ahead of you, and that keeps traffic flowing smoothly. Letting others go ahead is dead opposite of the Utah mentality of "Me first!" People merge all the time in other cities, but in SLC, traffic comes to a dead stop. When we came upon a deadlock, my out-of-town friend said, "What's wrong? Is there an accident ahead?"
We all said in unison, "A merge."
I have been given the finger by a woman driving a van full of kids, with those kid decals on the rear window, in a temple parking lot.
I hate not having a decent local newspaper. I also hate KSL and FOX news--well, all the local news. "And now, for the Mormon Church's perspective...." Who cares.
The Mormon-controlled politics.
I worked for 6 months at a temporary job in a Mormon-dominated government office--by far the worst job I'd ever had! People were always leaving their desk, never to return. Others were getting fired in the middle of the day. Someone got fired, because the boss's niece wanted the job. It's a right-to-hire state. Women were always crying in the office bathroom.
Being a woman in a man's world really sucks.
I also work in a completely non-mormon work environment. I'm anonymous, so I can say that we don't hire Mormons, and we don't take them as clients. It saves us a lot of grief.
I hate that some of my Mormon relatives have tried to steal money from me and from our family.
I hate the shunning, gossip, and pettiness. It is much better than living among gangs, however. People can't snub you to death.
Mormon neighbors run their lawn mowers and leaf blowers on Saturday evenings.
I dislike the political atmosphere a great deal. I think if you are a strongly conservative person Utah probably wouldn't bother you as much even if you weren't Mormon. Personally I can't stand strong right or left wing types, and Utah is full of right wing nutjobs. The fact that they all fall in line behind the "church" as well as Glenn Beck and Fox news is just the icing on the cake.
The us vs. them attitude rears its head occasionally but even where I live in a fairly heavy mo area, its not that bad. Of course, I don't work for a local company any none of my management is even in the state. Having to work for Mormons might make it a whole lot worse.