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What seemed weird when I visited your country

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Metope:
Oh yeah food culture is very different over there. Like, in Norway it's not common to go out for meals on a regular basis, in the UK it's a little more common, but in the US everyone seems to do it all the time and it's because it's actually affordable for many. Plus you get so many options, we went to a diner once and I ordered a standard breakfast with eggs, toast, hashbrowns and bacon. When I told the waitress she gave me options for everything, like how I'd like my eggs, if I wanted my toast to be rye, wheat, sourdough or something else, did I want fries instead of hashbrowns, sausage instead of bacon and on and on. In Europe you might get a couple options, but if the menu says 'eggs' they usually mean fried (and there's only one type of fried), and they'll specify if the eggs are scrambled, you don't get to choose.

Oh and free coffee refills. My favourite thing about America, seriously.

LTK:

--- Quote from: cesium133 on 03 Nov 2013, 11:12 ---
--- Quote from: Is it cold in here? on 03 Nov 2013, 10:53 ---
--- Quote from: travel book ---Of course it's different from home. That's the entire point.

--- End quote ---

To start off, visitors to the USA.

Please keep it light-hearted.

--- End quote ---
I was amused by the one that mentioned the sales tax thing... when I went to Brazil, I was at a store with a couple other people, and saw something I wanted to buy for R$15, and was disappointed when I realized I only brought R$15 with me, so obviously I didn't have enough. They looked at me like I was a space alien.

--- End quote ---
Well, I'd be doing the same! The whole point of a price tag is to indicate how much you'll be paying, so I don't understand why you would not include tax on it. Trick you into thinking you're paying less, I guess?

LeeC:
nah, each state has their own sales tax, its easier to price things as a distributor with the general price and have the local stores apply their local tax when checking out.  sales tax may be high in California but non existent in Delaware.  When they get priced there's really no telling where the actual product will end up from the distribution center.

Barmymoo:
Oh man, yes, the sales tax and the options for everything in the USA. I remember ordering breakfast and being offered three different types of butter on my toast. I thought they were pulling my leg.

When I lived in Paris it seemed like everyone wore black, all the time, with sometimes a dark red scarf. My cousin is living there now and has observed the same thing (without me mentioning it). I don't know if that's true for the rest of France - I don't think it is, but I've not spent as much time elsewhere.

Looking at that list reminds me of another thing I found odd in France - or rather, something that I noticed about the UK when I came back. In Paris, people are formal and an interaction with a salesperson is conducted using the formal pronouns, without any chat (although this could possibly be because they assumed I couldn't speak enough French to chat - but I don't think so, because I didn't notice other people having long chats either). When I came back to the UK I bought a sandwich from a woman who called me pet and chatted about the weather.

Jimmy the Squid:
I was prepared for the sales tax thing because I'd been forewarned but that does seem weird to me. I mean I kind of get the different states different taxes thing but I know that here, prices are set by the store. So yes the same item might be similarly priced between different stores but the point is is that the store puts the price on the item. Like, the people at the store the item is sold at. So surely they know what the price will be? It seems like one of those things where everyone in the US is totally fine with it and it seems really reasonable to them but visitors are really taken aback.

Like when my housemate moved over from New Zealand. He's all "There's a spider the size of my head in the kitchen!" I'm like, yeah. He says "Oh my god, it's nearly 40 degrees C in October!" I'm like yeah. He goes "What the hell, the sun is blood red, the sky is pitch black and everything is on fire" I'm like You did know you were moving to Australia, right?

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