@Blitzenexx In here it's common to pump your own petrol but I prefer those petrol stations that have a guy that does it for you. Why would the former be illegal in Oregon? Now I need to know the answer.
EDIT:
@ReaderRagfihs I understand. So what do you think about the different countries and people in UK and Europe? I was using the term Europe as a geographic term, UK is geographically in Europe.
@BlueOcean Tips are practically mandatory in the U.S. because restaurants can get away with paying waiters/waitresses below minimum wage by appealing to tipping culture. It's a self-perpetuating cycle. I fundamentally disagree with having to pay the wages of the help in a restaurant, but unless the service is particularly terrible or you're just an insensitive piece of work then tipping below 20% of the bill just isn't done.
In fairness, I think restaurants are technically required to pay the difference, up to the federal minimum wage, if customers aren't tipping you well enough. And, thanks to tipping culture, waiters/waitresses usually end up making more than minimum wage, which creates workplace inequality between them and the cooks in the back of the restaurant who are often forced to subsist on minimum wage earnings without the benefit of tips.
@Ralizah Interesting, waiters need you (not like in here) and cooks deal with what they get. I thought so but I wasn't sure. One difference I see (on TV and films) is that there they bring you coffee in a jug, it doesn't look like god coffee, like it's a bit old and watery. Of course, I am not saying that this is true, just asking! Another question, do you think that restaurants are cheaper in US and that's why you have to pay part of the wages of the waiters? Because in that case the results would be the same as paying more for the bills in Europe, but here in a regulated fashion.
@BlueOcean: It's common where I am to pump your own fuel as well. There are attendants, but they're usually taking care of indoor payments and everything else that goes along with an indoor retail environment. I've never been out to Oregon and didn't learn about the pumping question until somewhat recently.
As for your question about losing your job....If you lose your job through no fault of your own (like if you're laid off, your division is making cuts, etc.), then you're eligible for unemployment benefits. These are typically paid by your previous employer at a certain rate/percentage based on a variety of factors. Unfortunately, as it's still considered income, you are taxed for those benefits.
There are federal, state, and private aid programs here for people who fall on hard times, but the ins and outs of how they all work and the red tape, waiting periods, rules for qualification, etc. all vary by state and region. The systems in place certainly aren't perfect and need a lot of fine-tuning like a lot of things, but that's something I'm not eager to get into here since it can also be a contentious topic. There's a general agreement that these need fixed, but HOW is often the million dollar question.
Currently playing: Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana (Switch)
@Blitzenexx Those are things you hear about US and it's great that we can hear what is true and what is not from you guys. Here is not perfect either, I guess we share many problems.
@BlueOcean I mean, it's certainly true in some establishments. In general, in most restaurants and cafes I've been to, waiters will bring the pot of coffee and refill your cup at the table. It's easy for the coffee to get old when hours go by without anyone requesting a cup, though, which means, unless you make a point of requesting fresh coffee, it's easy to get watered down gruel that was brewed hours ago. I don't really drink coffee out (I'm strictly a water drinker when I'm out), but my mother does, and she always makes a point of sneaking a peek at the pot to see how recently it was made.
I don't think paying the wages of servers has anything to do with prices in the U.S. It has to do with tipping culture throughout the country. Here's a (very) truncated history of that. Tipping didn't originally exist in the U.S. until Americans in the mid 1800's learned the custom from their trips to Europe. There was a lot of resistance to the idea, though, and anti-tipping movements resulted. It didn't begin to take hold until after the civil war and the reconstruction of the American south, when suddenly freed blacks needed jobs, and restaurants used the idea of tipping as a way to exploit their labor without actually paying them. There was still a lot of anti-tipping sentiment nation-wide, though, and it wasn't until sometime after 1938, after anti-tipping legislation was repealed and the Fair Labor Standards Act instituted a minimum wage, that the practice was tied to the idea of a minimum wage and started to get taken up throughout the country by businesses that saw it for what it was: a way to get customers to subsidize the cost of a worker's labor.
Anyway, that evolved through the years into the system we know today. Tipping has its roots in institutional racism and corporate exploitation of the working class.
At the end of the day it's logical that many American customs and a huge part of the population of North America originate from Europe as part of the Columbian Exchange.
I'm Indonesian, but when thinking about Europe, i'm thinking about Euro Dance / Bubblegum / Euro Trance / Eurobeat / Italiano / High NRG. Those music genre were really popular for Japanese peoples and honestly my MP3 musics are mostly from European artists rather than American.
@Anti-Matter Yes, you are welcome! I love those European music styles too. My favourite American music would be Green Day... and country music for some reason. There is a lot of good American (and European) music in my library.
@Ralizah It fits with the tax on goods. Just like with retail prices, in a restaurant you always end up paying more than advertised
I still don't get it. I mean, yeah different states, different taxes, but it sounds unnecessarily complicated to me. Maybe it's just because I'm used to it, but I prefer to just pay the price I see, whether that's in a store, or in a restaurant. And some restaurants will accept tips over here. It's not uncommon. And I guess it also depends on the country, because I can't speak for all of Europe. But over here, depending on who owns it, it either gets divided between the employees equally, or the owner keeps it all. Don't be surprised if a waiter returns with the change though, because I've had that happen to me as well.
I do not like when people say I am "European". I am a Swede.
One time some guy asked me if I was European and I said "no, I'm from Sweden", then he said "that's in Europe" and I responded "no, Sweden is in Scandinavia". I always though of Europe as continental Europe.
It’s a difficult question when it comes to “what’s Europe like”. There’s so many countries with their own rules, traditions, laws and views of the world.
I’m in England myself and I’m one of the people who don’t think it will make much difference to the average person at all. We’ll be fine in and we’ll be fine out.
@Agriculture As an American, if I can find the part of America that serves hamburgers for breakfast (other than McDonalds which may not qualify as a hamburger on any continent), I'm moving there!
@Anti-Matter American pop has been a train wreck after the 90's and the rise of hip-hop really put most of the rest of American music on hiatus for a good long time, but it's been bouncing back recently, mostly with revivals of older forms. And of course there's a lot on the electronic/dance scene that never stopped here, along with jazz, within its niche (the only truly American genre.)
@Blitzenexx Of course for unemployment it's becoming more and more common for business to work around that and hire everyone as "part time" and "contractors" so that the very concept doesn't exist, with more and more of the workforce shifting that way.
@CharlieSmile FWIW, on the forums, you tend to have an always confrontational tone with people from the get-go. I get that you might feel people are against you, but generally people that approach people as someone "with a chip on their shoulder", people will generally treat them negatively. It's not always about "being a disliked demographic in America".....for all the faults in American culture, and there are many, most people do not fall among the hardcore disliking of specific groups. The majority (not all, but a majority) tend to look past things they may dislike in terms of ethnicity, genders, etc if they get a sense there's a likable person who's "not like those other people of the same persuasion at all." They'll tread that person ans an exception to the "rule." So your approach to others absolutely has an impact on how they view and treat you, and if you approach people as confrontational, attention seeking, or anything else, they'll be negative and critical toward you, but if you approach them as a very likable person, they'll look past that and tend to include you. That's one thing about American society is it's very individualized. If you present yourself as someone they can relate to and like, even if you are someTHING they can't relate to or don't like ,they easily make you an "exception" they're allowed to like. If that makes sense. But if you, face to face, project the confrontational facade you tend to on the internet....you probably will have a rough go with most people. That's cultural to a point, but it's also just generally human.
Mostly I think there's more similar than different. The US is mostly an alternate timeline snapshot of the UK after all. It was founded by Brits, centered on British culture, and what amounted to a British civil war (but was never named as such) to create it. It's an odd melding of British society, along with a strong infusion of German society early on, with some regional tinting of French or Spanish society. So the roots are essentially shared on both sides of the pond. As are the problems. It's only really post WWII that any meaningful divergence in the culture has appeared, all relating to modern events and circumstances. But of course, with Brexit, the UK really isn't in such a different place, either.
At this point I'd say the key difference in the US vs. anywhere else is that by the 2000s' we mostly shed our status as a culture and instead became a "marketplace" for "global business" and kind of lost much of our actual culture to instead simply be consumers in a global economy. They're doing that to most countries, but we were the unfortunate prototype. Nothing is really unique to the culture anymroe because everything is to be globally homogenous, and that blank slate itself has almost become our actual culture. That goes with it the extreme divide of business/government vs. everyone else.
As an American: Europe is this fairytale land where there's dozens of different white people with different cultures, languages, and customs that get along nowadays for the economic benefit of it, but a half a century ago would be perfectly happy killing eachother for national pride. some places in Eastern Europe were that way recently I hear but I'm quite jealous of the social programs many of your countries enjoy which may or may not be hurting your economies but the US gov cries every year about having to pay money for our old and weak who need special programs so I wonder if I do reach 65 or whatever retirement age will be hiked to when I get there I wonder if I'll be able to retire or just work till I die. I'm also envious of mythical things like paid paternity leave, more than 10 days paid vacation a year my company has a cow if I take more than 2 days off in a row, and freeish healthcare. I'd gladly take the hit in taxes for those nice things.
That being said I'm a liberal living in North Dakota which is one of the most conservative states in the US. My state government routinely wastes tax payer money on trying to close the one abortion clinic in Fargo, ND or funneling money into building a Donald Trump Library our governor's latest pet project. I feel this money could be better invested in building flood walls to prevent a repeat of Minot's 2011 flood, infrastructure and road repair, school funding, or perhaps funding snow removal programs for an entire winter instead od just part of it or keeping farmer's lands safe from corporations that purchase their lands after one bad year or if oil was discovered under their land.
Despite all my crying I'm happy to be an American and a North Dakotan. My state's crime rate is very low considering the country, there's lots of wide open spaces, and my house is pretty comfortable. my parents bought it before the flood and oil boom, so it was $120,000 in 2004, but today is worth over $300,000. A four bedroom, 2 living room, 2 kitchen, 3 bathroom house with four current residents. The space comes in handy during Thanksgiving/Christmas season when we have 2 or 3 families from our various relations visiting for a week or more. There are tornadoes, but thankfully they avoid the major cities of North Dakota *or the cities were built in places to void them and we have several severe thunderstorms during summer and several blizzards every winter. I love winter, but wish we didn't have to deal with icy roads.
I watch American movies and some TV, but most of it from the golden age of my youth in the 80s-00s as I feel the Superhero and reality TV genres have overtaken quality programming. I'm more likely to watch Japanese anime via VRV or Crunchyroll than domestically produced modern day TV. My limited exposure to British TV is Monty Python, Downton Abbey, Briish bake off, and Outlander. I know the broad strokes of European history and much more than a common American due to my college studies. I support NATO and the possibility of world peace, but know many others are against this. Might be a big enough ramble.
Forums
Topic: How Americans are? Tell an European.
Posts 61 to 80 of 142
This topic has been archived, no further posts can be added.