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The United States of America is the land of the free and full of opportunities. It is one of the largest economies in the world and it has always amassed people for the life one can create there. But, like every country, it has its own way of functioning and the people living there have their own culture. And if you are also attracted to this country and would like to travel to the United States or you are planning of moving there, you should expect to encounter things you‘ve never seen before or things done differently to what you are used to.

A few days ago, Reddit user Ymij asked people to share some things Americans don‘t realize exist only in the United States. And people had a lot to say. The post got more than 10k answers and Bored Panda gathered a list of some of the most upvoted responses.

More info: Reddit

#1

45 Things That Are Normal In The US, But Seem Bizarre In Other Countries Shared In This Online Group GoFundMe being an acceptable replacement for a health care system

GTrav44 , gofundme Report

#2

45 Things That Are Normal In The US, But Seem Bizarre In Other Countries Shared In This Online Group Literally being too poor to go to the doctor, but have too much income for any kind of assistance

kaden123drake , Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja Report

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Terilee Bruyere
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

THIS! I remember a time that my dad had gotten laid off and my mum was dealing with health issues. They were simply down on their luck and filed for food stamps. Due to their Canadian pension they only qualified for $18 in food stamps a month and made too much to have health insurance, just adding to the health issues.

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#3

45 Things That Are Normal In The US, But Seem Bizarre In Other Countries Shared In This Online Group Tipping as a wage subsidy. Many countries don’t have tipping and those that do generally tip a small amount for good service.

Also displayed prices not including taxes or other fees.

Impossible-Buy-4090 , Wikimedia Commons Report

#4

45 Things That Are Normal In The US, But Seem Bizarre In Other Countries Shared In This Online Group Pronouncing corruption as "lobbying"

GSLaaitie , RJA1988 Report

#5

45 Things That Are Normal In The US, But Seem Bizarre In Other Countries Shared In This Online Group Assuming that everyone on the internet is American until proven otherwise.

Officer_Cat_Fancy_ , Steven Martin Report

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Helena R
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Everything in American-English too rather than British-English. things that are translated from almost any other language into American-English rather than British-English regardless of the subject matter

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#6

45 Things That Are Normal In The US, But Seem Bizarre In Other Countries Shared In This Online Group The pledge of allegiance. If you tell people here that in America they make kids stand up and recite some prayer to a flag every single morning, they'll look at you like you just grew a third arm.

emissaryofwinds , USAG- Humphreys Report

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Karl Baxter
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

We’d call that indoctrination in the UK. I remember speaking with an elderly Italian man who was a child when Mussolini came to power. He told me they were forced to do similar things at school.

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#7

45 Things That Are Normal In The US, But Seem Bizarre In Other Countries Shared In This Online Group I want to say for-profit prison systems.

These things are f***** up. If the state doesn't keep up the prisoner quota they gotta pay a fine to the company they owns the prison.

So this basically makes them try to keep existing prisoners

downtimeredditor , Molly Haggerty Report

#8

45 Things That Are Normal In The US, But Seem Bizarre In Other Countries Shared In This Online Group Gender reveal parties

jemariebearimy , highlander411 Report

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#9

45 Things That Are Normal In The US, But Seem Bizarre In Other Countries Shared In This Online Group People who angrily DO NOT WANT healthcare.

spammmmmmmmy , Presidencia de la República Mexicana Report

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N G
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's so much more than that. It's not that they dont want healthcare, they dont want to pay for SOMEONE ELSE'S healthcare.

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#10

45 Things That Are Normal In The US, But Seem Bizarre In Other Countries Shared In This Online Group Having the restaurant take your credit card - in most countries it's considered impolite to disappear with the card as they might write the digits down to charge extra later. Therefore they normally bring a portable terminal to your table so you can keep the card in eyesight and have the (optional) tip actually charged when the card is run and not added after the fact.

Broadmin , Unknown Report

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Johnny
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Most places use chip-and-pin where they *have* to take the card at the table since you need to enter your PIN. USA credit card banks decided Americans aren't smart enough for chip-and-pin, so we just have chip and an archaic signature.

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#11

45 Things That Are Normal In The US, But Seem Bizarre In Other Countries Shared In This Online Group The Imperial System, Fahrenheits, massive ad breaks. I swear i watched US Television once and i nearly had time to go take a s*** before the adbreak ended. And i'm one of those people that play on their phone while on the throne

Pyanez11 , ilovebutter Report

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#12

I am from Europe and I have never seen in supermarkets scooters for people that are so obese they can't walk by themselves.

indigo-wolf Report

#13

45 Things That Are Normal In The US, But Seem Bizarre In Other Countries Shared In This Online Group Medical debt

CIA_grade_LSD , Grant Source Report

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Winx
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Add "who is paying their debt while also stopping treatment because they can't continue accruing more debt"

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#14

45 Things That Are Normal In The US, But Seem Bizarre In Other Countries Shared In This Online Group Waiting like 8 weeks after your elections till the new guy comes in to power is pretty f****** weird

Snoo61123 , GPA Photo Archive Report

#15

45 Things That Are Normal In The US, But Seem Bizarre In Other Countries Shared In This Online Group Massive gaps on all sides of toilet cubicle doors, like why even bother with a door at all when people can see through so easily

digitalelise , Victoria_Borodinova Report

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Biana Vacker
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

i know- you can literally stare someone in the face while they are going to the bathroom

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#16

45 Things That Are Normal In The US, But Seem Bizarre In Other Countries Shared In This Online Group Flags. Everywhere

psyk738178 , WTF Colorado Report

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Pezor Zass
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

How else can they keep up the illusion that they live in a country worth celebrating?

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#17

This may be a shot in the dark but product prices not including tax when they’re displayed? Like if something says it’s $10 and you only have $10, what’s with the surprise tax at the till?

ninjapotatoprd Report

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#18

Your toxic grind working culture. I find that Americans define their entire personality around their profession. It all feels so shallow and hollow way of living. Like I work so I can do the things I enjoy ( pre covid) I don't work because it defines me as a person.

vietcong420 Report

#19

45 Things That Are Normal In The US, But Seem Bizarre In Other Countries Shared In This Online Group Absurdly long election campaigns. In most countries I've been to election campaigns last a month or two, in the US they seem to go for a full year.

BerserkBoulderer , Unknown Report

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Biana Vacker
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

we get sooo many ads too; they're literally everywhere and most of them are attack ads with questionable information

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#20

45 Things That Are Normal In The US, But Seem Bizarre In Other Countries Shared In This Online Group College sports, people do not care about nor have college sports like we do here.

UnusualLight0 , Unknown Report

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Pezor Zass
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

it's disgusting the amount of money my school spends on sports, and we're not even remotely a sporty school

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#21

45 Things That Are Normal In The US, But Seem Bizarre In Other Countries Shared In This Online Group Food portion sizes... In EU you get food portions you can finish and are generally calculated to be pretty much fill/satisfy you over the entire meal.

When I go to the US I can fill myself up with half of the appetizer

Drumah , Wikimedia Commons Report

#22

45 Things That Are Normal In The US, But Seem Bizarre In Other Countries Shared In This Online Group Unused vacation days

Banana_Gorilla , Unknown Report

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Aroha
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yeah in my country, if you don't take your minimum of 5 weeks of holiday per year, it will be scheduled for you. Literally your manager will force you to relax :D.

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#23

The use of the words junior, sophomore and senior in school. I don't think I have ever heard these outside of an American TV show or movie.

No-Soft-3703 Report

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Kanishka Patel
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yeah it is pretty weird. Why not just say 9th, 10th , 11th, and 12 grade? Seems much more simple. I am going to be in high school next year and I am Indian but I live in America. I am used to saying junior, sophomore, etc. but my mom finds it really confusing. This seems so unnecessary.

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#24

I can't speak for the whole world, but having elections on a weekday seems crazy to me. We do it in the weekend so that people are off work anyway.

frosty_hotboy Report

#25

A single pool of paid time off that you use for both vacation and sick leave. Therefore having to forego vacation to keep a bank of leave just in case you get ill.

littleloucc Report

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Winx
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is a bad policy because everyone comes to work sick so they can still take vacation days.

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Random Anon
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And probably get someone else sick in the process. I never understood this management strategy. Healthy people have a clear mind and produce good work. It's just that simple.

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Johnny
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yup, this is an awful policy, it just encourages people to come to work while sick (spreading their illness) because they don't want to use up their vacation time.

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Robert T
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I still can't get my head around any policy that allots a specified number of days for sick leave. You can't control how long you are sick for. It could be a 24-hour sickness bug, it could be 2 weeks with a virus, 6 weeks for a broken bone, or months and months for cancer treatment. You should not have to forfeit your job just because you get sick though no fault of your own.

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Aria Whitaker
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is not America...this is your company. I have worked jobs that had 3 banks of paid time off: Sick time, Vacation time, and Holiday time. I never had to use any of my vacation or holiday time for an illness. My current job has two banks: Vacation time and Sick time. So this is a private sector thing mostly independent of being in America...its just how your company has structured its time off pay.

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Marco Pragliola
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Doesn't really matter, such policy would be flat out illegal in many other countries.

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Petra Christovová
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Wow, this is crazy. In my country there are vacation days (20-25 days per year) and sick days are completely different thing, described by different laws. Of course after some amount of sick days there are legal steps, like checking the employee if he/she is really ill with random control visits.

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Nevits Yibble
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

We have what's called "DTO" (discretionary time off). No vacation days, no sick days, nothing. When you need time off, you just take it - whenever you want. Who cares why. It's pretty awesome, actually

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Downunderdude
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In my public service job in Australia, I get 4 weeks/year vacation leave and 2 weeks/year sick leave. Both keep accruing. When you retire/resign, unused vacation leave is paid out but not sick leave. So there's no point to 'save up' your sick leave. I can take three days/year sick leave without providing a doctor's certificate - any more than that and a certificate is required. All seems pretty reasonable.

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Violet Smith
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I don't think this ^ is a thing. At least not a US-wide thing. Very little is standardized across the States because "states' rights" and "durrr we're all rugged individualists."

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Sportsgal
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Thats not the case at every job in the US. I have separate annual and sick leave. Always have. This tends to happen in lower level jobs...

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Christine
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My employer, a small family-owned company, just got purchased by a large corporate behemoth. I used to have vacation time, sick time, and PTO, now there is just one pot of PTO for everything. None of us like it because you feel like you can't schedule an early vacation in case you get sick later in the year.

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Melissa Peck
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is what happened at my company after a new CEO was appointed. Then all decisions were made in favor of stockholders. They bragged about the millions then billions of profit and at the same time they told us we would work understaffed so we would work smarter instead of harder. They also tied bonuses to the company's performance instead of ours. We were an insurance company and if there were a lot of earthquakes, flooding , hurricanes, tornadoes, hailstorms, we knew not to expect much. But I worked there for 28 years and they always blamed the higher than expected claims. I ended up quitting due to crazy stress impacting my health in negative ways.

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SirWriteALot
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

USA: you can be sick for 5 days a year. The rest of the world: When you're sick, you're sick. Oh, you were sick during your vacation? We'll reinbourse your wasted vacation days because vacation is supposed to be vacation.

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Joann Casey
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I work for the NHS in the UK and I have 33 days paid leave plus the 8 Public Holidays. I can choose to work overtime for some of it if I wish at 1.5 times my hourly rate. But I have to take 20 days leave a year. This may change now we have left the EU as I think it was part of the EU working time directive.The 33 days comes after 10 years of service, you start with 27 then 29 after 5 years. This is generous compared to most private companies. I get 6 months paid sick but frequent sick above 4% of your working time would be actively managed and I could risk getting fired. Sickness for COVID was not counted towards this during the pandemic, it was recorded as paid medical leave (infection)

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Kathryn Baylis
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Didn’t used to be that way. You also didn’t accrue them one at a time. They were given once you passed the first 90 days, then reupped every anniversary of your hire date. Then, if you put in notice and still had time off left to take, the pay for those days was part of your severance. Unfortunately, that disappeared at least three decades ago.

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Mystery Egg
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That's crazy. I'm in a southern Mediterranean country. We have 27 days paid leave per yearr by law plus another 10 days for sick leave.

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Tim Haight
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I used to work for a comany that lumped holidays sick leave and annual leave as paid time off. It really sucked if you had an extended illness and use a lot of it, then had to take leave with out pay when a holiday came up and the facility was closed.

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Sarah Grape
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

this is similar to excused absences at school. Ive never met an american who thought this was weird or unfair. its always been like this no matter where

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CatWoman312
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Not all companies do this. My husband’s company gives a week of sick days and 2 weeks of pto

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Tuesdays Child
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I rarely took off sick. Having extra vacation days was nice. I will agree that if one is sick, it stinks. I also had a plan that had an extended sick leave after using three of the pool days. I could recover from surgery and still have vacation days.

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Nicki
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It depends on the company, my company got acquired, my sick and PTO was combined, but the acquiring company had separated. They still haven't fixed it, but I have plenty of PTO time, I get almost a month a year right now, and it goes up every few years

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Lisa Jones
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's horrible, yes. Not universal, there are still some companies that separate the two. I've worked for those that do and those that don't.

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Jessie
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yes, and some people don't get any kind of paid time off. They just have to not get paid if they get sick or their kids get sick. It's maddening.

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Pilot Chick
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Many places also have a limit on the number of days you can roll over to the next year making it nearly impossible to save up sick/ vacation time for emergencies.

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The Cute Cat
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That is sad... Me having a week off full pay when my wife gave birth to my 2nd and 3rd child..

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Daniel (ShadowDrakken)
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I've had it as a single pool and as a split pool, and honestly it all washes out the same. We get so little time off in the first place (typically 2 weeks or less annually) that splitting the pool makes no difference.

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B Jones
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Ours used to be separate but they just added it together a few years ago...same total. Makes it easier at the end of the year if you haven't been sick to use it.

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Sodium Lights
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I work for a big American company. The Americans get 10 days holiday. Those of us in the UK get 25.

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Hannah Edwards
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In the time of a pandemic this is a good idea because............oh no, it’s a terrible idea, how is this allowed?

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BonnyDK
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Welcome to my world. Retired teacher here. We got 10 days off a year for both sickness and vacation. However vacation/family illness/ funerals are considered a personal day. And they only approved two a month out of a staff of over 75. Anything over the 10 days is docked from your paycheck. So we called in sick regardless or came in ill.

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Helen Haley
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If you're lucky enough to get vacation days. There are a whole lot who do not. Then there are conditions. You must declare that vacation time x number of days in advance, so, hope you can plan illness.

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#26

People constantly thanking god for every day occurrences

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#27

Those commercials featuring some sort of drug or medication. With the typical closing where the narrator states "Side effects includes blah blah blah...Discuss with your doctor about blah blah blah"

Noor_awsome Report

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#28

Tipping, most other places actually pay their waiters/waitresses and tippings just for extremely good service or rounding up.

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Nikki Hilton
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Already noted. Pay everyone a living working wage (NOT $7.50/hr). Do away with tipping.

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#29

Having to drive everywhere. I'm 27-years-old, not from the US and never learnt to drive. I've also never felt like I needed it.

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#30

It's pretty funny watching Americans moan over their super-cheap petrol prices. "But we drive everywhere, cars are fundamental to our society". Yep, same here in Australia, too. Your fuel is still incredibly cheap.

vacri Report

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Viviane
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I live in Canada and one of my friends did a cross-country drive via the USA to take advantage of cheaper gas.

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#31

Garbage disposal units in sinks. I've been to nearly 20 countries, and I've never seen one.

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Andrew Gibb
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

One of the primary concerns of using garbage disposals is that it puts excess strain on local wastewater treatment centers. All of the food solids in the wastewater must be filtered out. Those solids are used to create fertilizer or are sent to landfills.

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#32

Longer ad breaks in the Muppet Show.

The UK version had two minutes of extra content in every episode due to restrictions on the amount of ads you could play on British TV.

That's 240 minutes of extra Muppet content that most Americans never saw.

JeremiahSpankMouth Report

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Fred and George Weasley
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

the UK has limited ad amounts. theyre regulated, so you can only have 12 minutes of ads per hour. obviously in the US im guessing its not the same

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#33

Playing the national anthem before sporting events. There may be a handful of other countries that do, but in much of the world it's only played for international matches.

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Alexis draskinis
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I still dont understand why its played. Its a sporting event, a game, nothing more. Im a baseball fan & i can care less about it being played. I want to watch the game.

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#34

Your identity politics used to be just in America, then it spilled out like a burst sewage pipe.

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#35

Red solo cups. My european cousins asked me if parties in the us really had those red cups.

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angie but who cares
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

yuppp they taste better for some reason just like a grilled cheese tastes better cut

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#36

45 Things That Are Normal In The US, But Seem Bizarre In Other Countries Shared In This Online Group Bumper stickers. They’re a lot less common in Europe anyway, not sure about the rest of the world.

Random_Machiavelli , dalliedee Report

#37

45 Things That Are Normal In The US, But Seem Bizarre In Other Countries Shared In This Online Group Nearly everything about their high schools

Unfair-Act-4499 , Wikimedia Commons Report

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N G
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That's a bit vague. High schools have lessons across the world, are populated with hormonal teens across the world, have school meals across the world - there's certainly a difference in quality here, but it's not a weird American thing. So, everything else...?

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#38

45 Things That Are Normal In The US, But Seem Bizarre In Other Countries Shared In This Online Group Free refills at restaurants

milwaukeeminnesota , James Petts Report

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SimplySarcastic40
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

one of the things i missed living 9 years abroad was this right here...i drink a lot of water. only water, but a lot of it and having to ask for refills of water and getting side-eye was something i never got used to.

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#39

Stores like Wal-Mart where you can buy everything that are open all the time. Groceries, alcohol, plants, medicine, tires, toys...

The first time I went to Germany on a work trip it was a bank holiday and everything was closed.

I live in Jerusalem now and there is a separate store for everything.

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Terilee Bruyere
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm in the bible belt. Alcohol can be bought 24/6 here (no sales on Sunday) at Walmart but the actual pharmacy is not open at night.

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#41

Graham Crackers.

Remember when I picked up a friend's mother and her friend at the airport, fresh from the US. One of them was like 'They don't have Graham crackers here?' I'm like nah mate we have crackers for everyone.

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#42

45 Things That Are Normal In The US, But Seem Bizarre In Other Countries Shared In This Online Group Parking lot size. I’ve been to about 20 different countries, all over the place, and I have never seen a standard Walmart sized parking lot anywhere out of America.

Upstairs_Cow , Walmart Report

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Theoretical Empiricist
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

You can also thank our tragic shadow of a public transportation system and how far we're spread out. In may instances, driving (and therefore parking) is the only option.

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#43

Buscuits and gravy. This conjures up images of having a plate of cookies smothered in a sauce made from the the meat juices of a roast.

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#44

I wanna say jaywalking. Like, in Europe, you can pretty much cross a road wherever you want but when I visited America there seemed to be this weird sense you were being judged if you walked out into an empty road. Maybe just me idk.

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Ulrike Sponagel
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There is some sort of debate whether jaywalking is or isn’t frowned upon in Germany - many people believe that the Germans are sticklers for traffic etiquette when it comes to walking across a street on a red light, and, indeed, Germans will stand even when it would be safe to cross - for the sake of setting the right example for any nearby children. So, it might be the same everywhere.

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#45

It always surprises me when someone from another country has never heard of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

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Tammy Hawkins
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

We say "peanut butter and jelly" but it really is jam and that has always bothered me. Jam spreads way better than jelly.

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Note: this post originally had 50 images. It’s been shortened to the top 45 images based on user votes.