Xebedee

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Dan725

CitySimon

I've been here for nearly five years now and I still have days when I think "Is it really worth it?"... However, if you can get through the initial culture (or lack of it) shock, those days become less and less.

missuniverse

honey, you know what? i'm very sorry to say that it might be less of a problem of "adjusting" (from the UK) as it is the nightmare-that's-really-real that is american suburbia. Those pre-fab houses, strip malls and driving everywhere? They drive the Americans crazy too! EVERYONE's depressed and on prozac! I remember as a kid (yeah, I'm american) finally realizing one day what all those "happy face" pills the kids took at lunchtime were. Everyone has a therapist if they can afford it, or even if they can't. But a therapist can't magically transform the suburban wasteland into a fairytale magical kingdom, or even something simply more liveable. People that can't take it will move to a big city or like, an ashram or something if they can at all. There you'll find like-minded souls. Decent-sized university towns are a good bet, as they usually have nice architecture and grounds, lots multi-culti happenings and restaurants and stores and cafes which you can all walk to, intelligent, interesting people--students, professors, those drawn to the area, and even tuvan throat singers from inner mongolia giving performances on the weekends, even if the university is smack-dab in the middle of nowhere.

SuzanneMaria

I saw this and just thought I'd give you an American in England's viewpoint.

1. Forget about openly speaking your mind to someone who's offended you or with whom you disagree.--you'll just be considered "rude."

2. Try to ignore all the piss-taking comedians and Brits in general take out of Americans, especially when they've never been to the country.

3. If you're an American involved with a Brit, ALWAYS expect to initiate any affection, such as a hug or a kiss. It's just not done here--Brits are too uptight.

4. Always undertip anyone who does you a service. They appreciate whatever little pence you throw their way.

5. NEVER expect the cashier at a grocery store to bag your groceries. Instead, expect the zombie to allow you to completely unload your cart before you scramble to the end to start manically shoving your purchases in bags. In this case, even sarcastic comments go unrecognized.

MORE TO COME...

Redlippie

I saw this and just thought I'd give you an American in England's viewpoint.

1. Forget about openly speaking your mind to someone who's offended you or with whom you disagree.--you'll just be considered "rude."

Funny, that is very much an American trait.....

2. Try to ignore all the piss-taking comedians and Brits in general take out of Americans, especially when they've never been to the country.

It is called humour - something Americans don't have a clue about.

3. If you're an American involved with a Brit, ALWAYS expect to initiate any affection, such as a hug or a kiss. It's just not done here--Brits are too uptight.

4. Always undertip anyone who does you a service. They appreciate whatever little pence you throw their way.

Servers there get proper wages and benefits - they don't get treated like sub-humans and expected to live on slave wages like they do in the States

5. NEVER expect the cashier at a grocery store to bag your groceries. Instead, expect the zombie to allow you to completely unload your cart before you scramble to the end to start manically shoving your purchases in bags. In this case, even sarcastic comments go unrecognized.

Welcome to a different country.....

MORE TO COME...

Poppy girl

3. If you're an American involved with a Brit, ALWAYS expect to initiate any affection, such as a hug or a kiss. It's just not done here--Brits are too uptight.

Hi SuzanneMaria I see you are new member welcome

Funny you should make the number 3. comment I have always as a Brit in the US felt the total opposite,Americans in general in my opinion seem to be very cold and laid back at showing affection.

I am one of those people that always greets folk with a hug, except in business of course, but I have noticed the look of "why did she do that!!"
I link arms shopping with a female friend and my ex used to say to me that it's not done here.
I call people darling alot another no no.......maybe I mix with the wrong folk lol

:Huey

Hove is a kind of weird place though isn't it.

Steerpike

The british have a great tradition of humor, and I still love it - Monty P, Black Adder, Absolutely Fabulous, etc - but the average british person can have a very nasty tendency to put anyone and everyone else 'down', and thinly disguise this as 'humor'. It seems the average brit just can't stand anyone else being different, or, God Forbid, better off than they are.

I don't know exactly how service industry workers are paid back in the UK, but my niece is a part-time waitress there and I think she's equally exploited, and would be mighty pleased to get the kind of tips that are standard here. When my family from UK visit me here, I insist on paying in restaurants, or at least paying the tip, because they seem incapable of leaving a decent tip - even though the meal cost them half of what it would have cost back home. Of course, the totally stupid way that credit card transactions are handled over there makes it much harder to give a tip - the credit card total is fixed at the base amount, and can't be 'added to' as it can here; a difference I've never understood (I've been eating out here for 24 years and never once been ripped off despite the fact that the final amount is allowed to vary!).

That's because, if the efficient and trained grocery store cashier bagged your groceries, he/she wouldn't be able to stand around looking bored and depressed, conveying to everyone that they'd rather be somewhere else. I've never understood the logic of letting me bag my own groceries ... because I SUCK at it, and it takes me forever, slowing down the whole process. It's not like they do it for you here out of sheer goodwill, they do it because it lets them move people through faster.

dunroving

- Yes, have to agree that I wish British supermarkets would get with the programme re: bagging groceries. Like you, I suck at it bigtime - I NEVER seem to be able to get the bag off and open in less than 60 seconds, meanwhille I'm not even halfway through bagging when I hear "That's 60 pounds and 97 pence, please," as I'm not even halfway bagging, so everyone (including the cashier) stands/sits there looking at me while I struggle to finish bagging before I can whip out my credit card. So inefficient!

- I think the "Right turn on red" is another efficient habit we could adopt from the US.

- If only we could take all the smart ideas each country has and combine them, we'd have Utopia!

AlanR

- I think the "Right turn on red" is another efficient habit we could adopt from the US.

I like the idea of left turn on red in the US and right turn on red in the UK.....

Mallory

I shop in Publix, where I can have paper bags or plastic. Half the time a bag boy will run and place my items on the conveyor belt. I always have my groceries taken out to the car by the bag boy. No tipping allowed. Always happy and chatty. The store has covered parking for days that it might rain. Just pull car into covered parking, and they will load it up for you. No problem. Wipes provided to wipe down cart handle if sticky. Umbrella bags for wet umbrellas on rainy days. Two for the price of one items all the time. $5 off coupons in the mail. Gotta love Publix.

When I go to UK, I forget about grocery store etiquette. When I am ready to pay, I am dumfounded that I forgot that I have to do all the work myself, while the cashier stands there doing nothing, just looking at me. It makes me so nervous that I generally don't buy much.

I can guarantee you that waiters and waitresses make more money in the USA than in the UK. Waitressing is certainly not slave labor. My daughter waited tables through college, and never worked over a 5-hour shift. She made bundles of money - she often talks about how much wait staff make. Why do you think college students work in restaurants? Because they love the money.

I don't take information about the UK from people who have never lived there though.

Dan725

Got to say I've experienced the opposite - its hugs all round here with the lasses if you've met them more than about twice, and handshakes for the blokes - everytime you see them.....and when you part company at the end of the day. I find it gets a bit wearying to be honest.

Tracym

The Americans are....

The Brits are....

Individuals. Some trends perhaps, but the people vary all over, in different parts of the country and individually.

College kid I know makes great money waitressing - loves it.

another bloody yank

I agree.... (From what I read on here obviously, never having set foot in the UK)

Hooters?