Strange things you're not used to

[Krikit 1,166]

- 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

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

[starlarose 1]

- 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

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

ROFL. That is exactly what he says.

[Jeraly 4]

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

[bichon82 0]

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.

[Nessa 23]

-Refills.

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

[Rob1980 0]

I am again very lucky as I get 13 sick days

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.

- 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

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

PETROLEUM!!!!!!!!!

[Jeraly 4]

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

[Reba 2]

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.

[StillThePrettiest 4]

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

[starlarose 1]

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.

[StillThePrettiest 4]

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

[yogib37 3]

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.

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.

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

She probably thought only Eskimoes come from Canada.

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.

[yogib37 3]

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

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

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

[yogib37 3]

I know, I never understood that. I thought race was the physical appearance, skin tone, that kind of thing. But isn't Hispanic a culture more that anything? I'm white but was born in Colombia, so I guess I'm not caucasian, even though I'm whiter than vanilla ice cream, but I'm Hispanic/Latina because of my culture. Ok, I just gave myself a headache.

Diana

exactly. same with me, but with the exception i don't come from a hispanic country. I have no spanish in me whatsoever, which is the only thing that could put me in the hispanic race category, so I'll just keep answering that I'm caucasian cuz that's what I am. I'm white, I come from a country with no hispanic afiliation and my family came from Germany, so no reason to put hispanic just because they think everybody who's not from North America, they're from ''down there'' should be hispanic

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

just just dont let tell you differnt

[yogib37 3]

Sales tax always gets me. Fortunately I've not been embarrassed yet as I've always paid by card...but I just know that one day I'm going to be using cash, and not have enough on me to cover sales tax.

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