British Couple Reacts to 21 Things in the US That Puzzle Most Foreigners
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- Опубліковано 19 чер 2024
- British Couple Reacts to 21 Things in the US That Puzzle Most Foreigners
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Original Video - • 21 Things in the US Th...
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Thank you all for your kind words. It is really appreciated ☺️
You are so pretty and sweet and kind! Beesley is so lucky to have you!
@@anastasiarauch4140 aww thank you so much! I’m equally as lucky 🥰🥰
@@millie0804 you're too kind 🥰 can't wait to see more reactions with you!
You are beyond gorgeous!!
You seem pretty cool Millie, I always love my UK cousins and enjoy seeing what ya'll think of our fifty little countries we call states (I know countries are states but I mean states in the colloquial American sense)
Bathroom stalls: in order to be ada compliant in the USA for offices where no children are present the minimum height for bathroom stall space is 7”. This is for wheel chair access so that the toe kick is high enough for wheel chair to turn. Not ventilation related. If children are present it is 12” min height. This allows children to escape in case they lock themselves in. Toilet partitions can be floor to ceiling in height but a sprinkler head must be placed in each stall. ADA is very strict and a lot of design is forfeited because of the strict rules. Hope this helped clear the air!
@Kathy Rigby The regulations is a massive part of why our country is so great. Now that everyone is bent on destroying the regulations they don't like is why we have the mess we're in.
@Kathy Rigby Life safety regulations and the building code are why you don't die in a building collapse due to design and/or construction or from smoke inhalation due to fire. The ADA regs and ANSI A117.1 are why you can still get to your desk at work or use the office bathroom if you break your legs and need to use a wheelchair. These regulations are the least political thing there is. Only idiots want to do away with building and design codes. They're not a "conservative" or "liberal" issue.
@@Zelda_Kitty Actually quite a bit changed after ADA. Prior to that some chain restaurants literally had stalls so tiny, one had to straddle the toilet to turn around and at least one foot had to reach into the next stall to do so. In order to have a stall door reach the floor, at least one stall must have a clear 5' diameter space inside. One small municipality even required the clear turnaround space in the stall must be 7 feet- causing a 9' x 10' room to be allocated for both the men's and women's restroom. ADA changed public restroom design quite a bit.
@@Zelda_Kitty I guess as a Professional Designer whose employer at the time of ADA passage had everyone sit through every day of the National Telecast for Design Professionals regarding ADA (Architects, Designers, Engineers, Contractors, Developers, etc.) my view is different from yours. A fast food chain here in the South just tore down its last "pre-ADA" location a few years ago. Those stalls were smaller than anything I've ever experienced in NYC, Chicago, New Orleans or Europe. Different people have different knowledge and experience. Learning from such people is educational.
In the grocery store I worked at they do safety/security walks, through the sales floor and the bathrooms, to check for trash, and for any kind of emergency. Its a good thing the stall doors are smaller because somebody overdosed, unfortunately they didnt make it
The vacation/sick hours thing... most companies frown on using it, and guilt you and shun you for using it. Also, a lot don't even offer it. We're workaholics because we're told we're lazy and not successful if we're not. Lol I had a giggle at the guy saying Americans didn't want to use vacation days because the real truth is that most of us would love to even have the possibility to take a vacation. Even if we take the days off, we have a "staycation" and use the time to catch up on house chores because we work too much to keep up with it.
This is on point. In my industry, the general reply to time off requests is “we just don’t have anyone to cover those days” additionally, taking paid time off actually costs me money as I make lots of overtime and paid time off only pays for 8hrs a day at regular time up to 40hrs/wk. so it of little benefit to me to take time off. If I take time off, it’s for things I just can’t get done while working and I’m requesting the day/days to get said thing done, not so I can get paid for it but just to have the time to do it
Not to mention many of us can’t afford to travel for vacations/holiday.
@@nicolechai1 But if you have paid time off days you can still enjoy taking days off and staying at home. I thought it was the law that if people work over a certain amount of hours per week then employers HAVE to pay for vacation days ..My husband and I are small business owners and even we offer paid Time off and health insurance
My company I work for will pay you out for what vacation you earn instead of letting you take it. If you do take it then you are usually punished by working even more hours when you return.
@@ginakleinschmidt713 the last company I worked at would let you cash out your vaca time, but not this one.. use it or lose it and we’re not gonna let ya take the days off anyways lol
"Don't feel the need to take vacations" made me laugh so hard....the system is practically made to stop us from taking nice vacations. I've even had a job that penalized me for taking time off.
Same. I once had to use FMLA leave to help a shoulder injury that wasn't healing. I didn't take any time off, I just reduced my schedule from 50-55 hours to 30 hrs for 2 months. My employer didn't adjust my workload at all; I mostly had to cut corners to get it done in less time. Despite this being legally protected "leave," it was held against me for the rest of my tenure with that company - which I suspected, but it was confirmed when my best friend took a management role, after I'd left the company. I ultimately left that company when they kept denying my vacation requests.
Lol definitely true 😂😂😂
There is no "system". It depends on the company. I've worked for companies that will work you to death if you let them. I've also worked for companies that have very generous flex time, don't tolerate working unpaid overtime, and actively encourage taking time off.
I suggest finding those types of companies to work for.
That's because the large corporations only care about the bottom line and expect employees to work 100% of the time. Walmart will fire a person for taking time off for being sick.
@@rossgalbraith3878 In my experience, the latter is extremely uncommon for unskilled labor situations. (Most jobs that don't require a bachelor's or higher.)
I’ve been raised all over the country ( and was born in Hawaii) as my father was Air Force. I can tell you this for certain; Every part of the US is so completely different- I had culture shock when we moved from California to Louisiana. It was so hard to understand why & what they said, ate & behaved ! When I became used to it after 4 yrs we moved to Arizona & no one knew understood me ! The only reprieve was that in some of the 7 states I lived in, sometimes we lived “on the base” where the other kid’s/people were from other places too. My 1st boyfriend -I was 14-was from England -yes the country .
{the crazy part is we lived on “England AFB’” but it’s in Alexandria Louisiana! Totally confusing as a 12/13 yr old 6th grader}
So very true! America is so huge so New Hampshire is going to be so much different from New Mexico, etc. etc. I think I've read the UK is the size of SC and Ga. There's still 48 independent states left. (I love the UK. I watch Britbox 99% of the time and tons of travel UA-cam on the UK, i.e. Canal boat channels and the Monarchy. About the air conditioning most all American states need air-conditioning 6-9 or all 12 mos a year. We'd die with out A.C.
THIS. SO MUCH THIS. (And hello, fellow military brat!) I had the same experience moving from one coast to another and back again, and then my mom and I would go back to live in the South with my grandparents whenever my father was on a tour of duty. After a while, you learn to take it in stride, but the regional differences are still pretty astonishing.
@@Nocturnal_Rites thank you for letting me know…I’m nOt 😜 cRaZy!
One of the comments I hear, especially from Europeans, that makes me (and others) smile is criticism about how "we" drive our vehicles everywhere. Then they visit us and see just how big the US is. A common remark then is "Oh! Now I get it!" A joke I heard recently goes like this. German: "The other day I dropped in on my friend in Denmark for lunch, stopped off in Holland for shopping on the way home and was back in Germany by the time the kinder got home from school. American: "We've been driving eight hours and we're still in Florida!"
And then there is the utter confusion when they see the landscapes changes by state too ie: Badlands, Dessert, humidity, -50 winters, Mount Rushmore, Mountains etc..
Right?! Ever had to drive through Montana from the East to the West? 12 hours and you're still in the same damn state! The state I live in now is relatively small compared to a lot of other states, but it's still the size of the United Kingdom. Texas could fit Germany inside it. Our smallest state of Rhode Island is still larger than the European countries of Luxemburg, Lichtenstein, Andorra, the Vatican, and Monaco! Alaska can span the breadth of all of Europe (excluding Russia).
@@blackviper8632 Alaska saw the extreme geography of the lower 48 and said, "Hold my beer". Huge mountain ranges, polar deserts, vast plains, 100+ degree temperature swings between seasons, endless miles of coastlines. It really tried to outdo every other state all at once.
Exactly!! Hell start in Southern California San Diego & drive to Redding California & you're talking 11 hrs !
@@blackviper8632 California is the same. Let's not talk about Alaska & Texas!
It’s not uncommon for grocery stores to have an entire aisle of top to bottom cereal choices 😆
You're right, all of ours here have top to bottom aisles of just cereal ! .....and the aisles are huge!
I teach international students English, and one of my students couldn't make up his mind for which cereal to buy when he saw how many choices there were. He said "in my country, we have cereal too. Corn Flakes." Made me laugh. 😁
I was thinking the same thing. There's Kelloggs Raisin Bran, Post Raisin Bran and Ralston or store brand Raisin Bran. All come in Bran Flakes only with no raisins also.
I'm American and I think the bathroom stall doors are high so you can see if it's in use or not.
Also entire aisles of top to bottom toothpaste choices!!!
For the date in America, we write it how we say it. So instead of saying "it's the 6th of March", we way "It's March 6th".
I have heard that the reason that bathroom stall doors are designed with such large gaps is to purposefully make people uncomfortable so that they don't spend so much time in there and hold up a line or something.
All you have to do is complain about the installation of the doors and the privacy violation. There are standard strips to install on either the wall edge or the door that covers them entirely. The offenders will have them installed rather than face a lawsuit they already know they will not win.
I have got the Euro date stuck on me, even as a American, born and bred. It does make more sense. So I constantly have to switch it for everyone around me, but I usually write it like 15 March, 2022, which is today. And everyone seems OK as long as I write or abbreviate the month.
@@misskim2058 What kills me is filling out forms in english for other countries - I'm never sure if they have put it in their native day/month format or switched it up because they know it's for Americans to fill out.
Actually, the bathroom stall doors are purposely higher for a few reasons, in case anyone was injured or had a heart attack to be pulled out, instead of busting through the door, and the door is slightly further away from the hinges, creating a gap big enough to see through, supposedly used to deter people from spending too much time dropping a deuce like you said. But it's to allow to see inside for people hiding from police or sleeping in the stall.
I'm born on the 6th of March and thats how I say it
I am from the US and want you to know how much I enjoyed this. It's fun learning about different cultures. You two are making great video content!
The red cups are party cups because they were designed for alcohol. They have three dividing segments to measure alcohol equivalences (in case you want to keep track of how much you are drinking) -- the bottom segment is for stiffer drinks, the middle for wine, and the upper for beer.
Wow-I’m an American and I never thought of that. I just see people using them for beer.
Never knew that ha
American here. Never heard of that
Yep! This is true.
Urban legend. Not really true.
Oh my gosh, as an American, I could honestly say we would LOVE more vacation/personal time, but it's not looked upon nicely. If your work place offers vacation, it's usually a year before you can have one week a year. Even then you can be denied any requested time off if the company feels it would not be convenient for them.
Yeah, not to mention businesses aren't required to give paid maternity leave (or parenting leave). Six weeks *unpaid* leave is all the law requires (as if you can afford being without a paycheck for that long), and if you take it, your employer is very likely to look unkindly upon you, even if they can't legally fire you.
Facts
That sounds really messed up. When I started to work at a new company I was allowed to take a week long vacation immediately. Our HR Department writes us a reminder each year to use up our vacation days before the year ends, because they want us to take that time off.
We're told not to take the full vacation days we have all at once because you could come back to no job once the company realized it could do without you
I would like to add that if you get $10/hr base pay but you actually make $20/hr with commissions you only get the $10/hr on vacation so you are missing half of a check. We usually only take 1 day here and one day there because a whole week your check could be $500 less for that week. 😩
I remember when I went to Europe, once a bartender found out I was American, try would get my drink right away because they knew I would tip them
The aspects I wanted to address are chilled drinks and a/c. :)
I think we go for chilled drinks for two reasons: one, most of the country is hot compared to the UK (more on that in a bit) but for another, I think it's because refrigeration became customary in American homes a good 30 years before it was commonplace in the UK. Refrigerators became a regular household appliance in the US back in the 1920s. However, even before that, people had iceboxes to keep their food cold and purchased ice from vendors door to door. If we didn't, food would spoil much too fast. Also, cold drinks helped people keep cool during hot weather (and again, as you know, most of the US is hotter than the UK at the best of times.)
In contrast, I recall seeing several UK documentary series (Back in Time for Dinner and Hidden Killers of the Modern Home among them) which mentioned that refrigerators didn't become really standard in the UK until the mid-1950s. There were several reasons for that. US power has been kept between 110 and 120 V for appliances pretty much since the late 1800s, whereas in England, different areas had different voltages. Literally, you could buy an iron that worked in one part of the country and not another. Obviously, that made it difficult for appliance manufacturers, which meant it took longer for refrigeration (and other appliances) to catch on. Then, of course, there was WWII and then the austerity that lasted until 1951. Another reason refrigeration was slower to catch on is that you had an option that we didn't: the larder. The larder and the cold shelf, plus daily shopping and a cooler climate, meant that food could be kept reasonably fresh without refrigeration.
All that put together means we love us some chilled drinks and why it's not as standard for you. That said, I *love* British beer and ale (and I'm not a fan of American beer), and you're right: the taste wouldn't be nearly so good if it were served cold. :)
The reason for the A/C (as you pretty much guessed) is the climate. However, a/c's not standard in all of the US, surprisingly enough. In the Pacific Northwest (Washington and Oregon), A/C, especially in homes, is pretty much an anomaly. (Although I'm guessing somewhat less now since the last couple of years of heatwaves.) The climate there is normally very much like that of England, so it's not necessary. In fact, that was the case in some parts of the Midwest as well; a/c caught on as much because of seasonal allergies as for cooling.
Elsewhere in the US, though, especially in the Southwest, it's a different story. A/C is the main reason the South and *especially* the Southwest (Texas, Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona) were able to urbanize at all. The heat is just too brutal otherwise. For example, the average summer temperature in Phoenix, Arizona is well over 100 degrees (that's 38 degrees C to you). It's not uncommon to see 120 degree days, either (49 C for you.)
Here in Texas, we easily get at least 40-50 100+ degree days in the summer, if not more. At the very least, the temps are going to top 95 F (35 C) for at least four months of the year. We're reasonably lucky where I live in that while we often don't get enough rain, at least the humidity is moderate; in southern Texas, the humidity often hits the same percentage as the temperature, and it's like walking through soup. Nor does it cool down at night, at least not where I am, because the area's fairly urban and the concrete's stored the heat. The best you can hope for overnight is 85 F (30 C).
Basically, we don't worry about the heat going out down here, unless it's a once-in-a-century occurrence like the 2021 Snowvid. What we worry about is the *a/c* going out, because it's hot enough here to kill, especially the elderly and young children. I know in our house, if the a/c goes out, we head for a hotel, because within 30 minutes, the house will be over 90 degrees and possibly hotter, which is unsafe for small children and pets (and not healthy for full-grown adults, either.) Fans don't help because the air outside is just as hot.
That said, we do not keep the a/c on in the winter. Our weather's more extreme than the UK on the cold end of things, too. :)
A lot of us do not eat all that fried food! Also solo cups come in lots of colors. Depends on the occasion what color we use. By the way, you two are adorable!
Nor if the store is out except for red it can be pop tea Kool Aid for parties.
Agreed, I was going to comment that I never have and never will eat a fried Oreo, fried banana, fried Twinkie, or deep-fried turkey!
French fries, potato chips (crisps to the UK folks), occasionally chicken is about it. Oh, and mozzarella sticks of course... delicious gooeyness!
One mistake that a lot of Europeans make is that they assume certain regional customs and/or food is country-wide. I see "let's dare ourselves to see what else can be fried" is something done by overweight Southerners.
It's unimaginable to people who aren't trying to block an artery.
But yes, compared to the rest of the world, the US woman are just fat. In Asia we call Americans 'Pandas".
@@MaryofMayberry When you called it pop made me laugh
My grandfather was an architect and he used to always say that public bathrooms were designed that way so that they were easier to mop the floors for maintenance and cleaning as well as safety for fires so if a fire broke out firefighters could be able to see in all the stalls Without having to go to each individual stall in the entire bathroom
The problem is that petite people can be seen! The highest gap in a public restroom door I saw was in north of Michigan.
@@violinogirl - Some public restrooms here in Alaska don't even have a door. Just open with random people walking past.
15 year firefighter here. Had a crackhead light a bathroom on fire at a new modern rest stop off the interstate. So much smoke we couldn’t see shit 😂 hit him in the face with the hose eventually because he had a knife. He was naked as the day he was born 😂 ahhhh crackheads. Always good to remind you how awesome your own life is.
also, not all America is like this, where I live most stall doors go to the floor or a few inches above.
This is an ADA regulation. Has to do with wheel chair accessibility and if children are present then it needs to be 12” in height. If floor to ceiling then a sprinkler head is used in each stall. I am an architect and firefighter, hope this helps.
I love you guys and your reverence. I equally respect our closest Allies. Our forebears could never imagine our mutual respect and ability to keep our freedom’s safe. We don’t always rank in the top of countries to live because we do not have the luxury of all our money put back into our personal country. This is the price we pay to be the world’s police force. A debt we have gladly paid for 100+ years. Thank you for what you do. I am an American female veteran and I salute you both
heating & cooling is practically required even in the Midwest where I'm at, summer can get up to 110°F (43.3°C) and down to -20°F (-17.2°C) in the winter.
just now finally starting to be nice outside , super excited for morel season
Having housed many foreign exchange students over the years, getting their perspective on things American is much like you have reacted to here. But picking them up from the airport, and asking us how many minutes to home, they are a bit shocked at; " we are 4 hours from home"! They are pretty much shocked at the size and scope of our lands. It was always fun to see and hear their reactions.
He said "they wanted to be as respectful as possible." Refreshing to hear these words come out of young people.
Probably because you're used to living in 'Murica. The rest of the planet actually is respectful 🤷♂️
9:35 I lived in Washington state for several years where the climate was colder, and it was actually kind of difficult to find window air conditioning units, and our apartment complex didn't come with it included. If you got hot it was just expected to open the window.
Something else I noticed in England that I LOVED and wish we did here in the US - all of the people running tills were sitting down! Here people develop all these health conditions from standing all day, every day. The grocery checkout guy looked so cute and comfortable at his little desk where he scanned our items :)
In Publix and Walmart the checkout clerks have those scanning guns that keep them hopping, That's especially in Walmart where they tell everyone to leave large items in the shopping cart so that they can quickly scan them with the gun.
The stall heights are for cleaning and air circulation. Bathroom floors in the US are fitted with drains and designed to be flooded and mopped. Less dividers make it easier for mops and hoses.
Yes-nothing to do with law enforcement! At my college, there was an old restroom whose stall doors were so short that users were visible from the neck up!
Why is there also such a large gap around the door on the sides, like an inch or two sometimes? No privacy at all. The side gap was in their image too
I always thought that it was in case of medical emergencies. Like if someone collapsed against the door. The real question is why do they make the door open from the inside?
@@viridiantheforest1037 When I was in Canada, I noticed the stall doors opened outward and thought that made much more sense.
I had no idea of this reason. It's still stupid as is the huge gap on the sides by the door. Heaven forbid you see a woman breast feeding or casual nudity on tv, but lets all watch as we take a dump. WTF America? Also, Why do some people try to have a conversation while you stand at a urinal. Just NO. And I grew up in places that had outhouses in America, and I still want my privacy. We are so messed up in America. lol
As far as the date thing, the way we write the date also corresponds with how we would say the date. So if someone came up to us on the street and asked "What is today's date?", we would never say 5th of March 2021, we would say March 5th 2021 and so this goes hand in hand with 03/05/2021
With doing genealogy - it uses the European format. day/month/year. It is also preferred to actually SPELL the month, so there is no confusion.
In the US military, the format is DD/MMM/YYYY. The months use abbreviated spellings instead of numbers. This avoids any confusion.
If you want to avoid ambiguity YYYY/MM/DD is the correct format. If you're not going as far to use that, matching the way you say things is perfectly acceptable.
I always use YYYY-MM-DD or DD MMM YYYY, but I work in IT and I'm weird that way.
@@richardsteiner8992 yyyy-mm-dd is SO much better in IT and even data entry.
My aunt had a boyfriend she met on a trip to France. He happened to be from London, England. They came back to the United States. Specifically, West Virginia. Niel, the friend from London, saw a black snake in our backyard. He asked: "So, here in the states,you just let snakes run about?" 😂 Yes. For the most part. It keeps rats and other vermin gone. I thought it was the strangest question. No snakes in England?
Nice video. I am from Texas, USA. I have never lived anywhere else. This is what I know / believe …
Bathroom stall doors are made that way for safety of the people using the stall and for the convenience of the janitors.
Air conditioner use varies from state to state. In most of Texas, it is used about 7 months a year… April through October. Whereas in most of Michigan it is not used at all or VERY little.
Tipping is expected for almost all services.
Texas is known as the “friendly” state. In the Native American language of Caddo, Texas means friends/friendly.
The video is spot on about vacation time. That is something that desperately needs to change in the USA. We shouldn’t feel bad about taking time off.
I have visited many states but not all of them. I have never been to New York. Oddly enough I know many New Yorkers and every single one of them (that I know) are actually on the unfriendly side. I’m glad to hear you guys found New Yorkers friendly. I’m wondering if these were mostly being paid to give good customer service. You know… wait staff, shop staff, hotel concierge, etc.
I enjoyed the video. I hope you get more grape flavored things in your shops soon. You’re right…It is yummy!😊
One thing in my bucket list is to visit the Lake District of England. Have you two been?
I live in ny but north 90 miles from the city. From here to the north of the state its called upstate. Nyc is like it's own mixed country and ethnic villages. Our societal needs are different. I find upstate new yorkers to be very friendly in the main. However for many years now, nyc dwellers have been moving north and buying homes. Raised taxes, Raised prices on everything because now it's becoming gentrified and considered wealthier so ... but most are not wealthy here. We struggle to pay the high taxes on our small properties. They changed zoning laws for their own interests. Each house has some land and always a few horses. Tax breaks for farmland. No trespassing signs and they go crazy if a kid walks across their land even a little on their way to or from home. It wasn't like this before. It's now a city expansion. But i'm kind to all. Some don't even realize the havoc they have wreaked on upstate cities and towns.
This is Granny Lisa in southern Oklahoma USA the song that you reacted to God bless the USA with Lee greenwood and the military was accompanied by a group called almost free that is all capello check them out
Correction. The group is home Free
I had a coworker at my summer camp from the UK, and on their first trip to Walmart they just exclaimed very loudly "Look at all the Pop Tarts!"
from what i learned most foreigners go to Walmart
As an American, I want to thank for saying that we are very friendly. I always get the notion that other countries think is rude and unfriendly. I actually believe, mostly in the cities, people aren’t friendly, so it is refreshing to hear that we are friendlier than I’ve been lead to believe
I think many foreigners see us as being fake nice; I think they have a point. While we may come across as friendly that doesn't always mean we personally care or want to invest ourselves into new relationships with strangers.
In the Midwest USA, many people seem to be just as prepared to slap you than smile at you.
Violent crimes are way up and gun sales are through the roof.
As a Canadian who visited the U.S. often while growing up, we often commented that we knew we had crossed the border because the wait staff at restaurants were so much friendlier with the customers.
I think this depends on the state for sure. I knew a man who had been a server on west coast and east coast. We took the train across the states and he said to me that on the west coast you get higher tips if your friendly and smile and laugh and conversational.. he always got unbelievable tips.. Then he moved to east coast and often wouldn’t be tipped or would be tipped very little. People complained about how bubbly and conversational he was etc.. then he learned he was to be seen and not heard and anticipate the need but try not to bother and he started getting way better tips. This has been my experience too. Our country is so big it’s soooo hard to make generalizations about anything in particular haha! But it’s almost like going to a different country in our country ha!
@@brittanygoodrich1927 This definitely depends upon the type of restaurant, too.
Love the fact you guys actually has positive things to say about the USA. Most people (including half of Americans) would take this list as 21 chances to shit on the whole country!
Sales Tax:
This one take a bit of explaining. The United States, is just that, a federation of multiple, self-governed states, each with their own laws and policies. Some states have sales tax (of varying amounts) and some have no sales tax at all. The average US grocery store, for example, carries about 70,000 distinct items (we have big grocery stores). Now imagine one of those chains exists in 13 different states. The logistics of creating price tags and packaging for multiple variants of each product for each state would be staggering. Adding to complexity, some states exempt food or clothing from sales tax, or have tax-free holidays (for example, its common for clothes to be tax-free in August for parents buying new clothes for their kids returning to school), so the tax rate varies on items based on category and date. However, even an idiot can figure out what 8% of any given number is. As long as you know the tax rate, it's not that hard. But its one of those calculations you become accustomed to. For someone who doesn't need to do that mental math often, it could be a bit frustrating. So just assume the price +10% and you'll get change back.
But as many states have no sales tax at all, there, the price is what's listed. This is also true in duty-free shops at the borders, most military bases, and most Native American reservations. Our tax policies are insanely convoluted, but it doesn't require any remarkable feat of intellect to figure out the price of anything, as long as you're expecting it. The problem isn't that it's difficult or confusing, just unexpected for many visitors.
Workaholics:
This is more a stereotype than a fact. The dept. of labor recommends a minimum of 2 weeks paid vacation for full-time workers. But that's a minimum recommendation, not a rule. The only time that's ever really applied is in jobs with a high employee attrition rate. Minimum wage workers who generally last 6 months or less at a job on average for that position. When you get into the professional realm, 3-4 weeks is pretty common. And many employers don't even track time off for some jobs. Take as much as you want, as long as the work gets done, they don't give a shit. The US is getting increasingly warm to the 4-day work-week. It's not ubiquitious, but it's increasingly common outside of service jobs. One thing we are guilty of though... we may compulsively check our work emails on our days off, lol. If someone types specific key words into our office chat, I get a text message, etc. Communication with work is mostly continuous 24/7. Much depends on the industry, the outliers are retail and food service that still adhere to the minimums. And there are always some shitty employers, but they always hemorrhage talent because of such policies, so you really only encounter them at entry-level positions where employee retention is just an afterthought anyway.
Red Solo Cups:
Only true if you're a highschool kid with a keg, or hosting a birthday party for a 5 year old. They're around, in every store, but rarely used in adult life. Maybe for the occasional office party or something.
Deep-Fried stuff:
It exists, but it's kind of a niche thing, not everyday cuisine (unless the person is an absolute lard-ass in one of those mobility scooters, puttering down the aisles of Walmart with a bucket of chicken in their lap, lol). There's 230 million people here, statistically you have to expect some freaks, lol. Aside from them, the deep-fried stuff is more a novelty. Yes, we have deep-fried ice cream (and it's good), but you only see that at fairs and such, you might only have the opportunity to have it every couple of years, it's not what we eat normally.
Pharmacies:
Yep, that's true, they sell lots of other crap too. The profit margins on medications are usually pretty low for the retailer, so they supplement that with other goods, which are usually way over-priced.
Free Refills:
Only for fountain drinks (not alcohol). But hey, you're paying $3 for 20¢ worth of Coca-Cola, in a cup that's mostly ice. You're already getting price-gouged, so if a 1500% profit margin drops to 800%, the restaurants still make money.
Merchandise Returns:
Retailers have to do this because anything bought on a credit card can have payment cancelled in 30 days after the transaction, so it cuts down on people just canceling payment. But more than that, most of the big retailers work on consignment. They don't actually own the products on their shelves, those are the property of various distributors, so the store can just refund it and give it back to the distributor as defective if it's not suitable for resale. If the store owns the inventory, return policies can be more restrictive.
Tips:
They're not obligatory in the US. If they're added to your bill, you're dealing with a shitty company that's scamming you as hard as they are their employees. That said, it is the social convention. We will tip anyone. I left a $20 for the trash collector when I had to throw out an old mattress, he earned it, lol. The common tips are for drivers (cabs/uber etc), wait staff, and barbers/hair salons. Those jobs function mostly on tips. For Bar Tenders, I customarily put down $1 for every round of drinks. Also when gambling, tip your dealer.
Coffee:
Yeah, that's normal to lug around a coffee, or also sodas, energy drinks, water bottles. We stay hydrated and caffeinated.
Iced Beverages:
That's true. With the exception of beer and wine, everything is iced (even coffee and tea).
Air Conditioning:
Yep, if it's over 65°F (18.3°C) in a room, I'm likely to kill everyone in that room. It'll be a blood bath. There's 3' of snow on the ground, and while my AC is off, my windows are open, my fan is on. We can't have the ice in our beverages melting, now can we?
Green Money:
This is actually a security measure. It's a difficult pigment to match in counterfeiting. The pigments used in most green inks fade or wash out very easily. It's just difficult to replicate at scale. Originally, however, the old green inks used were chosen because it was cheap, and it became somewhat iconic.
Thumbs Up:
That's kind of antiquated. We all know the meaning, but I rarely see anyone use that gesture.
Date formats:
I work with both, this is why with most legal documentation, you see the month spelled out. "On the 4th of October, 2021" instead of 4/11/21 vs 11/4/21. All your basic office applications can be set to substitute the full date when you type in a shortened date, so the burden is on the document author to eliminate ambiguity. In digital formats, it makes no difference, and who works with paper anymore? So it's mostly moot.
Baby Showers:
I wouldn't know. That's mostly in the female domain. Men don't get invited to many baby showers (often not even the father, lol). FYI, we're content with this exclusion, please don't invite us, they're tedious...
"How are you"
This is a regional thing, and not my region. But I enjoy giving unique answers. "How are you"... "Sexually Frustrated, and you?" Never pass up the opportunity to fuck with someone.
Bathroom stalls:
All you can see is a pair of shoes, but that's enough to know if it's occupied, which saves the knock, wait for a response, jiggle the door handle routine. People can see my feet, but nobody is chatting with me through a closed door or fumbling with the handle, so it's a fair trade-off.
Speaking loudly:
Yes, it's cultural, if you're speaking and someone needs to lean in to hear you, it's frowned upon. We don't like mumbling, whispering, etc. Speak clearly, confidently and make yourself easy to hear.
Grocery store variety:
We had a visitor (family friend) from Wales come to the states a few years ago. Took her to the Grand Canyon, but nope... the grocery store was the most amazing thing. In fairness, the commercial street of her village could fit entirely under the store's roof, about 6 times over. Americans tend to shop for the week or the month, not daily. And homes are spaced out a lot more, most people aren't walking down to the corner to buy something, it's 20+ miles away. Land is cheap, so you can build big stores easily. We don't rely heavily on public transit, so nobody is carrying one bag of groceries home on a train or bus, they have a car that holds 100 bags. So it's just a natural evolution under those circumstances.
Cabs:
Back seat for the driver's safety. Cab drivers carry cash, so it's not uncommon for them to be summoned to remote locations and robbed.
American's are friendly:
For the most part, this is true. And oddly enough, we're pretty genuine about it, it's not fake or sarcastic. This is more true in rural areas. When you're crowded by 3,000 strangers daily, it's overwhelming and you can't interact with them all, so why interact with any? But when you're in a remote area, and you see someone it's like "Oh hey, another human... it's been a while since I saw one of those, I'm gonna go say Hi".
“Oh hey another human” omg that had me rolling because I live out in the country and I talk to so many strangers, including a German/ British couple who stopped at the same ihop as me.
Tipping your server at a restaurant is more than social convention. It's how they make their living. If you don't tip 15 to 20%, you are considered a lowlife. You may get chased down to cough up.
@@izzonj This really depends on where you're dining. If you're going to Denny's, yeah, they need those tips to get by. Higher-end establishments actually pay servers extremely well.
I know a guy who's making $85k a year salary as a waiter. That's still far from rich, but it's twice the median individual income in the US. But for that, he's a wine expert and basically serves as a concierge at your table... you need ANYTHING, he'll get it. He speaks 4 languages fluently, so he can handle tourists, etc. His place has a strict no-tip policy. And when you're paying $1000 per plate, a 20% tip to move food 20 feet from the kitchen to the table would be excessive anyway.
Not everyone can work in a place like that, of course. That's the top 0.01% of the profession, you need real skills, while most available waiter positions are essentially entry-level and don't pay anywhere near that. But it's important to know.
And the US has a lot of ethnic communities that maintain the tipping customs of their home country.
In many restaurants, if you book a private dining room, the tip is often automatically added to the booking price. Not always, but they'll tell you in advance. This is so you're not rushed out of there by a server trying to get a higher turnover when you've already paid for the room, and for things like parties where you may have an open bar, and don't want to get stuck with an extra 20% on a night that could run you $15k.
There is no single, universal rule for tipping. When in doubt, 20% is a good figure. Of greater importance than the tip, is just awareness and good manners. Worse than not tipping is being that douchebag who takes a full table that could seat 4-6 people, pulls out their laptop and spends 3 hours nursing 2 cups of coffee, lol. Even if he tips $20 on $10 worth of coffee, the server is still screwed because they lost the turnover. To spite what is commonly portrayed on TV, bringing your laptop to a restaurant to work is not "cool", the only people who ever do that are pretentious hipster c*nts, lol. We Americans are friendly, but if you take up a whole table for 3 hours and barely purchase anything, by your second or third drink refill, it'll be at least 50% urine, lol. I know that's very different than in some other cultures and is a big reason waitstaff tend to hate tourists.
I was surprised that our measurements system isn't mentioned as confusing to foreigners: Miles instead of kilometers, pounds instead of kilograms, Fahrenheit vs Celsius, gallons vs liters.
British couple video so used to both metric and "imperial" systems. We still use a mixture in UK despite most of the world using metric.
It’s so we can charge other countries more for the same length of material
I think many countries are familiar with Americans using weird units of measure if they've a passing familiarity with American media.
Those are so annoying really
As an American, I'm surprised that only our drug dealers use the metric system
Baby showers before the baby is born helps the mom-to-be “nest” and lighten the load of what to purchase. It’s to shower her with gifts before the baby comes, so she’s organized and ready to go!
I was incredibly tired once our babies were born and was in no shape for a party. Just my 2 cents.
‘Mercia! 🇺🇸🙃
Liked your two cents... you are right on🦋🦋🦋🦋
It's more common now (since the late 1980's), but prior to that, with the possibility of losing a baby, showers were after the birth.
Until the 1980s there were no sonograms. You did not know boy or girl until the moment of birth. Had to pick names for both too.
All my relatives and friends who are elderly all had baby showers. My Grandma, near 90, said that boy and girl stuff was just the same back then. I love baby showers, baby stuff and giving gifts and party games, triple threat of happiness!
@@robinhollenbeck367 That’s why the showers usually aren’t done until the Mom is well along.
Most of this is accurate. But the tipping thing isn't just a cultural phenomenon, servers here actually have a lower minimum wage than every other worker and rely on tips to make that up! (Although if their tips don't exceed the regular minimum wage their employers are required to make the difference for them.)
Additionally, the blaring AC thing really depends. I have noticed that stores and restaurants tend to do that, but my household and most others I've visited keep their home at a temperature closer to that of the season. For example in my house, during the winter we keep it about 68 and during the summer about 75. So I guess we do like to keep it in a comfortable range...
Also the US is huge! So region matters for a lot of this stuff.
You two are very sweet! Thank you for this video! I have always loved my country, but you have kicked me up to another level! I am proud to be an American, but we owe a lot to England! English people founded our country...thank you! :)
You guys are such a cute couple, and thank you for being so respectful toward us Americans! We get a lot of flack from everywhere (and from within) these days, but most of us are nice, normal, friendly, hard-working, helpful, patriotic, practical, frugal, faithful, and fun people -- especially in "flyover country" -- the *rural* Midwest, which gets overlooked by many and rarely visited...and that's A-OK w most of us because we love the quiet here! ;) Will be checking out your other videos!
Thanks catbird! 🤓👍🇺🇲
It’s always so great when somebody mentions your state when all people do is fly over it
I just love seeing Iowa mentioned
Very well said! 💖
Great comment! My birth state is Kansas. The heartland has a beauty all its own, and I always enjoy driving through those wide open spaces. Special thanks to this young British couple - they kind of bring the world closer together, in a nice way. I think of the Brits as our cousins:)
I love the greeting in korean... they say ' are you at peace?' as their typical greeting similar to how are you... and then you reply ' yes, are you at peace'.
You both seem so genuinely nice and always respectful
just an FYI for the red solo cups, the lines in them are marked for single drinks, as in the bottom line is for spirits the middle is for wine and the top one i s for beer :) the more you know!
edit #1 some restaurants include the Tip in the bill, and people arent aware and they tip ontop of the bill. its kinda shady i think
16:35 Made me really happy when you BOTH agreed at the exact same time that "maybe we just are a bit friendlier." 😁
Sales tax doesn’t just vary from state to state-in some places it varies from county to county or city to city. I’ve always been under the impression that retailers resist including the tax on price tags because they’d rather the product appear to be cheaper.
Years ago I used to sell my custom woodwork at local art fairs. Lots of people would ask me- "Do you charge sales tax?" Each fair would have an agent present from the state revenue dept., so yeah, I had to. I finally made up a little sign- The GOOD news! I don't charge sales tax! The BAD news- the state FORCES me to collect THEIRS!
@@jasonrodgers9063 Oh I love that sign! Can I steal it and use it when I start going to art fairs?
@@MsKing7169 Absolutely! Hope all goes well!
Certain industries charge more than one tax. For example hotels charge city tax, state tax, occupancy tax, tourism tax and some other I cannot recall now.
yes, or even city to city. there is no sales tax in my town, but 15 minutes away is another town that DOES have sales tax.
I enjoy hearing your all’s comments about British practices and customs.
The stalls being too high thing was from an emergency situation law so if you had a seizure, heart attack, etc you can just be pulled out from under since our door locks are normally deadbolts, they are hard to open.
Re: Air conditioning - totally depends on where you live and what season. I'm about 300 miles south of my folks (both locations still midwest) and they may only use air conditioning for a short part of summer vs our area which pretty much runs a/c from April-Oct - mostly due to humidity -combined with over 100f (not uncommon during summer) a lack of a/c is very sweaty. Florida probably runs a/c almost all year and a lot of houses in Colorado don't even have a/c since they typically have really low humidity.
Yes in the Northeast we do not run a/c in winter. Too cold and runs up electric bill.
I live in Minnesota. Air conditioning is run at my house probably 3 to 4 months of the year. Depends heavily on where you live. We live near an interstate highway, so opening windows for outside air cooling leaves us with really bad traffic noise...
Okla all year long unless it's 60 or below which isn't but 2 months out of a year lol
True that. Here in Florida, the A/C is on at least part of the time 10-11 months out of the year. We might get a total of 30 days where it gets cold enough for the heater, like 35-55 degrees.
I'm in Nebraska, and most others need the AC for about 1/3 to 1/2 of the year, depending on what kind of year it ends up being. I say "most others" because I have a condition that makes me generate insane amounts of heat, so I need AC for about 2/3 of the year. To get what a temperature feels like to me, add 12 degrees F/5.6 degrees C to what it feels like to you (assuming you have a normal temperature). So, a typical room temperature of 72 F/22.2 C feels like 84 F/27.8 C to me. The result of this is that I tend to shrug off the cold, to the point that I can shovel snow in a t-shirt and shorts and feel perfectly comfortable, but need AC at full blast at times when a normal person would not need it at all, and would be in danger of heat stroke at temperatures the average person would merely find moderately uncomfortable...
Lmao firstly, loved the video. But I chuckled pretty hard at “putting ice in my soda is such a hassle” and I’m like “okayyyy we’re the lazy ones”😂😂😂
I don't think it's a question of laziness... many Europen restaurants might not even have an ice machine. In the U.S., it's standard restaurant equipment.
She said they have an ice machine, but they can't be bothered with it 😂😂 Lazy bastards. My trays are always full.
This was fun to watch. There are many places that don't have air conditioning. I live in Alaska and don't know anyone that has it even though it can get pretty hot inside during the Summer. Many places that didn't historically get very hot doesn't have air conditioning. My daughter lived in San Diego CA and none of her apartments had air conditioning and neither did her apartent in Portland OR. All of those weird fried food are mostly sold at carnivals and not every day life.
It depends on where in the states you are located. If you’re closer to the southern states, think south of Indiana, you’re going to have the AC set at around 72° F all spring, summer and part of fall. It’s also +90°f during that time. In the winter we have heat.
For public bathroom stalls, there isn't always an "occupied/vacant" sign on the stalls, or the sign is broken somehow. I usually check for feet before opening the stall door just to be safe.
Yeah it's completely normal in the USA to look under a stall door or even knock on it to see if it's occupied
I just push on it to sense if it's been locked. No need to look or talk. If it starts to open and there's someone there, I did them a favor.
It's also a cost saving for the purchaser. Less material = less cost
There are cases where kids go in and lock the door but can't open it. I also saw one where an adult got sick and passed out. So while gross, someone can crawl under the door.
I don't know what part of the U.S they are referring to as far as the stall doors but I've never seen stall doors that high . Must be a liberal tard state thing .
So, I'm sure others have commented on this, but the vacation one isn't necessarily that we don't want to take vacation but more so a lot of people can't afford to. Personally I get worried/anxious about missing one or two days of work because of how that could affect me being able to pay for bills and such.
But overall, from my experience, people here love taking vacations and getting to have fun or relax away from work or home but unless you have enough money to do so it's less likely to happen.
the thing these Socialist Europeans don't understand is, in their countries are centered around their citizens well being, so by law companies have to give them however much paid time off they need to get well. not so in America, you have to keep working until you die. America is not the greatest country in the world.
@@SilentCriket Not sure why there was need to refer to them as you did but I'm very well aware of the differences between Europe and the US with this topic.
I think the US could stand to adopt some policies and such from Europe that could help people and put them at ease by improving the quality of life or at the very least make such a possibility much more easily obtained by the "common person."
Good point! You really have to make good money to afford a “big” ie Europe vacation and not go into debt. Even Disneyland & World have become pricey.
In Canada and most European countries, taking a vacation isn't governed by whether you can afford to or not. A minimum paid vacation time is mandated by law. In Canada the minimum vacation pay is 2 percent of your annual earnings. Most 'starter jobs' at minimum wage include 2 weeks of paid vacation, then vacation time usually increases with years of service. (3 weeks after 3 years, 4 weeks at 10 years, 5 at 15, 6 at 20..etc.) Many employers force staff to take their vacation time because burned out employees are of little value to the company.
Don’t you get paid for hols?
You both exude such positive energy and enthusiasm! Subscribed after only the second video. Keep shining light on the good things we all need more of it.
Thank you for this video. I love the conversation between you too.
I remember the first week of my years of contracting in England and I was so confused as to why my boss kept asking me if I was all right in the mornings. It wasn't until later that I understood this was a common greeting 😌
I thought at first he was concerned by the volume of my voice, haha
Many places in the US now feature a soda machine with 150+ flavors that you can mix and match at will, along with the free refills.
"Mix and match", LOL! I think you mean "Mix". Because if you matched it, that's just pouring more of the same flavor into the same cup.
@@firstnamelastname8060 Are you suggesting that you can't use the same flavor more than once?
@@sorangar Nope. Read again.
@@firstnamelastname8060 I did, you saying you can't match means to me that you're not allowed to use the same one twice.
@Firstname Lastname technically one could match a flavor that the machine doesn't have. For instance, mixing Sobe brand pomegranate Life Water with Mountain Dew results in an apple juice flavor profile, thus you have mixed and matched flavors.
Watched your videos and appreciate your gratitude toward the US 🇺🇸. As a US Marine I appreciate that. 🙏
Thank you for your service. Respect.
@@jaydeedub God bless you and thank you.
there's nothing better than taking your favorite candy bar (mine is twix) battering it in sweet batter, and deep frying it then rolling in powder sugar.
that's a deep fried candy treat you can get at almost any county or state fair in America along with funnel cake.
I actually live in a state in the US that has sales tax already added to the price... which is really hard for me to get used to when I moved here because the other states I've lived in (and the one I grew up in) didn't do that. I'm also the only person I know who specifically asks for my "cold" drinks to be given to me without ice or with very light ice.
I almost always ask for mine without ice - especially if it's to go. Got tired of having just a cup of ice after a few sips. If I'm going to pay for a drink, I want a drink not a couple of sips. lol
@@rhondaflesher8313 Exactly!
I typically do the weekly shopping on Wednesday (my pay day) after work. I am usually tired and I don't like huge crowds, while I am shopping. So in order to get through it as pleasantly as possible, I glue a smile to my face when I enter the store. It's amazing how well it works. I invariably get smiles back and even quite a few nice comments, so I'm really glad that we have that tradition in the USA.
- Free refills: This actually isn't available everywhere. I remember working at a cafe as a kid, and some people from New York were also pretty amazed that we had free refills. But a lot of places do have it.
- Deep Fried stuff: I think for a lot of people, most of the deep fried stuff mentioned is more of a novelty, or maybe an occasional item. Not something you eat regularly.
- Tips: Tips are usually not built into the price. They are completely voluntary, but there is kind of a social pressure to do it, and mainly at restaurants. People don't normally tip at fast-food places either.
- AC always being on: This is news to me. I think it depends on where you live.
- Baby Showers: They're not really celebrations. They're more of just a way for people to give gifts to help out new parents, like diapers, etc.
I think most modern societies enjoy some fried foods, I watched a documentary on KFC in the UK other day. But the random stuff is like you mentioned rare or special occasions like the county fair though I just got a new recipe for some veggies smoked on the smoker and lighter battered and fried.
When they mentioned NY I wonder if they were in NYC I know some of the more touristsy area those restaurants do have an automatic tip added and usually prices are higher. I remember once being in Times Sq and was hungry and think I ate a uno's to grab something and was stupid expensive and was shocked at the auto tip and they also had a box for an added tip like nope. But NYC is like any major city if a decent place prices are higher than out of the city but have learned when traveling to ask locals where to go and stay away from the tourist places.
As for the baby shower I recently wen to one where it was a jack n Jill baby shower normally it's a womens thing and guys usually drink at the bar of the hall being rented and help clean up. But like you said and not sure how other countries are but it's like a wedding registry most showers have lists but even though I don't have kids I have enough friends with them I usually get things off list or needed items like wipes but I look at it like helping a friend out or old saying it takes a village, because kids are expensive.
I do wonder if the UK is like the US in sense of different states things are different prices
Had some deep fried pickles at the local fair one year just to see what they were like. Although the thought of deep fried pickles might make one cringe, they really were not that bad. And they are a novelty because other than at fairs, I've never seen deep fried pickles on a menu anywhere else.
I don't know who you all have been inviting to your showers, or who you're all attending these baby showers with. But in my circle of family and friends and my personal experiences, they are indeed celebrations of the anticipated baby arriving and the family as a whole.
Doing this before the baby arrives of course only makes sense. Because it wouldn't be very thoughtful or compassionate to not give the expectant couple, ample preparation time if we waited until after the baby's birth/arrival to shower them with gifts and necessities for the baby and family.
@@kelly-annflanagan7693 Right. Of course it's done before. And if you have friends and family coming together, you're going to likely end up having a good time. Was just saying that the main purpose, from my experience, is to help the parents out with things they'll need.
Love how respectful you guys are!
With the sales tax, it's even by county. The town I live in is split between counties. When I had to buy a car, I saved a ton of money just by living on the cheaper side of town (further from Chicago.)
Millie, you are absolutely correct. Not sure why I missed this the first time I watched the video. It is bit deceiving to say we run our AC ALL the time here in the US. Of course we don't, Although there are certain places, like office buildings, where the windows may not actually open and so they run their AC more than anyone else. But in our homes, shops and restaurants we would not be running AC if the temperature outside made it comfortable enough to not do so and of course if it was cold outside we would have our heat on, not our AC. I think the understanding here is that we Americans, tend to like being comfortable and as such we will tend to turn on our AC as soon as the temp begins to get near that point. We will certainly open our windows, which is why almost all of us have screens in our windows, when it is nice enough outside so that we are comfortable with the windows open. But again as soon as that sun starts beaming down and things start heating up a bit, we will tend to close those windows and crank on the AC.
And, of course, climate varies wildly in the US. I’ve heard of areas in the Pacific Northwest where many homes have never had AC.
In the south of the USA, humidity is a BIG issue. Even if it is not overly hot out of doors, the high humidity makes life miserable. Air conditioning by the way it works is a de-humidifier and makes everything nicer. Here in Houston, TX we often run the air conditioner even in the winter months. If the humidity gets too high here the ceramic floor tiles sweat and become wet and things like that. Many places do not have AC at all as there is no need to have it, i.e. low humidity year around and milder temperatures.
Oh, I absolutely always run my AC. I live in Florida, though. I did live in Philly for a bit though, and unless it was snowing out, my AC was on.
@@jerrykautz6572 Whrn my cousin was newly living in Florida, he decided to tough it out without AC for several months to save money on electricity. It backfired on him-all the clothing and draperies in his storage space got mildewed and ruined.
The AC may not be on, the fans is to circulate the air.
I moved from United States to Oxford, England for one year and remember shocking the McDonald's staff because I asked for ketchup for my fries. (Vinegar anyone?) Then it was my turn to be shocked by walking into a grocery store and seeing only ONE choice for salad dressing. 🤣
What kind of store were you in and when I lived in Oxford for years and there is lots of salad dressings
I didn't even think McDonald's did vinegar?! I've only ever noticed people having ketchup or BBQ with McD's fries.
Now chips from the chippy... That's when you have vinegar!
@@TheOnlySMG the menu changes according to the region.
OMG 1 salad dressing?! How do they know which one people like the MOST to be so assuming. How boring. I! don't even have just one kind at home. I like a choice to switch to. If say most Americans like Ranch, blue cheese, Italian and or a vinaigrette the most. But we have like 15 or so choices by 5 our more companies.
@@alexsheckell612 I'm talking about UK generally
Coming back to binge watch older videos since finding your channel last month. Love that Millie joined you and adore your channel!
Love that you guys pause the video to discuss!
The bathroom doors isn't just for drug users. It's for anyone who happens to have a medical emergency while on the John. Stall doors usually lock here in the USA, and the door height allows someone to see someone slumped down, and for medical responders or a good Samaritan to pull them out so that they can be worked on.
It also helps if the door decides to get stuck and you need to get out. I saw this happen years ago in school where a girl was in the only bathroom on campus that had doors that were more like house bathroom doors than regular stalls. She ended up getting stuck and the only reason people knew she was in there is because she took her phone with her. It also sucked because depending on what class we were in, there were specific bathrooms we HAD to use so if she went to any of the other bathrooms and got caught she would've been in trouble. They even color coded the bathroom passes to make sure we were going the right way too. Needless to say a lot of us were skeptical about using that bathroom and would rather wait to go during a different class period.
Where i live (just outside of boston, MA) the doors are much much lower to the floor! Atleast the bathrooms I have used, you can only see the persons feet....
In case of emergency all you have to do is lift up on the door. The hinges an latch are designed that way for that reason. I have installed many in schools, churches, government buildings, etc.
In Michigan standard height is 12" and for medical emergency.
It's also cheaper. And American companies are all about saving money!
I say this pretty much every time I hear a Brit talk about taxes: They have to add it on at the last second because the last time Americans were told about a tax too far in advance, it started a war...
LOL, good one... Tea tax?
Lmao... but yeah. You got a point
@@KP-ds4ig nope. I believe the last time was the Whiskey Rebellion of 1791.
Short story: Federal Government imposed the first tax on a domestic product (whiskey) in 1791. Revolutionary War veterans in Pennsylvania screamed "over my dead body" and "you arent the boss of me" for a few years. Washington showed up with between 10,000 and 15,000 militiamen (don't remember the exact number off the top of my head) to call their bluff in 1794. There were a tiny handful of casualties on the rebels' side, Washington won and everybody agreed taxes were going to be a bit of an issue until the end of time 🤷♀️
Let's no forget the tax that started a war was 1%.... Meanwhile we now get taxed on money we earn. Taxed when we buy things. Taxed if you spend that taxed money on property. Don't forget when you die they'll tax it again...
@@derkob6885 taxes pay for everything. If half the country didn't demand a military that cost 20 gazillion dollars a year in order to basically prove a point, schools, healthcare, and everything else than taxes could be cut back down to practically nothing again. But too many people rely on taxpayer funded paychecks now and nobody really wants to decide what to cut or not to; politicians only want to pout and whine.
Let's also not forget it wasn't the amount people had the largest problem with. The problems had more to do with a lack of respect.
So, I live in Northeast Texas and our summers get very hot, like 110 Farenheit.. but in the winter, it can get down to negative temps. So, heating and air conditioning is a must. We rarely turn off our air conditioner from about April to the beginning of October.
As far as bathroom stalls, I'm not really sure 😂
We do have TONS of options at every store. Sometimes it's too hard to choose!
If you come to Texas, we definitely smile A LOT! We are the "friendly" state for sure!
In Minnesota, our winters can see temps as low as -70°, or as high as 105°, depending on the time of year.
When there's a long or slow queue, Americans will often just start a conversation with the strangers around them. The only thing we need to have in common to chat is that we are all stuck in this queue. (And we call queues "lines".)
True and Northerners stand online. Southern stand in line.
Exactly lol but my bf says since I am very US southerner that I am more chatty than Colorado or California. He thinks it's weird we chat with workers around the house giving them drinks even if they are on the clock. You don't leave a southerners house hungry either.
@@MaryofMayberry I’m in PA and I’ve never heard standing online. Lol! We say “in line”. Maybe other states. 🤷🏻♀️
grew up in CT. No one ever waited online... Always in line... Maybe in Maine? Or Wisconsin?
@@Turtle42082 definitely in line
A lot of these things depend on the region you live in-or, possibly, your life style. They aren’t the same everywhere in the country.
About the ice concept; the in-door ice dispenser is a highly popular feature, along with cold water, in refrigerators.
You both are so adorable!!! Subbed! 🎉🎉🎉. The reason the doors are higher in restrooms is so that if someone collapses inside the locked cubicle they can be rescued.
Re: Air conditioning - I was born & raised in Alaska. I’ve never known anyone who has central A/C there. It can get pretty hot sometimes in the summer, but not enough to warrant an entire A/C system. It’s the same with most northern states like Washington or Montana.
Not anymore. I am in Canada in the Great Lakes area. We are so humid and the heat has dramatically increased in the summer.
We need our furnaces in the winter and AC in the summer and into the fall. We joke that we now have two seasons. Hot and Cold. We often are turning off our AC and a week later turning on the Furnace.
Currently live in Alaska. I only know one person that has A/C built in, lots of people have stand alone A/C due to the warmer summers.
When it gets hot out here, everyone flocks to restaurants or stores that have A/C. Or we head to the lakes that are normally too chilly.
I had a friend who went to Alaska in a hot spell. All they had to offer was a fan
I grew up in Michigan and we get alot of snow and almost everyone has a.c.
Yeah this one was way wrong. I think perhaps they were trying to say that all of our office buildings and restaurants have AC on all the time. No question in South Florida for example, AC runs day and night every day and night. Thank God.
I made friends with a British couple, living in Daytona, in the '80s. He totally loved American "Monster Trucks," and she loved the shopping.
😆 🤣 LOL! I couldn't figure out how to turn on the wall heater in a hotel when I was in England !!! I was cold the first night! The second I watched someone at a restaurant turn it on I finally got warm warm in January!! I'm writing from Denver almost in the direct center of America!!!
LOL did you know that the lines in the red cups are measurements for mixed drinks, I live in Alaska and yes I year around run the fan and use AC in the Summer, I am not sure why the stalls are so high perhaps because it is easier to clean as you don't need to open the door too mop but that is just a guess. Liked the reactions both of you should keep it up Thanks for the entertainment I will leave a tip with the like 😊
My sister lives across the pond and we have often had to translate English to English for my brother in law. 🤣 On another note with the tipping in the US a lot of states don't pay servers the same minimum wage. For example they only make like $3 an hour so those tips help make up the difference of their wage
Here in Virginia servers only get $2.13 an hour without tips!
@@ercokatty It has been a long time since I was a server but that is all I made 20 years ago
@@ConsideritJoyHomestead2007 And things haven’t changed much! 🤨
My daughter married a Brit and moved to England.
There are definitely different word exchanges Ex. Potato chips.are.crisps,.
My daughter usually has to translate . my grandson one day not thinking in could hear said mummy tell nana to speak English.
My daughter replied she is American like mummy so is speaking American English.
He said well the tell her she's not doing it right lol
@@ercokatty On top of that, taxes are taken out. Meaning even less lol
When it comes to tipping in the US.. you have to understand that Food servers and other's that receive tips are considered "tipped employees' and have a far lower wage than non-tipped employees.. a tipped employee in many cases receives only a few dollars an hour of actual pay from the restaurant, so they rely heavily on tips to make their living.
IN SOUTHERN CA..THIS HAPPENS IN ONLY SOME RESTAURANTS I THINK The restaurants take part of each tip the server receives too. Apparently they require the server to declare the amount of their tips to allow the restaurant managers to distribute the tips, also to kitchen employees. Do all of the restaurants require this ? I DON'T KNOW. I DON'T THINK THAT THIS IS FAIR EITHER WAY. NOR IS IT CERTAIN TO FALL INTO THE CO-WORKERS HANDS OR POCKETS. I DON'T TRUST THEM REALLY. THE RESTAURANTS I BELIEVE SHOULD BE RESPONSIBLE TO PAY MORE TO THE KITCHEN WORKERS RATHER THEN ' STEAL ' the server through this method. I'm not a server either, nor work in a restaurant. A satisfied employee told me about this practice years ago. I wasn't feeling it as she did. She was easily convinced and young. 🤔
Oh, I do understand about knowing how much the server received in tips for income tax purposes, but that's an entirely separate issue here. I'm so sorry thatnI left that out.
@@bernitacenteno1326 It seems very fair to me actually for the tip for a good meal to be shared between the people who prepared it, served it, and cleaned it up.
Precisely. While the Federal minimum wage overrides most lower wages, a few states (like Georgia where I live) have a very low minimum wage for tipped employees. In 2021, it's still $2.13/hour in Georgia.
That means the "tip" that customers leave can represent a large part of the person's take home pay.
Food servers should be paid better. If a meal has a price, then that is the price, If I feel that the server has done a better than expected job then it should be my choice to tip them. Expecting to be tipped for doing the job you are employed to do is begging in my eyes.
5:00 One of our local pharmacies doubles as a Radio Shack and gun store, :p
In Maine we don't have AC except in the hottest weeks of summer, and even then it's not run non-stop. Office buildings and businesses are air conditioned constantly, however. When I visited the Cotswolds a few years ago I loved having the windows open 24/7 - the weather was so mild and no bugs!
I think the reason for the high stalls in the bathroom is so that you can see that the stall is occupied. The animation shows someone standing, but actually, most people in a stall would be sitting, and their feet would be further back. A low stall might ok, but it would require you to bend over to see if someone is in there. A slightly higher stall door opening allows you to see someone is in there without bending over. And its still low enough to not actually reveal anything.
Hey, just saw this. I lived in London with my British husband so there was a lot I had to get used to. I was shocked to not have air conditioning as I moved there in July of 2005, one of the hottest summers in England in years, go figure. I was horrified at that and no screens on the windows, bug phobic. But we left England to come back to our home here on the NC coast. I chuckled about the ice. Being a southern person I always asked for a lot of ice. And tipping....my husband said "we don't tip." I said well I do, even at the Pub. And y'all forgot one...in the South we "cut" lights on and off instead of turning them on and off. Try looking at some of the crazy things we Southerners say. But air conditioning is needed everywhere. Everybody has summer, even Alaska. I really liked the comments because it brought back the memories for me when I first moved to London. I remember going into a shop and was shocked to find eggs on a shelf in the grocery store. Over here they have to be refrigerated. I have heard it is because during the processing here the outer covering is washed off which does not happen in England but still had a hard time wrapping my head around that. But gotta say y'all (I know it's a Southern thing) have the best dairy, much better than here in the States. I hope y'all will do more video's as I loved it. We left London 16 years ago. Can't say I miss driving on the wrong side of the car and road. But hey, it's all in what you are you are used to. Y'all are a hoot...oh almost forgot, yeah the tax thing is irritating, you never know what it will be, I really like that about England, you always knew what it would cost. Sorry for going on but y'all are great and brought back so many good memories about your great Country !!! And don't forget your Country is beautiful. Country Lanes and really old places, I had never seen anything like that before. Over here we just knock everything down. I do miss England and the amazing places to see there. Oh and watching this video again the vacation is the real deal here. There are many, many businesses where you work for maybe 10 years with only 2 weeks vacation. I remember when I worked in Central London I was so shocked that the day I started working I had 5 weeks vacation. I remember telling my husband that would take you about 15-20 years at a job before you got anything close to that. Suffice it to say my Husband was a bit shocked the first year living here in the South. Please do more video's guys.
I didn't read all of that about 10%
@@devilblueduke that's fine
I've grown up in Arizona and I say "y'all"! Spose AZ is technically a southern state but you never think of it when you talk about "the South"
@@55decoy i know i should lose y'all out of my vocabulary. when i lived in England and let "y'all" slip out they looked at me like i had 3 heads. but then again the British a fascinated with a Southern accent.
@@cathyking8013 I’m from the south too ...I read it all😅❤️
Hi from SW Florida where the AC IS on constantly... The bathroom stall thing is so anybody, elderly, children etc, gets locked in they can get out still. But I agree, the doors could be longer. Thanks for sharing guys!
We use our AC year round. Lol period. I can't sleep in a warm room. Literally. I wanna snuggle up to my covers! That's comfort.
I live in Southern Illinois and our weather usually goes from uncomfortably cold to uncomfortably hot(and muggy) in just a month. Highs in the winter are usually around freezing and highs in the summer hang around 95°-100° (35-37c).
I live in Pennsylvania and that happens in just a day instead of months lol just the other day it was 75° F then the very next day it was in the low 30s
I'm in Tennessee. In the fall we can go from low 30s at night to upper 70s during the day. I would murder people without AC lol
@@mandycreeksquad1722 Mandy, Im here too and you are so right. I thought NY had some wild temp swings. Plus the air here is typically a bit more humid so those swings are even more murderous .
Iowa a couple years ago went from -40s to +30s in a 24 hour period. Ridiculous.
I haven't lived there in decades but I'm originally from Centralia and I still have nightmares about those summers. I like hot but not hot and humid.
Every country has their own customs that foreigners find strange.
Yes indeed Trisha, it's not just the US. Well said, thx for pointing that out. I have travelled many a country and can confirm this statement.
Relax
@@Ann-sv3dz Who needs to relax?
@@trishamurphy3357 Agreed.
You wouldn't believe how many different selections of cereal we have!!!! More than 50. Anyways I loved your video. You both are so cute!!!! huggs!
I live in the north of America. It's not as warm here as it is in the south, but it can still get pretty hot at times. I like my house at about 75 F (about 24 C). We all have automatic thermostats. The thermostat detects a high temperature condition, and turns on the AC until your desired temperature is met. Then it turns it off. It does the same thing with the heating plant in the winter. So, you don't need to leave the AC on all the time. You set your desired temperature, and let the automatic thermostat figure out when to turn it off and on.
The USA has so many different climates all at the same time that it is not accurate to say that the whole nation 'always' uses their air conditioners 'all the time'. We live in a state that can have quite warm summers and very cold winters, so we use the a.c. only in summer, but relatives in other states (more south than we are) use their a.c. almost year 'round.
Can't generalize A.C. running all the time...the U.S. is so vast as are the different zones and climate.
Ditto. It is well below freezing here. Won't use the AC until about 5 months from now!
I know many people that don't own AC and they are wealthy.....it's about weather....
Las Vegas year round
I've lived in the South'rn US all my 62 years & we do NOT use a.c. year round. It's dependent on the local weather in the South'rn states just as it does everywhere else in the lower 48.
As a matter of fact, it's commonly known in NC where I live that the weather vacilates throughout each day & is representative of more than 1 season in a single day.
There are parts of the US where air conditioning isn't common like out west in the cooler dry air. BUT in the deep south, it's ON>
So fun fact about the red solo cups, the indent lines on them are for different pours of alcohol. The lowest one is one oz of liquor, the next is 6 oz of wine and the next one is 12 oz of beer.
One last thing, we don't just have a few more options. At my local Giant Foods, there is an isle for cereal, an isle for cookies, and an entire CANDY isle.
Absolutely!
Same. Also with chips
@@Sara-xd2cj PA can have both sides of an isle!
Cheap, addictive, toxic food with high profit margins… 🤦🏻♀️
The big thing with tipping in the US is that servers are allowed to be paid basically nothing so tips are basically their entire living.
But,As an American many of us give an extreme impression to foreigners. Tipping isn’t mandatory and not everyone does it or by proper percentages either.Many of us tip what we can. Let’s be honest many of us tip but many don’t.We give the impression that they have to and they believe it. Lol
@Kim having worked jobs that earn tips, my experience is that those least likely to be able to afford tips are most likely to tip. Probably because they are more likely to have ( or have had) a job that relied on tips.
Almost 2 decades ago, working for Pizza Hut, I delivered 20+ pizzas to a local NFL player's Superbowl watch party. The man himself paid and gave me exact change to the penny. Same day, two pizzas to section 13 (government assisted) housing got me a $6 tip (unlike today that would be about a 30% tip).
While it's true you don't get, or stay, rich by throwing away money, lots of well off people are the worst for tips. There are exceptions both ways, but it's easier for a service worker to accept the poor guy not tipping.
We always give big tips. I think it should be mandatory. This is how these people make a living.
@@aks4204 They chose that job willingly knowing that a lot of people aren't going to tip them. If everyone tips them, it breaks the system.
@@NikkiTaLance It does not break the system. It allows them to live without stressing how they will pay for a roof over there head. That’s ridiculous! Don’t be cheap! We always give at least 20%, sometimes a bit more.
Happy Thanksgiving! Have a good one.
I think they originally made the bathroom stall doors shorter was for 2 reasons:
1- Children were often getting locked in the stalls. The gap allows them room to crawl out if they get trapped in.
2- The shorter doors allows people coming in the restroom to quickly see which stalls are occupied and which are empty and available to use. This speeds up restroom traffic.
In the Army, it is the day, month, and year. As for the short stall doors, it is to keep people from doing things you would prefer them not to. Drugs, sex, and other things. As for cereal, the average aisle is 50 -50 ft long and one whole side is covered with various selections. Also in Hawaii, I saw a store aisle with one entire side covered in Spam (canned meat), and it's the only state where I have seen that. Love your channel.
The fried Oreos, pickles, twinkies, ice cream and fried cheesecake all sound weird but they are all so good. These foods we find mostly at state fairs that come around yearly. I’m in New Hampshire USA
So am I. Can't help but wonder how many of our traditional New England foods are the same as in the UK. We have baked beans and hot dogs; they have beans on toast. That sort of thing. But New England is the only place with real, genuine, clam chowdah. 😁
Yeah, another American here who says those things are fair novelties - I've never had any of those foods. I've had those fried dough things with powdered sugar a couple times at fairs. It's good I guess.
In the Western part of the country we don’t fry very much either. I usually think of the Southern states when it comes to fried foods.
Don’t forget deep fried Mars Bars
Funnel Cakes!!
Those are so good. I can smell them from blocks away!
Born and raised in Southern California; I’ve never lived in a house without heating & air. Same goes for other warm weather states like Nevada, Arizona, and Texas. Depends on the climate. But those of us in warm weather states are also big sissies when it comes to the cold 😂
Florida girl here. I am a big sissy for the 50 degree or lower. Brrr.
Here in the Midwest USA, if the air isn’t being cooled, it’s normally being heated and vice versa.
Only during some times in the spring or fall do we open our screened windows without artificial temperature embellishments.
When I lived out in Cali (Portervile) to be exact, we had a swamp cooler. It's been 30+ years since I've lived out there but do you still have them /use them out there????
I live in mid Michigan, one of those northern states, and our AC is a removable window unit. we put it in as late as we can, preferably June and leave it in til the end of September. in late October we weather proof the windows with plastic to keep the cold out. But I grew up in Florida and the AC was on until the temp dropped below 65°f then Dad turns on the heat.
Our pharmacy sells gardening stuff too. Not fertilizers and dirt but lots of other goodies.
Fun to watch your reactions. Americanism can be broken down further into Regionalisms. For example, a Coke might be called soda, tonic, or a pop depending on where you are in the US. Lots more, too.
Sodi water is another one.
We call it coke in the south
We call it pop in North
I'm from Indiana and so is my husband he calls it pop and I call it soda. We grew up 15 minutes from each other.
Any soda is a coke in the south.
“Can you grab me a coke?”
“Yeah, what kind?”
In the US, tax rates are set by the states and also the cities, so that the final price of an item differs according to where it is purchased, unlike VAT which is a National tax and is uniform throughout the country.
It's fun watching other people talk about the U.S. It's also quite interesting reading all the comments from Americans and what they think about their own country!!! It really is a BIG country, I've driven through most of it, and lived in many states. The weather is divers and can vary to the extremes. I'm glad you've had good experiences with it. I haven't made it to the UK yet, but it is definitely on my bucket list!!
I used to work in a grocery store. Some items are taxed, alcohol, cigarettes, dry goods, paper goods, hot items from a deli, newspapers, magazines, shampoo, soap, laundry detergent, dish detergent, clothing, etc. Some items are not taxed. Basically, if you can eat it, it is not taxed. Cold items from a deli are not taxed. It also depends on the area you are in. There can be sales taxes by special improvement districts, school districts, cities, counties, and states. All these are setup for the cash register in the store. The clerk has no control.