Culture Shocks Moving to Australia | Part 2 with  

The commercialist concept of Black Friday sales has fallen flat in Australia, but no so much because of the Black Friday bushfire history, a lot of people aren't even aware that was a thing now as it's quite far back in history. It's more because it's culturally completely meaningless to us. Shops have spent heaps of money trying to promote the idea only to end up selling no more than they normally would on any other day. Some persist in trying to promote the idea hoping it'll catch on, some new stores try it out each year, but every year more and more stores that have tried it before stop bothering because it's just wasting their money on advertising something that Aussies don't care about. I suspect given a few more years it'll sink it that it's just not worth the expense and effort and it'll fade away into the same irrelevant oblivion as Guy Fawkes night.

I feel the same way as you do Peter. Black Friday, to me, is a sad term & especially as I live in a town that was devasted by bushfire (known as Black Friday) in 1939 AND then again on Black Saturday in 2009 when we lost 173 lives. Yeah the term "Black Friday" in regards to sales is shameful. Just because Halloween is celebrated in the USA doesn't mean we do it here. "Black Friday Sales" seem offensive to me.

@@grandmothergoose I agree with you GG entirely. I mean, we don't even have Thanksgiving here, so why have a special shopping day the day afer it. Stupid, innit?

@@lindylufromoz5111 Halloween isn't exclusively American and definitely didn't start there. It's a Celtic thing from Ireland and Scotland that migrated to the US along with Christmas and Easter. The US became more internationally well known for Halloween because they over-commercialised it (as they do with everything). The reason Australia hasn't celebrated Halloween until more recent decades was due to a long history of cultural and religious repression in the UK, the banning of "excessive festivities", a forced cultural shift towards celebrating Guy Fawkes night instead, and a few other coincidences of timing such as when Australia was discovered the majority of the convicts being Irish... as if they were going to be allowed to celebrate all aspects their culture - most of which had been banned for centuries by this stage - in captivity. What I'm saying is, for many Australians, Halloween does have a cultural relevance, especially for people of Irish or Scottish heritage. But Black Friday sales, that's exclusively a US thing that only holds ties with regards to US culture because it's the day after Thanksgiving which ONLY the US celebrates because it relates exclusively and only to US history.

@@grandmothergoose - Thanks GG, I agree with you. I also admit to downplaying Halloween (for example) to my 7 grandkids (except the youngest one - she doesn't even know what her toes & fingers are yet - but of course I encourage them to follow/do as they choose, even though I know the result of them gorging on a ton of lollies full of artificial additives & really unhealthy crap...then I get their parents to pick them up & take them home with all their craze inducing bags of lollies. Then I sigh loudly & relax doing something I find peaceful. Nice. But yeah I understand all you said. Thanks. - Linda.

The more spiders you have, the fewer flies you have!

@@rossevans1774 and mosquitoes!

@@donnachatterton1639 Yes, and if you are fortunate to have geckos, they cleanup the mossies that escape the harmless Huntsmen spiders!

@@rossevans1774 I hope you are talking about the Native geckos and not the Spiny Tailed Asian House Gecko - the introduced vermin that defecate their bacteria and parasites in your kitchen when they get inside your house.

@@stevegraham3817 It is the many introduced species in Australia that endanger the wellbeing of all Native Australian flora and fauna.

Britain is no different

I watched a Influencer video where they watched a song from Divinyls " I touch myself " . They went all embarrassed and lost for words at the lyrics about her singing about masturbating. Amongst my friends we crack rude jokes at each other about sex in all matter of derogatory ways but its water off a ducks back . Let alone it used to be on daytime radio playing as normal

Australia is almost identical in culture to Britain because Australia was settled by them. What are you talking about?

​@Rusty_Gold85 Lol the song is called "I touch myself" What did you expect?

and most ppl get all their invoices/bills/etc online now so there's really not much to steal from a letterbox lol

so your parents were only 4 and a half kilograms

I agree; I think oversharing is a social media era thing. I'm a Gen Xer and wasn't brought up to discuss super-personal things openly, especially in workplaces etc.

@@FionaEm I'm GenX and although when I was growing up, just like yourself, there was the stigma of don't talk about a lot of things, the reality is, it never helped anyone and caused a lot of social harm. Over time people have become more aware that talking about one's problems, be it domestic violence, mental health, physical health, politics, religion, relationship problems does help people, be it by just getting off your chest, to getting more information to make better decisions, or even finding actual help and solutions. I think it's a good thing that we've gone down this road, because it's helped our society drag itself out of the dark ages, it's reduced the rate of certain crimes and greatly increased people's willingness to report such crimes, it's helped reduce suicide rates, and freed a lot of people from abusive situations. Although I grew up being taught to keep my mouth shut, I evolved and learned that wasn't the best way for society to be, so I embraced the talk about it no matter what it is attitude, long before the internet even existed, along with many other Aussies regardless of age. So no, it's not just a social media thing, it's an advancement of society thing - those of us that had to live suffering in silence were sick to death of having to keep our mouth shut about topics like domestic violence and child abuse, and once the door to speak openly was broken down, every other topic just naturally followed. I'm glad to be living in a country where there's no longer any stigma of shame and taboo stuck on any topic one might wish to talk about, and I'd hate to have to go back to the sort of suffer in silence culture I grew up in. Sure, there's some things you generally don't talk about too openly at work especially if customers are within earshot, despite being less formal than some other countries, work is work not a social event and customers in particular don't really care what toys other people use in the bedroom; but if you have a problem and want to more quietly confide in a work mate or your boss, to reach out to them for help or to get better information on a topic, that's more than acceptable and so it should be. Outside of work however, it's Rafferty's Rules, and so it should be.

So glad you enjoyed it! 😊

​​@@KindaAustralian Me too, although Aussies mostly tend to only talk politics with people they are comfortable with , and socially won't bring it up with people they don't know well, also some Aussie houses have the mail slots in the door.

Boxing Day sales started to be a thing in at least the late 80s because I definitely went to them as a teenager.

@@kayelle8005 In a lot of Australia, shops were all shut on Boxing Day. It changed around 2015. Probably depends where in Australia you live as each state has different policies. I think its pathetic to have Boxing Day sales and think retail workers deserve a day off and they could easily have the sales on the 27th. Greed over worker's rights and I'm not lefty and I don't work in retainl. But fair's fair.

@@BDub2024 agree totally. I’m old enough to remember when all shops closed by 1pm on Saturday. Sunday was for family.

@@kayelle8005 People at work used to whinge about Perth shops being restricted. Most aren't open on weeknights still. In the city CBD only on Friday night still. Suburbs Thursday night. But I feel sorry for the staff when its open all hours (destroy family time and cause more stress for singles even and fragmentation of society). People say that if they don't want to work then they can find another job. But to me that's totally unrealistic and naive about the job market. I say that shops used to shut at 12 noon. People still bought clothes and food, they just were organised with time. Remember the petrol stations. After Sat lunch it was all on rosters.

@@kayelle8005 Where I live (out in the bush) that's still so. We still have shops that shut for lunch.

Huntsman eat red backs so keep them in your house

Completely agree 😊

they are venomous (i dont think any spiders are poisonous, you can eat them if you're so inclined) but yeah nothing to really worry about

​@DaveWhoa Huntsman are harmless. Dafuq are you talking about?

Nup, I fuckin hate when people ask that, fuck that, & I’m Australian & have lived in the UK, who cares what someone does

You could join clubs, build up a hobby, volunteer, get involved in sports etc. You have to get out of your comfort zone and make as much effort as you can. Sitting back and waiting for things to just happen or come to you will never work. If you want it, you have to go and get it 👍🏻

It is theorised that redbacks came to Australia with the Miners 49 who came to the Gold Rushes in the mid 19th century. You will only find them where settlers have been. They are never in the untouched bush. Yes they readily breed with their American counterparts.

so where did they originate from?@@intothenight756d47

Thanks Robert! 😊

Thank you! 😊

And hot cross buns on sale at coles & woolies.😉

I'm mid 50s, and I can't remember a time posties around our way rode little motorbikes or scooters.

Huntsman are not venomous at all. They are harmless

@@dcmastermindfirst9418 (From the Australian Museum website); "Despite their often large and hairy appearance, huntsman spiders are not considered to be dangerous spiders. As with most spiders, they do possess venom, and a bite may cause some ill effects. However, they are quite reluctant to bite, and will usually try to run away rather than be aggressive. In houses they perform a useful role as natural pest controllers. They belong to the Sparassidae family. The website goes on to recommend a cold pack to relieve pain from the bite.

Haha, I’ve seen a Daddy Long Legs , “ Spin Up a Huntsman “ in its web . In the corner wall . granted it was a Smallish huntsman , but still 😮😮

That's why I love huntsmen spiders.

Not very often. We both live away from the really populated areas of the city and I've never seen a spider in the city. Depends on where you live really. Good luck with your move!

No sweat, plenty of people fear them, it's a normal reaction. My son, 27 years, still screeches when he sees one...oddly he doesn't have a problem with snakes.

If you live in an apartment in the city you probably won’t see one at all. Make sure you buy a can of insect spray from your local grocery store for some peace of mind. I’ve lived in an apartment in Melbourne for almost 18 month and haven’t even seen a daddy long legs let alone a huntsman. Congrats on your job and good luck with your move.

You shouldn’t see many in an apartment but in houses in certain areas several times a year. Don’t spray a huntsman as doesn’t work on there hairy bodies. If you can catch them in a container and put them outside good on you but usually a shoe is the answer 🙁

Don't give me a present, I'd rather a gift card or cash... sorry I have all I need and dont want to Marie Kondo unwanted pressies

Lol my mother’s Indian (from Fiji) dad’s an Australian. So growing up I had to constantly go back and forth between Aunty and Uncle for all my elders and the laid back approach of us Aussies have when speaking.

Oh no! Luckily I've only seen them on our hallway walls or ourdoors

@@KindaAustralian when they walk across the windscreen of your car (on the inside!) while you are driving that you truly have a heart attack !

@@PeteV.53 I totalled a car when that happened!