"Thank you M'am" is set in a city late at night, around eleven o'clock. It begins on a city street (sidewalk) where a young man tries to snatch a woman's purse. The street is largely deserted, although a few passersby stop to watch. It isn't the sort of neighborhood where they might get involved or call the cops, so we may assume it's a poorer neighborhood. Also, Mrs. Jones's home is an apartment in building she shares with several other "roomers," many of whom keep their doors open even this late, laughing and talking. The environment is not well-to-do, but it is friendly and neighborly. The time is probably present day for Langston Hughes--around 1958, when the story was published.