Ok, you furriners, what’s the most arresting things you’ve found while in America? I love to hear these stories of different expectations.
I knew a guy who went back to Japan after living the States for many years, and was semi-horrified to be back on the sardine-packed trains. “I can’t believe I used to do this both directions every day.”
There was a thread like this that I started before, probably over a year ago, but I think it was swallowed in the Great Crash of 2002.
We recently had a training I delivered here and we had some Aussies, SE Asians, Europeans and Indians. To all of them the weirdest part was the commercials for perscription drugs (like Zoloft).
They said, well you can’t just go out and buy it right? you need a perscription… so why advertise it? Wouldn’t a doctor know what to give you.
They do sorta have a point.
I’m an American and I think they’re weird, too. The strangest one (IMO) is for some sort of liquid glue (that purple stuff) to be used in place of sutures. I can’t imagine being in the ER with a huge gash and questioning the doctor’s advice of regular sutures or that other stuff.
“Oh, excuse me, doc, could you use that liquid purple stuff? Not that I’m questioning your years of med school and years of training and experience, but I saw this commercial…” :rolleyes:
I think I remember the thread you’re talking about.
My favorite was the Dutch guy who was amazed that so many Americans eat out for breakfast. He was also amazed at how we eat PANCAKES for breakfast, since pancakes are a dessert/snack item in Europe. And he was really tripped out by International House Of Pancakes – how, so many American leave the house to eat pancakes for breakfast, there’s actually a chain of restaurants that specialize in it!
Back when I was in high school, we had a foreign exchange student from Brazil. One day, on the bus, she became extremely animated, snapping photos and pointing at a semi hauling a mobile home down the highway.
“It’s a house!” she shouted. “There’s a house on a truck! On the road! It’s riding down the road!” Then she burst in to laughter. “They’ll never believe this at home unless I send the photo.”
The thing that always gets me when I go to the States is the use of fractions on road signs: Smith Street 1/4 mile, I-275 3/4 mile, etc. Now, I can handle miles, even though I’m used to kilometres, but the fractions just look so odd. Still, I guess ‘1/4 mile’ is easier to to pick up in a glance than ‘440 yards’…
The size of the restaurant portions.
The TV ads every five minutes, especially ads run directly after the opening credits and before the closing ones.
When I was there in 1994, I used crack up at all the ‘when stunts go wrong’, ‘when animals attack’ etc. programmes with guys who introduced themselves Troy McLure style at the start. Since then though, these programmes have crossed the Atlantic in droves.
I love the fibreglass monstrosities on the side of the road. God bless Paul Bunyon, cows, thermometers and their ilk. Does planning permission exist in the states?
All you can eat for $7 - class.
The obsession with supermarket vouchers.
Filter right on a red light - great idea actually.
Correct etiquette in bars. Between leaving my money on the counter, getting beermats put on top of it when someone bought me a drink, getting ‘buy backs’ from the barman and tipping, I didn’t know where I was.
might not work here as we drive on the left 
Don’t be a sissy, TwistofFate.
Reminds me of when I was in England, I was driving my friend’s car down this country road out near Winchester. It was a two lane road, but no lane markers. Anyway, I was pretty good about staying on the left hand side, but then I needed to make a right onto the main highway. That’s when my American instincts took over. I immediately drove like I would making a right in the States, and wandered over to the right hand side of the road to wait for traffic to clear so I could pull onto the highway.
After I pulled into traffic, my friend deadpanned, “Pretty good, but over here we stay in the left lane.” I knew that…
When I first got to the states, I was most amazed at the drive throughs.
And to this day, places of business that are open 24 hours? My God, that’s amazing. Why the hell do they even need locks on their doors? I can go to Denny’s at two in the morning if I like.
Also, the term “drug stores” throws me for a loop. It sounds illegal to me.
Oh, and the way people (outside the major cities) drive everywhere, like, to a place 2 minutes’ walk away.
The size of a take-away coffee (in New York). It usually comes in a paper cup with a covering, the whole thing being about the size of a soda at McDonald’s.
Beef jerky.
Maitre’d’s (or whatever those people are called who are positioned at the entrance of the restaurant and check whether you can be seated).People who bag your grocery stuff at supermarkets.
Again, in New York: having to haggle to buy simple stuff like consumer electronics. When I ask how much something costs, I’m not used to get the answer ‘how much are you willing to spend?’. Not that it’s bad, but it seriously wierded me out.
Tusculan, were these ‘stores’ by any chance in the back of trucks or on sidewalks? 
They serious don’t do this elsewhere? Man, the over-abundance of commercials is the reason why I only watch PBS!
Oh, and $7.00 for an all-you-can-eat buffet? That’s a rip-off, man. There’s a Chinese buffet by my TKD school: $3.50 for an unlimited lunch. It’s good stuff. 
Laugh-tracks during episodes of MASH.
What’s weird about grocery baggers?
After talking on-line with a friend in the Netherlands, I discovered that apparently, the satandard American bathroom…with tub/shower combo, sink and toilet all in the same room was unusual. At least to him.
Is that odd to anyone else from eslewhere?
In Europe (including the UK), unlike Asia, Australia and the US, it is usually the customer that bags their groceries.
I know… different service ethic, I guess.