That, but there are a couple places where people will treat you like he's saying. California for example. You will get shit from a lot of people no matter how respectful or courteous a smoker you are.
There are some regional nuances. Some places have more strict rules about smoking. Where I live, smoking is not allowed pretty much anywhere inside in public. Even outside, you will get strong side-eye if you smoke anywhere near anyone. Public smoking areas are often out back in the north 40 acres, somewhere near the septic drainage field. Smoking is considered a health hazard pretty much everywhere in the U.S., even by people who still smoke.
I highly disagree with the smoking point as well. I walk down the street on break smoking a cig and no one gives a single shit and I live in a pretty 'woke' lib city where karen's and health nuts are abundant
@@johnswenson9140 Probably you are oblivious to the annoyed people you are passing because maybe you don't care what they think. Maybe you are walking too fast to be annoying them for too long. But trust me, you are annoying them.
I drove 3 hours to have lunch with this guy's mom. Lol...worth every minute. ; ) Just kidding. 3 hours isn't a casual drive, no matter what this guy says.
No sales tax in New Hampshire. That's why we're plagued with folks from Massachusetts coming across the border, buying big ticket items like washers, dryers and ginormous Tv's, driving like complete maniacs.
Americans are only touchy feely with people we know WELL. If we haven’t been friends for a few months, you’re not giving me a hug or a kiss on the cheek lmao.
I'm from California and have family that lives in Colorado and everybody hugs everybody upon being introduced, so his 'don't touch Americans attitude' was surprising and foreign to me.
In my experience, with "How are you?", you're usually expected to answer "fine" or "I'm good" (even if that's not true) then ask "How are you?" back, and they'll answer the same thing, and move on.
Agreed. "How are you?" isn't always meant to illicit an honest response, and usually doesn't get one, but in my part of the U.S., it is usually *treated* like an honest inquiry.
It's the same here on the east coast, every morning when I go to work my bosses ask me how I am and I annoy the shit out of them by actually giving an honest answer and making things awkward, it amuses me way more than it should.
i have a british uncle and I was so confused when he came for his yearly visits and would always ask me "you alright?" and i was like "what? yeah im fine" because its sounded like he thought something was wrong or bothering me
Yep " How are you doing" is a rhetorical question. Don't begin saying I'm under the weather, I lost my wife, job and my dog.. Nobody really interested in how you're doing
When in the US and searching for good BBQ, remember the inverse law of BBQ dining: "The better the building looks, the worse the BBQ is." Find the local crap shack that looks like it should be condemned and they will be the ones with the best BBQ in the area.
Oh look Mr Fancy pants goes to the crap shack BBQ, you need to find the guy on the side of the road under a tent, using a grill that looks like it was wielded from nothing but scrap metal, that is where you'll find the best BBG.
@@torrent0411 lol. I've heard about those guys, but no one I know has had it. Curious if your observation is correct or if the sarcastic humor carries all throughout this comment.
@@NickGreyden Bit of both , i was being sarcastic but the best bbq, i've ever had was in jacksonville florida on some back road under some oak trees under a tent near some church :P Where do you live? Because road side BBQ is pretty common in the south?
Yeah, those hole-in-the-wall mom & pop places are the best for BBQ. Eli's in Dunedin, FL - I miss you! Almost worth the 2-day drive down to Florida from Michigan just for that.
Americans do not tell distance in miles. We tell it in time. "You want to go down this road for about 15 minutes, then take a turn at the giant bear carving." or. "Take the Highway and it'll take you 40 minutes to get there, 45 if you do the speed limit. Or take this back road and you'll be there in 30."
Depends on which part of the country you live in. Where I was raised it was usually in miles. As I got older and met more people from other places, I would usually give time and distance.
Lmaoooo im from Kentucky. Delivering beds and stuff through allll kinds of boony backroads lol. When we get lost thats just about how it sounds everytime
And landmarks, “ya know Hon, go about 10 miles or about 5 minutes when you see Buddy Wilcox sucks barn( his old lady painted it on that barn when he slept with her sister) anyways turn left, then by the old broke down school bus take a right. Now that roads dirt but it’ll turn into the concrete about 2 miles down, crazy ex mayor had a drunk brother that decided to pour some concrete from his truckbed to help Elmer get re-elected, damn truck gets really bad gas mileage now hahahah. Anyway take that sharp curve and hit the gravel road watch the potholes and dogs chasing cars…in fact go slow cause there’s a bunch of deer. If you’re on that road past 2:00 Billy Joe might be a tad napped on the shine so his crop duster might be a little low but that’s good news that means you’re close at the shot up stop sign hang a left and about another 5 minutes your there. It’ll save you about 30 minutes”
@@bartonbella3131 love it... I'm in Tennessee near the KY border....we give simular directions. I was born and raised in Michigan, but I've been in the south a very long time and it's rubbed off. I can actually understand it and repeat it back with a few "bless his hearts" in-between. I live near Franklin, KY. I'm just north of Nashville. See you get on the highway north...but don't you take the interstate this time of day. Go north head up there by where the old flea market used to be....you remember where they used to have the tractors. They done tore that place down...all the new people moving in. Well, that's why there's so much traffic now....you can go that way....or better yet, don't go that way. You should take the old route by the I65 exit then get on , I can't think of what it's called...but you'll see it because it's right there. Oh, there's a Dollar General right there on the corner...maybe it Family Dollar.. but you know it's a Dollar Store somewhere near there.
I live in Maryland in the greater Baltimore area (outside of Baltimore). Maryland is a small state and places outside of Baltimore in the suburbs are densely populated and close together. We measure directions in time too. It will take you 35 minutes given the traffic around the Baltimore beltway to get from Ellicott City, MD or Baltimore for example or an 1 hour to get from Ellicott City to Washington D.C.. In the mid west like in Minnesota where it is a much bigger state and more spred out with long country roads. My Dad has cousins in Minnesota. Every time they come over to Baltimore/D.C. area they want to know how many miles it takes to get from point A to point B. When his cousins come over to Maryland and they want to know how long will it take to get to Baltimore or D.C., my Dad is like "oh it will take you like 35 minutes to get to Baltimore.". His cousins are like, "ok that's fine but HOW MANY MILES is it?".
I don't think he represented the "How are you?" thing completely accurately. Most greeting with strangers I have as a cashier are something like "How are you? Fine, how are you? I'm good, thanks." Its not just "How are you? How are you?"
Yeah, I think he meant more like its not a question that necessitates a diatribe of an answer. Its a "how are you? " "good, how are you"? If your answer isnt "good" its basically common practice to just say good anyways and move on lmao
The smoking thing is a bit of a mixed bag. From my experience, if you smoke then you're more likely to get nasty looks from people, or flat out judging comments from them. However, if you're doing it away from everyone in an open area, it doesn't matter. Nobody wants to smell cigarette smoke.
I HATE it when my friends from Europe get pissed off about tipping. Their argument is, "They should pay their employees more." Well, this is the system and by you not tipping, you hurt the server/bartender who has nothing to do with it. When I go to Europe, I abide by their standards. I remember the first time I went to the UK, I was tipping the bartender after every round and people looked at me like I was trying to show off and the barman looked totally confused. I learned my lesson.
It's not about "not tipping". It's about anti-consumer psychological tactics. The price should be the price. Period. Instead in US there are no regulations, so customers think they have to pay something, but it turns out it's actually more at the tilt.
@@cl1cka the thing is, that's still not the server's fault. The server doesn't own the restaurant or make public policy. They're just trying to pay their rent, not tipping doesn't make at point, it makes a workers life harder.
@@stillmagic714 It's not only the servers, it's everything you buy - you see one price then on the register it's suddenly more.... This is some shady shit...
@@cl1cka it can literally be "shady" only to tourists, the first time they encounter it. Then, you are informed how things work - like everyone in the US knows - so it is not "shady", since everyone is well aware.
Also, the ID thing is much more complicated. Where I live, they don't just ask for your ID, they scan it, so you can't even fake it. And it's at the point where it's just easier if they ask everyone for their ID's so they don't get in trouble. My friend worked at a grocery store and her coworker forgot to ask a customer for their ID, even though the customer looked older. The customer turned out to be from the state liquor commission. The coworker got fired and the store got fined.
Yes, and you can't discount the effect that has on a restaurant's ability to make enough money. I've seen restaurants close because they lost their liquor license and weren't making enough to stay in business anymore.
There is also the Felony offense in most areas. Do not know how it is other places. But Being caught providing Alchole to a minor in the states is a pretty quick way to get arrested and Charged. Some Cops (I repeat SOME as in yoou might get extremly Lucky) might give you a warning. Most will Actually cuff you and put you in the back of a car if your buying it for a minor.
Handshakes are more universal in the US, hugs however are generally reserved for family and close friends that we consider to be family regardless of the fact that you're not related. Some people are ok with both and some people prefer to be left alone entirely. It varies from person to person.
That’s exactly how I am too. If you’re Family by blood or by friendships. I’ll hug them, but if we’re not close a handshake, fist bump, or high-five is what ya get
As a dude in the Midwest, whenever I'm introduced to a lady I hang back and smile and 90% of the time they come in for the hug. Always shook hands or fist bumped (though I've never liked shaking hands) guys pre-Covid.
Seems like men will hug a friend, even a casual one, if they haven't seen them for a couple years or something, while women will hug an acquaintance they don't much care for, if she's with a group of people.
Tips can also make a statement. My mother bought a $10 breakfast and left a $100 tip because she ate there all the time and knew the single waitress was pregnant. This happens often here in the U.S. It's called generosity. I spent several years in the restaurant business when I was younger. I'm a great tipper. These are some of the hardest working people in America.
The ID thing is real. Especially with the 40 years things in some places. I’ve witnessed people who are older complain about it in line all the time when the cashier asks.
Yeah. I used to be a cashier at a place that sold alcohol and cigarettes and had to deal with customers screaming at me all the time because I couldn't sell them anything without an ID. So many people seem to think it's just the cashier being a jerk. It's not. The cashier can lose their job, be fined and even end up in jail for selling to someone without an ID. The business can be fined and lose their liquor license as well.
When I was a waiter, the 30+ year old women almost always enjoyed being asked for ID because it implied they looked young and I couldn't tell they were older. Usually helped get a little better tip. Most new the game, but still seemed to enjoy it.
When I was a clerk in a convenient station in Vegas, I ID'd everyone as in Vegas drinking is 24/7 so you always get the ones younger trying to sneak it, pay someone else to do it, or just straight steal it. The fines are for both the business and you get a separate one.
I’ll never forget my 90 year old grandpa arguing with the person at Whole Foods over this. He forgot his ID, and their policy is to ID EVERYONE. Grandpa did not approve. (Don’t worry, I think my mom offered to pay for the wine instead)
LOL - I've seen some truly messed up things at Red Sox games and especially in the bleachers on a weekend day game. People blitzed prior to a 1PM game.
Indian food popularity in the UK is comparable to Mexican food here in the US. Not just the southwest, but all over the country Mexican food is very popular
The public transport in the UK is absolutely amazing compared to most of the US. Literally unless you live in New York, Boston, or Chicago or maybe 1-2 other cities here...you need a car. We don't really have a national train Network like you do in the UK.
I wanted to comment this. They are complaining about a train being cancelled at 9pm.... We don't even HAVE a train in 90% of the country lmao. He is saying theirs is bad we are saying we don't HAVE one lol.
@@d3eztrickz Yeah, I don't think they understood the point being made, but that's the fault of the video. There is NO public transportation in a lot of the country, and where there is some outside of major metropolises, it's incredibly sparse. Many places don't even have taxi services.
@MARK WARDS You can blame those amazing train routes becoming bike trails at least in part on the privatization of Amtrak. Private interests gutted the public transport sector.
Our towns and cities are very much auto-centric. This came from so much of our cities, towns, and suburbs being built, unlike Europe, after the car became widely available. Go to the center of Boston, Chicago, New York City, etc. and you will find good public transport and relatively poor options for driving and parking your personal car.
Indian food is popular in the US in lots of cities now as there’s been a lot of Indian immigration over the last couple decades especially. It’s more popular in some places than others though for sure.
You usually have to be in a decent sized US city or college town to find an Indian restaurant. They exist, but are not nearly as common as they seem to be in the UK. Chinese, Mexican and Italian restaurants are much more common over here.
The government also gave states am incentive to raise the drinking age to 21. If they raised the age, their state would get funding for their roads. If they didn’t raise the age, they would lose the funding.
They misunderstood what he meant about buying alcohol.I think he was referring to the drinking age being much lower in European countries than it is here.
Very true. Subways exist only in the largest cities, "trams" are still pretty rare, and commuter rail is unreliably and often non-existent. There are buses, but they are unreliable and often unsafe. Travel between cities is usually by car or plane; Amtrak is available but really only competitive in the Northeast corridor and some other dense urban areas.
@@stevewixom9311 But even when there are enough people and interest it just doesn't happen. For example: Atlanta-Hartsfield is the busiest airport in the country and the need for more space has been an issue for years. The mayor of Columbus, GA has wanted the city to be home to an expansion of the airport. It's only a couple of hours away by car so they could have international flights come into Columbus and have public transit take people to Atlanta (or other major GA cities). And there's already a lot of traffic between the two cities, enough to justify bus/train service even without an airport expansion. The problem isn't population or distance, the problem is politics. (A lack of public transit is also a problem within cities too.)
i live in the 'burbs and there's a bus stop at the end of my street and in the 22 years i've been alive i've never seen a bus actually pick anyone up there
@@RectPropagation Public transport is a perfect example of what is known in economics as an inferior good. Meaning that as people's incomes go up, they use less of the good. So, here in the US what happens to the poor person who has to take public transportation for their job? As soon as they can, they buy a car.
In my travels all over America and the few other countries I’ve visited or worked in. A great trick I’ve learned about finding really GREAT places to eat at is to ask your cab driver where they like to go eat there lunch at. The cab drivers always know the best places to to eat at with the best food and prices too
I’m a waiter, thanks for looking out for us. People are very rude sometimes to us and don’t realize that we have to be face to face with so many people everyday and one bad or rude table can really tick us off. The energy you give me is the same that I will give back. People who tip good and comeback usually get the best treatment cause you realize that it’s a mutual relationship. If my customer is polite, I will be respectful. If my customer is patient I’ll make sure they get something like a free soup or salad. If they tip decent and were chill, you are damn sure I will give them attention and service when they come back. We don’t ask for the most money, we just ask for respect and just a little money to add to the 2-3 dollars we earn an hour.
@@johnalden5821 lol New Orleans is so depressing when you’re sober. Especially in the summer because it’s so humid and smelly. I genuinely felt bad for the locals
@@kindadecent9754 I stayed with a few locals in Nola two years ago and they love it there. I don't think residents go near Bourbon Street or any of those tourist drags very often. It did feel like the air was trying to suffocate me, however
50 States; the District of Columbia (DC); 5 permanently inhabited territories/commonwealths (Puerto Rico 🇵🇷, US Virgin Islands 🇻🇮, American Samoa 🇦🇸, Guam 🇬🇺, & Northern Mariana Islands 🇲🇵); 3 non-permanently inhabited territories (Midway Island, Wake Island, & Johnson Atoll); 8 uninhabited island territory’s (2 disputed); 3 Freely Associated States (Palau 🇵🇼, republic of the Marshal Islands 🇲🇭, & Federated States of Micronesia 🇫🇲); and several hundred “sovereign domestic dependent nations” (The various Native American and Alaskan Inuit nations, reservations, & confederations)
I’m American and I can confirm unless we know you or are on that “level” with each other than yes we like our space! To me it’s just common sense! I don’t want someone all up on me, unless you’re my family, or friend!
I think the DON'T that a lot of these vids don't include is don't be afraid or intimidated of travelling to the U.S.. The vast majority of Americans love to have people come and visit, we like to be helpful, and we see foreign tourists as a great opportunity to indulge in our favorite pastime, Talking About America. Just don't stay too long; it makes us nervous.
yep... I like to play a game.... I call it, guess where the person with the accent is from lol... I used to be good but now I suck. I don't play that anymore. Not since I confused a German with a French accent and I got to say... the man was kind of pissed off.
@@Spinikar That goes back to how our country was formed. We are a collection of states that came together to form a country. Not a country that was divided up into different sections called states. From the Constitution, the powered not granted to the Federal government are retained by the States. One advantage of this is that individuals, and smallish groups, can have more affect on their local politics and local laws than they can on the National level. What works in Los Angeles or New York isn't always the same as what works in Wyoming or Montana.
Please, add RELIGEON to guns & politics! Religious freedom means you'll NEVER know who is what until things get bad (imagine going from 0-100mph in the blink of an eye). Avoid religious talk at ALL costs!
Add racial/ethnic topics to that list. Basically, just stick to weather, hobbies, pets, kids, sports (which can be touchy), movies/TV, music, and food. You can inch up to touchier subjects with closer friends/family.
@@the_beat_thief yea if say anything to piss a certain collective of people you’ll get jumped and robbed I’d actually suggest to stay in smaller cities and towns less likely to be killed for no reason
You guys have quickly become my favorite reaction channel and one of my favorite channels in general. You guys have the potential to get big and go far. No bullshit. Love from USA
The biggest reason we don’t list the tax added price is because sales taxes can be different between states and maybe even between counties or cities so advertising would be a mess
In the Tri State/New York metro area and the lower northeast we say "you's." The default is "you's" in the northeast, as well as "You's guys." We don't say y'all
I would also recommend you not call the locals "Yankees". Here in the USA, the term is considered to be oddly specific, usually meaning the people descended from the earliest English US settlers. In particular, never use the word "Yankee" in the South, where it's an insult for a Northerner. And NEVER use the term "Yank" to a local's face, either.
Yankee isn't really taken as an insult by northerners in the northeast, it's actually a matter of pride. We associate it with the union from the civil war and are proud to have stood by the union.
@@emergentempire670 Yeah this one is really situational/region specific, but most Americans with some sense (which, admittedly, is not as many as you'd hope) will know that "yankee" or "yank" is something that people from the UK and Europe call all Americans. (For reference, I'm from the northern part of Virginia; my dad's side of the family came from North Carolina and my mom's side from Mass. I got a weirdly mixed upbringing culturally through relatives).
@@stevencowan37 yeah I mean living in South Carolina if you called someone here a yankee I don’t think they would truly get up in arms offended but they would give you a weird look and think you were crazy
I was born and raised in Illinois and now live in South Carolina. I don’t give two shits if someone calls me a yankee. If anything sometimes I just state “yup, I’m a yankee”.
I heard (at least around my parts) that you get the $2.50 hourly, but if the tips don't equivalate to minimum wage for your area, they're supposed to reimburse you to make sure you're legally working for the very minimum wage. That still a thing or do you usually get tips that add up to that?
@@blindfire3167 It’s been so long now I can barely remember but I think that’s right. Luckily I never had that problem and the location I worked at was right off the freeway so it was always busy.
@@blindfire3167 I think that's really variable. There's no obligation to do it. More business will NOT make up the difference, compared to those that will. The whole point of setting a much lower minimum wage for service jobs is so that the employers don't have to pay as much, and the servers are then expected to make up the difference in tips. If you don't receive that, it's not their problem, in the view of many (and by law). I've seen it both ways, having worked in the service industry for half my life, and while it's common courtesy to help out your employees by making up the difference, most employers don't do it. I feel really bad for people in the south, who generally have the lowest minimum wages per state in the country, and the absolute lowest service minimum wage anywhere.
@@willsofer3679 No, employers are required by federal law to make up the difference: www.dol.gov/general/topic/wages/wagestips . A lot of employers don't but that's just because they're able to get away with it, not because the law allows it.
In the US, each State makes their own laws, and even counties and municipalities make their own laws. So smoking in bars depends on where you are. But there are a lot of places where you will run into some guy shouting, "Excuse me, Bartender, I am trying to GET DRUNK, so that I can DRIVE HOME, and have UNPROTECTED SEX with this girl I just met, and THIS guy's blowing SMOKE in my face!" PS - this same guy has a great video on Texas
So true.... I live near the Houston city limits and a bar I used to go to was right on the line. The city line literally splits the road it is on in half, so smoking is allowed in all bars and restaurants on the northside of the street, but if you literally go to a bar or resturant across the street (not even 50ft away) there is no smoking allowed inside. It is just wild!
Taxation is normal - the shops should display the FINAL price. Period. Europe has taxation as well, yet your item doesn't magically cost more at the tilt. This is about psychological effect, that stores deploy - you see a SMALLER price on the tags and your brain goes "this is cheap", then at the tilt it's too late to regret...
@@cl1cka As I said, I think it's for shop to be able to say "We would charge you only this bit, the rest is tax, that's not up to us". It shifts the blame for higher price to the gorvernment. In my view anyways. And in a way it kindad makes sense as well... As for what shop should do (and PERIOD) that's your view, mate. Don't present it as a fact. ;)
@@richardmihok5032 It is a fact - in the rest of the world.... In some aspects US is worse than a 3rd world country, especially in how it treats it's citizens.... No maternity leave (only country in the world btw, fucking Afghanistan has maternity leave), no mandatory paid vacation days, no working healthcare system, unlivable minimal wage, no working rights, broken justice system for the poor, legal corruption in the form of "lobbying", food regulation is BELLOW EASTER Europe..... But hey - you can buy guns.... I will give you that - if you have money US is great.... Lived there for 6 moths for work experience, wouldn't want to go back to work/live there, EVER. Would visit on vacation though.
Not really. There are a couple reason for not including sales tax on the stated price: The first one is-it changes. Sometimes frequently. 2nd large cities like NYC have a CITY sales tax in addition to a state one, so that would mean changing price tags specifically for goods headed not just to NY but the city.
There is also a stigma associated with it too. Usually people who don't smoke assume someone has issues if they are a smoker. Nobody wants to taste smoker tongue when they kiss someone either xD
@@mumuspain2086 Depends on where you live I live in the ozarks and its incredibly common to see people smoking on the street or outside the door of a restaurant or something people don't generally care here but it depends on where you from
Same with me. Grew up in Michigan and they began changing the speed limit signs on the expressways. Have vivid memories of driving with my Dad and other normally mild mannered adults bitching about it the whole time. Even as a kid I knew the metric system was doomed. XD
Personally as someone from Miami, a day trip is to somewhere 3 hours away or more. That guy has insane patience to visit his mom for lunch that casually.
Living in SC, every year (not this year) I drive 14 hours home to NY and spend 10 days there for the Holidays. Also do it for 4th of July. Leave at 8am, get in at midnight. All in one go. So he isn't kidding about the not stopping and taking breaks.
I'm happy to say that my small town relied on a delivery app made by a resident just for our town. So all of our family owned restaurants and bars could stay open. I actually became a delivery driver for spare cash over the summer when covid first hit.
Unless you're in North Dakota.. The state fined him 100 dollars for smoking inside... Then he put a 100 dollar bill around another cigarette, and smoked it after realizing the venue fined him 100. Hahaha. We are probably the most annoying state when it comes to laws.... It's like Nazi Germany.
@@IronMaidenDoD As a person who has been born and bred in the U S, and lives near a famous segment of Route 66, I can verify that there are still long intact stretches of Route 66 alive and well. Route 66 is still famous enough that there is a large subset of the American travel and tourism industry devoted to making money off nostalgia junkies and pleasure seekers who want to experience the mystique of Route 66. Books are still being written about how and when to take a pleasant, romantic trip on Route 66. There are still travel guides being written about which restaurants and which hotels have the most authentic Route 66 mystique atmosphere. There is a restaurant at the terminus of Route 66 on the West Coast that is especially flashy and impressive. The ads always say "Famous for being the endpoint of Route 66"
One thing he left out about the tipping, is that many states will have a lower minimum wage specific for servers and waitresses. So instead of making the minimum wage of $7.25 federally, they will make somewhere around $2.50 to four dollars because the business owner will factor in the tips as their normal income.
I'm Canadian. We don't include the taxes in prices to avoid scamming. I'm sure it's he same principle in the US. You get a receipt with all the charges broken down when you pay. UK taxes are insane btw, I think 20% VAT?! I thought Canada was bad at 12.5% **It's the same with driving here too 😄 Driving's a Canadian way of life**
I think that’s part of it for the US but really I think it’s more because a company will make a product, set a price, which is sometimes on the product, and then ship it out to different states. Each state and city has different taxes. I also heard that it started because shop owners wanted to advertise a lower price than competitors so they advertised without the tax. Not sure anyone knows the whole story.
You can light up a joint anywhere you couldn’t light up a cigarette. And in most states recreational weed is still illegal, so it’s really just not true.
The part about don’t touch the Americans is highly dependent upon the person and to some degree the area they’ve grown up in truthfully. Me personally I don’t really care for people touching me unless they’re family or good friends. I’m 49 and still hug my lil brother who’s 36, and we still tell each other love ya brother, and the same goes with my parents. That’s not to mean I want some rando coming up and hugging me or whatnot. Then on the other hand I grave female cousins that hug people outside of the family whenever they meet. The Part about Taxes with buying things is. Federal tax is the same everywhere, but State tax and city tax changes wherever ya at. Federal taxes isn’t charged to you on most stuff you’re buying like food and whatnot, but your State and city tax is. Most people that live here can do the ballpark math in your head. Because across the river from New Orleans is 8.75% so most just round up to 10% to figure it out on the fly. You can also use the tax depending on where you live at to figure out your tip on say a restaurant meal. I live in New Orleans, and our sales tax is 10% so figuring out the tip on the fly is just double the tax amount and that’s your 20% tip. A lot of Europeans complain about tipping in America and think the owners should pay them more. Most servers don’t want tips to stop because they make more money on tips. The owners could pay their employees more money and scratch out tips, but then will have to raise the prices on their menu. The good thing about tips is you’re paid by how well you do your job. A crappy server won’t make the money that one who hustles. Most Europeans always talk about how great service is in America, and how friendly their servers are. An that’s because the servers know if they work harder they make more money. Me and my 5 friends that use to go out partying a lot we use to go to the bar or club in the beginning of the night whenever we got there we’d each give the bartender either a 20 or 25 if they’re really great. So right of the bat they made $100.00-$125.00 grantees they getting paid, and we literally NEVER had to wait for our drinks and even had our regular bartenders give us a free drinks almost all the time literally A lot of Americans when we talk distance with traveling is we use time. Like it’ll take you 1 hour to get there or 1/2 hour
In general, the smoking thing is legit. There are obvious exceptions like outside bars and clubs. But at the Boeing plant near me, the employees have to walk across the parking lot which is like 400-500 meters long to get to the public sidewalk just to smoke.
I mean it is a Boeing plant LOL, the amount of explosives and ignitable stuff in those hangars/factories are ridiculous. To be fair I don't think a cigarette would be bad enough or hot enough to light anything, but companies like Boeing are suuuuper strict with safety
The whole "52 states" thing: I guess some folks think it's fifty states PLUS Alaska and Hawaii; it's the "Lower 48" states or "continental 48 states" plus Alaska (#49) and Hawaii (#50). And "51st state" is just an expression for a prospective new state (Puerto Rico, Michigan's Upper Peninsula, the eastern counties of Oregon and Washington, the western counties of Colorado) or a joke to take over another country and make it a state. At various times some foreign lands have applied for U.S. statehood: the Dominican Republic and Sicily (!) for example, and President Trump more recently hinted at buying Greenland from Denmark.
I never understood the "The USA has no culture." Jazz, Country music, Rock N Roll and Rap all started here. We have baseball, basketball, ice hockey, and American football. While they don't all originate here, we have the premier leagues of those sports. We have slang and accents. Old Westerns are a genre of movie originating from the USA. There's many examples. Tipping and free water at restaurants is part of our culture.
Once upon a time, my dad took an old friend to a new trendy restaurant, received terrible service and garbage food, so after just a couple of bites he suggested to his friend that they go to another place. He called for the check, took out just enough cash to pay the bill, and shoved the money into the barely-eaten dishes. It's not known whether the staff got the message, but the place closed for good after only a few years. Another don't: if you get pulled over by the police, don't do anything that the cop hasn't told you to do first. Just keep calm, have both hands on the steering wheel, and never assume that traffic cops are willing to accept a loose $20 to "forget" things...many tourists to America from countries where bribes are practically mandatory get into big trouble fast by trying to offer them here.
Depending on where you are, the way we tell directions changes. In cities you can usually get directions like “x is about three blocks down from here and is across the street from the tattoo parlor”. In smaller towns you can usually get directions like “a couple streets down from here you’ll find a liquor store, take a left and down that road you’ll see a playground, right across from there is X’s house.”, etc.
No as someone who has lived in the UK and the US, I can say that people are way more touchy here in the UK. People like to hug a lot out here, specifically men. Women hug a lot everywhere but I’d never had as many strangers try to hug me in my life before I moved here.
Rule 1 from the USA: I have dreadlocks and on various occasions I have been approached by concerned looking people who have got to tell me that people have been touching my hair when I wasn't looking. I really do not understand the etiquette of touching people.
If you're going to drive, the U.S is better North to South on the coasts than east to west, unless you want to drive a few days & see nothing but 🌽 for as far as the eye can see like an ocean of 🌽.
The smoking thing depends on where you are. He exaggerated a little, but you definitely want to give yourself some distance from other people if you're going to smoke here for the most part. Some casinos still allow smoking indoors because most of them are on reservations and can make up their own rules.
Did no one explain sales tax in the comments? Well, sales tax is different in literally every county of every state. It's 7.5% where I live, but if I drive 5 miles north, it's 6.75%.
There was a time that the US attempted to switch to the metric system. There was enough pushback that the effort was abandoned, but we still measure pop in liters for some odd reason.
Well, the STEM fields use metric. That’s really what needs to be universal more than anything. As long as scientists, doctors, etc are using the same mathematical language as the rest of the world, then nobody should really care if we drive 5 miles to buy a gallon of milk. Meh. It’s all good. Doesn’t effect anyone where it matters.
I'm pretty sure that Chappelle smokes weed on his shows. Cigarettes do have a negative stigma attached to them by the public, but marijuana doesn't, despite being illegal in many states. There's been a huge anti-smoking push in the past couple of decades with ads that'd give anybody nightmares. I might be wrong on this but I believe that many European countries are still much friendlier towards smoking than the US.
They don't understand that sales tax is like a game for us. Live in Massachusetts? Drive to New Hampshire for booze and cigarettes because the tax is lower and pick up clothes while you're there because they aren't taxed at all. Live on the New York-Pennsylvania border? Drive to New York for groceries and Pennsylvania for clothes because each state has zero tax on the opposite items. Live near a Native American reservation? Chances are you will go there for gas, booze, cigarettes, and a few other things to get out of paying taxes on them.
Each state governs themselves, so there are places where you can smoke in bars. Generally, if you can smoke there, they don't serve food so people don't get mad while eating.
Yelp exploits businesses. They push you to pay for services from them to get bad reviews off, or just because you are a naive new business owner. Then harrass you weekly for more. If you decide to stop their service they will show bad reviews over good.
He's not completely correct but he's close enough to be technically correct. Like with the smoking thing, if you don't mind being judged in public then smoke away but there are no indoor smoking places left, bars/restaurants/motels/hospitals etc, another thing is the metric system we do use liters for drinks. The Alcohol thing he actually understates it, my mother is 62 and still gets carded
About the 21 to drink and smoke, that's enforced pretty strictly. The store closest to me, even though they know me by name, ID's me EVERY time I purchase beer because by policy they have to or they will get fired. Of course I just flash it and they don't even look at it, but I'm required to have it. However, if you're under 21 and want to drink or smoke, you simply pay an older friend to buy for you or find some homeless person and buy them a meal or just pay them to buy it for you.
you can see my face in my picture, that was over a decade ago and i still have to show my ID for Tabaco, alcohol, and even some over the counter medications even though im 34
