Hello.I am an American woman and I feel the need to add my 2 cents ,for what it's worth and say something that is very important and interesting to me. The point I am attempting to make will be centered on the remarks made on the differences of customer service ,but my thoughts could be applicable in a lot of other circumstances wherever differences in 2 cultures occur. Basically, that is my point. Differences in any 2 cultures are absolutely going to exist, and that, to me , is important and exciting and deeply appreciated. I love very much flipping my head around ,researching and learning about them. Doing so has given me a deeply felt admiration , love and respect for the people in the UK. In England , it's my understanding that people highly value the privacy they find in their own homes. I'm an introvert,myself, and I am not all that interested in having people visit me in my home as I am in going out to.meet people in community hang outs. Maybe it's because space is at a premium and the population is pretty dense, so people crave their personal spaces,both physically and emotionally . Therefore ,people go.out to meet with others in places like pubs and going out to eat at a restaurant. It's all about socializing with others in the community and in the case of dining out , close friendships. I love this idea. Therefore, when Brits eat out its a great chance to socialize and meals are to be lingered over. A meal can last 3 hours in England because you are enjoying spending time with others. There is no rush at all for servers because it's not what people are there for. This sounds absolutely wonderful to me .I might have to move to England just so I can enjoy doing this.😂 This is my point . Cultures and people are DIFFERENT. It isn't a competition between 1 group.of people and another.One is not " good" and the other " bad". They are different .Each has its pros and cons, but generally speaking , just learn about the other culture, whether you are American or English , but primarily, resoect,love and honor and cherish one another's ways of doing things. It's a beautiful, fun experience .❤
I just visited the UK recently. Scotland and Northern Ireland specifically. I absolutely loved it but I also noticed the large amount of smokers. That was one of the shocks I experienced. I just don't run into that many smokers in the US anymore. Some of this though is probably just a perception issue because the areas I visited in UK are more densely populated so I'd be more likely to be around smokers in that case. Another thing I noticed that threw me off was that the servers in restaurants don't bring your check. I thought I was being ignored every time I went out for dinner but I thought 'that can't be what's going on. It must be a culture difference' so I asked a server and she explained that since they don't work for tips they don't hound you to leave and bring a check to you to get you out of there. You just go to the front and pay whenever you're ready to leave. Also, in the US, every Indian dish comes with rice. No Indian dish in the UK came with rice unless you ordered it separate, at least at the places I went. This isn't any kind of complaint. I don't need the empty rice calories anyway so I didn't care. I just thought at first maybe my order was messed up or something. Also, on the topic of Indian food, in the US, Tikka Masala is sweet and tangy but the dish I had in Belfast was spicy and amazing. That's how you do it! The final difference I noticed was iced tea. I know the UK is a big tea drinking nation and I love tea with dinner as well. There wasn't a single place that served iced tea and when I asked people looked at me funny and one guy asked if I meant that I wanted ice cubes in my hot tea. I was really confused at first. Then a server at a cafe in Derry explained that iced tea isn't a thing in Ireland or the UK unless you want to buy a pre-packaged thing in a grocery shop. Tea is a worldwide drink and I mistakenly assumed black or green iced tea is everywhere. Turns out that might just be an American thing. Anyway, to any UK or Irish residents who see this comment, I love you guys and your countries are wonderful and I hope to visit again someday.
Yesterday I had a terrible experience with a young lady Walmart employee who was shelf filling. There were some empty boxes on the floor some of which had been broken down, I needed one to put my very full arms worth of groceries into so that I could go back to that bloody awful self checkout. She insisted she needed that box I had filled and that I desperately needed, I caved in and took all my stuff out and struggled with it to checkout. I am still mad with her. This Walmart is in Hudson MA, and the incident occurred around 11am Tue 29th Oct 2024 in the cookie isle. With all the security they have it would have been caught on security camera too. I felt humiliated, not one iota of concern that an elderly disabled gent needed to put his groceries in a box that I would have left in the store anyway. In days long gone, these boxes were left near the front door for anyone to take that needed them. Also, the US checkouts are far worse than in the UK, self checkout is almost impossible to avoid, here no human interaction except the people watching out for theft. At least in the UK self checkout is largely something you can avoid but they would also love it if people did it themselves just to save costs.
Oh, but many Americans know that the friendliness in the USA is not entirely honest. You have to be, you want the money and that's all it is. Basically, it's a false friendliness with the idea get out of here quickly but I have your money. All that matters is money money money, but not honesty.
Finding solitude is easier in the US…how can you compare the solitude of a drive between 2 US towns than can be miles apart with living in London! That doesn’t make sense, they are 2 completely different scenarios… if you compared New York City with London then that would be a reasonable comparison and London would win that one due to the huge amount of green spaces, parks etc. London has. Also the UK has many woodlands and parks around most towns you can use along with all of the public footpaths anyone can use even if they cross private land…without being shot! Yes the US is much bigger with lots of space between towns but it usually doesn’t take long to find quiet spaces from living in a town in the UK. Usually just a few minutes drive and you’re in the countryside. If you want something bigger then a drive of as little as an hour or more and you’re at the coast from just about anywhere in the UK, that’s one big advantage of living in the UK and it being much smaller!
Customer service-USA: Good, but just look-out for being wacked a bunch of "extras" on your credit card by restaurants and hire car companies after you have left (of course). This does not happen in Europe because the card transactions are (mostly) closed at the point of sale.
I've had decades of American restaurants and car rental agencies and never once have I been charged an unauthorized fee after-the-fact. That's actually fraud, something the American justice system doesn't take lightly.
The US is almost exactly 40x bigger than the UK and has 5x the people so is 8x more densely populated over all. Also the US has to pay for 4x more road construction per person too. But that's irrelevant, in the cities and towns the UK is closer to NY city level of density everywhere and there are many benefit to that, like public transport makes more sense and walkability with exercise. What you call solitude of the vast wild west, also means unlivable without a car or truck. In densely populated UK, it is still possible to chose to live without a car. Also outside of London, most people can choose to walk from one town to another for a 3mile hike not on a main road but through the countryside trails on farmland hedges, public walkways. You will find a bench to sit down on in the middle of nowhere. Try walking on private land in the US and you get shot at or arrested. The UK smoking part is sad, learn to walk fast past such idiots and hold your breath. On the flip side, people feel more free to do such things, they will never be bothered by police. As for land, I grew up in England in the 60s, every new house built in the 60s had a huge garden 10x times bigger than the yard space I now have in MA, but over the decades, gardens or back yards have dwindled down to a bare minimum on both sides, the front yard of todays new UK builds in now back to near zero, the house is 6ft from the private street. Very sad. In return for densely packed houses, the typical UK house is about 12 to 16ft frontage which means you get several times as many people per mile of road. That means services per mile are covered by hugely more people so fiber internet is everywhere.
Oh come on! Customer Service! You are going to put that on the top, really! American customer service is based on the laws of feudalism, of serfs. Maybe if these people earned enough money and not rely on handouts by their customers to get a wage. This is like saying slavery or child labour is a good idea! Starving your staff of a living wage so you the owner can make higher profits and live a lifestyle non of your staff can obtain because you don't pay them a living wage. They are forced to take the 💩 the customers thriw at them abd still smile and be nice. Wake up call. The rest of the world Servers aren't as nice or good because they don't have to suck up to every customer, they have the dignity of a living wage and know there worth. The other problem is as an American you bring your culture and expectations to other countries and never accept that it's done differently. I would not want to be continually interrupted by a server while I'm eating. In fact I find it offencive and ill mannered. But annoyingly accept it when in America. Equally, I don't want a Sales assistant bothering me, asking me, " What am I looking for," or "can they help." I want a Sales assistant to leave me alone, to look and browse. If not, I'll walk out and won't buy. I want the assistant to be available when I signal, I want their attention. That is my culture. That is my want. That is good professional service to me. It's not in my face, it's not false and I'm left to enjoy shoppingnir browsing. America is larger. But then again your public transport is appalling. The railway system in Britain far outweighs America same with buses. Equally, it means everything is closer to get too even Europe. If you want to feel the space get out of London. Go to any of the moorlands, go to Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland. Sounds like your making an assumption here because you have not experienced it or not seemed it out. Oh again! Americans whinging again because others live their lives differently to them. I used to smoke but gave up over 30 years ago. I'm not a lover of it but it's not an issue unless I'm eating outside while someone is blowing cigarettes smoke my way. Now I don't ear outside on a terrace or outside tables though I would like too. When I do, I try to get a table at the end so I won't have a somker both sides. I try to see if there is an ashtray on the other table, if it's been used. If not it's a good bet their not smokers either. You made me laugh so loud!! American air qualitybis better!!! With all your cars pumping out polution. Trump, doing away with almost everyone Obama brought in to help the planet. Again Americans bringing their assumptions and expectations...you need to do what Ellsa said, Let it Go!!
US Customer Service is a throwback to American Slavery. Being proud of people acting like slaves is repulsive. There are 27.4 empty or abandoned houses for every homeless person in America. 14.6% of UK males smoke and 8.3% of males vape. 13.5% of Americans smoke and 8% use vapes. I wonder what percentage of Americans don't bother to do some research before they post on UA-cam?
1 old men as presidents, 2 Shooting people, 3 Charging for Health care.🤣
Hello.I am an American woman and I feel the need to add my 2 cents ,for what it's worth and say something that is very important and interesting to me. The point I am attempting to make will be centered on the remarks made on the differences of customer service ,but my thoughts could be applicable in a lot of other circumstances wherever differences in 2 cultures occur. Basically, that is my point. Differences in any 2 cultures are absolutely going to exist, and that, to me , is important and exciting and deeply appreciated. I love very much flipping my head around ,researching and learning about them. Doing so has given me a deeply felt admiration , love and respect for the people in the UK. In England , it's my understanding that people highly value the privacy they find in their own homes. I'm an introvert,myself, and I am not all that interested in having people visit me in my home as I am in going out to.meet people in community hang outs. Maybe it's because space is at a premium and the population is pretty dense, so people crave their personal spaces,both physically and emotionally . Therefore ,people go.out to meet with others in places like pubs and going out to eat at a restaurant. It's all about socializing with others in the community and in the case of dining out , close friendships. I love this idea. Therefore, when Brits eat out its a great chance to socialize and meals are to be lingered over. A meal can last 3 hours in England because you are enjoying spending time with others. There is no rush at all for servers because it's not what people are there for. This sounds absolutely wonderful to me .I might have to move to England just so I can enjoy doing this.😂 This is my point . Cultures and people are DIFFERENT. It isn't a competition between 1 group.of people and another.One is not " good" and the other " bad". They are different .Each has its pros and cons, but generally speaking , just learn about the other culture, whether you are American or English , but primarily, resoect,love and honor and cherish one another's ways of doing things. It's a beautiful, fun experience .❤
I just visited the UK recently. Scotland and Northern Ireland specifically. I absolutely loved it but I also noticed the large amount of smokers. That was one of the shocks I experienced. I just don't run into that many smokers in the US anymore. Some of this though is probably just a perception issue because the areas I visited in UK are more densely populated so I'd be more likely to be around smokers in that case. Another thing I noticed that threw me off was that the servers in restaurants don't bring your check. I thought I was being ignored every time I went out for dinner but I thought 'that can't be what's going on. It must be a culture difference' so I asked a server and she explained that since they don't work for tips they don't hound you to leave and bring a check to you to get you out of there. You just go to the front and pay whenever you're ready to leave. Also, in the US, every Indian dish comes with rice. No Indian dish in the UK came with rice unless you ordered it separate, at least at the places I went. This isn't any kind of complaint. I don't need the empty rice calories anyway so I didn't care. I just thought at first maybe my order was messed up or something. Also, on the topic of Indian food, in the US, Tikka Masala is sweet and tangy but the dish I had in Belfast was spicy and amazing. That's how you do it! The final difference I noticed was iced tea. I know the UK is a big tea drinking nation and I love tea with dinner as well. There wasn't a single place that served iced tea and when I asked people looked at me funny and one guy asked if I meant that I wanted ice cubes in my hot tea. I was really confused at first. Then a server at a cafe in Derry explained that iced tea isn't a thing in Ireland or the UK unless you want to buy a pre-packaged thing in a grocery shop. Tea is a worldwide drink and I mistakenly assumed black or green iced tea is everywhere. Turns out that might just be an American thing. Anyway, to any UK or Irish residents who see this comment, I love you guys and your countries are wonderful and I hope to visit again someday.
Yesterday I had a terrible experience with a young lady Walmart employee who was shelf filling. There were some empty boxes on the floor some of which had been broken down, I needed one to put my very full arms worth of groceries into so that I could go back to that bloody awful self checkout. She insisted she needed that box I had filled and that I desperately needed, I caved in and took all my stuff out and struggled with it to checkout. I am still mad with her. This Walmart is in Hudson MA, and the incident occurred around 11am Tue 29th Oct 2024 in the cookie isle. With all the security they have it would have been caught on security camera too. I felt humiliated, not one iota of concern that an elderly disabled gent needed to put his groceries in a box that I would have left in the store anyway. In days long gone, these boxes were left near the front door for anyone to take that needed them.
Also, the US checkouts are far worse than in the UK, self checkout is almost impossible to avoid, here no human interaction except the people watching out for theft. At least in the UK self checkout is largely something you can avoid but they would also love it if people did it themselves just to save costs.
Oh, but many Americans know that the friendliness in the USA is not entirely honest. You have to be, you want the money and that's all it is. Basically, it's a false friendliness with the idea get out of here quickly but I have your money. All that matters is money money money, but not honesty.
Finding solitude is easier in the US…how can you compare the solitude of a drive between 2 US towns than can be miles apart with living in London! That doesn’t make sense, they are 2 completely different scenarios… if you compared New York City with London then that would be a reasonable comparison and London would win that one due to the huge amount of green spaces, parks etc. London has. Also the UK has many woodlands and parks around most towns you can use along with all of the public footpaths anyone can use even if they cross private land…without being shot! Yes the US is much bigger with lots of space between towns but it usually doesn’t take long to find quiet spaces from living in a town in the UK. Usually just a few minutes drive and you’re in the countryside. If you want something bigger then a drive of as little as an hour or more and you’re at the coast from just about anywhere in the UK, that’s one big advantage of living in the UK and it being much smaller!
Customer service-USA: Good, but just look-out for being wacked a bunch of "extras" on your credit card by restaurants and hire car companies after you have left (of course). This does not happen in Europe because the card transactions are (mostly) closed at the point of sale.
I've had decades of American restaurants and car rental agencies and never once have I been charged an unauthorized fee after-the-fact. That's actually fraud, something the American justice system doesn't take lightly.
The US is almost exactly 40x bigger than the UK and has 5x the people so is 8x more densely populated over all. Also the US has to pay for 4x more road construction per person too. But that's irrelevant, in the cities and towns the UK is closer to NY city level of density everywhere and there are many benefit to that, like public transport makes more sense and walkability with exercise. What you call solitude of the vast wild west, also means unlivable without a car or truck. In densely populated UK, it is still possible to chose to live without a car. Also outside of London, most people can choose to walk from one town to another for a 3mile hike not on a main road but through the countryside trails on farmland hedges, public walkways. You will find a bench to sit down on in the middle of nowhere. Try walking on private land in the US and you get shot at or arrested.
The UK smoking part is sad, learn to walk fast past such idiots and hold your breath. On the flip side, people feel more free to do such things, they will never be bothered by police.
As for land, I grew up in England in the 60s, every new house built in the 60s had a huge garden 10x times bigger than the yard space I now have in MA, but over the decades, gardens or back yards have dwindled down to a bare minimum on both sides, the front yard of todays new UK builds in now back to near zero, the house is 6ft from the private street. Very sad. In return for densely packed houses, the typical UK house is about 12 to 16ft frontage which means you get several times as many people per mile of road. That means services per mile are covered by hugely more people so fiber internet is everywhere.
Oh come on! Customer Service! You are going to put that on the top, really! American customer service is based on the laws of feudalism, of serfs. Maybe if these people earned enough money and not rely on handouts by their customers to get a wage. This is like saying slavery or child labour is a good idea! Starving your staff of a living wage so you the owner can make higher profits and live a lifestyle non of your staff can obtain because you don't pay them a living wage. They are forced to take the 💩 the customers thriw at them abd still smile and be nice. Wake up call. The rest of the world Servers aren't as nice or good because they don't have to suck up to every customer, they have the dignity of a living wage and know there worth.
The other problem is as an American you bring your culture and expectations to other countries and never accept that it's done differently. I would not want to be continually interrupted by a server while I'm eating. In fact I find it offencive and ill mannered. But annoyingly accept it when in America.
Equally, I don't want a Sales assistant bothering me, asking me, " What am I looking for," or "can they help." I want a Sales assistant to leave me alone, to look and browse. If not, I'll walk out and won't buy. I want the assistant to be available when I signal, I want their attention. That is my culture. That is my want. That is good professional service to me. It's not in my face, it's not false and I'm left to enjoy shoppingnir browsing.
America is larger. But then again your public transport is appalling. The railway system in Britain far outweighs America same with buses. Equally, it means everything is closer to get too even Europe. If you want to feel the space get out of London. Go to any of the moorlands, go to Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland. Sounds like your making an assumption here because you have not experienced it or not seemed it out.
Oh again! Americans whinging again because others live their lives differently to them. I used to smoke but gave up over 30 years ago. I'm not a lover of it but it's not an issue unless I'm eating outside while someone is blowing cigarettes smoke my way. Now I don't ear outside on a terrace or outside tables though I would like too. When I do, I try to get a table at the end so I won't have a somker both sides. I try to see if there is an ashtray on the other table, if it's been used. If not it's a good bet their not smokers either.
You made me laugh so loud!! American air qualitybis better!!! With all your cars pumping out polution. Trump, doing away with almost everyone Obama brought in to help the planet.
Again Americans bringing their assumptions and expectations...you need to do what Ellsa said, Let it Go!!
That's just your opinion man!-The Dude
US Customer Service is a throwback to American Slavery.
Being proud of people acting like slaves is repulsive.
There are 27.4 empty or abandoned houses for every homeless person in America.
14.6% of UK males smoke and 8.3% of males vape. 13.5% of Americans smoke and 8% use vapes.
I wonder what percentage of Americans don't bother to do some research before they post on UA-cam?
Oh yeah, it's all about slavery. And oppression.