Paying for healthcare. I don't have it, if I got run over tomorrow we'd be screwed. Hopefully I can find a job where I get good healthcare.

We've been to NJ a few times and had someone 'pump gas' for us. That, to me, is weird. It feels wrong to not do it yourself. Lazy?

In certain areas you can't even walk to the nearest pub or shop. You literally HAVE to drive!

Tipping in pubs.

Small pint size.

This one gets me...fortunately I drink very little.

Then again...I haven't seen any pubs within ten miles of where I'll be living. Right now in the UK I pass four on my way to work - and that's just a mile's walk.

Portion size and asking for a 'box' so you can take food home with you...that'll take me a while to get used to. I was always told it was impolite to leave food on your plate but I'll have to in the US unless I want to balloon to double my size!

Yes, tipping in bars!!
So we pay your wages not your employer. No, not a chance. I'm not giving anyone a dollar for opening a bottle and putting it front of me. If I get served a meal and a few beers then I may tip but if I'm on a pub crawl, no way.
One other things that the Yanks do is constantly annoy me whilst I'm eating with the 'is everything all right' and 'do you need more of this or that' and 'can I get you a second helping of lard with your lardburger' etc. No. leave me alone and I'll simply call you if I want something. Instead of hovering around me looking for a tip just bugger off and do something useful like wash the dishes or guide cars into the parking lot correctly.

Just keep in mind that those in the service industry pay taxes on tips whether they receive them or not. It's kind of a strange system, but basically the IRS decided that since servers weren't reporting their tips as income as they ought to, that they would just decide how much a typical server makes in tips and tax them on that. The server can avoid paying that tax by carefully documenting each and every tip, but most don't. So your server really isn't to blame for this system, and (IMHO) ought not to be penalized unless you really do feel your service wasn't adequate. (in which case I'd definitely avoid tipping)


Yeah, that annoys me too. But in most cases they're not looking for a tip. These chain restaurants instruct their wait staff to check up on you every so often. As an ex waiter myself (college days), believe me it bugged me as much as it bugs you. I'd rather be grabbing a precious sit-down minute in the kitchen rather than swinging from table to table asking if I can refill your little linoleum lizard's sippy cup or wondering if I can get the Missus a third bowl of sour cream to put on her salad.

True, very true. My gripe isn't with the staff who have to almost prostitute themselves to supplement their earnings, it's with the employers who force them to do this. My meal gets ruined by waiting staff buzzing around me like flies around dog's business and all the time it's for some restaurant owner to get his/her hands on some fat profit to live the 'American Dream' and open up a similar cafe in the next town, or something.

pucklechurch, please tell me you're British

Oh...and I also agree with Kim re. credit cards. It's all chip-and-pin here now, but before that we also used signatures and having worked in a shop I know how closely we scrutinized. Plus chip-and-pin makes everything so much easier for both cashier and customer.

Yeah. I avoid the chain restaurants when at all possible. I find that small mom-n-pop restaurants provide the best and friendliest service, because the owners care enough to make sure they hire good people. They also know that word-of-mouth is their best advertisements so they go out of their way to make sure you're taken care of without being bugged to death. I'll go to an Applebees or Chili's or whatever if whoever I'm with absolutely insists, but I normally avoid them like the plague. I'd advise anyone who wants a real taste of what American cuisine can be like to do the same.

I don't know if anyone has realised how ridiculous it is to actually just hand over your credit card to someone, who then buggers off out of sight with it for 5 minutes, only to return with your bill (again)? I've been warned to check and make sure that it's my card I'm getting back!

That's just bars/restaruants.

anyone seen Talladega Nights? 'Let's go get thrown out of an Applebees!'

I love the box thing!! Someone screwed up my order once so I got free desert that I wanted to take home with me so they gave me a box I am going to baloon as well - I figure that maybe once the novelty wears off and it stops feeling like a holiday that I will stop stuffing my face with cr@p... maybe...

As for pubs - I know there is an "English Pub" in the main street of Palm Springs which I have every intention of investigating - of course, drunken walks back from the pub seem to be out of the question as everything is so spread out unless you live in a big city...



I don't know - I like the service and the impression you get of nothing is too much for these people - I find it a welcome change from the sloppy service and bad attitude of some waiting staff in the UK - you can sit down and wait for an hour to even order then when you want the bill there is no-one to be seen... Then when they screw up you have to either let it drop or badger them to let you have a discount/free meal/voucher or something to compensate the fact that they just ruined your meal...

Of course after a little while living in the US I might change my mind about it and get just as annoyed. I can understand in a cafe where they are asking if you want more coffee but I used to work in a department store (John Lewis when I was 16-19) where I had to ask anyone who didn't have a sales assistant with them if they needed any help. As most of them were looking at kids clothes I am not sure how much help they would need and I was sure if they truly needed to find out if we had something in stock then they would ask. But no - we had to go hang around them and it drove me nuts...

A 5 gallon bag of syrup to make fountain soda cost $5 for the fastfood outlet. So, do not feel bad my friends about the refills, they more than make their money on soda.

When in Rome...A GOOD reason for tipping early in your night at the bar is the will be attentive and keep your drinks strong. Most states do not have specific measurements. It is worth the investment.



All you have to do is look the waiter in the eye, smile, and say, "Thank you, looks like we have everything. We'll give you a shout if we need anything." And I guarantee they won't come back until you wave them over.

On your first point, yes I will tip in bars if I'm staying there for awhile. That's what I said in my earlier post, just in case the bar staff take umbrage and decide to ignore me in a fit of pique, but on pub crawls/bar hops there is little point if you are just there for one drink.
However the idea of telling waiting staff that 'we have everything we need and that we'll call you over later if we want you' doesn't aways work, I've tried it. They tend to go off to their little waiter's waiting area to wait and lo! and behold if I just happen to accidentaly catch their eye they come bounding over to my table like a bloody lapdog with a resounding 'Yes, Sir, What is it? What would you like?'. Nothing, I was meerly looking around the room. I think a better system would be to place a large flag or semaphore signal on your table and raise it stoutly when you needed service from the employees.

Haha. Well, make sure you have a nice window seat then. Don't be afraid to be firm. If they come back again without you calling them over, say, please we are fine, we just need some privacy please.

Nandos in the UK was fantastic with your flag idea. You would take the stick to your table and then would come back once and ask if everything was ok. They would then take it away with them and only come back if you called them over (you would have to really WAVE them down).

I agree it can be annoying at times, but surely it is much better than trying tirelessly for 20 mins trying to get someone to come over while your food is getting cold.

Just remember the golden rule: Never, but NEVER, piss off the person serving you food.

I don't think I'll ever get the hang of degrees Fahrenheit...

And the health care thing...I suspect I will be irritating Americans for many years with my lectures on the benefits of universal health care!

I know all (or most anyway) of the Pancho's restaurants closed down but they had a really good system. They wouldn't come bother you asking you if you needed anything. They had a little Mexican flag on a flag pole that you had to raise if you needed something. Then they come to your table, lower the flag an ask you what you need. It was awesome. I miss Pancho's

yeah tipping is rather annoying I must say. We always tip even if service is crap... I do enjoy tipping at casino's though cos it gets you lots of otherwise free drinks.. and if you're tipping a dealer usually it's cos you're winning. One thing I will never get used to though is the small print and all the disclosures... like when I got my gym membership I had to sign a waiver that I would not sue if I was injured as a result of a fauly machine or of another gym member...

The thing that I will never get used to is that "Iced tea' is actually tea, cold, and not the sweet sugary thing that we call it up here in Canada.

Oh you can get the sweet sugary stuff as well But yeah - the Arizona Ice Tea is kinda grim...

Love snapples though

I discovered that nasty Iced tea once on vacation in florida. If you want real ice tea...you have to order "sweet tea". I remember taking a sip out of it and calling over the waitress telling her there was something wrong with the pop (not soda...but pop) machine and she looked at me like i was crazy.

In restaurants they will bring it to you unsweetened most of the time but the sugar and fake sugar is there at the table so you can make it as sweet as you like. In Texas most people like it so sweet, there's a layer of undisolved sugar down at the bottom of the glass

I am the USC but I lived in London for awhile and I know I had the culture shock when I first got there and then had reverse culture shock when I returned . Things I have to get my Irish Fiance use to:
- It is not Petrol - we call it Gas no matter how much you want it the other way. The American born kid making minimum wage behind the counter will not know what petrol is ;P
-It is the trunk and hood, not the boot and bonnet.
-Refills.
-European Large soda at fast food is a medium in the US.
-Sales tax paid at the register and not included in the displayed price.
-Lack of Chip and Pin, though he was use to it from the fact I used American cards in England and consistently had to tell them it wasn't chip and pin.
-If you don't go to your banks atm you will be charged a fee where as in the UK you can go to any bank ATM.
-Paying for bank accounts.
- Health care - though I am VERY LUCKY. I not only have free insurance at my job, I also get $45 in FSA every paycheck which means essentially they pay me to have health insurance. But this is extremely rare and I have never encountered it before. Adding my fiance when we get married will cause me to pay about $150 a month for insurance for him and this includes dental and vision.
-Holidays - I have already begun to enforce this with him. I am again very lucky as I get 13 sick days and currently 2 weeks vacation which will be raised to 3 and then 5, and my job will work with me on stuff. If I need to work overtime to make up for a day off they will let me. I can come in when I want and leave when I want as long as I get my hours. We also roll ours over and it NEVER goes away. It is SUPER rare and so not normal. As my boy says - I work at a holiday camp it seems. I love my job.
-The date writing which is a big one.
-Everything is bigger. Our one bedroom apartment now is bigger than the 3 bedroom flat we lived in in London. Our fridge is huge compared. Our kitchen is enormous compared.
-Needing a car. He doesn't have a license because the public transport in Europe is so good. Here he MUST have a car. It will be fun teaching him to drive on the "Correct" side of the road.
-Food Portions - though I did take him to TGIF in London so he can start prepping for the difference
-Clerks at the supermarket bagging your groceries. I was floored in London going to Tescos and having to do it myself. I was like what the hell. Oh and our clerks do not get to sit in comfy seats while ringing you up either.
-Capitalist corporation society - though my job is an exception, most in the US - your job is your life. You are expected to be on time. Even if you have 2 weeks paid vacation and 10 sick days, you will be lectured to and possibly let go if you take them all. We are a right to work society.

I could go on and on and on and on....

I like all kinds of ice tea as long as it is sweet....

Why do North Americans call it "gas" when it's not?

ROFL. That is exactly what he says.

Haha - yeah I think we had that conversation before as well

Not really on the ice tea topic but not too off topic.. do they know what sparkiling/fizzy/bubbly water is where you are? Here.. nada.... they get me tap water every time I order it.

oh man, I totally forgot about that. I'll miss refills when we go to Brazil where we have to pay for more if we want more

I really don't understand the concept of 'sick days' as paid time off. As far as my experience goes you just get paid for time off sick, until it gets really long... like 3 months, and then it's half pay for the next 3 months. Weird that it gets treated like holidays.



PETROLEUM!!!!!!!!!

Yeah - I can't imagine getting "paid leave" for a week a year, getting the flu then not being able to take a holiday... I am hoping my OH can be the breadwinner so I can just take unpaid leave

At my current job, I do not have allowed sick days. If I take a day off because I'm sick, I don't get paid. After I've been there a year, I can opt to use my vacation days for sick time. I do have short & long term sick leave benefit, but if you have to take extended sick leave, you have to use up your accrued vacation time first, and there may be overlap where you're not getting paid if you only have a few days vacation accrued and if you're taking like a 3 month medical leave, because the extended leave only covers after a certain number of days out of work. If you follow.

It sucks. But I s'pose it could be worse. A lot of employers around here don't even offer health benefits of any kind anymore.

wow, I knew there were only short holidays for many jobs, and that paid sick-leave was limited, but not to have ANY... that's just insane to me

Yeah it is odd. I know there is a difference between part-time and full-time. I know temp agencies treat it differently than regular employers.

Basically the US is all about - if you aren't here you aren't making us money. There was an interesting story on CNN about how it hurts companies for sick employees to be there. The productivity of the ill employee goes down and spreads it through the office and thus makes everyone's productivity go down. So it is best to let the original sick person go home and get better. It is a hard concept to get into the minds of corporate america. Thankfully my job got it. I was sick a couple weeks ago and not looking good (at the beginning of the flu) my boss quickly told me to get away, go home, get well, return when I was better. I think part of it was also that he didn't want to get sick.

oh, I get why they do it, and I'm sure other places would follow suit if they were allowed to... but that's the point: they're NOT allowed to; seems like most other countries (Western countries, tennyrate ) protect the people a lot more

Maybe already posted but YES that is totally illegal to asked.
cant base job on race,age,sex ect..

I went to a job interview for a oil changing place and they asked a few illegal questions.

yes that is true.. I just spent two weeks in New Jeresy and I was shock to have a attendent come out to fill up my car, I am a USC and so used to self service

yogi

Yes just put down white. also your american. from South America

just just dont let tell you differnt

Not every state has sales tax. Or. has no sales tax.. some other states dont have sales tax.. some dont have state income tax. depends where you live

It's more than odd, it's absolutely disgusting.

Welcome to small town North Carolina furniture industry The plant I work at (full time btw) is the last one standing in this town, the unemployment rate around here is so high, those of us with jobs just hold on to them for dear life, cuz there's nothing else out there.

Short for Gasoline.

not referencing Jumpin' Jack Flash then?

I remember last summer when I went in US (OHIO) to spent some time with my bf and now fiance
I had a huge shock on severals things:


Sale taxes are really low compare to our 14,5% in QC
They have drive thru at banks, drug stores, an post offices... ( he said "you guys dont have that" and I replied...are you kidding me? we arent that lazy )

yep you can have a refill of your drink..even more than once lol

food portions at restaurants are huge ( enough for a second meal )

here in OHIO the weather change quickly...I wanted to initiate my family in law to winter sleigh ride...( they didnt even got enough snow this year loll )

theres alot of 'good nutritional' food that they dont have

theres more ....but i wont go that way


the new life will be an adjustment for me as a Canadian but my honey is worth it....And we can always visit my family in Canada as often as we want....And my sweetie loves the canadian food that I cooked for him.

I am happy and for nothing in that world I would change my man and his 'american way'

except for his sweat pants when we going out lollll

LOL...i also found the food portions a problem....i have now remedied this and always divide my meal in half before i even start eating....took me a while to get use to the take home box ..but it was the only way for me to deal with it.

Good solution

I felt a strong urge to resucitate this thread...
I just had to show my ID to purchase...N Y Q U I L
And it wasn't personal or anything, I was using one of those self-service express lanes, scanned the nyquil...got the little thingy "please show your ID to the cashier"
Thank God I already have my DL, I've had so many problems with my ID before I got it. If I'd have problems with my ID getting Nyquil I think my head would have exploted right there.

Saludos,
Caro

NyQuil? WTF for? They took out the pseudoephedrine stuff, it doesn't even work anymore!

ID for Nyquil? Wow. But thanks for posting about how they'd changed the ingredients in it, Reba. I was wondering why it had no effect on me down here. Sheesh. Another product to add to the list.

I drank 3 bottles of this stuff in 2 days last week. It helped. but probably because I drank so much.