What Do Americans Think Is Normal… But Everyone Else Finds Weird? | Ask Reddit

[@krank23]

As a swede, the idea of there being commercials for prescription meds is just… weird. I as a patient am not a medical professional. I'm not qualified to make decisions on what medications will work best for me. That's the doctor's job, surely? And if my current doc keeps failing to prescribe me medicine that make me better, I just… ask another doctor for a second opinion? You know who I DONT trust for that second opinion? Me, Or the people making those commercials.

[@charlotteinnocent8752]

It's hilarious. I think they must have a whole industry for people who can read the small legal print very VERY fast right at them end. It's a real gift how do they say all that so fast and get all the words in?!

[@kryptofreak74]

Medicine is a business in America, so "patients" can go to the doctor and demand the procedures/medications they want. As long as they have the money, people can pretty much get what they want. Health has little to nothing to do with it. It's about profit.

[@BionicMilkaholic]

My sister always had migraines and had accepted years ago that there wasn't much she could do other than ibuprofen. This had been since childhood. I saw commercials for new prescription migraine medicines. I told her that I saw those commercials. She talked with her doctor and did get medicine that does help. She did not ask about medicine by name. Commercials can help people know there are now options that use to not be available, especially for something chronic that people have accepted there is only so much they can do for decades. I do find the commercials weird, but I'm ok with them.

[@alexreid1173]

That’s fair. You still always need a doctor to prescribe those meds in the US, of course, but the idea is that the companies want people to request specific medications from their doctors (idk how common that is? I’ve never done it). That being said, insurance companies in the US are the ones making the ultimate decisions unless you wanna pay a shit ton of money, which is way worse than some commercials

[@DrWhoFanJ]

I’ve always wondered what talking vegetables would say if they could speak.

[@Gwenx]

A thing i have noticed online, like on Reddit or Imgur.. Americans assume everyone else is Americans.. So when they give advice it is based on American laws or hotlines or something like that and it is always so fun to see someone be like "thanks dude but I live in Romania so the laws are different here.." I really do come across this so often, people just assuming everyone is American until otherwise is said.

[@evan]

So like r/usdefaultism

[@robadams1645]

As a non-American, I try to preempt that by forcing in a non-American spelling (colour, centre, etc.) or by forcing in a metric measurement. That just tends to confuse some Americans though: "why did you spell color wrong?"

[@neliaferreira9983]

It must be because we are writing in English. USAmericans don't need to learn other languages. So it doesn't come to their mind that English is not our native language.

[@vincentlevarrick6557]

This! And then you get memes making fun of ppl having to declare in every comment "As an Aussie/Brit/German/Swede...". Dudes, I'm prefacing my comment with "as an aussie" because youse are dickheads and default to USA-centrism.

[@robertharris6092]

​​@@neliaferreira9983 the questions why if youre asking a question that romanian law is specific to. That youre asking it in english and not romanian.

[@solaccursio]

May I add a "strange thing in the US"? Sick days. How can you have a fixed number of "sick days"? (here in Italy they are unheard of). If you're sick 2 days in a year, you stay home 2 days. If you are sick 24 days you stay home 24 days. I mean, it's not my choice to be sick, and as long as I have a doctor certifying that I am really sick and not "playing truant" I can stay home for as long as I am sick, instead of going to work sick, and spread my sickness between coworkers...

[@gwtpictgwtpict4214]

Yup, same here in the UK, you can self certify as sick for up to five days at a time, for longer periods you'll need a sick note from your doctor. When my better half had breast cancer she was signed off for six months. Now some employers might get a bit arsey about that but for her, working in local government, it wasn't a problem. That said, if you're continually taking sick leave there are ways for employers to get rid of you, but it's not simple.

[@cosmicpolitan]

It just means that you will be paid for a set number of days you stay home sick. Obviously, nobody will make you go to work if you're still sick, but you won't get paid for any days past your set amount.

[@robertharris6092]

If theres a doctors note it should def be allowed. However one funny story is the day star wars episode 1 came out. The US economy literaly tanked due to so many people calling out sick to watch it.

[@solaccursio]

@@gwtpictgwtpict4214 where I work, if you're sick for 1 year in three years, they can sack you.

[@woofbarkyap]

@@cosmicpolitan and then what are you supposed to do? Crawl back in whether you're fit or not? Ok, for people on big salaries but plenty of people can't afford to simply stay home with no money coming in, especially when they have to pay for their healthcare

[@Tillyard86]

I was at the baseball in London a couple of years ago, and an American fan talked about how the drive between the two cities that were playing is “ONLY five hours”. Over here, a five-hour drive is something I might consider doing once a year if there is a very good reason for it.

[@evan]

Hahaha yeah, I just finished my 13 hour drive from Philly to Chicago 😅

[@oliviawolcott8351]

where I live, its an hour drive to get anywhere so yeah five hours is a decent trip but its doable. hell to get from one side of my state to the other is almost 4 hours. Pittsburgh to Philadephia.

[@deehvi1608]

@@oliviawolcott8351 I would ask about taking the train but from what I've heard it doesn't seem... reliable let's say

[@Star_Rattler]

@@deehvi1608 there is no train from pittsburgh to philadelphia. i think you are wildly overestimating how much track there is in the US. if im reading this one map correctly, from pittsburgh you would have to go down to washington then up philly. There are entire states with about the same land as the UK that do not have a single railway. most of the trains and subways are in/around NYC and a few other bigger cities.

[@tay13666]

@@Star_Rattler To be a bit more precise. There are trains, they are just cargo trains. Commuter rail is severely lacking here. One reason, is we have it backwards. Commuter trains can only use the tracks when cargo trains aren't. The cargo take precedent over commuters.

[@charlotteinnocent8752]

The holiday thing still drives me crazy. My sister, my OLDER sister who lives in the US is GRATEFUL for 10 days holiday and brags about it, and me living across the Atlantic keep telling her that its insane not to have at least 24 days, and she calls me a commie. So glad I am here not there!

[@Babagrillen]

10 days?!! Happy for her that she's happy at least...🥲

[@LuvNickynGina4ever]

...and Here's me complaining that my 30 days is not enough 😅🙊🙈

[@MrCakerape]

I must be a super commie with my 33 days a year

[@scragar]

I'm always surprised, I get 35/year, which is enough for a week off every other month, with an extra week to make a nice long summer holiday(2 weeks). I don't think I'd be willing to take a job that gives less than 30 days/year. How do people manage to relax when they're not even getting enough days holiday for 1/month? That's depressing.

[@charlotteinnocent8752]

@@Babagrillen This is her reason for not coming out to visit, but I'm actually glad because recently she has become infected by fox news and crazy right wing stuff and I really can't talk to her anymore. She has truly lost it. I'm afraid she really does think I am a commie because I defended universal health care. And vaccines. I have no idea what has happened to her she used to be normal.

[@vervideosgiros1156]

I'm portuguese and in Portugal everybody hold the door to the next person and that isn't viewed as a "nice" thing, but as something pretty normal and a basic notion of courtesy, so the door won't fall flat on your face!

[@justbreathe549]

Exactly! It's basic manners.

[@irish66]

Same in ireland. I'm surprised it's not a thing in London.

[@cemerson]

The main reason that handing your card to a server in the UK isn't done any more is because there was a scam ages ago about some of these people 'skimming' cards and swiping the details off them to sell on the black market. I vividly remember this being all over the news at one point, though I was quite young.

[@cemerson]

(That basically led to the introduction of chip and pin here much sooner than anywhere else IIRC, and pretty much ended the practice of handing your card over to someone to take away and take payment)

[@peter65zzfdfh]

@@cemersonsame in Australia. The pin thing meant you couldn’t hand over your card, it was pointless without the PIN. Tap to pay actually *reversed* the situation in some bars. Even though you’re not covered for fraud if you give someone your card voluntarily here.

[@MarcioHuser]

@@peter65zzfdfh having to enter the PIN solved the issue until online checkout payment came around, where you can buy anything with the number, expiration date and the verification code (and even this one, not always)... and that's it. So, handling you card even if it requires insertion+pin, will not prevent to have it's data used for online payments 😬

[@Cohors1316]

That happened here in the US too, but we still are expected to hand our cards to the server for the most part. We have chip and pin however generally only debit cards require a pin (but not really required as you can opt to run it as a credit card, bypassing the pin). For whatever reason when it comes to credit cards we just said F it, no pin, just chip.

[@cemerson]

I think you got chip and PIN in the US a long time after Europe / UK though?

[@thebookworm5048]

Another thing to consider about US work culture is that some big companies only give promotions to people who "prove" they're hardworking and loyal... by being on-call 24/7. There have been improvements in the last decade or so, but this is definitely still the culture in some companies

[@marikothecheetah9342]

Yeah, that case of the Twitter worker who was fired after she showed on social media that she sleeps at work because that's how dedicated she was - nah, not gonna believe it.Also - because of people's personal stories about how "loyal" companies in the U.S. are. At least this isn't uniquely American, it's universal.

[@Thurgosh_OG]

It's not limited to big US companies, plenty of small and medium businesses work the same way.

[@annbsirius1703]

My cousin is in finance. When her kids were little she became part time, still worked nearly 40 hours a week instead of the nearly 60 she had been, and was worried she might have screwed up her career. That culture is crazy!

[@Zenikai_]

Or they pick the most unqualified person because they’ve been working the same job for 10 plus years.

[@Libertaro-i2u]

In terms of work and corporate culture, the US is second only to certain east Asian countries, namely the likes of Japan.

[@voteDC]

I live just on the English side of the Welsh border. Further I go into Wales the more I get told I sound English, go the other way and I get told I sound Welsh. So I found it really puzzling when visiting America to get asked where in Ireland I was from. I gave up trying to explain in the end and just started saying 'Dublin.'

[@woofbarkyap]

My father was often asked which part of Scotland he came from. There are probably still Americans walking around thinking Vienna is a couple of hours north of Edinburgh 🤣

[@paula-annemcguigan995]

I'm scottish and often get asked what part of England that is , 😂😂

[@annabeinglazy5580]

​@@paula-annemcguigan995 i lived in scotland for 5 years and my german Family kept saying that i live in England. I kept correcting them until they got annoyed because "who cares, you know what we mean!" So i eventually declared that they live in Bavaria then, and suddenly they got really huffy cuz "thats different" 😂

[@paula-annemcguigan995]

@annabeinglazy5580 haha that's a great way of dealing with it 🤣

[@bahnspotterEU]

@@annabeinglazy5580 Unfortunate. In my circles in Germany Scotland isn‘t just acknowledged but almost seems more popular than England. I think the more pro-EU sentiment of many Scots after Brexit has also led many Germans to sympathise more with the Scottish than the English.

[@MarcioHuser]

13:33 Taking a credit card away from your sight in Brazil is a huge NO-NO!!! You NEVER, EVER, can allow anyone do that. Because the risk of you getting it copied/photographed to take the number, expirity and verification code to use it later on is very high. You can't trust anyone. And it has been the norm and recomended practice by banks and credit card companies for DECADES

[@helenl3193]

Same in the UK. I had one stolen in the mail, and the bank tried to claim I'd had it stolen from my home by someone I'd given access instead - which would make it my responsibility and mean they didn't have to refund me the money taken. At that point in time, allowing someone/ leaving them unsupervised with your bank card(s) could be deemed to be negligence and therefore you were responsible for the money spent. (I pushed back and got the money eventually. So I think it was possibly more a bank policy than a law, because they did give in after I got police involved.)

[@MarcioHuser]

@helenl3193 at least here any new card you should receive through email comes blocked. You have to unblock through the bank's app or phone, but by phone it requires lots of validation data and pin typing to have it unblocked for use

[@Amyduckie]

Literally, no one takes my card in Australia. Absolutely wild that’s a thing in the US

[@OutOfNamesToChoose]

​@@helenl3193 Barclays did that to me when I was opening an account with them as a teenager

[@AsterFoz]

Yep, same in EU. Nobody even touches my card. And for taking it away i would immidiaetly call the police that I got robbed.

[@sjokomelk]

I am at a drag race in Las Vegas this weekend, and the speaker said something about the US being the greatest country in the world. And his next line was that 60 million Americans go hungry every day, so please donate money to this charity. That is over 1/6 Americans not having enough food. Greatest country in the world my butt. 🙈

[@baertheblader9402]

As an American, I shall inform you of what we Americans are taught in school that I guess your foreign schools sadly neglected to teach you… ahem… The United States of America is by definition the greatest country in the world. So everything is framed in that context. When we do something well it’s because we are the greatest country in the world. When we fall behind on something, we must work to improve it because we are the greatest country in the world. When there is something that we absolutely suck at and have no political will to fix, it’s ok, because we are the greatest country in the world. If you see something that you strongly feel is not great, it’s because the OTHER political party hates America and actively working to ruin this great nation! I mean, we are still the greatest country in the world… because America…but just less so because of THEM. If we win a gold medal in the Olympics, it’s because we are the greatest country in the world. If we win silver or bronze, it’s because sometimes the underdog beats the GOAT. It an endearing story actually. If we don’t medal at all, it’s clearly because that sport sucks and nobody cares about it anyway.

[@woofbarkyap]

@@baertheblader9402 ...which is something that's always puzzled me about the maga folks, they seem to be the ones who already think it's great so what's with the make and the again? Ok, not that I expect much sense from them anyway 🤣

[@Sarafimm2]

@@baertheblader9402 Yeah, and you said the pledge of allegiance at the start of every school day, too! The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag: "I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.", should be rendered by standing at attention facing the flag with the right hand over the heart.

[@sarco64]

The problem with being "the greatest country in the world" is that it shuts down any meaningful self-assessment. We don't need to improve access to medical care because we're the greatest country in the world, end of discussion. We don't have to work at bringing up high school students' standardized test scores because we're the greatest country in the world, end of discussion, etc., etc.

[@Sarafimm2]

@@sarco64 In regard to healthcare, we need to stop lobbying. Lobbing is where a lot of politicians go after they're voted out of office because they know how the government works, they have the contacts, and they know what appeals most to politicians to swing their votes.

[@CarlTippins]

The cashiers standing part...first time I went to Germany, I went to the supermarket and the cashier was sitting while she worked. I looked at my travel buddy and remarked "that would never fly in the US." The cashier, a very nice young lady, looked up and said, "What, they have to stand while they work!! We have laws against that sort of thing!!" I, internally, nearly fell over laughing!!

[@marydavis5234]

Newsflash, Aldi stores in the US, the cashier does sit when working

[@SouthJerseyGirl30]

​@@marydavis5234I think Aldi's is a Swedish or German brand, which is probably why they get to sit down

[@marydavis5234]

@ I know that Aldi is a German store brand

[@duveth]

Mexico just pass the “Chair law” in October 10th to allow workers to sit while working 😅

[@serendipity1274]

They HAVE to sit, I talked to a cashier once and he said they get yelled at if they stand. I wouldn't want to sit a whole shift! ​@@marydavis5234

[@cheesevinoandwine4560]

as a Spaniard I can tell you, it doesn't matter how you ask do you want a coffee or do you want to get a coffee, we'd interpret it as to get a coffee together, otherwise, why would yo be asking it? at least the tattoo artist interpreted as a friendly gesture, but other could have understand you're inviting them for a date

[@OriginalPiMan]

Without knowing Spanish, the only alternative phrasing that might avoid confusion that I can think of, is "can I get you a coffee". Or perhaps "can I bring you a coffee". But I don't feel like the gesture makes sense in the context.

[@wessexdruid7598]

As soon as I heard that, I thought it's certainly a language thing - but the one confused is the American.

[@MsJeanneMarie]

A Spaniard would never bring someone a coffee?

[@LIL-MAN_theOG]

see, what youre failing to understand is the difference in cultures from ours to yours. In America, people often go and bring coffee, from a coffee shop or store, for friends ALL THE TIME. This is a literal thing in America that happens at work, when you visit friends or elsewhere--we will often ask 'if you want a coffee' with the understanding that I am making a 'coffee run' (or doing a coffee pickup) and want to know what everyone wants when I go to the coffee shop. We would then give that friend money to take to get us something. If we are asking for you to come with us FOR coffee, we would say 'let's go out for cofeee' or 'do you want to go for coffee?". We would literally spell it out.

[@santostv.]

In Portugal is the same, they would need to close the tattoo shop and go to the nearest coffee, because we most drink expressos theres usually no café to go unless at a vending machine

[@violetskies14]

I'm in a wheelchair and as someone who kinda struggles with doors I can confirm that it is a London thing not to hold doors and in the rest of the country we do hold them open for people behind us (not just for people in wheelchairs either, I see people do it all the time). Or just when we see someone in a wheelchair about to go through a door. You might say "of course they hold the door you're in a wheelchair" which I also would have said before I went to Brussels. People there had a level of selective sight I've never experienced before. It was like I didn't exist and on multiple occasions I spent an entire minute struggling to open a heavy door for myself only to have people barge through in front of me. No one ever even said thank you. They also constantly cut in front of me in queues and kept suddenly cutting across my path forcing me to swerve to avoid them or suddenly stop. A lot of servers and cashiers wouldn't speak to me for some reason too. Kept speaking about me to my grandma or to the person behind me in line when I was alone. Drove me batty the entire time I was there. My grandma refused to say a word to them when they did that and forced them to only speak to me. It does happen occasionally here in the UK but waaaaaay less often. I was really shocked too, I'd been to Ostend a few years earlier and to this day it's the best holiday I've ever been on. The people were so incredibly lovely and helpful there and I didn't have even a fraction as much of a problem with people ignoring me. I think maybe people in capital cities are just tw*ts lol.

[@InsoIence]

I'm so sorry this happens to you. It's absolutely unacceptable, I have no words. Your grandmother is badass for not taking their lousy behaviour. She seems to care about you a lot.

[@Tiredmum]

Yes, I'm a long cane user in the Midlands and people definitely open the doors for me, thankfully

[@wisecoconut5]

In Mexico, they are very good about having wheelchair ramps into stores. But they block them with merchandise and even autos. 🤬

[@Libertaro-i2u]

That seems to be a more urban vs rural thing.

[@JamSparing]

@@violetskies14 Seems like here in a capital city of Germany, we do usually open doors... to the chagrin of some. I usually hold doors for others on principle, because I know how much being on the other end of a disability sucks, but once I saw someone stuck in front of a closed door and I think I offered too much help, lol. The place had just opened and they apparently hadn't unlocked the door, so I offered to help figure it out. The person ended up assuring me it was fine and I rode off.

[@nocta2121]

When I was working as a cashier in a big supermarket in France, I would stand up from time to time because sitting all day was uncomfortable. People (A LOT OF PEOPLE!) would go to management to complain that they were forcing the young cashier to stand up during her shift and that it was inadmissible 😂 and honestly every time I stood up every single person would ask me if management was forcing me to or if maybe the chair they provided was of bad quality, and they were ready to complain if I said anything about the quality of the chair. Management started by telling I had the right to stand up whenevr I preferred but they ended up to ask me to only stand up when I didn't have clients because one client had been adamant that they didn't believe them when they said I chose to stand and they were going to complain to higher ups :') That was a crazy experience to have, I even had a client once who tried to give up on their shopping when they realized the other cashiers were leaving their post because it was the end of the day, so they felt they mere making me work overtime and they were ready to leave without their stuff so I would not go ten minutes beyond ! I had to CONVINCE them that I was fine

[@tylisirn]

According to research, varying between sitting and standing is healthier for you than just sitting or just standing anyway. We should all do that if we have a sitting job.

[@evanflynn4680]

"Do you want a coffee" thing where they assume you're asking them out for coffee: No, that wasn't a language barrier thing, that was a coffee culture thing. Because Americans will pretty much only get coffee to go, you were offering to go nextdoor, order them a coffee and cone back with ut in a to go cup. The rest of the world prefers to sit at a cafe with their coffee in a real ceramic cup or mug, maybe have a snack with it, and sit there for 15 minutes to an hour and enjoy their coffee and treat. Americans see coffee as energy liquid that they use to wake up or give themselves a boost of caffeine. Which is why the coffee sucks. I've had Starbucks and it's just bad. I'm Australian, and we got our cafe culture from Italian immigrants, and as far as I know, they perfected it here. I've been to England and through Europe, including Italy, and while the Italian espresso is as good as you'd expect from the country that invented it, Australian coffee is just damn good.

[@diarmuidkuhle8181]

You get a pretty damn decent cup in most traditional German cafés, and the cakes and pastries are out of this world.

[@loverlyme]

@@diarmuidkuhle8181 That's true- can't beat a great German strudel. But again re the Italians in Australia- can't beat many of their delicious treats either though they're always a lot more expensive than the German-style pastries.

[@cakesyouth]

Funny enough, that's exactly why Starbucks failed to really gain traction in Australia. The coffee culture there was so strong already and people loved their independent coffee shops or local chains that they just didn't want to go to Starbucks (understandably). I watched a video about this years ago and it's so interesting!

[@evanflynn4680]

@cakesyouth The only place Starbucks is still going strong in Australia is in the cities. Where people will treat coffee like they do in the US, as wake up juice on the way to work. So if it's within a short walking distance of a big train station, near where lots of people go to work, it has stayed open. Pretty much everywhere else has closed, and let locally owned cafes come back. Strangely enough, there is a franchise in Australia that's doing fine - Gloria Jean's. They actually do what Australians like from a cafe, and not so strangely, we Aussies love them.

[@cakesyouth]

@@evanflynn4680 ah, that's makes a lot of sense. I think the video mentioned Starbucks closing most of their locations and now that I think about it, it's very similar here im Germany. We have quite a specific coffee culture here too where people prefer to sit in cafés and drink their coffee with a slice of cake or getting a cup of coffee at a bakery with their lunch. Starbucks is always regarded as this unnecessary American thing. I feel like if they tried to open one in my birth town, which is a small city by German standards, everyone would just laugh and never go there because we have so many local cafés and bakeries who already offer all the popular coffee options. Bigger cities do have one or two Starbucks locations though, especially Berlin because there's also enough foreigners there to cater to.

[@123fakestreeeet]

The credit card thing is because before contactless we also had chip and pin where you'd swipe the card and then you as the customer would put in a pass code, that meant the whole thing was done by you and there was no signature verification or anything like that. As kids we were always taught that we should never let our credit cards out of our hands let alone out of our sight. The other thing that's weird is how tips are somehow added AFTER everything else, meaning after I have given you my card and you have returned it (And presumably finished the transaction) you can still take money out of my account without me needing to give you my card again. The pin number system also instilled in us that 1 swipe + verification = 1 payment, the idea that you can do more stuff after we get our card back isn't only alien, it's disconcerting.

[@bertcielen8709]

Yeah, indeed. It's like they're so far behind technically in some places. I'm 50-something (and in Europe) and only a handful of times I have done a "paper transaction" with my credit card, and that was ages ago and IIRC always due to technical issues. Same with checks still being a thing in so many places in the USA. I think I've cashed out a couple of checks and those were always money from the government, and again this was ages ago. Once I gave the government my bank account number, it has always been a direct transaction. I've never written a check.

[@JonasHamill]

Yeah the tip after payment was so weird to me too. My girlfriend and I went to an IHOP our first morning in LA, and we sat there confused for about 15+ minutes wondering if this was it and we were okay to leave. We had to text American friends before leaving just to check. We knew about the tip culture and didn't want to be those tourists who buy and don't tip, so we were eager to do it correctly, and this completely threw us off. And it definitely felt uncomfortable that they could take more money off the card after we left.. I'm also not sure it actually worked because I couldn't find it on my transactions list when I checked (maybe because it was a foreign card that didn't accept that?)

[@Thurgosh_OG]

@@bertcielen8709 My bank stopped sending me new Cheque Books sometime in the mid 1990s, because I hardly ever used them back then. I don't even remember when I actually last wrote one.

[@foogod4237]

@@bertcielen8709 Actually, the reason why many non-US people think that giving someone your card is weird is because *everywhere else was behind the US for a long time* and mostly didn't even start using credit cards until a long time after they were very common in the US. And credit cards (and the practices around them) became well established in the US *long before chip-and-pin was a thing.* In fact, they became common in a lot of places *before electronic verification* was readily available at all, which meant you _had_ to give someone your card so that they could process it _by hand_ (using paper slips, and "knuckle-buster" imprint machines). That was just the only viable way to do it at the time, so that became the way everyone was used to doing things. (But nobody does paper transactions nowadays, even in the US, unless there's a technical issue. We're not _that_ far behind the times. Using checks is also pretty uncommon nowadays, unless you need to send a payment via postal mail or something.) And yes, it's certainly true that the US is, in general, a few years behind the curve now with things like contactless cards still being rolled out some places, but that's partly because we have _so much more established infrastructure_ and behavior to change than pretty much anywhere else, because we were doing all this stuff for such a long time (and in a lot more places) before everybody else even really got into the game.

[@ava_lavender]

When waiters take your card they are just inputting it into the system and obtaining an authorization for payment, not making the actual transaction. They input the total amount (including tip) just once, after you choose the tip, and the payment request is often made when the restaurant closes for the night.

[@Jmr6813]

As an American and a government/history teacher, the pledge of allegiance is super weird. A lot of other history teachers agree, probably because we know about the countries that also do something similar, e.g. China, North Korea, etc. It's weird to think that the entire school stands up at the same time, faces the flag, and pledges allegiance to it.

[@sopcannon]

+Nazis Germany.

[@cpMetis]

I never said "Under God" during school. Every single year, it was some Karen parent or secretary or math teacher that flipped their shit at me for it. Every year, it was the history teacher who backed me up on it still being a valid version of the pledge. And it was the rule you didn't even have to stand, let alone say the pledge - they let that slide (as required). It was recognizing the government but not God that was a crime and considered insubordination. Twice at the end of the year I had teachers try to give me a 0 for "classroom participation" over it.

[@AliceDeePunk]

Unity is strength and diversity is weakness.

[@annanimus8848]

Someone who grew up in a communist country, feels the same brainwashing tactics as the communist regime did

[@heathertomlinson1961]

​@@cpMetis I do the same thing. "Under God" was added in the 1954 during the Red Scare as a way to separate us from the "godless heathen communists". Nope. I'll take my country without specifying a specific deity, thank you.

[@jpnf007]

Here in Portugal in 2022 a law was passed that, after work hours/vacations/days off you aren't required to answer your phone if it's work related. Having to be on call 24/7 and have almost no sick days and vacation days would drive me nuts.

[@santostv.]

Unfortunately a lot of our business owners don’t care, we have laws but our enforcement is lacking.

[@Wow-uk2on]

I think it is also a cultural thing. I know some people who's bosses will to call them after work, and they either just don't answer or list the time when getting paid, so they are still paid for the length of the call. it is also standard practise at my work, if you are on call for work related things or attending a meeting outside of your normal hours, you get paid for it as well.

[@krystleklearcentral]

9:30 In my experience in America, workers generally have a much stricter definition of what qualifies as a sick day and when one can be taken. Specifically, I remember my cousin talking about how he would fire an employee who took a sick day in their first 6 months. He offered to sponsor me for a job and was shocked when I said I couldn't work for a company that treated employees like that.

[@marikothecheetah9342]

I took my two weeks sick days after working one and a half of month in a company. I still work there, but because I live in Europe and we have laws, protecting employees. Your cousin would probably get a heart attack if he saw our employment law. 🤣 Also - good for you - you should value your health and humanity, you're not a robot.

[@joepiekl]

I was teaching English for a British company, but my manager (new to the job) was American. She was obviously used to the US way of doing things and one week a class was cancelled, which meant I had 4 fewer teaching hours. She was shocked when she tried to get me to make them up the next week by doing four hours of overtime, when I said “yeah, it doesn’t work like that here.” I’m contracted to teach 24 hours. If you can’t find 24 hours of classes for me, that’s not my problem.

[@StevenHughes-hr5hp]

No. We would just rather pay our bills than be dead broke.

[@jackdavinci]

​@@StevenHughes-hr5hp I think you're in the wrong comment thread

[@StevenHughes-hr5hp]

@@jackdavinci Wanting to work as many hours as humanly possible in order to pay the rent is a smart business decision. Unless you prefer sleeping on park benches.

[@RealMKproductions]

With you on the cashiers standing. I worked in a grocery store back when I was a fit early 20-something. I developed shin splints and heel spurs from standing all day. I even wore orthopedic sneakers and had an anti-fatigue mat to stand on, but still got freaking injuries from standing for 6-8 hours straight each shift.

[@crowblackbird9962]

Americans overworking starts in school with “Perfect Attendance” awards to reward students who didn’t miss a day of school. I was one of those students and I’m finally feeling comfortable now that I’m in my 30s taking 2 days off when I have a 38°C (100.4°F) fever

[@nswinoz3302]

My goodness, I first read this as you taking a day off just because it was 38 degrees😅(weather that is!) Thinking what a wimp! 🤣 NSW in Oz 🇦🇺

[@DoctorNERO616]

Yes. That is why China, Japan, and Korean workers body European in labor and performance. Europeans get caught slacking.

[@AlexaFaie]

A fever like that and it would be best to take 2 weeks off minimum. You need to take the time to recover properly.

[@angelica3518]

When I was a child I thaught everyone had a personal lawyer, I asked my parents who mine were. This due to countles lines such as "youll be hearing from my lawyer" in movies an tv-series.

[@RNS_Aurelius]

The obsession with litigation is crazy. I've heard when people learn CPR the first thing they learn is to properly ask for consent so they can't be sued

[@wessexdruid7598]

@@RNS_Aurelius My FIL was an old school Scottish surgeon. (Senior Examiner at the Royal College of Surgeons at Glasgow.) He was once sued by a patient in Bristol, because, when the patient's heart stopped on the operating table, paddles were used to restart it. The current grounded through to the metal table, causing small burns on his back. The case went on for years, causing much anxiety.

[@RickMyBalls]

thaught

[@RNS_Aurelius]

@@wessexdruid7598 that's actually disgusting.

[@enginerd80]

It's like there's been some kind of inflation on the meaning of the words in English, especially American English. I think it was in some language learning material that had warning examples about how, if asked how you're doing and you don't reply with enough superlatives and stuff it can sound like to an American that something is wrong, even though _literally_ you had just said that it's going fine. (I don't remember the exact wording at the moment.) Expressions with a possessive pronouns like in "my lawyer", if they were directly translated e.g. into Finnish, would end up sounding like it's about _owning_ something, and if it's a human being that's owned... well, I guess that too _used to be_ a US thing 😅. (This serves as a reminder for when translating something you can't just translate _words_ directly, because often the meanings of the words don't match 1:1. Instead, you need to translate the _meanings_ of the sentences.) I remember seeing on Facebook a thread where a Finnish reporter told about an event, and as he was used to working abroad and communicating in English a lot, he at some point used an expression "my cameraman" (in Finnish), and that got some comments about condescending attitude towards the cameraman.

[@amethystimagination3332]

I’m Canadian and I’m surprised holding the door open isn’t a thing everywhere. I was taught that it doesn’t matter who is coming behind you, they could be your worst enemy, and you’re still gonna hold the door open for them.

[@Lily33McC]

Yes compassion for others should be a default setting 🥰

[@ThisWontEndWell]

The American concept of elections without end, as soon as one cycle stops the next cycle starts forever and ever!

[@DawnDavidson]

Believe me, I think this is crazy too. I am so incredibly, totally, utterly tired of our nonstop elections. I desperately want us to institute laws to limit both spending and length of elections. It’s exhausting.

[@jonok42]

This is NOT an American thing! This is a trump American thing. Elections did not use to be like this, and would only be for about a six month total with primaries.

[@jordyboy62]

​@@DawnDavidson I'd argue that's the point, make you tired so you don't pay attention to who you vote for and they keep themselves in office.

[@oliviawolcott8351]

eh... not as much as some countries with parliments. like our presidential election is every 4 years. same with congress and senate. and like its fixed, other elections are called unless someone in congress dies or steps down. governors are every 8 years. that's about the way it is. and I mean I've heard of some countries that have had several elections in like two or three years, so its not the craziest.

[@thesuomi8550]

​@@oliviawolcott8351sure, but several national elections in a couple of years is not meant to be "normal" in any country really

[@AustinSersen]

Being essentially forced to use a car for EVERY menial task in the majority of cities (the median city is more like Topeka than NYC) is why I left the States.

[@neliaferreira9983]

When I was in the USA, I told my hosts I had gone to the library that day. They asked how. I was confused, "what you mean how? I just went there". Turns out they didn't know you could WALK to the library. They thought I had to wait for their lift. "No man, it's a 30 minute walk. Thru the public garden. It's beautiful!". The host, a funny guy, then said something I haven't forgotten since: "Here she is, teaching us about this European habit of WALKING". I think they started walking more after that.

[@AustinSersen]

​@@neliaferreira9983 Yep, the fact that the mere thought of being able to walk somewhere is basically nonexistent is crazy. In Grade 12, I had a half course load and finished classes at lunch time. One time, my car had broken down, and because you had to pass by the office before leaving the facility, I was dumb enough to ask the office ladies if I could just walk home instead, and they made me sit there for four hours and wait for the bus to take me home. To be fair, the back country roads are quite dangerous, and it would have taken at least an hour to walk, and the cops almost certainly would have been called. Yay for "freedom".

[@mikosoft]

My sister in law walked to a store that was like a kilometer away from her accommodation in the US and several cars stopped near her to ask her if she's okay and if she needed a ride.

[@dziooooo]

The best part is when they come to a place in Europe or Asia that's walkable and has great public transport, and they think everyone is destitute, because they're taking a bus to work. Buddy, you're the one who went $10K in debt to buy a car without which you would not be able to have a job. I'm paying $20 per month for a clean, safe, convenient and reliable bus, I live in a walkable neighborhood and can easily run all basic errands on foot, a train across the country costs $60 and I can fly across the continent and back for $150. Which one of us is more likely to have money problems?

[@klimtkahlo]

@@neliaferreira9983 I guess you were lucky you weren’t killed by a serial killer or mugged or accidentally shot at for such a long walk… also most places are really un-walkable because there is no sidewalks and you are forced to walk on a highway! As an European myself I had to walk 8 minutes to a bus stop on a highway because there were no side walks or they would just abruptly end. My co-workers would sometimes drive me to the bus stop until I finally started driving.

[@wintersnowowen2254]

- Baking with CUPS. - Assuming everyone else uses Fahrenheit in a recipe.. not stating that the recipe is in F. - only listing American timezones for a show. - a commercial every few minutes. - Taking your card away to pay a bill. - Using corn syrup in a recipe.. not realising that most of us do not have that as an ingredient. - Using cream cheese on cupcakes instead of buttercream. - concrete footpaths and roads.

[@TestGearJunkie.]

I live in the UK and I use Fahrenheit. Always have, I grew up with it. It's extremely annoying that the TV weather forecasts don't include it any more. They say it's going to be 17 degrees or whatever, that means nothing to me.

[@calico27]

Baking videos and TV programs are localized! There are so many genuinely weird things with US, and you called out some of the actual normal stuff that happens everywhere. Look for youtube baking videos from your region for temp preferences.

[@wintersnowowen2254]

@@calico27 I’m talking about on KZbin.

[@wintersnowowen2254]

@@TestGearJunkie. that’s really interesting, I read that the older generation used F. I have only come across it in the Daily Mail newspaper weather forecast.

[@TestGearJunkie.]

@@wintersnowowen2254 Well I was born in 1955 so I guess that makes me old. I just could never get my head around the metric system.

[@KenSlager]

Family photos of husband, wife and 3 kids posing with sub machine guns in front of the Christmas tree.

[@Gsoda35]

very weird and nonsensical.

[@nancyrafnson4780]

Scary!

[@alb91878]

I find that so stupid and so tacky.

[@imac900]

All while wearing matching Christmas pj's and shiny white smiles...

[@smeglor1]

A lot of us (hopefully more than half, we'll see next week) find that bizarre and disgusting too.

[@JAW-i5z]

The weirdest but most American thing is to shout "Communism" every time something is not unhinged Capitalism.

[@nathanperquin9910]

just like a lot of people shout nazi for not agreeing with their authoritarian push for social power. completely missing the irony in that

[@oliviawolcott8351]

that's more a conservative thing, but yes.... you can thank McCarthy and the commitee for unamerican activities for that. (which as a side note, that committee was established originally to root out nazis, but then it got co-opted to go after communists and lgbtq people).

[@wizardsuth]

Or "socialism" whenever someone proposes the government do anything that benefits the poor, e.g. providing universal health care.

[@nyanuwu4209]

@@nathanperquin9910 Nobody has ever shouted 'Nazi!' at someone disagreeing with authoritarianism though...

[@nyanuwu4209]

@@oliviawolcott8351 That few decades are responsible for America having no left wing element in any power. That commitee and others just squashed as much of that as they could. Even the Democrats are as right as they can be while still being left of Republicans.

[@ErutanXiku]

As a Londoner, I take issue with the door-holding comment. I grew up in a time (30 years ago) where holding doors open for people was the polite thing to do, and still open doors if I see people coming - and I'm visually impaired! Also, actually giving up seats on public transport for people who need it more, or waiting for the elderly or disabled to get onto a bus or train first. I would say, that people have become more selfish and self-absorbed over the years, and then of course, you'll have people feeling awkward about performing acts of of politeness, which some people will see as archaic male chivalry. Acknowledging another's existence and being polite, sees no boundaries.

[@Nalehw]

"I would just take the card, I put it in the reader, and then I write down the stuff, and then bring it back to you - it saves you time." Where are you seeing the saved time??? The way I'm used to payment (pre-contactless) is that I put it in the reader, I enter my PIN, and I'm done! I don't need to wait for the waiter to take it away and bring it back, nothing needs to be written down, and my card never leaves my sight. The way it was done when I visited US restaurants took MORE time and was mildly terrifying. Imagine if cashiers took your housekeys away into another room for a few minutes every time you did a transaction.

[@LITTLEORCH1D]

For real, I don't get how that it faster, also, apparently so many american banks have yet to add chips to their cards? When I lived in a very touristic city in Mexico, every day, I got to overhear at least one helpless american tourist having payment troubles because our card readers don't read chip-less cards, and most bussiness don't really have qr, paypal payment, cheques or any of the like, is either cash or card 🤷🏽‍♀️ It's been a couple years, and the place I live rarely has tourists, so I can only hope american banks have updated them 😅

[@robertharris6092]

Because they do it while youre eating.

[@Wow-uk2on]

exactly! where I am from, you pay at the counter/at the front as you leave. nice and efficient, you just tell the worker your table number (but usually they would already know/remember) and then pay. it also means that if you were in a group, the rest of the people are more easily able to leave the restaurant because you are already near the door. this is how it worked even before contactless and even with cash. I do not understand why they would think it is efficient to decide you're ready to leave, sit around and wait for the server, wait for them to take your card, wait for them to come back, and THEN leave. it is so much easier to pay WHILE you are leaving! also, the way they transfer money is ridiculous! over here, if you wanted to split the bill, you just use your bank account number or give cash. from what I know in the USA, they use paypal or venmo or whatever. why bother? I trust a bank with my money a thousand times more than an app.

[@Nalehw]

@@Wow-uk2on SO glad somebody else is bothered by that. I'm moving to the US soon and dreading needing to learn all these random payment apps. At home I can just do a bank-to-bank transfer, no fees, no middlemen, no strings attached.

[@Isdezenaambezet]

​@robertharris6092 what if i want another drink? Paying while I'm still eating just makes me feel like they want to get rid of me

[@Irida24]

Healthcare in the U.S. It is crazy people would storm the Capitol for anything else than this.

[@eat.a.dick.google]

Said people would probably be fine with an even worse healthcare system.

[@Libertaro-i2u]

The quality of medical care is among the best in the world, but the financial and insurance side of the US medical system is terrible. One of the worst parts is health insurance and by extension medical care, usually is tied to one's job, meaning that if someone loses their job or goes to another, they often lose their coverage.

[@eat.a.dick.google]

@@Libertaro-i2u It's a lot more than that, but that is stating the obvious.

[@seigeengine]

@@Libertaro-i2u Yeah, best in the world. Real shame Americans basically never get any of it though. That's the real kicker. It's not just that it's expensive. Even things like going to the doctors only happens a fraction as often as in other countries.

[@Nalehw]

@@Libertaro-i2u The US actually has WORSE health outcomes than most comparable nations. Lower lifespans, higher infant mortality, etc. The quality doesn't matter if people can't access it. Honestly, part of what bothers me is the value for money aspect. Even those of you who DO have access to healthcare in America, you have to do so much research and paperwork for it, you're limited in which providers you can go to, and you have to shell out so much money per month for insurance that you might not even be using. And then (because of copays and such) if you do want to use it you have to shell out AGAIN for the actual procedure. _Either one_ of those steps costs more than the entire deal would normally cost in another developed nation. Same for prescription drugs. You're being overcharged SO much. Even if you're not angry at it for looking-after-the-less-fortunate reasons, surely you should be angry at it for the fact you're being scammed on prices!

[@Of_infinite_Faith]

Americans tend to think of every country in their own terms. For example i told one that there were Christian minorities being Supreessed in some countries like egypt and she lost her mind and screamed about how Christians are always an opressive majority, completely disregarding the fact that the demographics are different and not every country is a model of the US with a white Christian majority.

[@EmL-kg5gn]

This reminds me of the people who got angry at Iranians for talking about islamic imperialism because islamophobia is a problem in america 🫠

[@TheRealRedAce]

ALL religions in a majority anywhere will oppress all others. Its what they do.

[@ruairi_d]

I don't know if it's just me or if anyone else has noticed, but I feel like you're picking up more of a British accent. Can definitely hear a British twang to your American. And I'm totally here for it!

[@sandjblake75]

Definitely more British! X

[@ReemSalah28]

I noticed that too haha

[@B-A-L]

What on Earth is a British twang?

[@hannahbee567]

....it's what happens when you move to a place and live there. You assimilate. Whys this notable 😭 feels like a, omg*clap**CLAP* you speak proper now. Condescending kind of.

[@ChronicGoblinQueen]

​@@hannahbee567 Not everyone loses their accent when they move countries 🤷🏻‍♀️

[@SuprousOxide]

Even local tax rates wouldn't stop stores from just posting the actual after tax price. Stores just want to be able to put the lower prices on things. That's it

[@HumbleWooper]

Honestly I'm just glad they make an exception for gasoline. Everywhere I've been in the US (though to be fair there's a ton of states I haven't visited) the price per gallon listed on road signs and at the pump is tax-included.

[@SuprousOxide]

@HumbleWooper probably because taxes are so high on gas, it would be too noticeable to leave them off

[@chuckmarsh7820]

The problem arises when two stores in different taxing jurisdictions are on the same road (for example, one on the north side of a road and one on the south side). If one taxing area is 7% and the other is 8%, consumers will go to the cheaper store. Thus, one store is at a disadvantage. I have seen stores put up signs like "All prices include taxes," and it just does not click. However, as stated, with Gas, one station will charge a penny more due to different tax rates, and people will just cross the street and pay less. Hotels are the same, but even worse is when they are in different states, and the hotel taxing is completely different, so a room is much cheaper in one state than another. It is just how taxing works in the US, it is down to the states to choose how to Tax.

[@robadams1645]

This is the exact same reason why things are priced as $1.99 instead of $2.00. It makes the price look lower.

[@Wow-uk2on]

@@chuckmarsh7820 but why not just federalise the tax rates? surely that is easier

[@pjperdue1293]

No paid maternity leave in the U.S. As a Canadian I can't wrap my head around that. Every other industrialized country has it. And prescription medication ads are actually illegal in almost every other country.

[@LondonEve24]

And jingoism. That flag is EVERYWHERE!!! Being told by people who’ve never been anywhere else that the US ‘is the greatest country in the world!’.

[@jonok42]

First, why do you care if people or businesses fly our flag? Does it actually affect your life in some adverse way? Second, what does it matter if they have been to other nations or not? If they are here in the US and believe this country to be the greatest, then that is their right to feel so. You can be annoyed if they go to another country and rudely make that same statement. You also are free to make the assertion that you feel your own country is the greatest, unless you don't, and then that is truly sad. We should all believe our country and lives are the greatest.

[@perryelyod4870]

I find many USAmericans can't handle criticism, or poke fun at themselves. ^

[@avancalledrupert5130]

It I the greatest country in the world. Highest wages least laws about what you can do with those wages.

[@grahvis]

@@avancalledrupert5130 . When it comes to world rankings for freedom, the US is only 17th. If the country is so rich, why does 1 in 8 receive demeaning SNAP benefits? Why do so many have a severe problem with accessing healthcare? Why do so many need two jobs just to make ends meet?

[@oliviawolcott8351]

yeah...... that is definitely a thing.

[@Huntracony]

I still find it hard to believe American children are made to pledge allegiance to the flag _every day._ That's the kind of stuff I associate with the USSR, not "the land of the free."

[@sandwich2473]

I don't think they did it in the USSR, honestly They *did* do it in Germany for a time...

[@Bill-1370]

They don't require you to say it, it is simply a choice. I was in elementary school in the 60-70s and we were not forced to say it.

[@joermnyc]

@@Bill-1370but you do get castigated by the other kids for NOT doing it (I would know from personal experience.)

[@joermnyc]

@@sandwich2473they even altered the pledge to "show the godless commies who is boss" by inserting "under god" ironically in between the words "nation" and "indivisible" (it probably should have gone after indivisible.)

[@SuprousOxide]

Without performative patriotism, how will kids learn to love Murica!

[@Luis33B0xx3r]

For some (most?) countries in Europe, drinking coffee is not a "to go" kind of thing, it's more of a sit down and chill, have a conversation, etc. That's why the tattoo guy in Barcelona answered that way, most likely. We don't walk around nor drive around drinking coffee.

[@MikeFromKorea]

I spent a couple of weeks in London on a recent UK visit. On more than one occasion as I was wandering around in desperate need of bladder relief, those 'TO LET' signs brought on a quick burst of anticipated relief, quickly followed by a descent into utter despair when the missing 'I' became evident. Cruel in the extreme.

[@fayesouthall6604]

😂

[@diarmuidkuhle8181]

You could just have wandered into any cafe or restaurant and asked to use the facilities. They usually let you. At worst you may have to buy a drink there if it's 'only for patrons'.

[@stitcher4729]

LOL

[@kwak0]

I was so surprised when I found out how common circumcision is in the US. Especially for babies. I find it weird that your parents can just decided to alter your body like that and you can't do anything about it.

[@Coccinelf]

Yeah babies should have law protecting them because they can't protect themselves! I was outraged, I was like there are laws for female babies but not for male babies, that's so sad. They don't even use any anesthesia in many cases, I seriously don't remember that rabbit hole foundly.

[@jonok42]

There is a lot of difference between a clitoral removal and simply circumsizing a male. Circumcision would be more in line with having your child's ears pierced. Yes, I know it's more than piercing, but not much, and it heals very quickly.

[@AsterFoz]

​@@jonok42and piercing babies shold be banned too.

[@santostv.]

It really was so weird to discover that and how some say uncircumcised men are disgusting and unhygienic for having a foreskin, gave me third world mentality vibes.

[@exoshelter8207]

they'll never know the luxury of being a dry beater

[@JonathonV]

I’m a Canadian who lived in the UK for two years and France for one. My thoughts on all your points: 1. The UK doesn’t say “real” estate either; they’re just estate agents. I suppose it’s good to verify that they’re real, but it is strange that we question their reality. 2. The “Midwest” thing bothered me too. There’s nothing west about that area. 3. Good pronunciation of “Lithuania”. Also, I talk to people on transit sometimes too, but usually by intruding into a conversation rather than starting a new one. 4. Prescription ads are becoming more normal in Canada too. 5. British people shouldn’t be surprised at the hundreds of options on a menu; haven’t they been to Wetherspoon’s lately? 6. Open space everywhere: Wait until you see Canada! 7. Niceness: See previous. Ask us about our lineups (or “queues” as UK residents call them). 8. News channels are the worst no matter where you come from. I get sensory overload easily so I can’t watch them. 9. Coffee is kinda great. But only good coffee. Most coffee is not good. (10 years proudly Starbucks free!) 10. Toilets do work better with more water. We mandate water-saving toilets in Canada for new installations, even though we have more fresh water than any other country on earth. 11. Cashiers standing isn’t normal? 12. Everyone has accents in Canada. Not strange to hear accents. 13. Work culture is a thing here too. Everyone burns out. At least we have mandatory maternity leave and sick days, which I don’t think the USA has. 14. Taxes being included is one of the greatest things about living Europe. I miss it! 😢 15. Provinces have different laws in Canada too. I’m used to it, but that’s why UK residents still think that England is a country. 16. Car culture is the worst in North America. It’s so massive that there are no transit options so most people own cars. It’s dumb. Greater Vancouver is an exception in that the infrastructure favours transit, so almost a third of residents commute by transit, but that’s an anomaly. 17. Giving the credit card is very weird! We would always pay at the counter until wireless machines were a thing. 18. Tipping is so stupid, by the way. It’s out of control in Canada. 19. The flags everywhere thing is super creepy. Most Canadians are ashamed of being Canadian. Our flag is incredible but it’s not as easy to find. 20. Sensible to have road signs like that. 21. Our signs just say “Bridge Ices” or have the icon of the swerving car.

[@mculbert1467]

The embarrassment about the flag is a post-convoy thing. It now represents a particular political stance ...

[@NopeNopeNopetyNope]

My 75 yr old dad just bought an SUV for the first time in his life. He lives in the US and told me it's because everyone on the road has one and he doesn't feel safe in anymore in a smaller vehicle. I find this outrageously sad. Regarding sitting at work - "if you have time to lean, you have time to clean" was something I heard frequently. When I worked as a cashier at a grocery store it was a big deal when a full time cashier was given a stool for some broken foot or foot problem.

[@Gsoda35]

we could give them all a chair and promote dancing to keep the legs healthy.

[@janhansen554]

Within 50 years, all americans will have tanks when driving.... lol

[@Callmethebreeze902]

Yes that irritated me so bad and that particular supervisor before i got promoted would play on her phone all day and run the front end like prison lol. I have a doctor friend and got a note lol to sit all day every day. Yeah Tika I won. 😂 And for SUV I’ve driven tahoes since 2001 and I won’t drive anything else. I love everything about them even as body styles and dash tech has changed and I feel very safe in it.

[@AllenMorris3]

Many many years ago I was listening to a tennis match on TV and the commentator says "we are going to switch the the BBC feed and listen to their commentary. I just want to warn you that they don't talk a lot." 30 seconds later. "Okay that was the BBC tennis commentary." It was the funniest thing I have ever seen in a tennis game.

[@georges6580]

As a French, I had buddy I my school beeing French/USA. He was ask in the US -"where're you from ? -Paris. -Paris in Texas ? Awesome ! -...No... Paris in France. -Where's that ?" We lol'd a while.

[@Lupinemancer87]

"What Do Americans Think Is Normal… But Everyone Else Finds Weird?" The U.S.

[@eat.a.dick.google]

So so so many aspects too.

[@loverlyme]

@OdinsSage I'm glad to hear it. You must be worldly-wise to have noticed this.

[@TheFlyingGerbil]

Something that ties all these together is how much Americans seem to like to boast about these things. Even stuff that people from other countries wouldn’t even see as a positive. “I can drive five hours and not see anything”. Ok. I don’t want to have to do that.

[@Phiyedough]

Boasting about how much water their toilets can waste!

[@conormurphy4328]

Boasting about how wasteful they can be

[@prodigal_southerner]

When you steal an entire continent, you get lots of empty space.

[@TygerTyger911]

Boasting about how much people from other countries talk $h!+ about how much we boast.

[@Justapikachu577]

This is a weird example i feel that statement is more about how fucking big the place is. Its crazy

[@maramackenzie-mann]

I can confirm on the Scottish accent. I'm Scottish and the first time I spoke in a majority-American Discord server they went BANANAS.

[@janhansen554]

Im norwegian. No offence, but i have big problems to understand scottish.

[@TychoCelchu]

The comment about how Americans love to work might be because they’re the only people you see online bragging about the insane number of hours they work. It’s presented as part of the “American Dream”, where they’re convinced that they will only be successful if they try to work themselves to death. They can get quite competitive about the number of hours they work. Complaining about the younger generations not wanting to work more than 70 hours a week or work two jobs, just to barely be able to afford to live.

[@tallaster-g7s]

No.

[@Degdreams]

Oh yeah, grind culture was MASSIVE just a few years ago. "If youre not working 36 hours per day, you dont want it enough!" Failing to address how lack of sleep makes you LESS productive.

[@KittyMeow1984]

One thing that I find weird about America is how mail/delivery people will just drop your packages in your porch and call it a day, making it an easy target for porch pirates. I'm from Spain and here, if you are not home to pick up your package, they take it back to their warehouse and leave a receipt for you to go pick it up there at your earliest convenience (they will keep your package for 7 to 15 days before returning it to sender); some delivery services in my country will even allow you to cancel the delivery attempt altogether through their website if you know beforehand that you are not going to be home to receive it, so you can go pick it directly at their warehouse. Leaving your package in your porch or at your front door will only happen if you give them express permission to do so.

[@katharalytefoot]

Ya weirdly here it seems to be a bit of both. Proper delivery companies won't just leave the package on the doorstep, however, will put it in bins (many complaints from others about how their bin got collected with package inside), throw it over fences (hope it wasn't fragile) or otherwise "hide" it (hope it can get wet as the weather is often wet). The good ones will at least try a neighbor first, which can be a problem if you don't get along (I do thankfully). Amazon however just drop and run so my package is often in front of the door. Thankfully the aformentioned neighbors are good and if we see a package abandoned we take it in and bring it over later in the afternoon/evening.

[@fafski1199]

​​@@katharalytefootYep, here in the UK delivery drivers always used to knock/ring your door bell and wait until you answered the door. If you didn't answer then they would either try dropping off at a neighbour's house or take the package back to the depot for next day delivery. However, Amazon deliveries are often now just like they are in America, where they'll carelessly just throw the package on your doorstep and scurry off as quick as they can. If you are really lucky then the driver might try hiding it out if sight of passers-by (behind bins or a shrub).

[@HumbleWooper]

@@fafski1199 I think it's because their pay hinges on hitting ludicrously high productivity targets. Waiting for people to answer doors takes whole seconds and lowers their metrics, leading to pay cuts or even getting fired if other people on that route have done it consistently faster. Even the moment it takes to ring a doorbell could have been spent walking back to the van to head toward the next stop, that's how narrow their time margin is if they want the best available pay for the shift. The main metric Amazon measures its delivery drivers by is delivery scans per hour. They offer everyone the legally mandated minimum breaks, but also offer big incentives to opt out of them. Incentives like bonuses for hitting delivery goals so high they're physically impossible unless you skip all breaks and don't ring doorbells. Most drivers in the US (maybe other places too, I'm not sure) pack lunches they can eat while driving, and some even pee in bottles so they won't have to stop at a public restroom. 😬

[@neliaferreira9983]

​@@katharalytefoot"here" where? What country do you mean?

[@neliaferreira9983]

Same in Portugal.

[@mugthemagpie3001]

The card thing is something that horrors me. Why? Over here in Europe (especially Poland which has absolutely restrictive safety when it comes to finances), if you give someone your card and at the same time you get scammed, the bank will REFUSE to start investigating since by absolutely no means you are ever to give anyone your credit card -- especially if they disappear.

[@MrGBH]

If you get in an accident with a big truck, the smaller car has crumple zones. The idea that bigger trucks are safer is pushed by car companies so they can sell 'Light trucks' that have less safety requirements

[@sircaballero]

On top of this, a bigger car means more energy in any collision. If you did absolutely nothing aside from making the vehicles bigger, crashes would become more dangerous because of that extra energy that needs to go somewhere. That combined with what you said about them being inherently less safe due to poor design choices is obscenely dangerous

[@daedelus6602]

Only problem is that those vehicles are not compatible with each other. Small car has has bumper at 25 to 35 cm and the truck has the bumper 40cm+. When the truck hits the smaller car the safety features don't work.

[@JV-pu8kx]

Big trucks have much more mass, thus more inertia, and can't come to a complete stop like passenger vehicles. Crumple zones, airbags, etc., will only hamper the driver's ability to maintain control the vehicle during a crash. Also, the trailer: if the vehicle stops too quickly, the trailer can jacknife, making the situation _far_ worse.

[@Esriil]

@@JV-pu8kxThey aren’t talking about Semi trucks and other commercial vehicles. These are consumer passenger trucks. The size comparison from a late 90’s or early 2000’s Ford F-150 to a new one really displays the difference. It comes down to the auto industry not wanting to meet fuel efficiency standards in smaller passenger vehicles, so they push SUVs and light trucks, which have a much less stringent efficiency requirements, along with all the less strict safety regulations.

[@sircaballero]

@@Esriil SUVs in general are too damn big, even the older ones. The VAST majority of SUV owners would benefit from a different type of motor vehicle altogether

[@jackwalker4874]

It was drummed into me when I got my first customer-facing job that I should never take a card out of sight of the customer.

[@selenityshiroiYT]

Nowadays you aren't even allowed to touch the card. Not even to help the customer put the card in the machine. You take the machine to the card in that case. Back when we still had swiping it was exceptable to swipe the card (but not out of the customer's sight, obviously) but since chip and pin came in, and even more so with contactless, even touching the card is a huge no no.

[@6eehappy]

the friends one is interesting. I moved to the US a few years ago and while it's true that people are super friendly and it's easy to make casual friends, I still found it difficult to find good lasting friendships. I assume it's true everywhere and not just US especially as an adult. But it took literal years to get to a point of feeling like I have really good friends. The great thing about the US though is that even in those casual friendship, people are usually not just friendly but genuinely helpful.

[@linan397]

i lived in the us for a year and have had the same experience! at first i felt like i was making so many friends, but towards the end of the year i felt like i had no close friendships. people were always friendly and helpful, but i never felt like i really got to know my friends and they never really got to know me. in my home country, my experience has been the opposite. i’ve often struggled to make friends and get to know people well, but once we’ve become friends i feel like the friendships have been very deep and often long-lasting. this is from a school-based perspective though, for adults outside of school i can imagine it can be different

[@PaulHaigh072]

One of the many appallingly daft mistakes made on The Haunting of Bly Manor was a scene in a British public school classroom and there were union jacks everywhere 😂😂 whoever did the production design on that had clearly only vaguely heard of the UK

[@woofbarkyap]

Oh dear 🤣

[@agatealbekeite]

i was always confused about the whole breaking news thing when i was watching american cartoons (like powerpuff girls) because we never experienced that but then i found out about the 24 hour news cycle and that’s just wild. 40 min of news in the evening is enough thank you (for so many reasons).

[@klimtkahlo]

And yes news in the USA are so much worse than in Europe where they actually give you a thoughtful mostly impartial overview of world events, not just your town and your country like they do in the USA! PBS does inform you some more… but you need to actively search for good news programs

[@hannahbee567]

Closest thing to breaking news interruption was when Queen Liz died 😳 But yeah, 24hr news cycle is low key the bane of the 21st century. Then we introduced our minds to Twitter/instant news updates. Hello plummeting mental health😅

[@santostv.]

Unfortunately one of my country news channels aka a copy of the sun’s newspaper on tv channel form does that,also because tv is in decline,news channels have been copying the usa way of doing news, like opinion piece passing as real news, it’s awful imo

[@robadams1645]

A lot of American sports broadcasts on TV will have a scrolling scoreboard along the bottom showing scores in other games. It's another example of information overload and clutter. It's so unnecessary too, because almost everybody has phones so if they want to keep track of other games for whatever reason they can just check it there. Get that stuff off the screen so I can watch the game!!

[@melvincain5012]

I visited London with my daughter a few years back & automatically opened the door for someone following me (I'm from Yorkshire). My daughter said "Don't do that, you'll be there all day" as numerous people filed through without acknowledgement.

[@betsywilliams3666]

American exceptionalism drives me nuts. When people say that “no other country is as free as good ole US of A.

[@avancalledrupert5130]

They arnt . I've stood with an ar15 in one hand an acr in the other and a spliff in my mouth. I broke no laws .

[@asharak84]

@@avancalledrupert5130 There are different things that are allowed in the US, but that doesn't make you the most free or even close to it. There are loads of things that impact daily life that are much worse in terms of freedom in the US compared to much of the world, be it zoning, privacy, healthcare etc etc. The US isn't bad, they score similarly to the UK overall, but they're nowhere near top 10.

[@DragonriderEpona]

The irony with that is that the US isn't even ranked as the freest country in the world when it comes to personal freedom 😅 (based on the Legatum Prosperity Index

[@sashimifr]

The "freedom"® they mention every time is so damn cringy

[@davidnash4393]

​@@avancalledrupert5130and yet you're not allowed to cross the road wherever you want!

[@marpj6138]

On the credit card thing, it still makes no sense as its a basic security thing to not let other people handle your card. Everywhere else they bring the machine to you so you swipe, confirm the amount and type your PIN while in the states you just give it to a random that can copy the numbers and sell it only later so you need to enter a dispute against fraud.

[@efad3215]

I think a part of it is also not every store can afford a fleet of portable transaction machines. Or even one to share around the servers. I do not work at all yet, but I think that could be a part of it. B2B is like "add at least 3 zeros" expensive and a whole world unto itself.

[@Nalehw]

@@efad3215 Where I'm from, even reasonably fancy restaurants just have you pay at the front counter. Portable machines aren't a requirement.

[@LoganHunter82]

​@@efad3215They aren't that expensive

[@woofbarkyap]

@@efad3215 it's really not expensive, for larger establishments they're usually supplied by the bank and/or till provider and for smaller establishments you can just use a reader that works with a phone app. I have one that cost me £10 about 8yrs ago. Paypal used to send them out free, I don't know if they still do but my 15yr old one still works fine on the occasions that I don't want to use my phone app for some reason.

[@fishtank39]

11:40 bro, you're comparing significant differences in laws of close/neighbouring but entirely separate sovereign nations with different towns in the same country. it's not the same at all. it's weird.

[@samhutchison9582]

It's not to an American. America was created as a confederation of smaller sovereign. It wasn't until the south started a war to protect slavery and the Union had to kick the shit out of those inhuman traitors that the US got its current form of a strong federal government and semi-sovereign states.

[@mea16040]

thank you!!!

[@watchvidjedi]

Ha! regarding the unbridled patriotism in the States... for my 30th birthday I went to vegas and sat at a poker table with drinks flowing an American gentleman told me I wasn't patriotic. I said I was patriotic just towards the UK where I come from! The 2 Canadians at the table laughed and we had lots of drinks after with the Canadians.

[@anonymoususerinterface]

Why would he call you unpatriotic? your beer buckets not shaped like guns?

[@KarmasAB123]

@@anonymoususerinterface You telling me you don't want your beers shaped like guns?

[@Tuning3434]

@@KarmasAB123 Well, I can live with beers that aren't shaped like guns.

[@jonok42]

How does this give example of "unbridled patriotism" in the US? One Ahole makes a comment, and that proves all of us are like that? Assuming much?

[@Degdreams]

​@@Tuning3434What?! I need that! Im not even a gun fanatic, but gun shaped beer just sounds cool!

[@danstratyt]

They've started doing the estate agent thing in UK as well and it was really confusing in the election because you'd see a sign with someone's face and you wouldn't know if they wanted to sell houses or win public office

[@HumbleWooper]

Interesting! In my area (Virginia, USA) political campaign signs rarely have faces on them. It's usually just the name and what position they're running for, and some other little design element like stars, stripes, or a simple border.

[@oliviawolcott8351]

could you imagine a real estate agent running for public office then? lol

[@neliaferreira9983]

I have started seeing billboards of real-estate-agents in Portugal as well.

[@Edrim_Glebe]

Londoner here, but the company I used to work for got a complaint from an American company that we disrespected the flag. It was an engineering company that had service engineers that travelled around the world. Fixing, servicing and installing our machines. One of the service engineers was sent to a factory in Alabama to install a machine.The service engineer was from south Wales. Apparently every morning the staff at the factory would pledge allegiance to the flag. (It was hung up in the wall in the factory). They moaned at us that our Welsh service engineer wasn't pledging allegiance to the flag and the USA in the morning with all their staff. We were like, you know he's not American right? He is only there for a week, to do the work and he is coming back to the UK. But they didn't seem to understand why a Welsh man, who was there for 5 days, wouldn't pledge allegiance to the US flag. We also had a Brummie engineer who looked a bit Spanish. The Texas police stopped him because they thought might have been an a illegal immigrant from Mexico. Then they thought he might be on drugs, because of his accent. I remember years ago (2007ish) I when into an Irish pub in Florida, and someone was giving me shit because of my accent. (I sound cockney). But I was born in Ireland and moved to London when I was 9. My parents, grandparents etc were all Irish. So I had someone who great great grandparents were Irish, talking shit to me about being British, when I was more Irish than he was. It like he thought the people of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland never move from the place they were born or mix with each other. It was a bit bizarre.

[@ReallyRealBenMills]

The reason for the last item is that many Americans come from areas that don't see snow in the winter. My dad, for example, came from near the San Francisco Bay, and only saw snow twice in his childhood. So they have to warn people about this, and the warning has to be right before bridges in areas where the bridge freezes.

[@robadams1645]

That sign is common in Canada too. It's just a sensible thing to notify drivers of. If it causes even a few drivers to slow down and pay more attention when driving over a bridge in cold weather, it's worth it.

[@tay13666]

Trust me, there are people that live here where it snows every year for months on end that still don't get the concept of the bridges being slick when the temperature drops. You can't fix stupid. You can do your best to warn them, but in the end, they are gonna do what they are gonna do.

[@ReallyRealBenMills]

@@tay13666 And in the end, signs are cheaper than lives.

[@CarsMutley1995]

To spin around your last one, my favourite UK road sign is "Cats eyes removed"

[@MareSerenitis]

When our local patch of the A6 got resurfaced a couple of years ago, someone put up a sign behind it saying "Mice very happy".

[@K99349]

@@MareSerenitis That’s so beautifully British. 😂

[@darlenefraser3022]

Pardon? What does that actually mean? 😂 From a Canadian who needs to know!

[@K99349]

@@darlenefraser3022 Cats’s eye are reflectors set into the road so that road markerings can be seen at night.

[@darlenefraser3022]

@ Ohhhhhh! Are they normally there such that a sign needs to be posted?

[@frohnatur9806]

About holding the door open: I had the opposite experience when I visited the northeast coast of the US (Vermont, Massachusets, New York, Illinois). People would just let doors fall shut behind them, but most extremely: After watching a movie at the theater, I exited, opening the door and holding it open for the next person to take over while I moved on, kinda passing it from hand to hand, so it stays open and doesn't close in anyone's face. This is second nature in Austria (also running to quickly get to a door held open by another person, so that person diesn't have to keep waiting). What actually happened, though, was like 7 people just walking past me, because I guess I've left too much of a gap between me and the door? Some of them thanked me at least. That happened multiple times during my stay, albeit usually with just one or two people passing me.

[@SilverionX]

Not taking off your shoes inside is a classic. Being really obsessed with marriage very quickly in a relationship and judging people who are in a long term relationship with no plans of getting married in the near future. Maybe that's a more personal experience. But the weirdest one is poor people using conservative rhetoric about poor people "just being lazy and needing to work harder" and so on despite BEING poor and working exceptionally hard. It boggles my mind every time how someone could be so dismissive of people in the same class/situation as themselves. I've never heard anyone but Americans doing that.

[@jmp2586]

Those things are super common in my country as well.

[@Nalehw]

Yeah, that one's definitely not a US thing. My Kiwi father is hugely into the "stupid/lazy poor people" rhetoric, to the point where he went on a rant about all the other undeserving people at the dole meeting that he was also attending.

[@santostv.]

Been from Portugal , we don’t take our shoes off but we have inside shoes, although changing old people still complain if you been in a relationship for years and not married yet, been and been called lazy seems to be on the rise but not a regular thing but theres “stereotype” about it even from people that aren’t even rich.

[@SilverionX]

I stand corrected. I think the fact that my former friends aggressive and unforgiving rhetoric continued even after I had to organize a fundraise for him after had unforeseen financial problems caught me off guard. A lot of people like to blame society's problems on [other group of your choice], that's common (but not acceptable). But to be so toxic towards a group you yourself are clearly a part of, not just economically but also in other ways, is so weird to me.

[@oliviawolcott8351]

oh, the people being lazy thing comes from Protestant work culture, and its kinda ingrained into us culture. being poor is a moral failing and a work ethic issue here. along with the idea of the american dream and the idea that if you work hard you'll have a house a car and be able to achieve your dreams. conservative ideas are like 70 years behind everyone else. because there was a time when you could work hard and get upward mobility, but no longer. weirdly, poor people are more generally conservative here, so yeah... they'll be more likely to be spouting that kind of rhetoric.

[@HippoOnABicycle]

Different laws in different states isn't uniquely American. Germany and Switzerland for instance both have states/cantons with different laws. For instance in both countries some states/cantons allow smoking indoors and others don't. Another example is that In the Netherlands some provinces allow cannabis to be sold in coffee shops and others don't.

[@tatiana4050]

Not Europe but Japan. Each province has its own Age of Consent which is much higher than the national one. Hence the myth that age of consent in Japan is low.

[@tau-5794]

Frankly it shouldn't be very surprising that the states have their own laws. They are not just regions of a single country like Canada and its provinces, but countries in their own right operating within a single framework for (hypothetical) benefit.

[@tatiana4050]

@tau-5794 they are literally parts of one country. They aren't individual countries. They literally cannot leave USA.

[@metacob]

I live in Germany. I only took a bunch of vacation days this year, and just a week ago HR reminded everyone again to take their remaining vacation days because they'll only allow moving them into the next year for special cases. I had already planned some for christmas + the remaining time until new year, so I wasn't sure what to do with the 12 days I had left over. Decided to turn every weekend until christmas into 4 day mini vacations. Oh and a colleague just went on parental leave until 2026. I think she'll be paid significantly less during that time, but she can come back full time afterwards.

[@Tuning3434]

Weirdest thing, the need to register your race. Nationality I understand, because there can be some legal differences depending on your citizen status, but I was well into adulthood before I understood what was meant with 'Caucasian'.

[@HumbleWooper]

Yeah, for a long time when I was a (very white American) kid I figured the word meant Asian folks from a region called Caucasia. And I didn't bother to ask anybody, because who asks about things they already know?

[@oliviawolcott8351]

yeahhh... when I can, I try to just said of european descent. and if I can avoid it all together then I will. it only reinforces systemic racism.

[@lordofuzkulak8308]

⁠@@HumbleWooperto be fair to kid you, unless I’m mistaken, the word is derived from the Caucasus Mountains which form the border between Europe and Asia (someone better versed in etymology or paeleolithic history can go into more specifics). So you were close, as its origins would be more like Caucas-ians. 😉

[@cosmicpolitan]

ethnicity info is often used to properly distribute resources and money to counties and cities.

[@longiusaescius2537]

@oliviawolcott8351 tell that about DA

[@rickbuc]

In Canada we have had debit cards since 1984, and have been able to pay just about anywhere since 1994 with Interac. So at the end of a meal the server brings us a machine and we insert our card, type in our PIN code.(or we just tap the card on the machine) This way we pay directly from our bank account. Essentially it’s the same as cash.

[@annanz0118]

It was the same pretty much everywhere else EXCEPT for the US

[@sanders2378]

It amazes me that some Americans aren’t allowed to dry their clothes on a washing line outside and have to use tumble driers for everything. Are electricity & water etc relatively cheap? Leaving taps (faucets) running for example, our water in the UK is metered so we don’t waste a drop (although older homes may be on a fixed rate still).

[@azborderlands]

Definitely is legal in most places. More people should choose to do that because clothes seem to dry quicker the US than the UK.

[@lilypudd]

That is only in certain areas. Most places you can air dry your clothes it's just not common anymore. I had just a washer for years and hung my clothes on hangers to dry over the bathtub inside my house.

[@niteflytes]

I don’t know anyone who keeps water running. Most Americans have to pay for water usage

[@MrCakerape]

@8:39 I think this is more a reference to how Americans act when they hear any forign accent spoken. Most people from everywhere else would just mention its a nice accent, whereas Americans start to fall over themselves and keep asking you to say things in your accent and getting really excited when you do

[@B-A-L]

Never get British people complimenting Americans on their accent! I deliberately typed accent and not accent for a reason!

[@helenl3193]

​@B-A-L perhaps in part because whenever I (UK Londoner) used to do that in the 90s/00s, I'd so frequently be either told off for misidentifying a Canadian/my Hollywood misled understanding if a regional one, OR uncomfortably often, I'd be met with genuine confusion because "I don't have an accent". After enough awkward moments I stopped mentioning accents to most strangers/colleagues/acquaintances.

[@helenl3193]

Also you "typed accent and not accent"?! Has autocorrect ruined a point you were trying to make?

[@jonok42]

I've heard many foreign accents in my 58 years, and never even once have I gotten excited about it, or asked that person to say random words for me. What type of idiot does that?

[@EmilySpeight]

any time i hear someone with a different accent to me, I don't even mention it, I just talk to them like i normally would. I work at a swimming pool and a woman came in with an American accent. I didn't start asking her to say "water" and then laughing about it

[@frankhooper7871]

I've just realised something that I particularly like about Evan's videos - unlike most other presenters of similar content, Evan doesn't hide behind a visible microphone and gigantic headphones. 😊 One thing that used to amuse me about America was the litigation culture where "ordinary" people sue each other; what amuses me now is the advent of therapy/counselling culture.

[@evan]

Ah thanks! I usually put the microphone out of shot so it feels nicer

[@woofbarkyap]

or incongruously hold a clip on one clutched precariously between two fingers 🤣

[@loverlyme]

@@evan And it looks less 'self-obsessed.' One thing I picked up when learning about communication at university many decades ago was to not put (or allow something to stay) between yourself and the people you are conversing with. I even removed a potted plant from the boss' desk once at an interview as it could have caused some subconscious mental blockage in our communication. I got the job so it can't have seemed all that weird to them (I hope!). Another reason people use the handheld mic option I think is to cut down on the extraneous noise they make whilst talking. Having a mic with good audio features can make someone sound a lot like an AI voice or generated reel. One of the first things I notice in a new YT reel is when there are too many 'dead' sounds (or the lack of usual sounds, such as the aspiration of air at the end of a long sentence). It's a 'dead' giveaway (sorry) that this is a partly, or wholly, AI created video. I know better than to keep on watching. But don't worry, one day the AI voices will work out how to imitate the nuances like this too.

[@writerofthought8084]

I was a manager at a 7-Eleven, and I had three employees that "qualified" for use of a stool. (One was a veteran with an injury, one had a prosthetic leg, and one was pregnant). The request form to get them the stool was taking too long to get, so we went ahead and got a cheap stool from Staples. The regional manager came in one day and tried to yell at my employee for sitting. He took his leg off and shook it at her to show it was ADA necessary. She then informed us that ONLY those three employees could use it.

[@woofbarkyap]

I got a job at Tower Records when they first opened in central London. My first till shift there was no stool so Iocated one and sat on it. One of the US staff tried to "warn" me that I'd be in trouble with the manager and another called me "brave". In due course, one of the US managers appeared and started to harangue me and I let her bang on for a bit then told her I'd be using the stool. She didn't seem to know what to do. She came back later and tried again but I politely asked her what my purpose was at the till, whilst asking her to wait a moment whilst I served the customers she was getting in the way of. Then I asked her if I appeared to be fulfilling that role. "Yes, but..." I'll be using the stool. Eventually, I was asked to visit the UK manager's office. It was very nicely furnished with a lovely chair by the desk, into which I popped myself after greeting him. He explained it was company policy not to have people sitting on shift and I explained, politely that it was my policy not to stand up for long periods, placing strain on both my legs and back and potentially damaging both, resulting in considerable expense to the company for my workplace injury claim, damages being increased significantly by the fact that they were breaking UK law in not allowing me to sit. I got my stool.

[@changrila]

Fun fact: weed isn’t actually legal in Amsterdam/the Netherlands. You just won’t get arrested for using it in appropriate places. Medical marihuana is legal if you have a prescription.

[@linuslundquist3501]

I mean, when they literally put official signs up telling you to buy weed from shops and not dealers then it may as well be.

[@dcarbs2979]

I went to US for a holiday and paid for something by card. I had to actually sign with a pen and they checked the signature. I hadn't done that at home in the UK for at least 10 years. A real blast from the past.

[@juliepandora]

Do they still do that today? My cards today don't even have the signature place anymore on the back. They'd have to check with my id. I remember already thinking it was weird and antiquated when it happened in the early 2000s!

[@GalaxyFur]

How long ago was that? Modern credit cards here in the U.S. don't have a signature. I haven't had a credit card like that in nearly 10 years. If you used your credit card, I'm assuming they still have signatures on EU or UK credit cards?

[@efad3215]

Few weeks back, went to pick up a pizza from a local place and yes there was a spot to put a signature on the receipt. Even though I had paid online, I still signed for the card anyway just in case.

[@GalaxyFur]

@@efad3215 The receipt has a signed spot as authorization for the transaction. However, the credit card itself usually no longer has a signature.

[@efad3215]

@GalaxyFur True, admittedly I do it out of habit in case and to keep my signature sharp enough Besides, I saved my mom's card for pizza. Yes, she knows I have it saved for pizza. It's in an online account with the pizza place so I can't use it willy-nilly.

[@notjustanotherguy739]

I’m american/swedish but I live and work in Sweden. Each time I do something that’s totally normal to me my coworkers like look totally confused and somewhat concerned 😳 They also say I’m very loud and that they can hear me from the other room 😂 and don’t get me started on how they think I’m over the top about holidays… 😂 not just how I decorate my porch but the fact that I start preparing for Christmas in November just makes my poor coworkers question whether I’m from earth or not. 😂😂😂 On a positive note they’ve told me how much they appreciate my happy-go-lucky and friendly/helpful attitude so 💕

[@karenrussell8704]

I haven't met many Americans, but all the Americans I have met have been lovely.

[@sylviaelse5086]

I remember arriving in the US for the first time with my partner and being asked by the immigration official whether we were "both married". The answer was yes. To which, for clarity I felt the need to add "to each other."

[@jfrancobelge]

As a continental European I love the fact that I can travel so easily to such a variety of countries and cultures, languages... I live in Eastern Belgium, a 20-minute drive to the border with Luxembourg, and the German border is a 30-minute drive away. Last week I went shopping to France, an hour-drive away. Two months ago I was on vacation on the Greek island of Crete, a very different place from home, and on the other side of Europe (actually close to Africa and the Middle-East), but only a three-hour flight from/to the closest airport in Luxembourg. I speak French (my mother tongue), English, German, and I have notions of Dutch and Spanish. I've visitec the U.S. for a month twice (New England, then California and Arizona), I loved it each time, but it I was kind of missing this international environment of mine.

[@oliviawolcott8351]

I mean, you get that some when you travel between regions. each state has its own thing. granted its not countries, but its similar. you should try an interstate road trip sometime.

[@longiusaescius2537]

@jfrancobelge If you're Walloon you should do Mexico go for the whole Cristero Tintin thing

[@stitcher4729]

Numerous armies over the centuries enjoyed that also.

[@A190xx]

1. The overuse and abuse of the term, "world famous", especially when used to describe a mediocre pie from a cafe in the middle of nowhere. 2. The date format, which has cause many a problem when turning up for appointments on 6/7/24. 3. No pavements and poor train services, so the need to use a car for every journey. 4. Quizzes written by Americans expecting non-Americans to know state capitals. We prefer knowing capitals of actual countries. 5. Low alcohol levels in beer and spirits. 6. A TV episode ending then adverts and then the credits. 7. Plugs that loosely fit the sockets and lead to electrical fires. 8. Calling themselves Irish or another nationality that was true of one of their great grandparents, but not the other 7. 9. Moaning about HOAs. Simply do not buy a house in an area with a HMO, but I guess people are attracted to them due to the officious HMO that makes it look good

[@LoganHunter82]

That's HOA (Home Owners Association)

[@HealthyDisrespectforAuthority]

What Logan said.. HMO is health management organization.. the people that get between us and the doctors.

[@A190xx]

@@LoganHunter82 Thanks and now corrected.

[@arianbyw3819]

I dislike it when Americans visiting Ireland or Wales tell me they are Irish or Welsh or celtic...

[@dcallan812]

Toilets with a "shelf" you put TP on the shelf, then when you flush it all vanishes, no skids or triple flushing. In the UK its illegal to remove someone credit-debit card out of thier sight.

[@wessexdruid7598]

The Germans built them with 'shelves' to check for parasites...

[@salerio61]

youll have no problem citing this law then will you

[@wessexdruid7598]

@@salerio61 It's not 'illegal'. It is however a very strong recommendation, both from the police and banks not to allow it. _"Do not let the card out of your sight during a transaction."_ Askthedotpolicedotuk.

[@salerio61]

@@wessexdruid7598 I have no issue with your statement at all.

[@alias914]

In Europe there is no "Bridge freezes before road surface", but there is a sign for freezing. And is usually before bridges.

[@mytube001]

Europe isn't a country. I've been to a few, live in one, and I've never seen a sign like that.

[@davidhyams2769]

I live in a small village in the East of England. In the next village there's an old bridge over a small river. There's an "Ice" sign just before the bridge. I've driven over that bridge at least once a week for over 20 years. I've never encountered ice.

[@dcarbs2979]

@@davidhyams2769 Near me there is a sign that just gets left there all year, so you have an 'ice' warning in July!

[@Bakers_Doesnt]

Norway has "Troll - customs" signs. No wait, they're "Toll - customs", my mistake.

[@alias914]

@@mytube001 I live in Europe. I know Europe isn't a country, but all European countries have the same traffic signs. There is this sign 2 km away from my house.

[@Connor_Crain]

The vehicle size thing has several factors. A large one is efficiency and emissions laws. The way the law is written, the larger a cars footprint on the road is the less “green” the engine has to be. I believe this was to originally accommodate semi trucks. The effect of this however was, instead of manufacturers making pick up trucks more efficient (which would take expensive research) they just designed trucks bigger so they didn’t have to change the engines.

[@TomaszJakubKusienicki]

Giving someone a credit card to take it out of sight is like giving someone your keys. Sure if someone break in to your house using a copy of your key you can try to find that person and report it to the police and make a claim on your insurance policy... but maybe just do not give your keys to random strangers every other day. 😅

[@jayzonedc6474]

Saying 'muh system' as a reason why Americans do things certain ways is weird to me. To people outside the US, people are in control of their government and the laws they implement. Having no annual leave and having a terrible work culture means that Americans love working, or at least love it so much that they won't change their laws to prevent these situations.

[@tay13666]

Theoretically here in the USA we are supposed to be in control of our government. But in practice, we have very little influence on politicians. They only listen to the people with tons of money to contribute to their political campaign.

[@walramgoat]

Basically we used to have control of our government, then we decided corporations were humans and giving money was speech so now corporations have control of our government

[@TearsOfEternity]

I'm from the UK, and have worked too many years in retail. I can confirm I was never allowed to sit unless I was on break in the staff room. I now work for the NHS and have never been told I can't sit down. So, not really a uniquely American thing but more a retail/customer service thing, me thinks.

[@thegingerwitch322]

I completely disagree re poop. American toilets seem to clog all the time - ours in the UK rarely do - the water is at higher pressure I think?

[@andypartridge800]

Just the sheer amount of ads in a TV show. Ads Opening credits Ads Some actual show Ads Some more show Ads Closing credits ...

[@perryelyod4870]

I stopped watching television over a decade ago because of this. I use my small television as a big screen for my laptop. But it also now appears, unless I want to pay to be a 'premium' member, sites like this are also becoming ad obsessed. There is a tolerance point where being bombarded with ads will push away viewers, but television, and media sites only see the current revenue from ads as a well that keeps giving. Only to find there's eventually no one to view those ads.

[@Tillyard86]

Thank god for streaming services.

[@robadams1645]

I can't imagine watching any TV show live. Everything is recorded then played back so I can skip the commercials.

[@connoragnewmusic]

12:15 you're comparing different countries having different laws to different states within one country having different laws. Not the same.

[@spitfirem1]

It is actually the same. Much like the EU is meant to be a collection of independent countries organized and unified in certain ways to help ensure important things like commerce and defense, the United States was meant to be a collection of independent states organized and unified in these ways as well. They are called states rather than provinces or something similar specifically because they have their own independent governments and own laws, albeit within the framework of the overall nation. Therefore the rules in one can differ significantly from another, but if they get too far out of bounds or negatively impact interstate commerce for example, the federal government will step in. In practice the rights of states to govern themselves have been eroded over time with certain judiciary decisions but the pendulum seems to be headed back in the direction of more independence to some degree.

[@justadude08]

Except that if say France has some fucked up laws the other members of the EU don't make them change it they just vote to kick France out of the EU and let them deal with the consequences. On the other hand if the UK wants to leave the EU they can just do it and deal with the consequences. If Colorado wants to leave the union a civil war happens. I don't know why you guys have this perseption that a U.S state is on equal terms as a country and that the U.S itself is equivalent to a socioeconomic block like the EU or the OAS.

[@spitfirem1]

​@@justadude08 States enact and enforce their own laws, charge their own taxes, are responsible for their citizens' education, etc. States are responsible for everything they have not expressly delegated to the federal government. Most laws people deal with on a day to day basis are enacted at the state level, not the federal level. Federal laws are limited only to interstate issues for the most part. States have and commonly do nullify federal law they disagree with. For example, many states have legalized marijuana or other drugs which are federally illegal. States can enact laws that disagree with each other, as we are currently seeing unfold with abortion. The US constitution basically says that the states have the sovereignty to do everything they haven't delegated to the federal government, and therefore are in fact still sovereign even though they have delegated certain things such as defense and commerce. Regarding secession, to quote someone else's excellent point: One of our founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson, held that the U.S. Constitution was a compact of sovereign states which had delegated very specific powers but not sovereignty to a central government-powers which could be recalled any time. By international law sovereignty cannot be surrendered by implication, only by an express act. Nowhere in the U.S. Constitution is there any express renunciation of sovereignty by the states. The US constitution does not forbid a state from leaving the union, nor does it forbid the union from kicking out a state. In addition, several of the original states joined while explicitly retaining the right to leave. If all of the other states got together and said 'hey let's kick out California', there's no reason that couldn't happen though they would be foolish to do so. In practice as you note, the one serious attempt at secession did result in a war, but legally speaking there's not anything to prevent someone from leaving. To vastly oversimplify, it would be like if the EU told the UK "We don't care if you want to leave with your silly Brexit, you're staying" and had both the military ability and political desire to force them to do so. So yes, the states are meant to be sovereign, and they choose to organize into a collective to which they delegated certain rights. In another 200 years it is possible that the EU may very well look much like the United States does today, should the member states continue to move in that direction.

[@MartijnPennings]

I think the big cars was a taxes thing; at a certain time cars got a higher tax than trucks, so every American car manufacturer started making cars that are technically trucks.

[@goodmaro]

"BRIDGE FREEZES BEFORE ROAD SURFACE" -- which I notice now in NJ is being replaced by the more accurate yet shorter "BRIDGE ICES BEFORE ROAD SURFACE" (because, yeah, it's not a molten bridge) is useful precisely *because* of there being a lot of short, barely noticeable bridges. The sign is basically saying, "There's a bridge here. And that's important because you may be going from a merely wet surface to an icy one." I suppose the same might be accomplished by a sign that merely said (or had an icon for) "bridge", but once in a while a reminder answering, "Why should I care?" is good.

[@NikSvobodniy]

The "Bridge freezes" signs made me laugh actually when I moved in the US. I am in TEXAS ffs. If the temperature even goes below 0, it's a disaster that takes people a week to prepare. How often do they think there is an unexpected ice on a bridge?

[@ditozys3490]

6:08 here where i live (Poland), when we say "go to get coffee" it means we're gonna go visit someone (ussualy family) and spend at least an hour just sitting, chatting and drinking the said coffee.

[@HamelinSong]

When it's 27°C ouside they crank the AC until is 16°C, But when it's 16°C outside they turn on the heating until it 27°C. Make it make sense.

[@robadams1645]

99% of Americans think both of those temperatures are below freezing.

[@Squabsss]

theres just something pleasant about being warm when its cold outside and cool when its hot out, what can i say?

[@RosaliePacheco]

I hate how at US restaurants you can’t just go up to the front to pay when done. It makes me feel so trapped plus I’ve had servers disappear for 30+ min when I’ve been time limited.

[@jonok42]

I do agree that I would sometimes prefer to go to the front, but if your server disappears you can always ask another server. They will get yours or get your check for you.

[@jijitters]

There are some restaurants where you can do this, but usually only if they're small.

[@danstratyt]

@RosaliePacheco Normally can't do that in UK either if there is table service (except in pubs)

[@woofbarkyap]

@@danstratyt yes you can, I've never known one where you can't just approach the til if you haven't been able to flag someone down, or are in a hurry.

[@danstratyt]

@woofbarkyap oh yeah you can flag someone down or go up and ask. I just meant it's not the "expected" way of paying

[@dziooooo]

13:42 no, it doesn't save time. In countries with banking systems NOT stuck 1987 the server brings the reader to the table, you tap the card on it and you're done. No one runs the card, no one writes anything down, no one needs to sign anything.

[@martinezclau]

Brazil is not much smaller than the US. And the criminal legislation here is national. All of it. Since forever. It's really nice to travel to the other side of the country knowing your rights and obligations beforehand. And we have universal healthcare. And 30 days vacations every year. Holidays not included. Now, if we, an underdeveloped third world mixed race giant slum can pull this out, why the shiniest, most superior, greatest country in the world can't? Are they short on cash? I'm sure the New Development Bank can lend a hand. Call Mrs. Rousseff in Shanghai.

[@jintsuubest9331]

Well, it is a feature not a bug. How else will you be able to divide and conquer. How else will you be able to lived in your own little fiefdom. Thats why we american been talking about reforming election for centuries, yet it is still the same flawed system.

[@livelaughlove669]

The US is not really a single country in practice, it’s a collection of sovereign states that agreed (sort of) to unit under one banner. You would need to literally go on a campaign and conquer every state to change this as each state will fight until their last breath to stay separated to some degree. It’s definitely a pain when it comes to certain laws, but it will not change unless forced to by some very large guns and a lot of death.

[@amandabeaty1492]

The duration of your elections. As soon as one is finished you start campaigning for the next one. The national conventions are weird, the fundraising is weird. That every state has a different way to vote is weird. My friend sent me a ballot from Minnesota and it was two fullscap pages long. You know long elections last in Canada? 36 days. The ballot is the same in Alberta as it is in Prince Edward Island, only the candidates names are different. It takes you all of 30 seconds to vote. There's never a line up. Go big or go home I guess?! God bless the Excited States of America.

[@oliviawolcott8351]

yeah, I think that every state has its own voting laws comes from our early days before we had the US constitution and it was just a loose confederation of states. every state was allowed its own laws and own constitution, and that continued in some form to this day. there's always this push pull dynamic between federal government being supreme and the states having autonomy. I think it also has to do with us breaking from the UK and not liking a centralized government because of that. but it would be nice if there was uniformity.

[@small_and_dangerous2068]

4:48 the complimenting thing is ironically something I was encouraged to do and have a habit of doing a lot in public now. I mentioned to my therapist my social fear of speaking to strangers, even if only for a moment. He suggested I try paying genuine compliments to people because most people respond well to being told something kind about themselves. So I started just saying a lot of compliments about lots of things to many different people and it helped people seem a lot less scary!

[@Amyduckie]

My favourite is saying when a couple has been together several years, Americans always say they’re “dating” like they’re teenagers going steady. Like what? And they think of it as less than marriage, and have no concept of people being together long term and unmarried.

[@rchltrrs]

What term would you use for a long-term couple that isn't married? It's starting to change, but most Americans would only use "partner" for a same-sex couple. I guess there is "significant other," but that's usually used as a general term for any romantic pairing (married or not). Otherwise, most of us use boyfriend/girlfriend (even if you have been together for 50 years!) or husband/wife/spouse.

[@livelaughlove669]

We find it odd too, to describe it as simply dating but there is no other term besides partners. What do you call long term relationships that are not married?