# 16 People On Things They Couldn’t Believe About America Until They Moved Here **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 15, 2013, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/16-people-on-things-they-couldn-t-believe-about-america-until-they-moved-here/673954 "2013-11-15T01:24:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![gracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@gracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gracer)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2013, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/16-people-on-things-they-couldn-t-believe-about-america-until-they-moved-here/673954/101 "2013-11-17T13:19:33Z")
The cashless society was mentioned more than once, which has me confused. On these boards I’m always reading about tipping. So it seems you need to always have spare change with you to tip. If you’re buying a drink you need to tip $1, so for a night at a bar you need lots of dollar bills. You’ll get some in change, probably, but you need to make sure you have some at all times, lest you need something and get run out of town on rail for not tipping. You can’t add the $1 to the bill you pay by card, because that goes to the bank. The bartender would have to take it out of the register and add it to the jar, which only works if everybody else does use cash. In the Netherlands and the UK you never need cash, for anything. Ever. Small market stalls, deliveries, everywhere accepts cards. I live in a cashless society, and cheque-less too. No need for either, ever. I bought something from a market stall last week that didn’t have a card machine, and he let me pay by transferring money on my phone, for the inconvenience of not having a machine. But if you’re tipping everyone all the time surely you need cash. So which is it? Cash or no cash?! ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2013, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/16-people-on-things-they-couldn-t-believe-about-america-until-they-moved-here/673954/102 "2013-11-17T13:29:24Z")
> [@gracer](#): > > The cashless society was mentioned more than once, which has me confused. On these boards I’m always reading about tipping. So it seems you need to always have spare change with you to tip. If you’re buying a drink you need to tip $1, so for a night at a bar you need lots of dollar bills. You’ll get some in change, probably, but you need to make sure you have some at all times, lest you need something and get run out of town on rail for not tipping. You can’t add the $1 to the bill you pay by card, because that goes to the bank. The bartender would have to take it out of the register and add it to the jar, which only works if everybody else does use cash. > > In the Netherlands and the UK you never need cash, for anything. Ever. Small market stalls, deliveries, everywhere accepts cards. I live in a cashless society, and cheque-less too. No need for either, ever. I bought something from a market stall last week that didn’t have a card machine, and he let me pay by transferring money on my phone, for the inconvenience of not having a machine. But if you’re tipping everyone all the time surely you need cash. > > So which is it? Cash or no cash?! Credit card receipts have a line specifically for adding a tip. If you run a tab at the bar for the night you add the tip on the receipt at the end. Why would any of the money paid by credit card go to the bank? ---
**Author:** ![smokey78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@smokey78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smokey78)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2013, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/16-people-on-things-they-couldn-t-believe-about-america-until-they-moved-here/673954/103 "2013-11-17T15:17:52Z")
> [@](#): > > You can enter private homes wearing your shoes in the U.S. > > I was amazed that my friends in Canada expected me to remove my shoes before coming into their house. I’ve heard its that way in Japan too. I thought it was mostly Asian homes. I didn’t know Canadians required that too! When I visit a non-Asian friend’s house, I check and watch if my friend removes her shoes then I do too. My Thai cousin married a white man and they live in Kansas and she “trained” him to remove shoes. She says when friends come to visit they see the stacks of shoes at the door and that the carpet is so clean that they automatically remove their shoes. I always thought that Europeans/early pioneer Americans started the trend when they lived in huts/homes/cabins with dirt floors. I would not remove shoes if there was a dirt floor no sirree ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2013, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/16-people-on-things-they-couldn-t-believe-about-america-until-they-moved-here/673954/104 "2013-11-17T15:21:55Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > I’d argue its not even regional. On my block some asked guests to remove their shoes and some didnt care about it. The popularity of hardwood flooring is making it a bit more common and acceptable to wear one’s shoes indoors, at least if you’re sticking to the main floor. Hardwood’s easier to clean than carpet. ---
**Author:** ![Sahirrnee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sahirrnee/32/13937_2.png) [@Sahirrnee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sahirrnee)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2013, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/16-people-on-things-they-couldn-t-believe-about-america-until-they-moved-here/673954/105 "2013-11-17T15:22:22Z")
If I am going out to eat then I will purposely take cash for a tip. I still have to pay cash to go through the tunnel or over the bridge as well. If I don’t have cash at a restaurant though I will add the tip to the check. The one and only time I went though the tunnel without cash I got a voucher for a free ride from the cashier. I could get one of the EZ passes for my truck but I don’t go through the tunnel or over the bridge often enough to bother. It’s an idea though, maybe I should. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2013, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/16-people-on-things-they-couldn-t-believe-about-america-until-they-moved-here/673954/106 "2013-11-17T15:30:32Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > I encountered that while riding a train across northern Ontario. There was a group of British tourists on the train, and after almost 24 hours of rocks, trees, and muskeg (followed by more rocks, trees, and muskeg) they wondered who owned all this, and where they lived. As to this, my cousin was once engaged to a Dutch lady. She found Canada (North America, really) genuinely unnerving in terms of how empty and open it was; the idea that you could drive for hours and never pass a town of significance was bizarre. Of course, that’s an extreme example because her home country has effectively no wilderness of any kind; there are a few national “forests,” but they’re just big versions of Central Park. The Netherlands is basically one big town. It goes to illustrate, though, how one’s sense of what is geographically correct is set by what you grow up in. ---
**Author:** ![gracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@gracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gracer)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2013, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/16-people-on-things-they-couldn-t-believe-about-america-until-they-moved-here/673954/107 "2013-11-17T17:07:31Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > Credit card receipts have a line specifically for adding a tip. If you run a tab at the bar for the night you add the tip on the receipt at the end. Why would any of the money paid by credit card go to the bank? Sorry I was unclear: I meant it goes to the bank account of the bar, not to the tip jar. I’ve seen the option of adding a tip when paying by card, but not all machines I’ve used have that option. I have in some places asked about that and been told they can’t separate it out. If they do have a separate option for tipping, don’t you have to trust the owner to hand that over? Who do they give it to, the person who served you, or divide amongst all servers? And do they know how much you tipped? Do they get it at the end of each month? What if they’re temping? ---
**Author:** ![Sahirrnee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sahirrnee/32/13937_2.png) [@Sahirrnee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sahirrnee)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2013, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/16-people-on-things-they-couldn-t-believe-about-america-until-they-moved-here/673954/108 "2013-11-17T17:16:39Z")
The people I know who receive tips, the receipts are added up and they get all the tip money in cash at the end of their shift. The receipt will have the tip hand written in and the server number is on the receipt. The only problem for me is that usually the bill is taken out of my account without the tip, then several days later the amount is increased to include the tip. I have to remember that the tip is coming out, but since I don’t run my account balance low it’s not a big deal if I do forget. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2013, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/16-people-on-things-they-couldn-t-believe-about-america-until-they-moved-here/673954/109 "2013-11-17T17:26:35Z")
> [@gracer](#): > > Sorry I was unclear: I meant it goes to the bank account of the bar, not to the tip jar. > > I’ve seen the option of adding a tip when paying by card, but not all machines I’ve used have that option. I have in some places asked about that and been told they can’t separate it out. If they do have a separate option for tipping, don’t you have to trust the owner to hand that over? Who do they give it to, the person who served you, or divide amongst all servers? And do they know how much you tipped? Do they get it at the end of each month? What if they’re temping? That’s true of cash tips as well, as many (if not most) pool tips in one way or another. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2013, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/16-people-on-things-they-couldn-t-believe-about-america-until-they-moved-here/673954/110 "2013-11-17T20:19:25Z")
> [@gracer](#): > > In the Netherlands and the UK you never need cash, for anything. Ever. Small market stalls, deliveries, everywhere accepts cards. I live in a cashless society, and cheque-less too. Not true for me, in the UK. Examples off the top of my head: many parking meters take coins only. Some supermarket trolleys can only be released by inserting a pound coin in the handle. Most vending machines only take coins. “Corner shops” (i.e.“mom & pop” stores) usually have a high minimum spend for card purchases, to cover their card fees. So I can’t imagine going completely cashless. ---
**Author:** ![PookahMacPhellimey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pookahmacphellimey/32/3175_2.png) [@PookahMacPhellimey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PookahMacPhellimey)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2013, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/16-people-on-things-they-couldn-t-believe-about-america-until-they-moved-here/673954/111 "2013-11-17T21:51:31Z")
What struck me in the USA (I’ve visited but haven’t lived there) is the respect for and/or fear of the police. Like when we were pulled over (not doing anything remotely illegal) my American friend was making very sure her hands were in sight and she was being very cooperative and polite. Here in Europe (I’ve lived in The Netherlands, the UK, Ireland and Italy) I think we take cops are lot less seriously. Like, oh my, a cop, now what does he/she want. I’ve certainly given a lot of backchat to police officers. Sometimes I worry that I might get arrested or fined, but that I would never worry that they would use a gun on me or anything like that. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2013, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/16-people-on-things-they-couldn-t-believe-about-america-until-they-moved-here/673954/112 "2013-11-17T22:44:17Z")
> [@Ximenean](#): > > Not true for me, in the UK. Examples off the top of my head: many parking meters take coins only. More and more, the parking meters around here read credit cards. An adhesive ticket is dispensed, and you stick it on the inside of your window. By eliminating the old-style insert-a-coin-and-twist-the-knob type, _everyone_ has to pay. No more parking on someone else’s unused time. > [@PookahMacPhellimey](#): > > What struck me in the USA (I’ve visited but haven’t lived there) is the respect for and/or fear of the police. Like when we were pulled over (not doing anything remotely illegal) my American friend was making very sure her hands were in sight and she was being very cooperative and polite. I ‘have an opinion’ about cops. It’s much safer to keep your hands in sight, and to be very respectful. That aside, a lot of cops will give you a break if you’re nice to them. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2013, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/16-people-on-things-they-couldn-t-believe-about-america-until-they-moved-here/673954/113 "2013-11-17T23:12:41Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Teenagers and young adults often believe that Americans are much more sexually promiscuous than they really are. Someone on another board told a story about an exchange student at her high school who came here mainly because he thought U.S. high schools were like nonstop orgies. He was quite disappointed. > > :rolleyes: Hey, those of us that always lived here were pretty disappointed, too. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2013, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/16-people-on-things-they-couldn-t-believe-about-america-until-they-moved-here/673954/114 "2013-11-17T23:52:44Z")
> [@gracer](#): > > In the Netherlands and the UK you never need cash, for anything. Ever. Small market stalls, deliveries, everywhere accepts cards. I live in a cashless society, and cheque-less too. No need for either, ever. I bought something from a market stall last week that didn’t have a card machine, and he let me pay by transferring money on my phone, for the inconvenience of not having a machine. Yer wot? I know lots of places in England that don’t accept card- the local market’s cash only, fully half the fish 'n chip shops are cash only, and so are some local buses (you can buy advance tickets elsewhere with a card, but on the bus it’s cash only). I’ve had to put stuff back on the shelf and go find an ATM due to being short several times. It maybe depends on where you live, but I’d find it very difficult to go fully cashless. > [@aceplace57](#): > > Can any Brits comment about home improvements in the UK? I’ve seen news articles about Council planning. Someone wants to add a bedroom and bath suite onto their home. It gets denied because that home is planned or designated to have only so much living space? Hope I’m explaining that correctly. 😉 > > If I’m understanding that correctly. Then its different in the U.S. You need permits to add onto a house. But the permits are focused more on the structural engineering design and inspecting the work as it’s completed in stages. Making sure the work is done to code and safe. Remember we’re a lot more squishedintogether than the US- yes, you need to apply for permission, and yes, you may get refused. I’ve not heard of people being refused because it would directly make the house ‘too big’, but if an extension will shade part of a neighbour’s house or garden, (which it likely will in most areas, even suburbia and many rural areas), you may not be allowed. If your house is in some designated areas you may also be refused permission if it would ‘spoil the look’, but that’s more common in touristy districts or for old buildings. There are probably more reasons, to be refused, but seeing as my parents live in a tightly spaced row of houses, and work in a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, those are the reasons I’ve come across. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2013, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/16-people-on-things-they-couldn-t-believe-about-america-until-they-moved-here/673954/115 "2013-11-17T23:57:38Z")
When I was in college there were two exchange students from Nepal who had “heard a rumor” that there were restaurants where you could eat “all of the food you wished at no extra charge.” I asked if they meant a buffet, and they said yes, that was the term they heard used. Even then, Americans tended to view such places as cheap, undesirable places where overweight people shovel food in their faces, but I took these two guys to the local Western Steer buffet (equivalent to a Golden Corral or a Ryan’s type place) because they insisted. They were amazed. They kept posing hypotheticals all centered around the amazement that for one price they could gorge themselves. One said that a King should be brought to tears by such bounty. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2013, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/16-people-on-things-they-couldn-t-believe-about-america-until-they-moved-here/673954/116 "2013-11-18T00:07:15Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Of course, you _can_ drive drunk in America (or anywhere else, for that matter). It isn’t physically impossible. You’d just better pray you don’t get caught and/or kill yourself and/or someone else. > > It’s strictly illegal and the laws are enforced as efficiently as possible. The situation is completely different in Russia, where drunk driving may be illegal but nobody gives a good goddamn. Note how the previous posters said “drinking.” I think that is the difference. Maybe I need to hang out with better people, but in the U.S. usually people don’t think of calling a cab or telling their friends to call a cab unless they are visibly stumbling or slurring their words. They might be well above the legal limit for driving, but the prevailing thought is that unless one is the common perception of drunk, well, what the hell. ---
**Author:** ![gracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@gracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gracer)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2013, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/16-people-on-things-they-couldn-t-believe-about-america-until-they-moved-here/673954/117 "2013-11-18T00:19:11Z")
> [@Filbert](#): > > Yer wot? > I know lots of places in England that don’t accept card- the local market’s cash only, fully half the fish 'n chip shops are cash only, and so are some local buses (you can buy advance tickets elsewhere with a card, but on the bus it’s cash only). I’ve had to put stuff back on the shelf and go find an ATM due to being short several times. It maybe depends on where you live, but I’d find it very difficult to go fully cashless. Manchester. Though I don’t take trolleys at the supermarket. Car parks that I’ve been to have been card, but I don’t use them very often. I haven’t used a vending machine for a long time in the UK, but at my uni in the Netherlands they only take card. What really surprises me is that when it comes to paying by card, the UK/Manchester is ahead of the Netherlands. It must be the only area, technologically. Usually the English are absolute Luddonites IME! But yes, here market stalls accept card, the corner shop takes card, the delivery man, small bars and pubs, everyone. There’s a nice little place in Withington where the machine is always broken and I have to go the hole in the wall across the road, and that’s all I can think of. Buses are a good one though, they need cash. That’s why I have a bike! 🙂 Dutch buses take a universal travel card. (See, back to English Luddonites! Hehe) ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2013, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/16-people-on-things-they-couldn-t-believe-about-america-until-they-moved-here/673954/118 "2013-11-18T00:39:26Z")
Who knew Oasis would propel their fellow Mancunians to make such great technological strides? Surely the Liverpudlians hang their heads in shame. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2013, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/16-people-on-things-they-couldn-t-believe-about-america-until-they-moved-here/673954/119 "2013-11-18T01:25:27Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Of course, that’s an extreme example because her home country has effectively no wilderness of any kind; there are a few national “forests,” but they’re just big versions of Central Park. The Netherlands is basically one big town. Is this the origin of the concept of the U.S. being more environmentally conscious, as mentioned earlier? > [@jtgain](#): > > When I was in college there were two exchange students from Nepal who had “heard a rumor” that there were restaurants where you could eat “all of the food you wished at no extra charge.” I asked if they meant a buffet, and they said yes, that was the term they heard used. > > Even then, Americans tended to view such places as cheap, undesirable places where overweight people shovel food in their faces, but I took these two guys to the local Western Steer buffet (equivalent to a Golden Corral or a Ryan’s type place) because they insisted. > > They were amazed. They kept posing hypotheticals all centered around the amazement that for one price they could gorge themselves. One said that a King should be brought to tears by such bounty. This is the second time this has come up in this thread, and I have to wonder: what did they do/think about the explanation (i.e. that these places simply charge a price that’s more than what the average person will eat in food)? It doesn’t seem that amazing when you put it that way. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2013, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/16-people-on-things-they-couldn-t-believe-about-america-until-they-moved-here/673954/120 "2013-11-18T01:27:20Z")
Former coworker on buffets: ‘Ugh! Steaming troughs of food!’ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/16-people-on-things-they-couldn-t-believe-about-america-until-they-moved-here/673954.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/16-people-on-things-they-couldn-t-believe-about-america-until-they-moved-here/673954.md?page=7)