17 “Culture Shocks” Encountered By This American Woman Who Moved To Spain

It is the same in all civilised world.

Again - this is how the rest of the world does it. The US is the exception, not Spain

Yeah, US tipping culture is weird

What an original point to make. It hasn't ever been made before. (Now tell us about bathroom stall gaps!)

I'll never get over the fact servers aren't paid minimum wage and rely on tips purely so they can remain an alive human being, it blows my mind that it's legal. I was on holiday in New York (around 2006 I think) and took my friend to a restaurant in Greenwich Village that I had been to a few times on previous trips and wanted him to try it. We weren't sure how much we were supposed to tip so we roughly worked out 20%, left extra just in case and left. We'd already walked about half a block away and had crossed the road when the waitress ran out of the restaurant and across the street to inform us we hadn't left her enough money for the tip. We were horrified! In our shock we foolishly gave her more money but good grief, is that behaviour accepted within the server industry? We were not impressed.

Jobs in Spanish service industry are rather precarious. I do tip.

Yes, but you know what? You keep tipping, since you oblige anyone else to do the same when visiting. And when did you raise the tax for visiting slaves to 20%? Plus, won't be faster to confiscate all their money they bring at arrival, instead of making them feel inferior to an uneducated local waiter?

Makes sense - it's too hot to work

Lunch tends to be bigger than dinner though in Spain

It is the same in all civilised world.

Imagine how she'll feel once she wanders into the nude section of the beach..

Spent a sleepless night like this in a bar in Madrid when I was young and broke, because I had to commute between two buses and had nowhere to sleep. Sat at a table in the corner with a big book, ordered a couple of drinks, then they gently ignored me for the rest of the night. I could witness that weird moment around 6-7 AM, when the smell of beer is replaced by the smell of coffee. Great memory.

We do that in Scandinavia too. Sometimes, if there's two teachers with the same first name, we'll use the last name instead, but without a prefix, so Thomas Berg, will just be called Berg.

Umm… I mean this might be true but I still won’t publicly admit that I know it.

You can't do that if it's "part of an offer", but yeah single cans are sold in Greece too

It's a dying tradition though.

That’s a lot of grapes in a short time. Does the clock bell strike slower there? Or maybe the grapes are smaller.

First a pooping log, now a defecating nativity figure. I just hope naughty kids are still getting only coal.

Same all throughout Europe. And it's a good thing because the staff in pharmacies are people properly educated in the field and can talk to you about all the risks even the most common and basic medication has.

Don't they bake similar dessert in the US, too? I think Cajuns do it on Mardi Gras.

In Norway we no longer celebrate Three kings night, but it's traditionally the last day it's acceptable to have Christmas decorations up.

Roscón de Reyes (the dessert with hidden things) was already a lottery.