"jls" == jls writes:

jls It's been a while since I did much radio work with ATC and
jls was dreading it but found ATC very courteous, helpful, and
jls professional.

jls Those people work in pressure cookers, and yet they manage to
jls be so nice.

Same here. I fly in Northern California, VFR, and have avoided flying
into Southern California for years, mainly because of ATC. Finally
last spring I flew into John Wayne (Orange County) with some advice
from a friend who operated out of there for years. This was with an
Aircoupe and GPS.

ATC couldn't have been more helpful. Of course it helps to appear
somewhat competent, but my fear of getting yelled at and so on was
completely wrong. Even on takeoff after the weekend visit, when I
left my transponder on the old code for a while, was handled
gracefully. Good folks.