MrsLondon

I don't live in the US at present, but have visited a lot. I didn't find customer service that great at all. I hate the toilets in shops and restaurants; great huge gaps under the door and either side, so people can see practically up to your knees under the door, and standing at a certain angle, they could see all of you 'sitting on the throne!' Horrible. Don't like the single-ply toilet paper either (anyone detect a theme?)
Food does seem cheaper on the whole, except breakfast cereal. Trés expensive. Don't like not having duvets. I asked my mother-in-law to buy me one. She got a duck down one. I am a vegetarian who only uses polyester duvets! Course I had to use it--didn't wanna be ungrateful. Maybe it's the only kind you can get there. No cover for it, don't think she was able to find those either.
I was expecting to get compliments on my accent. I find friends of hubby's family, rellies etc, do compliment, but strangers--who people on here have said compliment them--never do to me.
I'd really like the UK Government to take a leaf out of the USA's book and bring in anti-agest legislation. My mum is 62 and cannot get a job. In the US she would have no problem.

robclews

‘Linens and Things’ or ‘Bed Bath and Beyond’ all have loads of Duvet stuff, including man made fiber ones and covers.

Rob

NC Penguin

Rob's quite right. Considering the size of the country and the fact that for the majority of Americans, the motor vehicle is a necessity, the roads are pretty appalling.

Here in my part of NC, the potholes are filled in constantly, only to reappear when there's heavy rain (like in the last few weeks).

On the other hand, there's so many SUVs and other heavy duty/off road type road vehicles on the roads, it's no wonder that the roads are taking a beating. The roads may have been built for volume but not for the type of passenger vehicles that are so common now.



NC Penguin

MrsLondon

Thanks, I'll suggest that to her!

Vicky88

Well obviously I am easier to please because we managed to get a mattress at a reasonable price and of a quality to satisfy us. We managed to purchase a great duvet plus cover with no problems. I have no problems with the food labelling here, actually I thought it was an improvement over the UK. I've found plenty of tasty fruit and vegs, but then I don't buy at the chain supermarkets, try Henry's or Whoel foods. I'm satisfied with the TV as I have 100 channels of crap, compared to the 5 channels of crap we had in the UK.

Patrick

Does anyone else think the US is about 5 years behind europe technically. There mobile phones are a joke, as this the network coverage, they don't have interactive TV (like the BBC for wimbledon had a choice of 4 games), dish washers don't seem to clean half as well as UK ones and tons of other stuff I have noticed.

I do prefer US washers and dryers and automatic garage doors are the dogs.

Patrick

aramintaalice

Yeah, when my baby was in hospital I was amazed to see that they still use conventional thermometers which sometimes caused quite alot of distress to her. When I asked why, as UK hosps use digital split second readings the lady told me that it was because of the inaccuracy of the digital ones. That innacuracy was,as you say, about 5 years ago, now, the (good quality)digital ones are so accurate that they use them in UK hosps for patients where an accurate reading is essential such as patients in Intensive Care Units. My baby had so many horrible things to undergo and the jabbing of the analogue thermometer followed by the necessary squeezing of her arm to keep it in place for a minute every hour was really irritating.

Aramintaalice.

nathan barley

NYC is NYC. It's full of ritalin withdrawl suffering hairtrigger tempers. I love it It toughens you up, especially after coming from a small 'quiet' town in the NE of England.
Customer service isn't really any worse than in the UK. Be polite, realise the person you are talking to is not directly responsible for your problem, and you will likely get the maximum help you can expect.
The exception is public libraries, who deserve all the rilling they can take, especially when they claim you didn't return a book which in fact has been sitting on their shelves for over 2 months since you did return it. Then have the cheek to lie and say it wasn't there when they checked. You are a sleuth and checked for the book the day before, however, and it was present . Curiously, the late charges disappeared from your account soon after... :lecture:

We went to Maryland and Delaware for a holiday the other week, and we were almost shocked at how polite and kind everybody was, from drivers on the roads, to assistants in shops, museums, etc. We could tell we were close to NYC again by the increasing degree of SUV drivers cutting us up on the NJ turnpike, and the lack of directionals when changing lanes.

The US is behind Europe in some things, Europe is behind the US in some things.
Cable may lack interactive here, but Time Warner NYC's onDemand rocks my ******* socks off. True VOD, none of this "starting ever 30 minutes!".
Sky, NTL and Telewest are miles behind.

Jabba1

I'm sorry to hear about your experience, aramintaalice. May I ask what hospital your baby was in? I don't believe all US hospitals are that far behind in technology. My mother was recently in hospital for a hystorectomy, they seemed to be using all the latest equipmemnt on her, including digital thermometers. In fact, I asked about he digital thermometers they were using, the nurse told me that they were the latest technology and were much more accurate than the older conventional ones. They also had devices for taking her blood pressure and heart rate that were also state of he art. After she got out of the hospital, I had to take her back to the emergency one night because she was running a fever. While there, I saw a small baby that had been brought in for the same reason. Not only did they use the digital thermometer on the baby, but they also had a device which slipped onto the babys toe. That device seemed to be giving them everything from the baby's blood pressure to her heart rate and even her temp, all with absolutely no discomfort to the baby.

I have a feeling that levels of technology might vary from hospital to hospital, and probably state to state. It probably boils down to the hospitals budget.

aramintaalice

Hi Jabba, how are you?

She was in the Joe Di Maggio childrens hospital in Florida. We first went to one in Aventura but after initial tests she had to be transferred because they didn't have equipment to cope there. The Joe Di Maggio was a very well equipped hospital generally and they did have that toe thingy but it didn't give temperature. Apparently it was to check blood pressure and the level of oxygen in her blood as it was so low due to her breathing difficulties. Don't get me wrong Jabba, the staff were really lovely and the hospital was nice and comfortable too. You know how much I love America but the medical care was the one thing that (to me) spoils an otherwise excellent country. The cost of the care was the constant theme. The lovely Doctor who first saw her was very apologetic and said,'being from the UK this may come as a shock but how will you pay, the bills here will give you nightmares!'. We knew we were insured but didn't have the documents so just gave over a credit card. (To be fair though the doctor did keep apologising for hassling when our baby was at deaths door and did say that even if we couldn't pay they would still treat her!) People in England constantly complain about the NHS (National Health Service) here but until you've experienced something different I suppose it's difficult to be grateful. This financial thing kept going for the duration of the stay and luckily we could afford to pay anyway - I think it would have been very stressful for someone who was not only worried for the life of their baby but was constantly being reminded that the cost was spiralling. Some of the nurses were aware of this and themselves said that they felt it was the worst thing about the country, they agreed that there was really no need for them to have the system that they have and all said they wished it was different. The actual care though was excellent, they were all very kind to my baby and we were quite a fascination on the ward. Strangers kept coming in to talk to us. A really sweet cuban nurse kept saying that it was 'really cool' to have an English patient and kept asking us to talk to her. She really liked the words we used, for example because I said 'attached to' instead of 'hooked' or something similar. Another nurse took my baby all around the hospital so she could 'show people the English patient', and the security guard was fascinated too. They did have some of the 'state of the art' devices that you mention which are common over here, but the thermometer thing really got on my nerves because my baby was so distressed by all the various procedures she had to go through and this was one that seemed so unnecesssary. I got so annoyed about it that I did get a bit snappy with the lady who kept coming around to take the temp - perhaps that's why she was defensive about it, poor thing!

It's just that the overall experience was that of backwardness, which as I said some nurses did acknowledge - particularly one who had worked over here recently. Your mum may have had really good care but I bet the insurance issue came up more than once!

Anyway, I will always be grateful to the American system because they did, after all, save her life. We have a saying about her now - 'Made in the UK, fixed in America!'

Still love the place though

Ranjini

I agree with Jabba that facilities vary from hospital to hospital. It's much like choosing where you shop. You learn to look for the place that has what you are looking for. I know that sounds odd when you are talking health care. But that's how it is in the US. It's all about the ability to pay. And yes, it sucks. This is something that has to change somewhere along the line.
It came as a shock to me, as I too come from a country that has socialised medical care. People who have the ability to pay can consult specialists and be treated in private hospitals. We have excellent doctors trained in the UK and US. But it costs nothing like it costs over here in the US.
But you learn to live with it and hope that something will change somewhere down the line....

Ranjini

Yes, the care is excellent. I recall that my sister had her first baby in England and was a little traumatised by the fact that she received "no special care" after she had her baby. Meaning that when she had her second baby, she decided to come home to Sri Lanka where she could afford one of the best private nursing homes where the nurses fuss you to death and she and her baby were well taken care of until she was ready to go home after her caesarian section.
The nurses and doctors in the US are very caring. Naturally, everyone expects to get what they pay for. I guess it's a part of the service. I'm always told what a pretty name I have. And how well I speak English and with such a pretty accent. Lol I get that less and less now because I guess I'm getting more Americanized by the day.....

Jabba1

I'm really sorry about the thermometer episode, aramintaalice. However, had your baby been in the HCA hospital that my mother was in, this would have been different. I don't know why that particular hospital lacked the latest thermometer technology, but I can assure you that the finer hospitals in this country don't lack for anything technology wize. As for insurance, well that's another story. Fortunately, my mother has two seperate insurances that fully pay her medical expenses. One of the insurances is state sponsored insurance that actually pays the premium for her other insurance plan. All this means she has outstanding health coverage at absolutely no cost to her. The doctors who take care of her are some of the finest in this part of the country. Her operation and subsequent follow ups with the doctors didn't cost her a dime. Her perscriptions are also paid for.

As for me, I have health coverage which is paid for by my employers. I also have a suplimental health plan, the premiums for which, I can easily afford. All of this means that if I, my spouse (I'm still single a present) or any of my children who would also be covered by the plans were to become ill, they would also receive medical care at no cost to me.

Never having lived in the UK, I know little about the NHS. Whether or not we get anything like that in this country is a political matter, and politics always give me a headache. LOL!


BTW, what happend to your baby to make her so ill? I'm really sorry to hear about that.

207lonsdale

Oh dear, I was hoping my experience of the huge gaps either side of the doors was just a one off. I went shopping in Ontario a few times and was totally shocked when I visited the bathroom .... makes you wonder why they even bother with a door when the one supplied affords little privacy!

On subsequent visits I would join the queue, but have it in mind that I would leave if the cubicle at the front of the queue came free when it was my turn ...... I wanted the one at the far end where no one was standing!!! In the end it was easier just to reduce fluid intake so that you don't have to visit the bathroom!!

Is this awful design common place throughout the US? I find it hard to believe that American women don't worry about complete privacy when using the bathroom?

207lonsdale

One thing I love about America ...... they use the term *Bathroom* or *Rest Room* ...... so much nicer than *Toilet* or *Loo*. Although worse than that ....... when Kem & I visited London we went to the Queen's Gallery ....... there was a large sign indicating the location of the *Lavatory*!!