I am finding some things very strange here that I am not used to. Things such as:

-drug tests for a job (only did this for the military in Canada)

-asking for SSN on a job application (I was raised in Canada to never put my SIN on an application and many of them don't even ask for it)

-job applications asking for your elementary school (what does that matter? I graduated 20 years ago)

-very low paying jobs (minimum wage in Canada would make me feel rich in comparison)

There has to be more but these are all I can think of right now. Anyone else feel a little homesick for Canada? Or other native country?

I recall having to put my race on our application for the marriage license, and many job applications also ask for race. In Canada, this is illegal. btw, I put "white" on the marriage license application, the lady behind the counter looked at my passport, scratched it out and put "Canadian" under the "Other" checkbox! We tried to explain the difference between nationality and race, and she would have none of it! *snarf*

Lots of labour laws (labor) in the US are a lot different than in Canada and take some getting used to.

OMG she did that?! You mean you can't be white if you are from Canada?!?! Sounds like she had a screw loose

LOL I don't know how you didn't pass out laughing right in front of her.

Yeah, race is illegal in Canada. It should be here too. I think I better get up to snuff on labour laws here in the states. I want to start my own business.

I had a call about an application I put in somewhere the other day; they're going to do interviews. The lady says, "you're from Canada right?". So I said, "yes I am". She then asks, "how old are you?". I was thrown for a loop and responded, "I'm old ENOUGH". I don't know if that's illegal here but I know it is in Canada. I was just floored.



She probably thought only Eskimoes come from Canada.

yep, she did that. I'm quite obviously white, (the application doesn't even say "caucasian" it says "white") but she didn't understand the difference between race and nationality. So, according to our marriage license, we are an inter-racial couple.

I am not used to paying for gas before you pump it...

I am not used to refillable soda at a lot of the fast food type restaurants here... the first time I saw hubby do this, I was like what are you doing??

not sure if any of those happen in Canada or not but I had never seen that before...

Marilyn... TOTALLY hear you here!! Hubby was totally amused with me being AMAZED that you can get refills at the fast food places.. He thinks it's hilarious how excited I got when i realized it was common place here.

And back home on PEI - after midnight you have to prepay for gas - but not during regular hours.. That way you don't have to go back in to the cashier for the $5.00 if you prepay for $40.00 and your car only takes $35.00 (which is annoying IMO)!!

LOL I'm glad you mentioned the pay before you pump gas thing. I am not used to it either but I thought I'd be the only one. Just last night I had a heck of a time with it. My wife and mother in law just laugh at me.

I am not used to mph on the speedometer either. I constantly want to look at the km/h instead.

yeah, the same thing where I was from in Canada...

I got kind of mad at hubby the first time I saw him get a refill... I thought he was stealing

You don't HAVE to answer what race you are on job applications - all applications I've filled out have said as much, it's due to the equal opportunity laws. I answer it anyway, because if they do call me in, they'll figure it out eventually.

oooo I think I'm going to have such a headache getting used to wee differences.

Pay before you fill for petrol...hahahahaha mind you alot cheaper than here!!!!!!
free refills.....I discovered that when I was last over (also discovered cherry slushie)
race on job apps.....hahaha..what will they make of scottish (to one american I met, and nearly slapped!, scotland is a county in northern england!)
writing date backwards

Lol - yeah I kinda did a double take first time I saw Jeremy do that and he had to explain you can get free refills (not that I can even drink that much soda but there you go) I have to make him get it for me - I am too used to having people behind the counter fill my drink and I just feel like I am committing some kinda heinous crime by helping myself!!



Hehe - yeah we get those here now as well - I always choose to go inside though - paying at the pump is wrong... Also I don't know if it is just Cali or the area of Cali my OH is from but he has to go in to show his credit card first at the gas station before filling up and paying at the pump - what is THAT about?!?!

oh yeah the date thing too...

in Canada we write it day/month/year.... here they write it month/day/year... I still have to think about that one sometimes when I have to write the date...

Wow - Jeremy just got salaried and now he gets five weeks holiday a year - that's more than I get!!!!

oh, I am used to the pay at the pump thing, they have that in Canada too...

Pay at the pump is hit or miss. You see it a lot in the larger cities where sometimes people have a tendency to drive off without paying.

-I never cross any race on any applications... It is not mandatory to cross a box, so we did not do it at all.

-The SSN thing is super weird, also background checks for work???

-I find it weird that health insurance is tied to work, and that doctors always want to perform 5 zillion tests that are obviously unnecessary just to make sure they won't get sued....

- Speed limits on highways! Terrible!

I would write the date the normal way - date/month/year when I was in middle school (I'm the USC etc etc) and the teachers would seriously correct it on my papers. I had a "talk" with a teacher about that, and she told me I'd lose a point every time I did it!

Bah. The US is do dumb. Why would you write the month first anyway?

It is the way you speak it in American English. Few people would naturally say as native speakers of American English "Today is the 19th of January 2008.".

Ideally from what I have read, you should write the date year/month/day. A few countries have adopted that convention known as ISO 8601.

As for SSN on apps - we have to put our NI number on our jobs apps in the UK - prolly to make sure you have one and can therefore legally work in the country

I use to get 5 weeks holiday with increments for years in service - how i miss my holidays....where's Jeremy working so that i can go apply!!!!

A&W on the Morongo Reservation in SoCal He's a supervisor and they just put him on salary! I was amazed!!! He's gonna have so much more holiday than me!!

Actually, it isn't just background checks for work....CREDIT checks also. If you have bad credit, they assume you'll steal money, or not be able to do your job properly, or something. For most jobs that I've had (contract) recently, I've had to have a credit check, background check, and drug test. These are just jobs moving computers around and/or fixing them.

Pay-At-the-Pump: This has been a godsend for me since it became common. I hate having to go into the store to pay. Mainly because I have no willpower and I'll buy stuff that I shouldn't. Also because I want to pay and get the hell out of there most of the time....I'm habitually late.

If a prospective employer requires your SSN, then they will probably be doing a background check. Of course, they have to make sure you're legal, too. That doesn't come until after they've made you an offer, though....

And asking race or age is illegal, unless it has the "voluntary" box around it. Of course, many employers throw the ones that aren't filled out in the trash.... we have a quota-system here, ya know. We have to have a certain percentage of men, of women, of whites, of blacks, of Latino, etc. It's a fun system.

My fiance, from England, can't believe we only get two weeks holiday a year to start. They get five. To him it's INSANE that companies don't take better care of their workers. When he was here in December, I couldn't take off from work, because I hadn't accrued any vacation time at that point. Also insane. And now I have to ration my time off for when he moves here and we get married.

He also says that in England, they cannot schedule your shift less than 12 hours apart (8 for sleep, 2 hours for commuting both ways, 2 hours for breakfast and dinner). During the Christmas season, it was common for me to close the store at 11pm, and be back in to open at 6am. That made him angry to hear.

And, if your employer wants you to work the overnight shift (for example, filling in for a co-worker for a day or two), they have to give you the day prior off and the day after off, and pay you for both, to let your body adjust to the schedule change. In other words, two free paid days off, in addition to your regular days off! If only they'd schedule him for one overnight per week!


And yeah, the free refill thing freaked him out. He just cannot believe the soda-drinking capacity of Americans. But he's picking up the habit fast (along with a few extra pounds)!

One thing he doesn't understand is how we just leave a cash tip on the table for our server in restaurants. He says that back in England, that money would be rightfully gone in a flash. So you can imagine the first time I paid the bill for dinner in cash, left it all on the table and got up to leave!

nevermind the pre-pay at the pump, I had to learn how to pump gas when I moved here! I'd never had to do it before up home, there's still full serve stations up there. None around here. I hate the smell, it makes me nauseous

And I hate having to pay for health care. I pay $400+ per month for insurance, and because we have deductibles, I still have to pay for health services. I'm going broke just going to doctor appointments

Sounds like I am lucky - Jeremy gets med insurance through work and when we get married I am entitled to his insurance as well - he has good benefits with his job even if it is just in a fast food restaurant I think we will struggle to get by at first but things will even out

And yeah - I can't believe the two weeks holiday thing either - I think it is disgusting!! Will defo be looking at teaching jobs over there I would love to set up my own business that can eventually justify employing people with decent wages, holidays etc Who knows what lies in store for me?!?!?!

welcome to USA

Actually, only some jobs give 2 weeks. Most of the lower-paying jobs give you one week - but only after you've been there a year.

Will look forward to getting one of those then Jeremy is hoping to get me a job on the Morongo res - at least he knows the people there so might be able to cut a deal

Are the Yanks the only people on this planet who write their dates back to front?

One of my shocks was banking. At my local bank we have to pay for cheque books and they don't allow an overdraft. Back in England they practically threw chequebooks at you and gave you generous interest free overdrafts even if you saw your bank manager and simply looked down at your shoes and mumbled that you hadn't any money.

I had to fight with my bank manager to REMOVE my interest free overdraft. No overdraft, no temptation to go into it.

Haha - I am working at paying mine off but keep spending money - sucks!!

I'm not used to medicines and doctor's visits being so expensive. In Argentina, by law you get full medical coverage for the whole family, with no charge for you, and all medical expenses are covered with the insurance. I had an average income when I was living there, and I had a very nice health insurance (with a swiss company). I had dental care fully covered, could go to the doctor or specialists as many times as I wanted with no charge for me. Even home visits. When I learned that hubby had a monthly charge of $180 to add me to his policy, and that the plan only covers 75% of bill, I was very surprised.

Saludos,
Caro

I think that is why benefits are such a huge part of American employment and why people will take lower paying jobs if they have a decent benefits package I must say I find it weird as well though...

I'll definetly look very closely at the benefits before I accept a job here. In a year or two we plan to start a family, and Justin was telling me that there is no standard benefit for maternity leave? is that true? In Argentina, you get 45 days full pay, and the option to take a 6 months leave without pay (this is up to the employee to take or not, it's determined by law and the boss cannot refuse this benefit, and if they try to fire you the penalties are huge). if you come back to work after the 45 days, you have access to "breast feeding schedule", which means you work part time, but still get paid full time.
By the way, I love both my home country AND my new home. Please nobody take offense.

Saludos,
Caro

Hehe - I think as a teacher here you are entitled to 6 months paid and 6 months unpaid... although maybe it is 3 months full pay and 3 months half pay... I can't remember... never been pregnant I'm hoping by the time we start a family we will be in a financial situation that will allow us to support our family... even if it is a struggle at times - I mean nothing is perfect

That's nice teachers always seem to have such cool benefits with leaves of absence and vacations, I'm so jelous!
I guess finding the balance between raising kids and a career is never easy, eh? no matter what country you're in

Saludos,
Caro

I am in the market for a job, kind of and yesterday I got this email from monster.com about someone who was looking for a nanny.... he was offering a car plus medical and dental .. I have never had a nanny job where they offer that... the only drawback to the job was that he wanted a live-in nanny...

Haha - prolly why the benefits were good - but still - if you were a single person... you wouldn't have to worry about rent or anything!!

it also was a single father with a young son.. that might be kind of weird

Benefits in the US suck no matter where you're from, I think. I've only ever lived in the US and am shocked at how we're guaranteed no paid vacation while other countries have it written into laws, no guaranteed sick time, etc. I have good health insurance, but every year the number of companies offering decent or ANY health insurance goes down, and we have no national health insurance (and no, I don't think the plans proposed for a plan were good enough for this country).

I've been watching too much Lewis Black this weekend...excuse my anger *bangs head*

Haha - like I said - an ideal job for a singleton

You need to move to New Jersey.. Full Service is the law.. no self serve there at all!!

Okay....bag boys taking my shopping to my truck! The first time one tried to do it I thought he was running off with my stuff!

I am most offended by questions of race, age or sexual preference

SSN - had a question about race, optional, but still. I chose not to answer it

Marriage cert - race? Is this 1960 or what?

Dr's office - wanted my SSN...told them I didn't have it yet...what the hell do they need that for? Never asked for it in Canada

Dr's office - asked my sexual preference...wtf? My husband said, if you put homosexual, they would be concerned about AIDS


Sorry -each of these situations has made the hair on the back of my neck bristle......and also makes me jump to the conclusion that Americans are racist/ prejudice etc....

Not true of course...but I begin to wonder what's up. ...they need revisit some of these antiquated laws

Ironically, they ask you questions about race and gender because the government keeps check of those kinds of things to make sure businesses are compiling with the Equal Employment Opportunity laws. They are forced to at least ask for reporting purposes by the government. You don't have to answer.

As I stated before, they're actually newer laws to make sure employers are being equal opportunity lawyers. And 99% of the time in my experiences, it says RIGHT ON THERE that you don't have to answer.

- not having bakeries everywhere with fresh bread and yummy pastries
- not having people filling up the gas for me (i hate having to leave my car for that)
- not having alcohol at the same aisle as the beverages, I have to go to a different store for that
- having to see 1 doctor to get a referal to another doctor and having to wait months for the 1st appointment
- not being able to schedule my therapy weekly for several weird reasons
- pay taxes, the price you see on the product isn't the price you pay to the cashier
- clothing sizes, not being able to find my size cuz they just don't have more than 1 pair of pants that size (if they sell all size 2 on the day it arrives, just order twice as much instead of having a whole bunch of size 18 nobody buys)
- not being able to air the house by opening the windows cuz there's A/C and heating so we're always closed like in a prison
- trying to figure out how many gallons/mile when I'm used to liters/km
- no metric system
- even though i was causasian in brazil here they have a special race if you're white and not born in america but I still haven't figured out which one am I
- tipping everybody
- not finding a seamstress (we would find one every corner in Brazil) to fix my clothes and the one I found is highly expensive
- the absurdly high prices they charge for services that are cheap like manicure, pedicure

I could go on and on with weird things here

When I go to the store, I can never find my size no matter what size I am. Could never find 6s when was a 6, now I'm a 10 and I can't find that.

Though, when I worked retail, there were far less people who needed the size 2s and far more people who needed the in between sizes - even the larger sizes, we got very few of. While there may only be 2 size 2s, it may take 2 months for those to sell as opposed to 2 weeks for the size 8s and 10s and 12s. This is in general, of course. Now, in the juniors section it makes more sense to have more smaller sizes, so we got more in of those, usually. It's just more cost effective MOST of the time. (We got very few 18s if it helps )

As for the special race thing - Hispanic is made up by the US government, I have an issue with that. My husband would just call himself mestizo if he had the choice, but puts Hispanic because he's obviously not "white". If you're white and that's what you consider yourself, I'd just put that