If you come to work in Dickinson, North Dakota, you must plan on leaving.  This is probably the most important advice that I could give to anyone.

I first came to work in Dickinson from Idaho, in 2011.  I have lived in Dickinson for almost five years now.  Something that I now realize was a mistake, was that once I had been here for a while, I tried to settle in, to be comfortable, and I tried to make a life here.

When I first came to Dickinson in 2011, I ended up staying in my truck camper on company property where I was working.  My goal was to make as much money as possible, and then return to my home in Idaho when I had made enough money.  I brought over one extra vehicle, so that I could drive around after work and on weekends without moving my truck camper.  Making money, saving money, and bringing just the bare minimum of personal belongings to Dickinson, these were all good ideas that I should have continued to follow.

When I came back to Dickinson in 2013, by the winter I had moved into a house.  I purchased an additional vehicle in Dickinson.  I bought a couple of kayaks.  I bought some mountain bikes.  I later brought over from Idaho, two extra trucks, two equipment trailers, and construction equipment.  I began doing self employed construction work, in addition to my other job.

Instead of making money, saving money, and going back to Idaho when I had made enough money, I tried to make a life here in Dickinson.  I tried to have a normal life in Dickinson, because it looked like I was going to be here for several years.  I began trying to do things that I enjoyed doing elsewhere, riding my bike, kayaking, fishing, going to the gym, going to restaurants and bars, trying to meet women, driving jeeps out to nowhere.  This turned out to be a mistake, trying to make a life in Dickinson.

I have been writing blog posts for a little over 2-1/2 years, and I have written very few good things about Dickinson, and many, many bad things about Dickinson, North Dakota.  Primarily, the local people are unfriendly, uncooperative, hostile, hateful, uneducated, very greedy, and they raised housing prices 400% to 500% to gouge the out of state workers.  There is a shortage of women and a scarcity of attractive women.  The restaurants are not very good, and the waitresses and bartenders hate their jobs, hate their customers, hate white men, and hate Dickinson.  The police follow everyone leaving restaurants and bars hoping and trying to arrest them for something.

I tried to make a life here in Dickinson, and this was a mistake.  Dickinson is not normal, and it is never going to be normal.  There will always be a scarcity of attractive women in Dickinson.  The restaurants and bars will always be bad with waitresses and bartenders that hate their job and hate their customers.  The people here will always be unfriendly, uncooperative, hostile, and hateful.  I guess that I thought that I would try to persevere, and try to make things as bearable as possible while I was living here in Dickinson.

Things are so bad in Dickinson now, that I can now see that I had made a mistake when I changed my plans from working, saving, and leaving, to trying to do things, have things, and become involved in things here in Dickinson.

There are very few job openings in Dickinson now, even though this is the busiest hiring month in Dickinson.  My job is not very busy, and I am not making very much money.  Once I had brought extra vehicles, trailers, and equipment to Dickinson, my local landlord began being difficult and causing problems, thinking that I was stuck here, and that I could not leave.  Once I started taking my extra vehicles and equipment back to Idaho in preparation for moving out, my landlord changed his attitude.

Without having some of my equipment that I moved back to Idaho, in order to do my self employed construction work, I had to re-buy equipment from local businesses that I had bought this equipment from last year.  I was shocked recently when two local business owners that I had bought equipment from last year, were very nasty to me when I talked to them about buying more equipment from them.  I regretted having spent over $1,200 at these two local businesses.

These two local business owners being so nasty, caused me to think about what I am doing in Dickinson.  Just about every involvement with anything and anyone in Dickinson has been negative.  The local people are so unfriendly, the women are unattractive and unfriendly, the waitresses and bartenders are so unfriendly, the local business owners are nasty, and the police follow everyone around trying to arrest them for something, I guess that it was a mistake in trying to make a life here.  I just should have brought the bare minimum of belongings over here to Dickinson, and tried to have as little involvement as possible in Dickinson.

I recommend to out of state workers, do not move to Dickinson, just plan on staying here while you have a job.  Do not buy a house in Dickinson.  Do not pay a lot for housing, get just the bare minimum for housing.  Try to get a lease that allows you to break your lease by giving notice and paying a penalty.  Try to bring a minimum of belongings to Dickinson.  Be ready to leave Dickinson.  Try to make as much money as possible, to save as much money as possible, and to spend as little as possible.  While you are here, try to research some place better to move to.

After living in Dickinson for almost five years, with everything that I have seen, learned, and experienced, you can’t have a normal life, or a good life here in Dickinson.  Don’t get trapped here because you have bought a house which you will be unable to sell, or because you have spent your money on a new car, motorcycle, or boat.  Plan on saving your money so that you will be able to leave.  Don’t accidentally get trapped here in Dickinson.