Been doing quite a lot of NY flying the other day and I heard several examples of NY controllers doing whatever they want, not being polite and professional, all knowing they will never be punished for their actions.
Was taxiing out of JFK the other day, they were on single runway departure ops, and they had an odd taxi flow going. A JBU pilot asked the tower what their sequence was for their planning purposes (whether or not to shut down engine(s), update passengers on progress, etc. Keep in mind, if a JBU is confused at the JFK flow, then it must be odd, as they are regulars there. Tower's reply was "You should know better than to ask me that question. Don't you know my voice? I don't answer stupid questions like that. Never ask me that." It was a completely uncalled for remark. As aircraft, we are the customers to the air traffic controllers, even the controllers will tell you that. There is absolutely no reason to have such a harsh answer and completely avoid the question. It wasn't as if it were busy. This controller was just working 1 runway departures.
Then, after taxiing for 2 hours and finally getting airborne, I heard an N90 controller give an aircraft a clearance to a point that wasn't on his flight plan. The aircraft quiered the controller about the clearance to get another fix that was on his FP. The controller said something like "I don't care, just go direct Sparta anyway" which is an illegal clearance. The aircraft then said that they could not do that without further instructions on where to go after that point. The controller ignored the request (again, it wasn't that busy). The aircraft asked about the routing again, and the controller said "well then you shouldn't have filed that route then should you." The aircraft (it was a larger charter outfit) said "Sir, I didn't file the flight plan, you're talking to the wrong person here, now what do you want me to do?" The controllers response was "I want you to fly the airplane like I tell you to" and then finished up with "That is how we do it here in the New York airspace."
Anyone that knows the slightest bit about the NAS knows that the last statement could not be any more incorrect. There are FAA procedures, not just unwritten procedures special for New York.