Yes, but then they can’t fool you into thinking it is cheaper.
Complicated by the fact that there is no national sales tax. Each state has their own or none at all.
I’m old but not that old.
I’m actually finding this one a bit odd, and I wonder now if it’s a regional thing. It’s very rare in my experience to find a restaurant with an exposed-to-the-public soda fountain that isn’t intended to have unlimited refills. Some places will explicitly state that unlimited refills only apply to dine-in customers so that you don’t have people coming in off the street with empty cups filling them up. But I believe the default is on the side of unlimited refills.
Soda is very, VERY cheap for restaurants, and they can still make a profit even selling it at very low prices with people taking multiple refills [random cite].
OK. When I was in California a few years ago, in restaurants the salad was served to be eaten before the main course. No main course until you’d inhaled the salad.
In bars a beer is presented in a capped bottle. No glass. Very odd.
American who has been to Canada here. I’d say that these, and maybe several of the others, are also largely true of Canada. I’d especially emphasize that Canada seemed to have as much of a “Car culture”, if not more, than the USA.
The toilet stall thing amuses me since it’s usually all about “Americans are so prudish and afraid of the human body” and now it’s “What if someone peers in and watches me poop? I need a fortress to secretly poop in.”
People don’t peer in because no one wants to see you poop.
It’s grown out of control. What is it now, 25%? Here it’s 10%, it has always been 10%, and God willing, it will always be 10%.
Jaywalking is an offence in Australia also, so that one doesn’t seem odd at all
It spurred the invention of the DVR. I almost never watch live TV, so I skip the commercials.
You can do as much as you want. Or as little. It’s not a law. 20% is usual. I never give no tip but will go lower for bad service.
I’ve been catching up to what is on my DVR by watching on demand. The bastards put commercials in and don’t let you fast forward but there are a lot fewer.
These aren’t my observations. If you Google 20 weird things about America you’ll get pages of hits to the OP list or some similar. I was just curious as to how much different those are to what would be found in foreign countries.
Tipping for instance. It’s my understanding that wait staff is paid a reasonable wage and that tipping is unusual in most countries.
I think the longer you wait, the less likely commercials are embedded in OnDemand stuff. And some of the less popular stuff allows you to FF. But yeah, OnDemand isn’t quite a perfect replacement for DVR. I use it mostly for when I slip up and forget to DVR or if I want to watch some really old stuff.
For the record, I’ve lived in Manhattan, where jaywalking isn’t so much a violation as it is a religion.
I’m not talking about the law, I’m taking about social conventions, and as far as I know, the social convention is a default tip of at least 20%.
Strange, I don’t think I’ve ever received a beer with the cap still on. And whether you get a glass with it or just the bottle is pretty dependent on the type of bar and how busy it is. Most will give you a glass if you ask.
I’ve always hated the pledge of allegiance too, and from a very young age stopped reciting it with the class. At first I would still mouth the words so I wouldn’t get in trouble, but later stopped even that. It’s pure indoctrination, but also silly since the youngest kids don’t understand what they’re saying and just say things like “… for widget sands…” or whatever.
As an American I think a very weird thing about our culture is the conflict between puritan values (AUGH, I saw a nipple, help!) and the amount of sexual images available in our media. It’s also horrible that we seem to view sex as a bad thing but violence is okay. We have many societal conflicts.
I’m pretty blasé about it. I have 6 or 7 credit cards, and have for many years. I’ve never once had a problem. Once or twice a year I get a call from Fraud Prevention, and it turns out the unusual activity was me doing something unusual. On the other hand, I’ve had several check forgery issues. I’m getting more careful with my checks.
[QUOTE]
[li]The pledge of allegiance is creepy. I realize that most Americans just say it because they have to in school but if you listen to the words it sounds strange to have children just chanting it off.[/li][/QUOTE]
I sure agree with this. Creepy as fuck. I won’t do it, and encouraged by kids to opt out too.
FWIW, I very much agreed [with what you said, that is] when reading through Loach’s list. If the soda fountain is accessible to customers, and there’s no sign indicating otherwise, refills are free.
I stopped reciting the pledge the day they added “under god”. Most of the items, I agree with. The toilets are too low.
The reason for the taxes added at the register is that they (the government) want you to know you are paying taxes. In Quebec (Canada follows the US in the added taxes) it is illegal to advertise “No taxes added” although you can say “taxes included”. The art of taxation used to be called, “The largest amount of pork with the least squeal”, but they seem to have reversed the maxim. Whereas I believe that in most countries, an ordinary working schlub does not have to file any tax return (that was my experience in the three European countries I have received pay in), but the US and Canada require elaborate federal as well as state/provincial returns that generate the largest possible amount of squeal. One result is that Americans believe they pay the highest taxes in the world, while the truth is that, among the industrialized countries, they may pay the lowest.
I was unaware that most bread has sugar in it. But Montreal is unique in having its bagels be sweet. I cannot abide them, although apparently people who grow up with them will kill for them.
I’ll vote for anyone who promises to do away with the pledge. To me it’s not that much different from the Hitler Youth. But we all have Facebook friends who post glurge like “Keep ‘Under God’ in the Pledge. SHARE if you agree”. Get a fucking life, people.
I agree about the drug ads. Presumably your doctor went to med school and gets regular updates on new medicines. If you need it, he should know more than you.