I was born and raised in Florida. I love it here. And there are certain "Florida" things that I didn't think anything of as a kid, but later learned things weren't done that way elsewhere.
For example, the first time I ever visited friends up north, I asked where the nearest Publix was, and they looked at me like I was crazy. They don't have Publix up north!! How do they live?!
Speaking of Publix, I'm sure you're familiar with the Publix scale. There's a big "people weigher," as it's affectionately known by many Publix employees, at the front of every Florida Publix store. Every. Single. One. I always assumed it was normal for big grocery stores to have a scale, because that's what I grew up with...apparently that's not the case.
In 1940, when George Jenkins opened the very first Publix, he offered the scale as a free service for his customers. At that time, people didn't have scales in their homes, and the only place they could weigh themselves was at a doctor's office. The service went over so well that it stuck, and scales were installed at every Publix to open since, even today.
The company that makes the scales, Mettler Toledo, stopped manufacturing that particular model in 2015, and Publix began acquiring that model from anywhere they could find it, and even opened their own refurbishment shop, so that like-new scales could continue to be available at new Publixes. I had no idea!
I don't know why I'm so fascinated by this whole scale thing, but I am! You can read more about it at the link below, if you're as big of a dork as I am!