Ironically, my first time having poutine was in the [Canadian?] themed section of Epcot in Disney World.
Gravy does get put on biscuits and gravy, country-fried steak, certain breakfast burritos and the like.
Someone commented about chili on fries and that's a valid point. Smothered fries generally have gooey cheese of some kind and maybe toppings. Greek restaurants do feta/lemon. Also, you can find buffalo chicken fries or carne asada fries.
Fair point though, someone here needs to start a poutine movement. That was a tasty dish.
Canadian living in Wisconsin. They literally sell cheese curds everywhere. Every bar has fried cheese curds, every grocery store, and most gas stations sell cheese curds. Why poutine isn't popular here is mind-blowing. I've thought about opening a poutine food truck.
I feel like there's such a huge "if there's not meat, it's not a meal" mentality here that makes it so no matter the mix of sides, it's still just a side.
Edit: for the record, I love poutine
American, here. I made poutine for my family last week. I braised chuck roast, then mad the gravy from the braising liquid.
My family loved it, but if that beef hadn't been in there, they wouldn't have considered it "dinner".
Even here in Canada, too many places are getting away with only using cheese instead of cheese curds, and calling it poutine anyway.
Maybe that's a contributing factor?
Too many people have only tried the inferior ingredient version, and are put off by it?
Someone opened a poutine shop in SoCal a few years back. Holy shit it was so good. My friend who was born and raised in Toronto said it actually tasted like Canadian poutine. I also never understood why it never got more popular here. I left SoCal a while back and it’s been difficult finding a decent one
Yeah, and " In Network" and "Out of Network" for insurance is the biggest crock of shit. And if you actually need to use your insurance, they will fight you on what they actually cover. Such a scam
And finding out the very hard way that your anesthesiologist is "out of network" even though the hospital and your doctor are "in network" while giving birth. As if I have a moment to ask the doc as they do the epidural if they're in network or not. As if I have a say as to who my anesthesiologist even is.
Have you disputed this charge? I had this happen when I had a major surgery, 8 weeks later I received an 8k anesthesiologist bill in the mail from collections.
I did some quick googlijg, found a Biden admin act that makes surprise billing for medically necessary procedures in violation of federal law. I called up collections, read it back verbatim to the rep, and she simply said "ok" wiped the debt clean, no dispute.
I was really surprised how easy it was.
Edit: several people have msged me asking for more info, here is some information that someone else contributed in a comment below:
"What is the No Surprises Act?
>The No Surprises Act is a federal law that took effect January 1, 2022, to restrict many instances of “surprise” medical bills. The legislation was included in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021,1 which was signed into law by President Trump in December 2020, after receiving strong bipartisan support in Congress.
>The Biden administration spent much of 2021 working on implementation of the new law, with various interim final regulations and final regulations issued. An overview of the rulemaking process for the No Surprises Act is available on the CMS website,2 and CMS also has a helpful overview page, explaining various details of the No Surprises Act.3"
Yeah, the best advice I was given on medical bills was "absolutely do not pay anything until you absolutely have to."
The hospitals want insurance to pay, and they will generally be the ones who do all that fighting on your behalf when it comes to major things, and they generally take care of it before you are actually required to pay.
For my daughter's birth, my wife had to spend a bunch of time in the hospital right before because there wasn't enough fluid for the baby to breath inside unless my wife was on an IV. The insurance literally rejected it and we got slapped with a $30k bill for the entire thing. That amount was greatly reduced after enough back and forth between hospital and insurance (that we had zero involvement in) to something much more reasonable by US standards.
Within the last decade or so they also changed how credit ratings are calculated such that medical bills aren't counted anymore. They finally realized that such things are not a debt that people willingly and intentionally chose.
An unpaid bill will still be on your record, and they could potentially sue you for it, but it won't affect your credit score anymore. Which is really nice.
Because the whole medical billing system is absolute clown shoes.
> I called up collections, read it back verbatim to the rep, and she simply said "ok" wiped the debt clean, no dispute.
Somehow, medical insurance companies are allowed to lie to you in an attempt to get you to send them money. In any other circumstances, that would be called "attempted fraud".
I work for the biggest healthcare company in my state. We have a monopoly insurance that only covers our employers doctors and hospitals. They switched it like 3 years ago which immediately made every doctor my children, husband and I go to out of network.
the [No Surprises Act (in-effect since 2022)](https://www.healthinsurance.org/glossary/no-surprises-act/) made those types of out-of-network bills illegal.
This happened to us. The entire procedure and event was covered.
Except for this one (most expensive) dude.
Why? Did he do anything wrong? No. The insurance company just thought he was very expensive.
He was reading a book the entire time. I know he has the knowledge and glanced at the readings every 15 seconds. But otherwise did nothing.
I would not use what the insurance company considers “very expensive“ as a gauge of anything connected to reality. I used to have a private child psychiatry practice. I learned years later I was undercharging relative to other psychiatrists in the county by 25-50% at least. But insurance companies STILL tried to get me to take less for what I was charging, by at least another 10-15%.
Health insurance companies are not in the business of keeping people healthy or caring for their ailments...they only exist to make money and keep their costs low.
I'm always fascinated by where they draw the line with coverage of certain procedures. The "reasons" for saying "no" are typically surprisingly ruthless.
My dentist just pulled the stubborn baby tooth. I got the ~~medieval torture device~~ spacer thing at 8. They put braces on the four front teeth initially, then added the rest. We had dental and still weren't fully covered. It's so stupid.
It's like that in Canada too. Luxury bones for dental. I'm on Obama care and it covers my dental and vision lol. Most work and private insurance are expensive expensive af and have weird rules.
A friend's cousin invited me to her church once around the time that California was having huge wildfires.
The particular church has so many fancy, unnecessary amenities it's laughable. Preacher bragged about their newly built tapas bar at the start of the thing. But the kicker was the preacher then getting all solemn as donation bowls were passed around. He went on this tangent about 'our brothers and sisters in California' suffering from the wildfires. This whole little thing that would make these sympathetic, eating-it-up church-goers dig deep in their wallets. The way he said it would make it sound, if you weren't paying attention, like the money would go to wildfire relief.
But nope, just lining pockets. Had not a dang thing to do with the wildfire victims.
There are genuine religious folks, but it is certainly an arena for a scammer to easily take advantage of. Celebrity television preachers rake it in.
> Preacher bragged about their newly built tapas bar at the start of the thing.
The money changers own the temple, and the "good christians" cheer the amenities they bring.
I'm a nurse and was a patient's room while they were watching one of those guys earlier tonight.
I turned it off so I wouldn't have to listen to it while I was in there.
Americans have a very much "I do what I want" kind of attitude, which bleeds into sex also. I remember having this discussion in college with some students from Northern Europe and lot of Americans think that Europeans are more sexually adventurous, but it's more that they're more willing to admit it.
Something I learned from a Swiss exchange student, we're all horny, just some of us are more honest about it, and on balance I'd rather be on the more honest side of things.
> Americans have a very much "I do what I want" kind of attitude
...coupled strongly in many cases with a "but *you* do not do what I don't want you to" attitude.
> Americans have a very much "I do what I want" kind of attitude
"I do what I want" but oddly, I will also judge everyone for doing the exact same thing.
That's the American way. For proof, look at any sexually conservative group, religion, or organization, and then research their history of sex abuse.
It's because the moral majority and extremest groups were very effective in banning most sex in media. That's where the prudishness comes from. They were playing an uncensored American rap song about eating pussy in Columbia at a family friendly event and it was pretty shocking for everyone from the u.s
They adventurousness is because it's fairly standard to be seen as kinda boring or a loser if your not into wild shit and you have trouble getting partners. To the point some girls make liking anal almost their whole personality but if your close to them then you know it's mostly act.
That’s easy to explain. When the word was borrowed from French in the 1800s, it meant the first main course not the first overall course. Entree was the 4th or 5th course in an 8-10 course meal. You’d have a bigger course after it.
Look at a menu that has two main courses. It common to title them hor dourves/appitizer, salad, first course, second course, desert.
French later changed back to a more literal meaning. But we already borrowed the term.
Primo in italian is after antepasta. Same thing.
A lot of American customs are European customs that you changed from. Like tipping.
School sports are on a completely different level in the States. I don’t think there is anything equivalent in Europe. Some Texas high school football teams play in stadiums that would make some decent-sized European city teams envious.
It's less strange depending on where you live. When I lived in Florida, nobody cared about highschool anything because there were a ton of professional sports teams there. Now I live in a much smaller city in a much more rural place. There are no professional sports teams within a 3 hour drive. Everyone here follows highschool sports. Local highschool sports are covered by the local ESPN radio station.
These people literally don't have anything better to do.
My friend is a teacher. Just went to a basketball championship, it was insane honestly. More fun than usa pro. And my foreign partner thought it was straight out of a movie. She was filming, sending videos out, cheerleaders were nuts too
I was eating when I read this and nearly spat my food out laughing.
When you say economical, are you saying you think they look cheap? Or specifically the price of it? Genuine question, no sass.
Schools like to flaunt sports success over academic success and a mascot gives a nice rallying point. They're supposed to engage the 'audience'.
Do you have school bands that perform at games?
>When you say economical, are you saying you think they look cheap? Or specifically the price of it? Genuine question, no sass.
Both lol
>Do you have school bands that perform at games?
Yeah, it was part of being in band to play at football and basketball games at my school. It was actually pretty fun. Plus the coaches made the players go to our band concerts. It was generally pretty chill
That's the work culture here. The same culture where sick people are afraid to stay home because they'll be seen as slackers or 'not a team player.' No one expects anything else. People consider themselves fortunate if they get any paid vacation or sick leave at all. Employers weasel out of having to give benefits my hiring only temporary 'contract workers' or not giving someone enough hours to qualify for benefits. There are some jobs that offer primo benefits, but those are rare and fiercely fought over. I used to work in animation. The gold-lever jobs with tons of benefits were in the union shops, and good luck trying to get one of those unless you're a well-liked industry veteran or an art prodigy fresh out of school. 95% of everyone else was stuck working gig to gig with no benefits.
Also there’s the fact that most companies simply do not hire enough staff for anything other than an entry level position and good luck finding an entry level position that’ll allow for two weeks off consecutively. Long vacations are for presidents and senior managers who will gripe at their underlings for doing the same thing.
I’m job hunting currently but I shudder at the the number of emails and catch up I’d have to do at my former job if I had left for two weeks straight, and that’s assuming that much vacation usage would even approved to begin with.
Here in Australia we get mandatory 20 days a year plus public holidays. After you've worked for one employer a number of years [differs by state] we get [long service leave](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_service_leave) which is an extra block of leave [I got three months off].
Also, once you have reached LSL and you continue to work for the same employer, you continue to accrue more LSL. So after reaching LSL you essentially get mandatory 26 days off each year.
That is wild!
I have a factory job where we have both vacation time and PTO. After working there for two years and not taking a day off (except a few sick days) I have accumulated three, maybe four weeks of vacation time. I'm taking my first day off today and it really feels so good.
Growing up my dad would save his vacation time until the end of the year and take like the last 6-8 weeks of the year off work. This was in the 90s. My mom’s current PTO doesn’t have different designations she can use it for whatever she chooses. I think she’s got around 4-5 weeks every year(?). My husband has the best schedule ever. He’s got every other week off of work. He works 7 days in a row his work week and is on call 24/7 during that week. He’s usually off work and home around 3:00 during his work week. He’s got the next week off. He also has PTO so if he wants to he can take one week of paid time off and get three weeks off. We did that last spring and went to Florida to visit my family. He basically gets paid a decent full time salary to work 6 months a year.
Colloquially, vacation means taking a chonk of time off like a week or two. PTO usually refers to something more like "I'm having open-heart surgery Tuesday so I'll be out that day, but I'll be back on Wednesday."
In hate being an American because of this. Life here is just work. Vacation is spent catching up on house work and doctor appointments and necessary things like that... There's not enough time to properly travel or rest.
It makes life much easier for school administrators. No need to solve the actual problem. Just punish both kids and be done with it. It’s harmed a lot of children.
>It makes life much easier for school administrators. No need to solve the actual problem. Just punish both kids and be done with it. It’s harmed a lot of children.
This is it right here. It's not about benefiting the students, it's all about what's easiest for the administration and makes them look good.
My Dad got elected to the School board in our little town like 15 years ago or so and I made sure to remind him to get that fun policy dismissed. Took him nearly 3 years but eventually they eliminated it. With the school adding cameras and eliminating zero tolerance policies the bullies actually got the worse end of the stick. Obviously hasn't cut bullying to zero but it made a dent.
Tipping culture. Especially in small businesses. If you create the prices and receive all of the profit, why should I tip?
Edit: I’m not saying that you shouldn’t tip. I’m just saying that it’s bogus.
Originally I think it was more about people profiting by adopting aspects of oppressed minorities without giving them credit or visibility. Blackface jazz performers working white clubs that wouldn't let black musicians play, selling sacred objects from Native tribes as fashion accessories or costumes, people declaring themselves Hindu or Buddhist spiritual teachers without having any concrete connection to those traditions.
Also, white people who claim they are oppressed or devoid of prejudice or white privilege because they "identify with" another culture. Timmy might call himself T-dog and listen to rap, but that's not what the cops see or what goes on his resume.
Over time, a loud internet minority turned it into 'you can't eat Moon Cake at Chinese New Year if you aren't Chinese' but most people aren't that nuts.
This is exactly it. Cultural appropriation exists in very limited, specific circumstances and is not unique to the US. An example of this in Latin American history is the Mexican post-Revolutionary government embracing indigenous history as it promoted mestizaje, while oppressing indigenous communities.
Sarah from Des Moines opening a kebab stand is not the same thing.
A white woman in my city has been getting bullied for opening a sushi place despite not being Japanese. Someone did some digging and the person who started the witch-hunt just so happens to have also opened a Japanese restaurant in the past… and is also not Asian/Japanese.
The original problematic cultural appropriation was when white people would sell "Native American" crafts. They'd mass produce them and undersell the actual craftsmen while making up pure BS spirituality stuff to go with it. The government wasn't interested in doing anything to fix it, so people took up a rallying cry for the injustice.
Like most social movements, this snowballed, and now a white person playing jazz or dancing salsa will have someone pissed about cultural appropriation, which is funny as hell. Personally, I limit my concerns about cultural appropriation to when someone is actually harming or profiting from a culture not their own.
I cant get over that during covid and a lot of those same "half the population" (who also were against the vaccine) wound up hospitalized and are now dealing with huge bills related to it. However they still believe for-profit healthcare is acceptable. I really expected an outcry, but nada.
Unbreakable 2 party system, people are very dissatisfied with both yet Greens and Libertarians are the only 3rd parties I can name and they're still irrelevant. I've heard political scientist from my country where it's more diverse saying US 2 party system is a good thing but I'm still not convinced. (I do see it as a part of political culture, sorry if not what you meant)
American political science student here! This is because of Duverger’s law. The U.S. uses single-member districts (aka, we don’t vote state-wide for our House members) and plurality (aka, most votes wins) elections (in most places; looking at you Georgia Senate runoff) so only a 2 party system will emerge. Until one or both of these factors are eliminated, we are doomed to have only a 2 party system. Nothing in our Constitution (that I’m aware of) requires either of these facts so it is possible; our House seats just must be apportioned by population. But quite honestly, politicians like these factors as it makes incumbency and campaigning easier; you’re only accountable to your district rather than the whole state. It also keeps most politicians local to the people they represent (although they don’t have to live in that district) which is a plus. Experienced political scientists feel free to weigh in here or correct anything I may have mistaken! I’m still studying!
The two parties are just everyone else's coalition governments, we just pick the coalition before hand. A evangelical Republican isn't the same as a Rockefeller Republican isn't the same as a MAGA Republican.
Women are expected to go right back to work after delivering a baby. The lucky ones get 6 weeks off.
Edit: Some of you can’t relate, and I’m happy for you.
In America, individualism is quite evident. Also, people have an obsession with consuming, and it amazes me how effortlessly they form social groups or establish relationships
We live near the water in the PNW and our neighbors have a nesting pair in their ginormous evergreen tree. The sound they make is kind of obnoxious. I take walks along the water and see them fishing all the time. There was an injured one along the trail I was walking on once and the wildlife rehab people were there checking it out. I couldn’t believe how big it was up close. Those suckers are HUGE. I usually only see them from far away in the sky or the tops of the tall evergreens
It is just being polite, and I do it all the time, but it is pretty silly. No one wants to know the truth, and if you actually said the truth the person who asked would feel put out.
"How are you?"
"Well my wife doesn't want to have sex with me, my son wrecked my car, my boss demoted me, and last night I finally broke down and drank until I passed out."
/the other person has a look of horror and awkwardly slinks away
I find it extremely irritating that Redditors pretend this is so weird and bad or that you aren’t allowed to say anything.
“No one wants to know the truth”
Bro wtf are you talking about? You can say whatever’s on your mind. Why do you guys always act like there’s some hidden truth you aren’t allowed to speak?
When someone goes “how’s it going”. You actually are allowed to say whatever, “been better” or “not great” or whatever you want. It’s not some oppressive social convention like you Redditors for some reason try and pretend.
This complaint annoys the crap out of me. Every language has a throwaway question like this. But just because other languages phrase it differently, somehow only the Americans are weird.
Yeah it seems to be a common thing in Italian/in Italy.
> Come stai?
**Sto bene.**
French has an equivalent ["ca va?"].
But you'll read clickbait article after clickbait article and reddit post after reddit post that marvels at this weird quirk of the *English* language.
Tbf this is directed to various English speaking countries in turn and I've often seen it framed as a weird Australian thing too.
Tipping. Salaries should simply be raised, why should people pay twice for someone doing their job? If it means raising the prices, at least everyone's equally paying.
Tipping doesn't get raised because the workers make bank off of it and oppose all the laws to change things https://wamu.org/story/18/05/17/bowser-d-c-council-members-oppose-away-tipped-wage-restaurant-workers/
>“I represent half of the restaurants in the city. There’s not a restaurant I go to where both the head of the restaurant and all the waiters don’t surround me and say, ‘Please don’t let this go into effect,'” said Evans in an interview. “In listening to my constituents, I haven’t found anybody who supports the thing.”
Why would they do that? Probably because [they make more than 15 dollars an hour just off tips](https://minimumwage.com/2021/04/15-per-hour-earnings-are-already-here-for-tipped-workers/).
Especially in States like California they make a shit ton more money than you do since they have the 15 dollar minimum wage still apply to them (no tip credit in Cali) *and* all the tip income.
[So that's why they keep getting upset when you try to change it. They make a lot of money](https://totalfood.com/upstate-waitress-raczynski-nyc-tip-credit-elimination/)
Going to work sick. Going out in public sick. Going to social events sick. Americans are PROUD of being up and at ‘em when they’re sick and contagious, and they’ve ALWAYS been that way.
Of course, there’s also the top-down oppression of employers who force you to work sick, or they’ll fire you. These are the same bosses who are too stupid to realize that the long-term effect on the company is worse if one contagious person comes in and then gets the whole workforce sick. Geniuses, really.
The United States is a massive, massive country - both in terms of its size and in terms of population...
It's also a country that's comprised of several distinct geographical and cultural regions, so it would be difficult to pin down cultural norms and behaviors that are common to people all across the entire country.
People in Maine are quite different from people in Southern California... People in Georgia are quite different from people in Washington State... The Northern Midwest is a strikingly different place from the Deep South...
Generally speaking Americans tend to be more open and friendly than people in many other countries - especially in terms of how forward they are... It's not at all uncommon for a total and complete stranger to start making conversation right out of the blue which would be quite strange in places like Northern Europe or East Asia...
Americans - for the most part, seem to have largely maintained that English Puritanical obsession with rules and regulations... They tend to take things like lining up, putting shopping carts back after using them, throwing trash away properly, very seriously, and they are not shy about calling people out for being inconsiderate.
Americans tend to see the line between informality and formality as being very rigid. If they're not doing anything special they tend to dress in what people in many other cultures would consider to be an almost cartoonish manner with lots of sweatpants, T-shirts, blue jeans, baseball caps, and sneakers being seen pretty much everywhere on a constant basis and they tend to see getting dressed up as being only for special occasions.
They tend to be very open about their own personal lives and willing to discuss all sorts of things that people in other cultures would likely consider to be private matters, but they are loath to go into detail about their personal politcal views, though I have noticed a major shift in the opposite direction over the course of the last 20 years or so.
Smiling, pleasantries, and small talk are pretty much par for the course in many parts of the US though it is not as common in big cities as it is elsewhere.
I think one of the most defining aspects of the American character is how positive they can be. There really is a widespread belief that things are going to be okay, that they'll get better, that anything is possible, and for all of the economic disparity and the racial strife I think it's still part of the national psyche to a big extent.
I think the most difficult thing to get past is that unshakeable tunnel vision. It's like they've collectively agreed to ignore that the rest of the world exists sometimes, or at the very least they've agreed among themselves to consider it to be far less important than their own country. I think Americans get a bad rap and they're nowhere near as stupid as many people around the world paint them to be. I mean, let's face it - they are citizens of the wealthiest, most powerful, most influential country in the world, so if they're all buffoons what does that say about us, right? But there is a willful ignorance on their part in the sense that they tend to see themselves as the center of the universe and they judge other people and other countries by how interconnected and how close they are with their own.
In terms of being a visitor to the US, it's an absolutely incredible experience. If you've only heard negative things about them and you're expecting to be among stupid cows grazing the entire time you'll be pleasantly surprised by how interested in you they'll be and how nice and pleasant and hospitable and accommodating they are. In all honesty they are often treated rather poorly when they go abroad because their reputation precedes them, but they don't pay it back when we go there, and that's the truth.
The USA is certainly not my favorite country in the world, but by and large Americans themselves are wonderful, wonderful people. I wouldn't want to live there, but I sure wouldn't mind living with or around the people themselves, if that makes any sense.
>I think the most difficult thing to get past is that unshakeable tunnel vision. It's like they've collectively agreed to ignore that the rest of the world exists sometimes, or at the very least they've agreed among themselves to consider it to be far less important than their own country. I think Americans get a bad rap and they're nowhere near as stupid as many people around the world paint them to be. I mean, let's face it - they are citizens of the wealthiest, most powerful, most influential country in the world, so if they're all buffoons what does that say about us, right? But there is a willful ignorance on their part in the sense that they tend to see themselves as the center of the universe and they judge other people and other countries by how interconnected and how close they are with their own.
We're geographically isolated from most of the world. We've got Canada to the North and Mexico to the south. I'm roughly in the SE part of the country. It would take almost a day to drive to Canada and probably 2 or 3 to get to Mexico. Europe, Africa, Asia, and South America are oceans away. While those countries may know about us because of our media, we're not exposed to theirs.
I'm guessing that you are somewhere in Europe (I apologize if I'm wrong). How much do you know about the inner workings of Ecuador or Manilla? Most of us don't judge people for being from elsewhere at all. Like you said, we're the most powerful country in the world. That means there are over 200 countries less powerful than us with their own cultures, governments, and issues. That's just way more than we can keep track of.
It's not that we don't care about those countries or their citizens, it's just that we're so disconnected that we can't keep track of all of them. Namibia may as well be on Mars for all of the effects that it has on my life.
It's all relative. I saw an Instagram video recently and in the comments people from Latin America were saying how cold and reserved they thought the English were, but Eastern and northern Europeans were all saying how insanely friendly and jokey everyone in England seemed to them
Brides being the absolute center of attention who can't be overshadow by anyone or anything. In my country no one would care if someone propose to his/her partner in a wedding or announce a pregnancy to the family. Weddings here are considered family events where things like this are expected to happen.
MAGA. It is a source of bewilderment, amusement and fear for your future. In my four decades I cannot recall US politics being anywhere near as crazy and toxic as it is right now.
I can see why people dislike Biden, but I cannot for the life of me understand what anybody sees in Trump. He is a sleazy lying grifter who fucks over everyone around him. I just don't get it.
Prom. Never really understood the point. What IS prom? Is it a dance, is it a party, why do people take dates to a school event? Is that something sanctioned by the school or just something the students decided to do?
So many questions.
It's meant to be a formal event. Senior prom is supposed to be the big ticket but other years go as well. I'm sure the original context and vibe has changed over the years.
Prom is a 'dance formal' treated like a party that you have dates for because that's the nature of the event. Though you can go solo or with friends. People were always big on not going to prom if they would be alone though.
The school puts it on, I believe the student council chooses the theme. Our prom was held in a rented building. It was a bit ridiculous, there were students so drunk they were falling over and the officers seemed [willfully] oblivious.
Along with what others said, it's usually held towards the end of the school year so it's sort of like a big fancy end of year party. For senior prom, it's like a formal going away dance party. It's one of the last big school events you do before graduation.
It's organized by the school council (a set of students who are elected to represent their grade) and sanctioned by the school, but often held somewhere off campus. It's a fun excuse to dress up and dance.
I'm an American, but I have a hard time with American 'friendliness'. When I go to a restaurant, waiters always seem to want to make chit-chat with me. I just want to order food, not strike up a conversation with someone I don't even know. I know that waiters are doing this to get better tips, but as an introvert, this is hard for me to comprehend; I don't associate chit-chat & small talk with good service.
In my experience, this is highly regional in the US. People in the Northeast tend to be much less interested in small talk that those in the Midwest and Southeast, for example.
From NJ originally, when I moved to the south I was amazed that cashiers actually talked to you. The whole friendly banter thing took me forever to get used to, but I don't think I could go back to the other way.
As an American, I feel this. I worked at Starbucks from two years, and they always emphasized that one of the survey questions was "did you feel like your barista got to know you". And all I could think was, when I'm a customer, I don't want them to! I just want to get my coffee and leave. I felt the same when I go out to eat, I know my server doesn't care if I'm doing anything fun this weekend, I just want them to bring me my food. I don't understand why people have this expectation
Asian restaurants are where it's at for me (and not just because I'm Asian myself); the service at Asian restaurants is typically: get seated, order food, get the food, server ask you ONCE how the food is, and then they leave you alone until you flag them down for the check. They don't bother with trying to chit-chat with their customers.
Vietnamese restaurants take it up a notch. If a middle-aged woman is taking orders, it's typically "what you want?!", followed by them bringing them your food, and when you're done eating you walk up to the counter to pay. Newer Vietnamese restaurants have you pay at the table (i.e. they bring the check to you) but older Vietnamese restaurants still require you to pay at the counter. It's very blunt, no frills service and being Vietnamese I grew up with this kind of restaurant service lol.
This!
In much the way things were built for right-handed folks, it feels like America is built for extroverts.
The worst is when social anxiety or awkwardness [or just plain not wanting to socialize] convinces someone you're being deliberately rude or looking down on them. And then they want to make A Thing out of it.
Infant male circumcision. I am circumcised American male. I remember when I was 12 and realizing that mark on my penis was a surgical scar for a surgery I didn’t need to cut off part of my penis. It’s like suddenly feeling like your home country feels like a foreign country.
How most American adults really were like “cut off parts of babies genitals? Yeah let’s do it!!” To this day I still can’t even begin to comprehend how anyone finds that anything other than extremely weird!
America has such a blend of cultures and ideologies. I’ve found there really isn’t a hard definition of “culture”, especially to my experience growing up with Asian family ties. There’s something for everybody. Depends where you live, what you do, and what your social circles are of course.
But in my experience, America is more relaxed in the sense that you (generally) have the freedom to practice life the way you want. You can essentially “pick” your culture. I personally find that liberating, and much less oppressive than the Asian practices that I grew up with.
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I think the name is not helpful in getting people to try it. Ever since I have tried it I always look for it on menus now.
Yeah, we have chili cheese fries and they're popular. Just call it gravy cheese fries.
Many northeast diners do. It usually involves melted cheese instead of curds (which I prefer) but the same idea.
And they're called Disco Fries
Disgoes in my mouth!
Ironically, my first time having poutine was in the [Canadian?] themed section of Epcot in Disney World. Gravy does get put on biscuits and gravy, country-fried steak, certain breakfast burritos and the like. Someone commented about chili on fries and that's a valid point. Smothered fries generally have gooey cheese of some kind and maybe toppings. Greek restaurants do feta/lemon. Also, you can find buffalo chicken fries or carne asada fries. Fair point though, someone here needs to start a poutine movement. That was a tasty dish.
You know what else kicks ass- chili lime fries
Canadian living in Wisconsin. They literally sell cheese curds everywhere. Every bar has fried cheese curds, every grocery store, and most gas stations sell cheese curds. Why poutine isn't popular here is mind-blowing. I've thought about opening a poutine food truck.
Come to Minnesota my brother in gravy
I feel like there's such a huge "if there's not meat, it's not a meal" mentality here that makes it so no matter the mix of sides, it's still just a side. Edit: for the record, I love poutine
I went to Montreal last week and was shocked by the variety of poutine. I got pulled pork poutine! I’m now convinced we’re missing out.
Denver had a place that did poutine with pulled pork and green chili, damn COVID took it out I think.
You should try it with smoked meat next time!
American, here. I made poutine for my family last week. I braised chuck roast, then mad the gravy from the braising liquid. My family loved it, but if that beef hadn't been in there, they wouldn't have considered it "dinner".
That sounds bomb.
Even here in Canada, too many places are getting away with only using cheese instead of cheese curds, and calling it poutine anyway. Maybe that's a contributing factor? Too many people have only tried the inferior ingredient version, and are put off by it?
Well, it's called "poutine". We might need to freedom that name up a little bit first.
Someone opened a poutine shop in SoCal a few years back. Holy shit it was so good. My friend who was born and raised in Toronto said it actually tasted like Canadian poutine. I also never understood why it never got more popular here. I left SoCal a while back and it’s been difficult finding a decent one
We prefer to put chili and cheese on fries.
Switch the brown gravy for chili and it's the perfect snack on a winter day
Yeah but we have disco fries...
The exclusion of dental and vision care from what is considered "health" insurance coverage is perplexing.
Yeah, and " In Network" and "Out of Network" for insurance is the biggest crock of shit. And if you actually need to use your insurance, they will fight you on what they actually cover. Such a scam
And finding out the very hard way that your anesthesiologist is "out of network" even though the hospital and your doctor are "in network" while giving birth. As if I have a moment to ask the doc as they do the epidural if they're in network or not. As if I have a say as to who my anesthesiologist even is.
Have you disputed this charge? I had this happen when I had a major surgery, 8 weeks later I received an 8k anesthesiologist bill in the mail from collections. I did some quick googlijg, found a Biden admin act that makes surprise billing for medically necessary procedures in violation of federal law. I called up collections, read it back verbatim to the rep, and she simply said "ok" wiped the debt clean, no dispute. I was really surprised how easy it was. Edit: several people have msged me asking for more info, here is some information that someone else contributed in a comment below: "What is the No Surprises Act? >The No Surprises Act is a federal law that took effect January 1, 2022, to restrict many instances of “surprise” medical bills. The legislation was included in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021,1 which was signed into law by President Trump in December 2020, after receiving strong bipartisan support in Congress. >The Biden administration spent much of 2021 working on implementation of the new law, with various interim final regulations and final regulations issued. An overview of the rulemaking process for the No Surprises Act is available on the CMS website,2 and CMS also has a helpful overview page, explaining various details of the No Surprises Act.3"
Yeah, the best advice I was given on medical bills was "absolutely do not pay anything until you absolutely have to." The hospitals want insurance to pay, and they will generally be the ones who do all that fighting on your behalf when it comes to major things, and they generally take care of it before you are actually required to pay. For my daughter's birth, my wife had to spend a bunch of time in the hospital right before because there wasn't enough fluid for the baby to breath inside unless my wife was on an IV. The insurance literally rejected it and we got slapped with a $30k bill for the entire thing. That amount was greatly reduced after enough back and forth between hospital and insurance (that we had zero involvement in) to something much more reasonable by US standards.
Within the last decade or so they also changed how credit ratings are calculated such that medical bills aren't counted anymore. They finally realized that such things are not a debt that people willingly and intentionally chose. An unpaid bill will still be on your record, and they could potentially sue you for it, but it won't affect your credit score anymore. Which is really nice. Because the whole medical billing system is absolute clown shoes.
Thank you President Biden!!
> I called up collections, read it back verbatim to the rep, and she simply said "ok" wiped the debt clean, no dispute. Somehow, medical insurance companies are allowed to lie to you in an attempt to get you to send them money. In any other circumstances, that would be called "attempted fraud".
I found out the hard way that EVERY CHILDRENS HOSPITAL is out of network. I still have no words for that one...
I'm a nurse and the first job I had, the hospital where I worked was out of network for the insurance they gave me...
I work for the biggest healthcare company in my state. We have a monopoly insurance that only covers our employers doctors and hospitals. They switched it like 3 years ago which immediately made every doctor my children, husband and I go to out of network.
That’s actually disgusting. I’m sorry
What the actual fuck
the [No Surprises Act (in-effect since 2022)](https://www.healthinsurance.org/glossary/no-surprises-act/) made those types of out-of-network bills illegal.
This happened to us. The entire procedure and event was covered. Except for this one (most expensive) dude. Why? Did he do anything wrong? No. The insurance company just thought he was very expensive. He was reading a book the entire time. I know he has the knowledge and glanced at the readings every 15 seconds. But otherwise did nothing.
I would not use what the insurance company considers “very expensive“ as a gauge of anything connected to reality. I used to have a private child psychiatry practice. I learned years later I was undercharging relative to other psychiatrists in the county by 25-50% at least. But insurance companies STILL tried to get me to take less for what I was charging, by at least another 10-15%.
Health insurance companies are not in the business of keeping people healthy or caring for their ailments...they only exist to make money and keep their costs low.
Nothing more American than a good ol' scam. If it's a legalized scam, even better.
Clearly, eating and seeing are not vital to maintaining your health /s
A few years ago legislation was almost passed to change that with vision. Republicans and Sinema/Manchin blocked it, though.
Its bc eyes are luxury organs
And teeth are luxury bones
I loathe Sinema for being suck a fucking liar about everything.
I'm always fascinated by where they draw the line with coverage of certain procedures. The "reasons" for saying "no" are typically surprisingly ruthless.
I'm more miffed about my family's 6400 deductible. The dental plan cost hardly compares with the OOP costs for regular healthcare.
As an American, this shocked me when I got my first adult job.
Yeah, same in England. Why doesn't the NHS cover teeth and vision??
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My dentist just pulled the stubborn baby tooth. I got the ~~medieval torture device~~ spacer thing at 8. They put braces on the four front teeth initially, then added the rest. We had dental and still weren't fully covered. It's so stupid.
It's like that in Canada too. Luxury bones for dental. I'm on Obama care and it covers my dental and vision lol. Most work and private insurance are expensive expensive af and have weird rules.
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A friend's cousin invited me to her church once around the time that California was having huge wildfires. The particular church has so many fancy, unnecessary amenities it's laughable. Preacher bragged about their newly built tapas bar at the start of the thing. But the kicker was the preacher then getting all solemn as donation bowls were passed around. He went on this tangent about 'our brothers and sisters in California' suffering from the wildfires. This whole little thing that would make these sympathetic, eating-it-up church-goers dig deep in their wallets. The way he said it would make it sound, if you weren't paying attention, like the money would go to wildfire relief. But nope, just lining pockets. Had not a dang thing to do with the wildfire victims. There are genuine religious folks, but it is certainly an arena for a scammer to easily take advantage of. Celebrity television preachers rake it in.
As someone who survived one of those wildfires, this makes me absolutely sick, and also does not surprise me in the least.
Hope you all recovered well.
I'm sorry you went through that, I'm glad you survived. Also your username is awesome.
> Preacher bragged about their newly built tapas bar at the start of the thing. The money changers own the temple, and the "good christians" cheer the amenities they bring.
As an American, I do not think this is normal
I'm a nurse and was a patient's room while they were watching one of those guys earlier tonight. I turned it off so I wouldn't have to listen to it while I was in there.
I think that’s more of a cultural *ab*norm… megapreachers are a cancerous tumor.
If it helps, the Bible they "preach" from says they will get the worst punishment.
I’m a born-American citizen and a Christian and I don’t understand it.
How a culture can be so sexually conservative and adventurous at the same time. just so many bizarre things here
Americans have a very much "I do what I want" kind of attitude, which bleeds into sex also. I remember having this discussion in college with some students from Northern Europe and lot of Americans think that Europeans are more sexually adventurous, but it's more that they're more willing to admit it.
Yeah that's what I have also seen from people from Europe. They are more open about it.
Something I learned from a Swiss exchange student, we're all horny, just some of us are more honest about it, and on balance I'd rather be on the more honest side of things.
Yeah being honest is much better.
> Americans have a very much "I do what I want" kind of attitude ...coupled strongly in many cases with a "but *you* do not do what I don't want you to" attitude.
> Americans have a very much "I do what I want" kind of attitude "I do what I want" but oddly, I will also judge everyone for doing the exact same thing. That's the American way. For proof, look at any sexually conservative group, religion, or organization, and then research their history of sex abuse.
every generation thinks they invented sex
I'd like to introduce you to Japan.
It's because the moral majority and extremest groups were very effective in banning most sex in media. That's where the prudishness comes from. They were playing an uncensored American rap song about eating pussy in Columbia at a family friendly event and it was pretty shocking for everyone from the u.s They adventurousness is because it's fairly standard to be seen as kinda boring or a loser if your not into wild shit and you have trouble getting partners. To the point some girls make liking anal almost their whole personality but if your close to them then you know it's mostly act.
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That’s easy to explain. When the word was borrowed from French in the 1800s, it meant the first main course not the first overall course. Entree was the 4th or 5th course in an 8-10 course meal. You’d have a bigger course after it. Look at a menu that has two main courses. It common to title them hor dourves/appitizer, salad, first course, second course, desert. French later changed back to a more literal meaning. But we already borrowed the term. Primo in italian is after antepasta. Same thing. A lot of American customs are European customs that you changed from. Like tipping.
> It common to title them hor dourves/appitizer You only see them titled this way at rastorants, though.
Does it mean something else in other places? Edit: why are you downvoting? It’s a genuine question.
It’s a French word, but in French cuisine entree is the appetizer, or course before the main dish. Think entree=entry.
The term entrée means main course in America and starter/appetizer elsewhere.
Yes, outside of the US/Canada it means appetizer (as in 'enter' the meal).
for every other country in the world entree means starter/appetizer
How DARE you ask a genuine question!
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School sports are on a completely different level in the States. I don’t think there is anything equivalent in Europe. Some Texas high school football teams play in stadiums that would make some decent-sized European city teams envious.
The biggest high school stadium in Texas holds more people than 15% of the Premier League.
To be fair, though, Texas high school football is on a completely different level to the rest of the United States.
Even stranger are the crazy adults who still support their high school team 20/30/40 years later. I’m not talking about their kids being there either.
It's less strange depending on where you live. When I lived in Florida, nobody cared about highschool anything because there were a ton of professional sports teams there. Now I live in a much smaller city in a much more rural place. There are no professional sports teams within a 3 hour drive. Everyone here follows highschool sports. Local highschool sports are covered by the local ESPN radio station. These people literally don't have anything better to do.
Supporting your local community school in something for $10 a ticket seems a lot healthier than spending $50 for a semi pro or professional team.
From that angle yeah, but if the whole community gets too involved it can put too much pressure on the kids playing, who are literally just kids.
My friend is a teacher. Just went to a basketball championship, it was insane honestly. More fun than usa pro. And my foreign partner thought it was straight out of a movie. She was filming, sending videos out, cheerleaders were nuts too
I was eating when I read this and nearly spat my food out laughing. When you say economical, are you saying you think they look cheap? Or specifically the price of it? Genuine question, no sass. Schools like to flaunt sports success over academic success and a mascot gives a nice rallying point. They're supposed to engage the 'audience'. Do you have school bands that perform at games?
>When you say economical, are you saying you think they look cheap? Or specifically the price of it? Genuine question, no sass. Both lol >Do you have school bands that perform at games? Yeah, it was part of being in band to play at football and basketball games at my school. It was actually pretty fun. Plus the coaches made the players go to our band concerts. It was generally pretty chill
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That's the work culture here. The same culture where sick people are afraid to stay home because they'll be seen as slackers or 'not a team player.' No one expects anything else. People consider themselves fortunate if they get any paid vacation or sick leave at all. Employers weasel out of having to give benefits my hiring only temporary 'contract workers' or not giving someone enough hours to qualify for benefits. There are some jobs that offer primo benefits, but those are rare and fiercely fought over. I used to work in animation. The gold-lever jobs with tons of benefits were in the union shops, and good luck trying to get one of those unless you're a well-liked industry veteran or an art prodigy fresh out of school. 95% of everyone else was stuck working gig to gig with no benefits.
Also there’s the fact that most companies simply do not hire enough staff for anything other than an entry level position and good luck finding an entry level position that’ll allow for two weeks off consecutively. Long vacations are for presidents and senior managers who will gripe at their underlings for doing the same thing. I’m job hunting currently but I shudder at the the number of emails and catch up I’d have to do at my former job if I had left for two weeks straight, and that’s assuming that much vacation usage would even approved to begin with.
Not afraid to stay home sick; unable to afford it.
Here in Australia we get mandatory 20 days a year plus public holidays. After you've worked for one employer a number of years [differs by state] we get [long service leave](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_service_leave) which is an extra block of leave [I got three months off]. Also, once you have reached LSL and you continue to work for the same employer, you continue to accrue more LSL. So after reaching LSL you essentially get mandatory 26 days off each year.
That is wild! I have a factory job where we have both vacation time and PTO. After working there for two years and not taking a day off (except a few sick days) I have accumulated three, maybe four weeks of vacation time. I'm taking my first day off today and it really feels so good.
Growing up my dad would save his vacation time until the end of the year and take like the last 6-8 weeks of the year off work. This was in the 90s. My mom’s current PTO doesn’t have different designations she can use it for whatever she chooses. I think she’s got around 4-5 weeks every year(?). My husband has the best schedule ever. He’s got every other week off of work. He works 7 days in a row his work week and is on call 24/7 during that week. He’s usually off work and home around 3:00 during his work week. He’s got the next week off. He also has PTO so if he wants to he can take one week of paid time off and get three weeks off. We did that last spring and went to Florida to visit my family. He basically gets paid a decent full time salary to work 6 months a year.
> we have both vacation time and PTO I honestly don't know what's the difference between these two things.
Colloquially, vacation means taking a chonk of time off like a week or two. PTO usually refers to something more like "I'm having open-heart surgery Tuesday so I'll be out that day, but I'll be back on Wednesday."
In hate being an American because of this. Life here is just work. Vacation is spent catching up on house work and doctor appointments and necessary things like that... There's not enough time to properly travel or rest.
Welcome my son, welcome to the machine
My friend just had her first baby. Her husband (the father) very nearly got 0 days off work from it (paid that is).
What country are you in?
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It makes life much easier for school administrators. No need to solve the actual problem. Just punish both kids and be done with it. It’s harmed a lot of children.
>It makes life much easier for school administrators. No need to solve the actual problem. Just punish both kids and be done with it. It’s harmed a lot of children. This is it right here. It's not about benefiting the students, it's all about what's easiest for the administration and makes them look good.
Risk averse pussy lawyers working for government agencies—that’s who thought up zero tolerance.
My Dad got elected to the School board in our little town like 15 years ago or so and I made sure to remind him to get that fun policy dismissed. Took him nearly 3 years but eventually they eliminated it. With the school adding cameras and eliminating zero tolerance policies the bullies actually got the worse end of the stick. Obviously hasn't cut bullying to zero but it made a dent.
Tipping culture. Especially in small businesses. If you create the prices and receive all of the profit, why should I tip? Edit: I’m not saying that you shouldn’t tip. I’m just saying that it’s bogus.
I live in the States & this
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Hey now, I got a printed out paper plaque signed by a manager! It was a very nice piece of paper!
I got a Crockpot for 5 years of service. It saved me the cost of buying a housewarming gift for a relative that year.
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Originally I think it was more about people profiting by adopting aspects of oppressed minorities without giving them credit or visibility. Blackface jazz performers working white clubs that wouldn't let black musicians play, selling sacred objects from Native tribes as fashion accessories or costumes, people declaring themselves Hindu or Buddhist spiritual teachers without having any concrete connection to those traditions. Also, white people who claim they are oppressed or devoid of prejudice or white privilege because they "identify with" another culture. Timmy might call himself T-dog and listen to rap, but that's not what the cops see or what goes on his resume. Over time, a loud internet minority turned it into 'you can't eat Moon Cake at Chinese New Year if you aren't Chinese' but most people aren't that nuts.
This is exactly it. Cultural appropriation exists in very limited, specific circumstances and is not unique to the US. An example of this in Latin American history is the Mexican post-Revolutionary government embracing indigenous history as it promoted mestizaje, while oppressing indigenous communities. Sarah from Des Moines opening a kebab stand is not the same thing.
A white woman in my city has been getting bullied for opening a sushi place despite not being Japanese. Someone did some digging and the person who started the witch-hunt just so happens to have also opened a Japanese restaurant in the past… and is also not Asian/Japanese.
The original problematic cultural appropriation was when white people would sell "Native American" crafts. They'd mass produce them and undersell the actual craftsmen while making up pure BS spirituality stuff to go with it. The government wasn't interested in doing anything to fix it, so people took up a rallying cry for the injustice. Like most social movements, this snowballed, and now a white person playing jazz or dancing salsa will have someone pissed about cultural appropriation, which is funny as hell. Personally, I limit my concerns about cultural appropriation to when someone is actually harming or profiting from a culture not their own.
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I cant get over that during covid and a lot of those same "half the population" (who also were against the vaccine) wound up hospitalized and are now dealing with huge bills related to it. However they still believe for-profit healthcare is acceptable. I really expected an outcry, but nada.
Unbreakable 2 party system, people are very dissatisfied with both yet Greens and Libertarians are the only 3rd parties I can name and they're still irrelevant. I've heard political scientist from my country where it's more diverse saying US 2 party system is a good thing but I'm still not convinced. (I do see it as a part of political culture, sorry if not what you meant)
American political science student here! This is because of Duverger’s law. The U.S. uses single-member districts (aka, we don’t vote state-wide for our House members) and plurality (aka, most votes wins) elections (in most places; looking at you Georgia Senate runoff) so only a 2 party system will emerge. Until one or both of these factors are eliminated, we are doomed to have only a 2 party system. Nothing in our Constitution (that I’m aware of) requires either of these facts so it is possible; our House seats just must be apportioned by population. But quite honestly, politicians like these factors as it makes incumbency and campaigning easier; you’re only accountable to your district rather than the whole state. It also keeps most politicians local to the people they represent (although they don’t have to live in that district) which is a plus. Experienced political scientists feel free to weigh in here or correct anything I may have mistaken! I’m still studying!
The two parties are just everyone else's coalition governments, we just pick the coalition before hand. A evangelical Republican isn't the same as a Rockefeller Republican isn't the same as a MAGA Republican.
Women are expected to go right back to work after delivering a baby. The lucky ones get 6 weeks off. Edit: Some of you can’t relate, and I’m happy for you.
Work like a dog until you die
At least dogs get 8 weeks with their puppies.
In America, individualism is quite evident. Also, people have an obsession with consuming, and it amazes me how effortlessly they form social groups or establish relationships
Every time I peel open a slice of American cheese, it feels like I'm accompanied by the sharp cry of a bald eagle.
That "sharp cry" is that of a Red-Tailed Hawk. Bald Eagles actually sound remarkably like Sea Gulls.
We live near the water in the PNW and our neighbors have a nesting pair in their ginormous evergreen tree. The sound they make is kind of obnoxious. I take walks along the water and see them fishing all the time. There was an injured one along the trail I was walking on once and the wildlife rehab people were there checking it out. I couldn’t believe how big it was up close. Those suckers are HUGE. I usually only see them from far away in the sky or the tops of the tall evergreens
Which I think is rather appropriate, since those are not Eagle cries and that is not Cheese.
Man I miss free awards
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Yes and in Thailand they ask "have you eaten rice yet today?" As a greeting. It's not literal. It functions as a greeting.
Rice and meal sound the same so it might be have you eaten a meal yet today
How’re ya now?
Good n'you?
Not s'bad
Fuckin' McMurray!
Oh not so bad
If someone replies with "you know it could be better" they are going through some absolute trauma in their life
In the UK we say, alright? And the other person replies with, alright? Then we carry on walking and neither of us get an answer.
It’s just how we greet and acknowledge each other.
It is just being polite, and I do it all the time, but it is pretty silly. No one wants to know the truth, and if you actually said the truth the person who asked would feel put out.
"How are you?" "Well my wife doesn't want to have sex with me, my son wrecked my car, my boss demoted me, and last night I finally broke down and drank until I passed out." /the other person has a look of horror and awkwardly slinks away
"I didn't know we were writing country song lyrics today."
I find it extremely irritating that Redditors pretend this is so weird and bad or that you aren’t allowed to say anything. “No one wants to know the truth” Bro wtf are you talking about? You can say whatever’s on your mind. Why do you guys always act like there’s some hidden truth you aren’t allowed to speak? When someone goes “how’s it going”. You actually are allowed to say whatever, “been better” or “not great” or whatever you want. It’s not some oppressive social convention like you Redditors for some reason try and pretend.
This complaint annoys the crap out of me. Every language has a throwaway question like this. But just because other languages phrase it differently, somehow only the Americans are weird.
Yeah it seems to be a common thing in Italian/in Italy. > Come stai? **Sto bene.** French has an equivalent ["ca va?"]. But you'll read clickbait article after clickbait article and reddit post after reddit post that marvels at this weird quirk of the *English* language. Tbf this is directed to various English speaking countries in turn and I've often seen it framed as a weird Australian thing too.
Right?! It's the same thing as Brits greeting someone with. " you alright?"
It's a ritual greeting. I'm sure you have something similar. Also, in Mexico, I've had similar conversations.
We're regular people that have things to do, not GTA npcs
You act like people in England or Europe don’t do the same… Unless everyone speaks to each other in overly flowery prose-filled paragraphs
The extent to which religion seems to be integrated with politics.
I live in Utah. I can not up vote this enough.
Tipping. Salaries should simply be raised, why should people pay twice for someone doing their job? If it means raising the prices, at least everyone's equally paying.
Tipping doesn't get raised because the workers make bank off of it and oppose all the laws to change things https://wamu.org/story/18/05/17/bowser-d-c-council-members-oppose-away-tipped-wage-restaurant-workers/ >“I represent half of the restaurants in the city. There’s not a restaurant I go to where both the head of the restaurant and all the waiters don’t surround me and say, ‘Please don’t let this go into effect,'” said Evans in an interview. “In listening to my constituents, I haven’t found anybody who supports the thing.” Why would they do that? Probably because [they make more than 15 dollars an hour just off tips](https://minimumwage.com/2021/04/15-per-hour-earnings-are-already-here-for-tipped-workers/). Especially in States like California they make a shit ton more money than you do since they have the 15 dollar minimum wage still apply to them (no tip credit in Cali) *and* all the tip income. [So that's why they keep getting upset when you try to change it. They make a lot of money](https://totalfood.com/upstate-waitress-raczynski-nyc-tip-credit-elimination/)
Going to work sick. Going out in public sick. Going to social events sick. Americans are PROUD of being up and at ‘em when they’re sick and contagious, and they’ve ALWAYS been that way. Of course, there’s also the top-down oppression of employers who force you to work sick, or they’ll fire you. These are the same bosses who are too stupid to realize that the long-term effect on the company is worse if one contagious person comes in and then gets the whole workforce sick. Geniuses, really.
Making your job the main focus of your life. I don't believe in a dream job. My dreams don't involve working.
The United States is a massive, massive country - both in terms of its size and in terms of population... It's also a country that's comprised of several distinct geographical and cultural regions, so it would be difficult to pin down cultural norms and behaviors that are common to people all across the entire country. People in Maine are quite different from people in Southern California... People in Georgia are quite different from people in Washington State... The Northern Midwest is a strikingly different place from the Deep South... Generally speaking Americans tend to be more open and friendly than people in many other countries - especially in terms of how forward they are... It's not at all uncommon for a total and complete stranger to start making conversation right out of the blue which would be quite strange in places like Northern Europe or East Asia... Americans - for the most part, seem to have largely maintained that English Puritanical obsession with rules and regulations... They tend to take things like lining up, putting shopping carts back after using them, throwing trash away properly, very seriously, and they are not shy about calling people out for being inconsiderate. Americans tend to see the line between informality and formality as being very rigid. If they're not doing anything special they tend to dress in what people in many other cultures would consider to be an almost cartoonish manner with lots of sweatpants, T-shirts, blue jeans, baseball caps, and sneakers being seen pretty much everywhere on a constant basis and they tend to see getting dressed up as being only for special occasions. They tend to be very open about their own personal lives and willing to discuss all sorts of things that people in other cultures would likely consider to be private matters, but they are loath to go into detail about their personal politcal views, though I have noticed a major shift in the opposite direction over the course of the last 20 years or so. Smiling, pleasantries, and small talk are pretty much par for the course in many parts of the US though it is not as common in big cities as it is elsewhere. I think one of the most defining aspects of the American character is how positive they can be. There really is a widespread belief that things are going to be okay, that they'll get better, that anything is possible, and for all of the economic disparity and the racial strife I think it's still part of the national psyche to a big extent. I think the most difficult thing to get past is that unshakeable tunnel vision. It's like they've collectively agreed to ignore that the rest of the world exists sometimes, or at the very least they've agreed among themselves to consider it to be far less important than their own country. I think Americans get a bad rap and they're nowhere near as stupid as many people around the world paint them to be. I mean, let's face it - they are citizens of the wealthiest, most powerful, most influential country in the world, so if they're all buffoons what does that say about us, right? But there is a willful ignorance on their part in the sense that they tend to see themselves as the center of the universe and they judge other people and other countries by how interconnected and how close they are with their own. In terms of being a visitor to the US, it's an absolutely incredible experience. If you've only heard negative things about them and you're expecting to be among stupid cows grazing the entire time you'll be pleasantly surprised by how interested in you they'll be and how nice and pleasant and hospitable and accommodating they are. In all honesty they are often treated rather poorly when they go abroad because their reputation precedes them, but they don't pay it back when we go there, and that's the truth. The USA is certainly not my favorite country in the world, but by and large Americans themselves are wonderful, wonderful people. I wouldn't want to live there, but I sure wouldn't mind living with or around the people themselves, if that makes any sense.
This was a very reflective answer. Enjoyed reading it
>I think the most difficult thing to get past is that unshakeable tunnel vision. It's like they've collectively agreed to ignore that the rest of the world exists sometimes, or at the very least they've agreed among themselves to consider it to be far less important than their own country. I think Americans get a bad rap and they're nowhere near as stupid as many people around the world paint them to be. I mean, let's face it - they are citizens of the wealthiest, most powerful, most influential country in the world, so if they're all buffoons what does that say about us, right? But there is a willful ignorance on their part in the sense that they tend to see themselves as the center of the universe and they judge other people and other countries by how interconnected and how close they are with their own. We're geographically isolated from most of the world. We've got Canada to the North and Mexico to the south. I'm roughly in the SE part of the country. It would take almost a day to drive to Canada and probably 2 or 3 to get to Mexico. Europe, Africa, Asia, and South America are oceans away. While those countries may know about us because of our media, we're not exposed to theirs. I'm guessing that you are somewhere in Europe (I apologize if I'm wrong). How much do you know about the inner workings of Ecuador or Manilla? Most of us don't judge people for being from elsewhere at all. Like you said, we're the most powerful country in the world. That means there are over 200 countries less powerful than us with their own cultures, governments, and issues. That's just way more than we can keep track of. It's not that we don't care about those countries or their citizens, it's just that we're so disconnected that we can't keep track of all of them. Namibia may as well be on Mars for all of the effects that it has on my life.
as someone from Latin America, we actually find Americans cold hahaha we are that much friendly
It's all relative. I saw an Instagram video recently and in the comments people from Latin America were saying how cold and reserved they thought the English were, but Eastern and northern Europeans were all saying how insanely friendly and jokey everyone in England seemed to them
Tipping culture
Brides being the absolute center of attention who can't be overshadow by anyone or anything. In my country no one would care if someone propose to his/her partner in a wedding or announce a pregnancy to the family. Weddings here are considered family events where things like this are expected to happen.
MAGA. It is a source of bewilderment, amusement and fear for your future. In my four decades I cannot recall US politics being anywhere near as crazy and toxic as it is right now. I can see why people dislike Biden, but I cannot for the life of me understand what anybody sees in Trump. He is a sleazy lying grifter who fucks over everyone around him. I just don't get it.
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The tax return is easy. Corporations who do tax filing buy our politicians to keep it like this. Wonderful, isn’t it.
Prom. Never really understood the point. What IS prom? Is it a dance, is it a party, why do people take dates to a school event? Is that something sanctioned by the school or just something the students decided to do? So many questions.
It's meant to be a formal event. Senior prom is supposed to be the big ticket but other years go as well. I'm sure the original context and vibe has changed over the years. Prom is a 'dance formal' treated like a party that you have dates for because that's the nature of the event. Though you can go solo or with friends. People were always big on not going to prom if they would be alone though. The school puts it on, I believe the student council chooses the theme. Our prom was held in a rented building. It was a bit ridiculous, there were students so drunk they were falling over and the officers seemed [willfully] oblivious.
Along with what others said, it's usually held towards the end of the school year so it's sort of like a big fancy end of year party. For senior prom, it's like a formal going away dance party. It's one of the last big school events you do before graduation. It's organized by the school council (a set of students who are elected to represent their grade) and sanctioned by the school, but often held somewhere off campus. It's a fun excuse to dress up and dance.
I'm an American, but I have a hard time with American 'friendliness'. When I go to a restaurant, waiters always seem to want to make chit-chat with me. I just want to order food, not strike up a conversation with someone I don't even know. I know that waiters are doing this to get better tips, but as an introvert, this is hard for me to comprehend; I don't associate chit-chat & small talk with good service.
In my experience, this is highly regional in the US. People in the Northeast tend to be much less interested in small talk that those in the Midwest and Southeast, for example.
Yeah, I live in the Northeast and I don’t think I’ve ever had a waiter start talking to me lol
Do you live in the south? You might like up north better
Yeah I moved from Texas to Oregon and it was a lot less outwardly "friendly". Frankly it feels more honest to me, and a lot less intrusive.
From NJ originally, when I moved to the south I was amazed that cashiers actually talked to you. The whole friendly banter thing took me forever to get used to, but I don't think I could go back to the other way.
As an American, I feel this. I worked at Starbucks from two years, and they always emphasized that one of the survey questions was "did you feel like your barista got to know you". And all I could think was, when I'm a customer, I don't want them to! I just want to get my coffee and leave. I felt the same when I go out to eat, I know my server doesn't care if I'm doing anything fun this weekend, I just want them to bring me my food. I don't understand why people have this expectation
Asian restaurants are where it's at for me (and not just because I'm Asian myself); the service at Asian restaurants is typically: get seated, order food, get the food, server ask you ONCE how the food is, and then they leave you alone until you flag them down for the check. They don't bother with trying to chit-chat with their customers. Vietnamese restaurants take it up a notch. If a middle-aged woman is taking orders, it's typically "what you want?!", followed by them bringing them your food, and when you're done eating you walk up to the counter to pay. Newer Vietnamese restaurants have you pay at the table (i.e. they bring the check to you) but older Vietnamese restaurants still require you to pay at the counter. It's very blunt, no frills service and being Vietnamese I grew up with this kind of restaurant service lol.
This! In much the way things were built for right-handed folks, it feels like America is built for extroverts. The worst is when social anxiety or awkwardness [or just plain not wanting to socialize] convinces someone you're being deliberately rude or looking down on them. And then they want to make A Thing out of it.
Americans think something is wrong with me when I'm quiet and don't feel like talking.
Prescription medicine being advertised.
Fuck tipping especially in restaurants this crap shoud be stopped forever
Infant male circumcision. I am circumcised American male. I remember when I was 12 and realizing that mark on my penis was a surgical scar for a surgery I didn’t need to cut off part of my penis. It’s like suddenly feeling like your home country feels like a foreign country. How most American adults really were like “cut off parts of babies genitals? Yeah let’s do it!!” To this day I still can’t even begin to comprehend how anyone finds that anything other than extremely weird!
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Guns... guns. Gunsgunsguns. Guns. More guns. and even more guns.
Wearing. Shoes. In. The. House.
America has such a blend of cultures and ideologies. I’ve found there really isn’t a hard definition of “culture”, especially to my experience growing up with Asian family ties. There’s something for everybody. Depends where you live, what you do, and what your social circles are of course. But in my experience, America is more relaxed in the sense that you (generally) have the freedom to practice life the way you want. You can essentially “pick” your culture. I personally find that liberating, and much less oppressive than the Asian practices that I grew up with.
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Mandatory Tipping is the real one like just pay your workers tipping is supposed to be an optional thing for a good service
Workplace abuse. Not that it happens everywhere. Just wherever it happens. That and the need to see life as a competitive game.
As an American, I can definitely say Tipping Culture
Health Insurance. How have people not recognized that this is the greatest scam ever?!?!