Behaviors, manners and overall attitude

[Allie 5]

That shoe taking off thing.. that I can't understand.. why DON"T people take off shoes when they enter a house? Holy.. Hubby NEVER did before he met me... I had to tell him that wearing his shoes at my mom's house was a BIG Faux Pas and could effect eternally his position in our family! lol.. not that bad.. but almost!

When I first visited here I had to explain the shoe removal at the door is an automatic thing when entering. Lorry kept telling me "there's no need to remove your shoes everyone leaves em on it's okay" She still leaves her shoes on but I'm working on it lol,lol

[MissStacey 1]

That shoe taking off thing.. that I can't understand.. why DON"T people take off shoes when they enter a house? Holy.. Hubby NEVER did before he met me... I had to tell him that wearing his shoes at my mom's house was a BIG Faux Pas and could effect eternally his position in our family! lol.. not that bad.. but almost!

When I first visited here I had to explain the shoe removal at the door is an automatic thing when entering. Lorry kept telling me "there's no need to remove your shoes everyone leaves em on it's okay" She still leaves her shoes on but I'm working on it lol,lol

Haha. People used to laugh at me when I took my shoes off. They thought I was a weirdo.

[Allie 5]

A couple things I have noticed different. Where I come from in Canada it's proper to hold a door open for the person coming behind you and to also hold the door and let ladies enter first. I have noticed on many occasions here in the US some people don't care whether anybody is coming behind they just enter and let the doors go

Also have noticed on occasion where men don't hold the door for women and let em enter or exit ahead of them

Several times I've seen people struggling to get something into thier vehicle and people just walk by looking at them. I have helped people several times and they seem amazed to have somebody do that. In Canada it's no big deal

In the US I find the people working the cashier stands are far more friendly and talkative than home. Also here they cater more to the customers in the stores. Most times if you ask where something is they'll take you to it not tell you a route how to find it and they always ask if you found everything you were looking for.

well you must not be from Barrie , Allie!!! I have have never seen anything so ignorant in my life as the way people were there at Christmas time. ......strollers over the toes at the mall , people rushing to beat you to a door or a line........it was awful. After dealing with the ignorance there I was pretty well cocked and loaded for anything on the drive back to Michigan........we stopped for dinner just outside Sarnia and as I exited the building behind a man and his wife , he let the door close in my face. I had enough so I loudly said "THANK YOU". He turned around and said " oh my god Im sorry , I didnt see you there........I certainly wouldnt have let the door the door close on you on purpose". I felt a bit bad(for about a second) for snapping at him so I smiled and said " Okay" THEN he turns back and says "AND ITS NOT LIKE I HAVE EYES IN THE BACK OF MY HEAD"..........I just laughed at him then.

Nope, I'm from Cape Breton Island N.S.

[DeadPoolX 9]

That shoe taking off thing.. that I can't understand.. why DON"T people take off shoes when they enter a house? Holy.. Hubby NEVER did before he met me... I had to tell him that wearing his shoes at my mom's house was a BIG Faux Pas and could effect eternally his position in our family! lol.. not that bad.. but almost!

I still have trouble with taking off my shoes. For the most part, it's just not done here in the United States. That doesn't mean it's never done, but with very few exceptions (i.e. the shoes in question are visibly dirty, covered in mud, soaking wet, etc.), people keep their shoes on.

I could possibly see removing your shoes in your own home, but in the U.S., it's pretty rude to automatically remove your shoes in someone else's home. Basically, you are exposing a part (most likely a smelly and somewhat unattractive part) of yourself that should remain covered to individuals who probably don't want to see it. I know I don't want to see someone else's feet -- sock-covered or not.

[Amy and Brian 1]

I always feel somewhat awkward whenever I visit a home in the US. I don't feel right leaving my shoes on, even if everyone else is doing it. But I often find that many homes don't have a proper place for people to put their shoes in the entryway, so I feel just as strange taking them off because I have no idea where to leave them!

[Emancipation 2]

You know.. we went looking for boot trays here in CT.. NO WHERE could we find them.. strange I thought, but now it's all making sense!!

DeadpoolX - thanks for the explanation.. It makes sense.. Although we go to a small group in New Haven with a bunch of Yale grad students and they ALL take off their shoes and they are from all over the place. I dunno.. i'm still trying to make sense of it all!

[MissStacey 1]

I'm not sure if this is really an American/Canadian difference, so I will just use me and Mel as an example:

Me growing up in Canada- in our Medicine Cabinet we had 3 things- a bottle of Tylenol, a tube of Polysporin and a box of Band-Aids.

In Mels- half the drugstore. When Mel or his son get the slightest sniffle, the drugs come out. Mel will take 3 or 4 different medicines when he has a cold. I just need a box of Kleenex.

[warlord 72]

With the door thing, I make sure that I hold it open when people come behind me. As for the sex thing, I don't hold the door open for men or women. I treat everyone the same. I don't play favorites for special treatment of one sex over another. So not sure this is a American or Canadian thing, since I was the same growing up in Canada.

As with the shoes off/on. My wife wears her shoes in the house, I always take mine off. Just because it's more comfortable for me to have my socks on then my shoes. Also my mother imbedded that into my head growing up the my shoes track dirt all through the house. So we always took them off. If we're at parties, I leave them on or when visiting someone elses home. All depends, one of my american friends tells people to take their shoes off at the door.

The one thing I don't like about it is when my wife has her shoes on and I don't, I'm worried Im going to get her boot heels crushing my poor toes...

[Melytha Christine 0]

Wow, the shoes thing got me thinking. I never really noticed that, but often people I've visited in the States DO leave their shoes on. Whereas here in Canada, often, it goes without saying that you take your shoes off. Not so in my house - we go with or without shoes unless the shoes/boots are muddy or wet, etc. And also, I was surprised upon visiting one family to see no shoes at the entrance way...I wasn't sure what to do, so I asked if we should take our shoes off. She said "No, we gave up on that a long time ago." Now that was partly because it was a family with a lot of children...and it's hard to get that many children to keep their shoes off. But they were Americans, so even though they didn't do it, it sounded like they tried!

Edited April 30, 2007 by Melytha Christine

[Flames9_RN 358]

ya the shoe thing annoys me! I have trained my inlaws to take them off when they visit our place,lol I have grown up in smaller communities, which i find much more civilized.

One thing that bothers me here is that one can be waiting in line at a grocery store, al of a sudden they wil open a new register, one would think that people already in line would have first opportunity at the newly open register!! nope, 99% of the time, some one wil just barge into it,lol

[Catou1181 0]

One thing that bothers me here is that one can be waiting in line at a grocery store, al of a sudden they wil open a new register, one would think that people already in line would have first opportunity at the newly open register!! nope, 99% of the time, some one wil just barge into it,lol

I work in a grocery store, they do that here too... It's like people enter a grocery store and it's like they were never in a public place before.. Oh the stories I could tell lol...

But people see a free cash and they just barge in, even if the cashier ushers another customer to her cash... Civilized people in a grocery store.. my oh my when was the last time I saw that in 10 years ?

[Chiroman 0]

Me - canadian Him- American....we were going to watch Borat last nite....he says I don't know if you should watch this its pretty bad with the AMerican stereotypes. He is fully aware of how most people act down south and the way Canadians look on it...he and I are a lot alike in our way of thinking...maybe cause hes a NY boy.... the stereo types were right dead on.....I just find most Americans do not want to think outside the box....and down here, may oh my...the redneck way of thinking rules....we just make it a point to ignore the worst of it and chat about it when we get home. I just think Canadians are so much more open and willing to accept things, more peace loving if you will. Who knows maybe they think the same of us.... that we are strange. I think the cultural diffrences are huge.....don't even get me started on recycling...........

[rika60607 215]

Hey, anyone heard of wearing SLIPPERS in the house???!!

I found that in America my American friends would mostly wear slippers at home, we are talking families here. Bachelor male packs of course never wear slippers, they wear shoes and roll in mud as a rule ))

but at party time even at a family place - everyone keeps shoes on, as a rule. Assumptions is that somebody will be cleaning the floors next day.

Can't imagine though wearing shoes daily in my own family home - uncomfortable and then what - wash the floors every night? Or live in the mud?!

Sorry for barging in on you Canadians.

Shoe or no shoe thing highly fascinates me )

Rika

[CutienPurg 0]

Nope, I'm from Cape Breton Island N.S.

well that splains why...........everyone in NS is nice

[sj5 4]

I'd like to preface this thread by saying that neither American nor Canadian ways of doing things are right or wrong; they're just different. I am not suggesting that one country's way is better than the other.

Anyway... have any of you noticed a difference in the overall attitudes, manners and behavior in Americans versus Canadians? I mean in general. Obviously, there are nice and rude Americans and Canadians. However, the stereotype is that Americans are somewhat "loud and pushy" and that Canadians are "so polite they'll apologize to furniture after bumping into it." I've known some who fit these stereotypes and I've known some who've been the exact opposite.

But what I'd like to hear are your experiences. I think it might be interesting to note.

Since I made this thread, I'll go first and use my fiancee and me as an example: The first time I visited her (she was my girlfriend then), we went to CapitalEx and I bought her a lemonade. Actually... come to think of it, I paid for everything on that trip. Sorry, I'm losing my place! What I was saying is that I bought her a lemonade and then I was just a bit thirsty and said to her, "I think I'll have a sip" and did so. She didn't mind and gladly handed over the drink to me.

However, she later told me that she thought it was just a little rude. I had no idea what she meant. She explained it to me. She said that I told her I was going to have a sip and invited myself to do it, as opposed to asking if I could. I never considered asking because, for the most part, in the United States, you just say what you're going to do and then do it if you're with friends or loved ones. Within my family, for instance, we never asked each other for a sip of another's drink, we just took it. Maybe that seems rude on the surface, but there was an unspoken acceptance that "what is yours is mine" and vice-versa.

As I said, my fiancee didn't have a real problem with it, she was just surprised and told me so. Because of that -- and a few other things I've said, apparently -- I've been working on being more polite. For instance, within my family, we hardly ever say "please" or "thank you." I've rarely heard it in other American families as well. But my fiancee has been, well... training me to get into that habit.

Overall, my fiancee's said, I am not a rude or insensitive person; if I were, she said she'd have great difficulty being with me. I think, for the most part, these little differences are just part of what makes America and Canada different socially and culturally.

So that's just one of my experiences. Let's hear yours!

My husband is american but he is different though.. not pushy at all and he always say "thank you" or "Please" when i do things for him. and when i ask like "Who own this energy drink?" He answered me "That drink belong to us" (He have sister living with us) its why i have to ask because I don't want to take stuffs not mine.

but he said its for everybody inside this house

Edited April 30, 2007 by Pugnacious