What are some things Europeans find new/odd about the US, specifically in terms of culture?
Bathroom stall gaps, you live to work - not work to live, culture is less family oriented, school debt. Tipping culture. Fucked up insurance, you can go bankrupt being sick. Way less PTO, if you’re not in tech you have it miserable. Maternity leave is a joke. Forgot to mention the food. It’s much cleaner. European Union bans a lot chemicals that are still normal in American food. Portion sizes too… Oh and staff in restaurants asking how your food is while you’re eating and bringing the check as if they want you out ASAP so they can bring another customer. In Europe you can take your time and no one will rush you. You have to ask for the bill, they won’t bring it as it’s rude. When you get sick you go to a doctor and they give you medical leave. They tell the company that the person can’t work for a week, two, three even a month and the company has nothing to say. They will pay in full and it doesn’t affect your PTO. People there are less lazy and move way more. They walk a lot and don’t drive cars for a restaurant or a shop 5 blocks away. Also, families don’t have multiple cars and tend to buy more with cash versus borrowed money.
Genuinely curious. How is life in Europe? Is it really working to live? Don’t you have to also worry about mortgage, bills, healthcare and retirements too?
My husband and I pay $9.5k in property taxes per year. My brother in Europe pays $500 per year (house with a big yard). My dad has 30 days of PTO - it’s allotted based on YOE not company, and I believe after 5 YOE anywhere - you get to 25 days or something like that. While on vacation in Europe my husband fell bad and hit his head. We went to a private doctor, paid $200 for a head CT and had results within 5 hours (we didn’t even use insurance).
You don’t or maybe can’t work in Europe on weekends. More holidays too
Fucked up insurance for sure. Sales tags being exclusive of tax only to be surprised later. Bloody immigration laws.
American flags everywhere Not indicating taxes on the price and tips for restaurants Checking ID for alcohol Everything is political
Whether you know or not, psychologically you first perceive the price on the tag. Such a scam
It is definitely a cultural difference. The US favors large corporations’ profits vs. regular people. Not showing the price favors those corporations by playing a tactics to psychologically trick people to spend more with obscure prices.
Worrying about health insurance in between jobs, considering access to healthcare in anyway being related to what company you work for. Working out the bizarre orchestration of terms like copays, coinsurance, deductibles. Strange interpretations of terms like freedom and socialism. Public toilets, especially in nice modern office spaces. Having to go to a bunch of different supermarkets for staple goods. People driving like they’re the only people on the road, openly using phones while driving. Parents trusting kids to babysit for kids. Interchangeably referring to the USA as the world. Using paper checks.
Not European. Toilets are big culture shock. Tips too. Health system and insurance system is scam.
What other folks are saying, plus: - religion: religion accounts for way less in public life in Europe. This generalizes to cult-like ways of thinking, which Europeans will get much more reluctant to - political polarization: most European countries have many parties not just 2, so there are less (not absence of) the weird political life in America - guns: it’s way more difficult to own a gun there - inequalities: we might earn less in general, but the poorest in Europe are way less poor than in America, and there is way more protections from falling into it - positivity: Europeans will tend to be less positive about life in general than Americans. According to one’s mindset this can be either an advantage or an inconvenience
Totally agree on the religion part, even secular Americans will often have pretty Protestant views on things like nudity, drugs, family etc..
Nothing really surprising if you do the research ahead of time but the evangelicals, the 2nd amendment obsessed culture and incarceration policies are pretty weird
After reading this thread, there is no place like 🇺🇸 glad to be here
Proud Texan here ⭐️
Europe is the place you go to appreciate living in the US. Watch the europoor smoke a pack of their cigarettes and drive away in a car the size of a golf cart.
Tips everywhere