British Reacts To: '21 Things in the US That Puzzle Most Foreigners' - BRIGHT SIDE

[@tamarett]

We talk to everyone in the Southern US. At the grocery, gas station, drs office, and anywhere and we'll tell you exactly how our day is going. We even wave at random people driving down the road.

[@fowlerhata9595]

This is true.

[@palpablenotion]

We do that in Michigan too

[@amandablythe6515]

I LOVE this 40+ minute video! Its nice to have you around for longer than 10 minutes😂

[@Ookirkpatrick12]

Sales tax is wild because tax rates can differ from city to city or county to county. The Disney World property spans 2 counties, Ocala and Orange, and they have 2 different sales taxes. When I worked there, you could buy the exact same thing at two different parks and pay different amounts because the sales tax was different since they were located in different counties. That was a fun conversation to have almost daily.

[@cassandragidney7682]

Just to help you with understanding the snack brands thing, when I was growing up, there was an entire aisle in the grocery store with just different kinds of cookies. About 1/3 of the aisle was different kinds of Oreo.

[@anaccountbyanyothername]

I live in the US and to explain a few things from my own perspective- My company lets us buy more hours for the next year on top of what they give us. What they give us is based on how long you have worked with the company. For example, I bought as many hours as I could last year, and I have been there a long time so I have 32 days total to use this year. I can use this for unscheduled time off or scheduled time off, both are paid (for my company). Taxes, honestly I do not pay attention to it unless absolutely needed. If needed, I just round up to the nearest dollar for the price of a single item and then add about two dollars before deciding if it's worth buying. On the MM/DD/YYYY thing. Its more of the fact that we say 'April 1st 2023' and not 'The 1st of April 2023'. We write it in the order it is said. The only exception I can think of to this is The Fourth of July, as it is a holiday. Yea the bathroom thing is really not fun but you get used to it or you just wait to get home. As far as I can tell, the reason for the gaps are so that if there is an issue- person harming themselves, drugs, etc. could be easily spotted and dealt with. This way someone could, if needed, crawl under the stall and unlock the door to get the person help. I have no idea if this is true or if people just don't want to pay for nicer stalls honestly. I don't know on the smiling thing.. I feel like it's more of a blending technique than anything else. Like you lock eyes with someone in public, you'd flash them a quick smile and avert your eyes, drop the smile, and keep moving. You are acknowledging the other person's existence, you don't want to engage in conversation with them, but you are not ignoring them. It has just become second nature to do this- I definitely don't think that its because we are happy or more friendly at all.

[@tamarett]

I like how you are placing ads so it doesn't interrupt the commentary. Do you have a PO box or Addy that we could send you some US goodies. You could do a video trying stuff. Have a great day.

[@TheCuriousLo]

Keep in mind that a lot of US states (though certainly not all) are the size of European countries. So different tax amounts is not something you deal with on a daily basis. But yeah, basically it's just normal to know about how much tax you'll get depending on how much you're buying. I don't really think about it, it's second nature.

[@TheCuriousLo]

Also, most tax amounts are at least kind of similar, so you're not suddenly spending $50 extra dollars if you cross state lines. If it's a big difference, you Know. For instance, there's no sales tax in Oregon. So where I grew up in Washington we would drive the two and a half hours down to Oregon to buy back-to-school clothes every year 😂

[@tamarett]

We are just raised with month, day, year but we have no problem with the other way. Now the Metric system totally confuses us. 😂

[@tamarett]

I'm commenting as we go. The soda concoctions we call Suicides 😂

[@tamarett]

Full time jobs start with 10 days paid vacay plus your normal 2 days off per week so 14 days plus holidays and a personal day. So it comes out to about 21 days per year BUT you have to take the holidays during that time.

[@ChristIsLord247]

The tax is because we have a lot of taxes. You have state tax, then potentially county sales tax and potentially city sales tax. You only find out when you pay. In my city the sales tax is 10.82% but a city half an hour from me, within the same county, is 8.something %. I'm in California so we have various taxes on everything. I'm waiting for breathing tax.

[@tacobowler]

American money was redesigned to be a little more colorful a decade or two ago as an anti-counter fitting measure. They also added in some watermarks and very tiny writing for the same reason.

[@fowlerhata9595]

I would say acceptable tipping is 18-20%, 25% would be pretty outstanding in my mind. Restaurants that have raised wages so employees don’t have to rely on tips often have signs on every table, or at least posted in many places saying tipping is not required. They’re pretty rare.

[@palpablenotion]

1 - sales tax isn't part of all items. In Michigan, unprepared food? No sales tax. Feminine hygiene products now don't have a sales tax here. Prepped food like take out, fast food, and restaurants have taxes. And we don't travel between states as often as one would think. All of the UK would fit inside of Michigan, for instance, with extra to spare. 2 - PTO or Paid Time Off is one thing. Salaried employees often have PTO. My mom still has to do daily analytical reports during her time off. We need a reform on that. Sick leave, depends on your employer. I dont think you understand about the fried food. We fry butter, ice cream, beer... more in the south but still. All things can be fried. Most pharmacies are really part of what is a convenience store. Look up Walgreens, Right Aid, CVS. Theres a freezer wall because frozen foods is convenient, but food aisles are reduced in comparison- liquor, spirits, wines have a full aisle though. Free refills in fast food places is common for fountain drinks and coffee but not for specialties. Sit down restaurants often charge for fountain refills but coffee? Usually someone will make rounds with a decaf and caffinated pot for top ups. Boxing Day was when higher classed people would box up unwanted things and gift to their servants, more or less. Tipping really is mostly server based restaurants and they get paid something like 2.30 an hour or less. 15% of their served tables is taxed so customers tip that or more. We don't have the AC on all the time but when we use it, we tend to leave it on during hot stretches because it takes up more energy to keep turning it on and off than to leave it on. It isn't uncommon to raise the temperature permitted to still have some temp control but lower the energy use (if we're gone for the day, maybe we keep it at 22C - 70-73F - we might raised the max temp to 26C - around 80F). The difference in coloration of money is mostly designed based and anti counterfeit measures. Our money is a textile, more cloth than paper. Month Day Year isn't so confusing. Think of it as starting with an indication towards a specific page before being given the bullet point on that page. Pre baby baby showers serves a purpose. It's supposed to give preparations to the parents. Diaper (napkin? Nappies? I forget the popular British terms) towers/cakes for instance are popular (they're actually cute, they're called cakes because they're tiered). Its common for the grandparents to gift a stroller and or car seat which are serious cash. Parents register for what they need as well. Yea front seat of cabs is awkward as well as a potential safety hazard for both passenger and driver. Some cabs have shields between the driver and passengers for this reason, actually. Americans smile more because of societal pressure. Remember Aaron Burr. Talk less, smile more. Women actively get told to smile all the time which seriously have Hamilton been a woman Burr'd have gotten himself shot when Hamilton was 19. Microagressions and macroaggressions that are racist often have white Americans (I'm a white american) frowning or even telling someone to learn English if they didn't speak it. The smiling thing I think is more suppression of dealing with emotional issues in public or even just in general, in front of people. I made a photographer cry once because she wouldn't take my freshman photo until I smiled and I dropped it as soon as she got to three. I didn't do it to make her cry, I just don't like my smile and I wanted a picture I liked. A lot of these make it seem way weirder but most are just normal cultural differences.

[@KatrinaMacGregor]

Washington state here…I never eat fried food!

[@KatrinaMacGregor]

;on the date: that’s just what we are taught. But I have no problem understanding it in any format..

[@KatrinaMacGregor]

And yes, I HATE loud voices..way inconsiderate to my mind.

[@fowlerhata9595]

I would say acceptable tipping is 18-20%, 25% would be pretty outstanding in my mind. Restaurants that have raised wages so employees don’t have to rely on tips often have signs on every table, or at least posted in many places saying tipping is not required. They’re pretty rare.