They changed their minds to immigrate: what disappointed the Russians stuck in the USA during the pandemic

Author of the channel "Budget tourist" on Yandex.Zen together with his girlfriend, they were stuck in the United States during a pandemic and could not fly home to Russia for 3 months. What did they dislike about America? First person story.

Photo: Shutterstock

It is important that this was our first trip to America and in fact we were completely “immersed” in the environment and were able to figure out many things that cannot be figured out in 2 weeks.

foreword

At the moment, 5 months have passed since returning home. I used to want to move to the USA more. But I realized that America is not the ideal country to live in. Now I will describe things that either did not like very much, or simply raised questions.

Tip

Why do we leave a tip in Russia? For good service, you might think. Good. How many tips do you usually leave? Well, 5-10 percent. This is not the case in America.

Tipping is a must at least in taxis and restaurants and cafes. The minimum tip is 18% !!! 18, Karl! When paying the bill, the check will already indicate the amount for tips for 18, 20, 22 percent.

So consider that if you dined for $ 20, which is cheap for restaurants in the US, then you must leave $ 4.

A case from life: we decided to go to a local beer store and take a can of 0,95 liters of beer from their production. There were no price tags in the refrigerator and we immediately went to pay for it. The girl at the bar takes the terminal to accept the payment. She drives in the payment of $ 14 and gives it to me. I'm a little shocked. But I keep paying. I suggest I choose a tip: $ 2,5, $ 3,5, or $ 5. You cannot miss. As a result, a can of beer cost much more. It was delicious, yes. But then I was sad for a long time because of this.

Heating systems

Homes in America are mostly heated by air conditioning. This is terrible. The eyes are constantly dry, the skin is dry. Living in this is very unusual. Two weeks later, I bought a humidifier that worked in our room around the clock.

And I still can't imagine how many bacteria live in the air conditioning system. Didn't like it very much.

On the subject: What surprised the immigrant with the service in American cafes

Taxes

This situation is similar to a tip. Nowhere, anywhere, taxes are indicated. You go to the store, pick up groceries, like the calculator has accumulated $ 100 in the basket. You come to the checkout, punch through everything, but you have to pay 113. Why? Where does 13 come from?

It turns out that each state has its own semblance of VAT, which is never included on the price tag. This is terrible.

System of measures and weights

All over the world - kilograms and kilometers, meters? In America - pounds, miles and feet. Everything has to be constantly recalculated, and this is very difficult at first.

There are 456 grams in one pound. I came to the store, a pound of apples costs $ 2,5 and the final frauds to find out "can I afford it or not" take a very long time. Imagine buying a shopping cart?

Food

Americans don't like to cook, not at all. But they love to eat very well (and a lot). From here there is fast food everywhere, everything is deep fried. Healthy eating is only possible at home or in very expensive restaurants. So we cooked at home. Yes, we tried fast food, of course, and we even liked it, but under no circumstances should we eat it all the time.

Cost of services

Any services cost exorbitant amounts of money. Plumber, taxi driver, cleaner, loader - the service of any of these specialists will cost a pretty penny.

A friend had a case: it was necessary to change the gasket in the toilet cistern in the house of an American. He called a plumber (he himself doesn’t know how). $150 from the bush. No comments needed. If you move, it’s better to be handy.

On the subject: How much does it cost to go to the cinema in the USA, and why Russians consider it a luxury

Payment by phones

We are used to using telephones everywhere in Russia. Is it convenient? All cards are in our smartphone. In America, the map has always been with me. I even stopped trying to ask for Apple Pay.

Why? Because cards and terminals were introduced long before they appeared in Russia. So they also use “those” terminals. Why don't they? Look at point 6. The services are very expensive, especially in the IT field. It is simply expensive to introduce new technologies. Absurd.

Homeless people

Yes, there are many of them. Everywhere. There are many reasons for this: from expensive rental housing to the fact that they themselves choose such an existence. There are many more homeless people on the streets of America than in the Russian Federation.

These are the interesting facts I was able to collect about the cons of America. Of course, you can put up with all of them and get used to them, but on the whole they provoke indignation among Russians.

Original column published on the blog. "Budget tourist" on Yandex.Zen

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