From the first person: what I don't like in the USA

I wanted to write about the tax system in the United States, but I thought and decided instead of a boring topic about taxes to write about a number of points that I don’t like in the United States or simply caused difficulties, the user writes Diaver in the community Picabushniki North America.

Фото: Depositphotos

Small talk

In the states, the traditional greeting consists of two parts. First you need to greet the person with a word like “Hello“, and then start a so-called short conversation with a question like “How are you?” There should always be a positive answer to such a question, in the spirit of “Everything is fine,” “Excellent,” “I’m not complaining,” etc. After you have been asked how you are, you need to ask a counter question, even if you deeply do not care about this person and his affairs. After counter questions “How are you?” You can discuss the weather, children, or anything neutral in two sentences. You need to understand that no one really cares how you are doing, and this is just part of the greeting ritual. If you come to a restaurant or bar, the waiter will definitely ask you “How are you?” In this case, there is no need to ask a counter question.

Over time, you begin to get used to this tradition and simply mechanically answer that “Everything is fine, thank you,” but at first it was very strange to hear such questions, including from complete strangers whom you see for the first and last time in your life.

There were many jokes on this topic with American colleagues, in particular, that if you want to no longer be asked questions about your business, then the best way to answer the question “How are you?” - this means starting to really answer with all the details how you are doing.

Hairdressers

Of course, my sample is very small, but I have a feeling that people take to hairdressers something like this:

- What are scissors, do you know?

- I saw it a couple of times.

- You are accepted.

The cost of services, of course, is small and, most likely, the wages of the masters are not the highest, but still. I somehow came with my son to a hairdresser with a good rating on Google Maps and was horrified by what kind of conveyor there was. On one client spent minutes 10, no more. With permission, the master cut the child with one machine with three different nozzles. The result looked like this:

Фото: Depositphotos

I, of course, asked to trim, but the result was still the same. Later, I changed the hairdresser’s, where there was no such conveyor, gave 50-70% tips to the masters, brought examples of the hairstyle I want, but all to no avail. I would understand if my tastes were very specific, but no, a simple male haircut with bangs. The level of masters in Russia is much higher.

Quality of mobile communication

I had two operators, T-Mobile and Sprint. So, the communication quality of these two operators is below the baseboard, and in the case of T-Mobile and at all at the level of sewage.

Фото: Depositphotos

Once during the day I tried to call my wife. All calls were dropped on an answering machine, and she could call. This went on for several days, until I went to the salon angry T-mobile. To the polite question “What the hell???”, they answered me like everything is fine, just turn off 4G, since something is being repaired at the base station. So, an entire location with 1 million people has no connection with LTE turned on, and these comrades answer that everything is fine, and this is in the state capital!!!

Another interesting fact about coverage: you are walking along a street in the city center, talking, and then the connection disappears, walk another 100 meters - and the connection appears, this is also normal. You drive 1 km away from the city and the connection disappears completely; after 2 km it may appear again, or maybe not.

All this displeasure costs 40 bucks a month for one.

Just in case, I’ll add separately that you may not have such problems, and perhaps the quality of the connection depends on the location.

Measurement system

There are only three countries in the world that continue to use the imperial measurement system.

The essence of the imperial system of measurement is that instead of a single system of measures, such as a meter that scales in any direction by adding or removing zeros, in the imperial system you have hundreds of different measures that are not related to each other.

Illustration of

For a better understanding of the oddities of this system, I will tell how the car navigator suggests the distance to the next maneuver.

When there are still a few miles to the turn, the navigator simply says miles. Then, when there are less than two miles to the turn, the navigator switches to fractional parts, “one-second of a mile,” “one-quarter of a mile,” “one-tenth of a mile.” After the turn is less than one tenth, the navigator switches to another system of units - feet, 300, 200, 100 feet. 300 feet is approximately 100 meters.

Come to the auto products store to buy a set of keys. And there instead of clear 9 mm, 8 mm, 12 mm only fractional parts, like 1 / 2, 9 / 16, 5 / 8. And you think: ok, you have everything in inches, what the hell do you specify the size of fractions instead of decimal places, such as 0.5 inches, 0.6, 0.3? I, of course, understand that the auto mechanic Bob for the 30 years of his work has already become accustomed to these markings and they are like relatives to him, but still.

A funny incident: my wife and I once needed to buy about one linear meter of fabric in a store. I figured it was about 40 inches and asked for 40 inches of fabric to be cut. The seller became very tense, since their fabric is measured in yards, and began frantically converting 40 inches into yards. I remembered that one yard is just about one meter, and asked her to cut off one yard.

Interestingly, in the states of science, medicine has long been switched to the metric system, but in everyday life, nothing changes, although there were at least two attempts to switch. Just because farmer John is deeply purple on these meters of his, he knows that the last 40 years, on Fridays, he has been drinking three pints of beer, but he is not interested in anything else.

Medical insurance

Medicine in the states is not just expensive, but insanely expensive. Medical bills are the most common factor in American bankruptcy. For my insurance, for a visit to emergency assistance. (emergency) I pay 150 bucks, for a simple visit to the doctor 30 bucks, for the 250 childbirth, everything else is paid by insurance.

Family insurance cost $ 500 +

In short, it is expensive, illogical and sometimes uncomfortable.

Фото: Depositphotos

Some features of the behavior of Americans

Americans in general are very positive people, but there are a couple of features to be aware of:

— Food in the workplace: at my work there were no restrictions on this topic, and American colleagues ate en masse at their desks. You’re sitting there, coding, immersed in work, and John or some Indian comes with his strong-smelling food and starts gobbling it up, brrr. Or chips, some individuals really love chips, which in itself is not scary, the scary thing is that they eat them with such a loud crunch and in the workplace. It is very difficult to work at this moment.

- Second point. If you do something or have done it wrong, none of your colleagues will tell you anything directly. They will still smile and at the same time write a letter to your superiors, escalating the problem. In conversations with American colleagues, I discussed this issue, asking why this is so, if you can first tell Bob that you didn’t like something and try to solve the problem on the spot, without making a big deal out of a molehill and without involving your superiors unnecessarily. And only if you can’t reach an agreement, then go and complain to your superiors, because this is logical. The answer was that I am not Bob’s boss or authority and Bob has his own boss, let him sort it out. Something like this.

Mandatory tips

When you come to a restaurant, a hairdressing salon, you should always leave a tip. This is directly required. Tip amount 15-25% of order. I leave 20%. If you do not leave a tip, it means that you really did not like it, and you will not come to this place anymore.

Фото: Depositphotos

It should be noted that food in regular restaurants is usually inexpensive and comes in very large portions. My wife and I sometimes go to the same Vietnamese restaurant and order one dish for two, because the portion is very large. It’s physically impossible to eat two dishes. The average price of a hearty lunch per person is 10 bucks. My toad and I discussed it and decided that the food is tasty and inexpensive, so we’ll just think that the cost is 20% higher - the toad agreed.

Public Transport

I, as a person with motorism in the terminal stage, didn’t deliver public transport (OT) as such, because I don’t use it, except for one thing: until my wife got a full driver’s license, which took us 9 months, Yes, I had to work for her as a free driver.

Cities with advanced OT at an acceptable level of 7 pieces, but even if you live in such a city, this does not mean that you do not need a car in your family. If you decide to go to OT, then you need to plan a route, check with the schedule of buses, trains, and more. Even so, if you decide to go, for example, to nature, then without a car in any way, you will not get there by bus.

Denial of responsibility: All that is written in this post is the personal and extremely subjective opinion of the author. This post is not intended to offend, offend or simply hurt someone's tender feelings. All matches with dead, living or fictional characters are random.

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