I'm Southern and I will tell you to your face, no problem. Not ALL Southern niceness is fake, and not ALL NY rudeness is intentional, at least in my experience. Just different customs I guess.
One of my favorite "Designing Women" lines ever was from Julia:
"Down here in the South we don't hide our crazy people away in the attic, we bring 'em right down into the living room to show 'em off"
Ya'll have a great day now, ya hear?