Non-Americans of Reddit, what’s something that absolutely shocked you when you first visited the US?

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Non-Americans of Reddit, what’s something that absolutely shocked you when you first visited the US?

Comments

  1. Dazzling-Antelope912 Avatar

    As someone who grew up in the UK and moved to the US, the distance between places was the biggest thing to get my head around.

  2. boardinmyroom Avatar

    Advertisement. Shitty advertisement absolutely everywhere.

  3. So_Call_Me_Maddie Avatar

    How much violence was on standard television. The amount of processed food is a close second.

  4. Important-Sir-3956 Avatar

    That everybody is asking how I am doing, straight after the “hi”

  5. CombatWombat1973 Avatar

    Portion size. You get a TON of food at a restaurant.

  6. danxfartzz Avatar

    I went to Orlando and was so pleasantly surprised at How polite everyone was. Always saying hello and good morning etc

  7. TripMundane969 Avatar

    All the ingredients in medications on TV and actually advertising meds on TV.

  8. itualisticSeppukA0S Avatar

    open carry, accustomed to only seeing law enforcement officiers with weapons holstered

  9. mrboomtastic3 Avatar

    How little federal holidays their are

  10. dontstopsoperfect Avatar

    how sweet all the food is, particularly food that shouldnt be sweet (like bread)

  11. Minute_Relation5084 Avatar

    The food in California is super nice, from your everyday groceries to Resturants the standard is high. People are wonderful too.

  12. TheOriginalCharnold Avatar

    How cheap gasoline was compared to Canada. It also shocked my how nice Americans are, you cant always believe the media.

  13. middle_riddle Avatar

    Food portion sizes

  14. georgialucy Avatar

    How nice people were. I got random people complimenting my hair, coming up to chat to me. When I went to Disney a group took me under their wing and showed me around the park. It was a huge difference to being in the UK where you do your best to not make eye contact with strangers lol.

  15. MajorGuava4625 Avatar

    How nice people were to me and to each other

  16. ralphiooo0 Avatar

    Drive through everything.

    Funniest one was a burger place we went to but you were supposed to park and order next to the speaker and then order and eat in your car.

    We parked up and tried to go inside… the guy was like wtf are you doing.

  17. BareBonesTek Avatar

    Lots of things, but the gaps around the stall doors in public restrooms took some getting used to!

  18. Elegant_Highlight659 Avatar

    So many flags everywhere..

    And the portion size in restaurants

  19. Bronson_AD Avatar

    Not including sales tax in the price of things. If something is listed at £9.99 in the UK, you pay £9.99.

  20. cApsLocKBrokE Avatar

    First time flying to the states, had a connection at Newark with some time to kill so I thought I would use the facilities.

    Holy SHIT!

    The space underneath the stalls was insane. I could practically see the other dude crapping!

  21. 0b0011 Avatar

    Not a non American myself but dated one. On her first time to visit we went out to a restaurant and she wad livid when the server filled her drink even though it was only half way full. She tried to call her back to tell her that she did not ask for a refill and will absolutely NOT be paying for one. Then when me and my best friend told her refills were free in the US she made a joke about that explaining his weight.

  22. bartvanh Avatar

    That cars which looked normal on TV were twice as big as normal cars back home

  23. fs008015 Avatar

    Portion size of food

  24. moonchild365 Avatar

    I live in Australia it was shocking to see medicine being in advertisements

  25. Rance_Mulliniks Avatar

    Personal injury lawyer ads.

  26. bobd607 Avatar

    get off the plane at O’Hare, get picked up. First billboard I see is for 1-800-DIVORCE. damn, everything is advertised and just a phone call away!

  27. roastplantain Avatar

    So many cereal options.

  28. taylorcowbell Avatar

    When they took my card away at the restaurant. We had tap all over the place like 15 years ago and America this fancy first world country had a waitress take my card and I had to sign shit?

  29. BadahBingBadahBoom Avatar

    Homeless people. I know every city in every developed country has some to some degree, but my god all the cities I visited in the US had homeless people on like every other block, most of them sadly appeared like they had serious mental health issues. Everyone else was just walking by like it was as normal as seeing a bin on every street corner.

    That and the kids portion sizes easily feeding you with leftovers to spare.

  30. bazzzzzzinga_24 Avatar
    1. Small talks.
      People always greet you like “how are you”, “wassup” or its just depends on state.

    2. How expensive everything is.
      I get it you guys pay dollars but we can get it as much cheaper price in the Philippines with the same service. Example: Netflix, Spotify, HOW expensive a cup of coffee is.
      In Philippines you can get a large coffee with same Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts with a price of 4$.

    3. You have to apply for exclusive CREDIT CARD if you want it to be an installment.
      Example: BESTBUY – I wanna buy something expensive but I can’t afford it yet so I have to apply for their credit card to have it as an installment.

    In Philippines, you can use your CREDIT CARD everywhere and pay it as an installment. You do have a choice tho.

    1. CREDIT SCORE
      I don’t know how credit score works before and I have to build up my credit score first.

    2. SOME AMERICANS are GENTLE and KIND PEOPLE
      Maybe it depends but I work in a hospital so everyone is very professional. I used to believe that americans are rude, racist and etc. Since I watch a lot of SERIAL KILLING DOCUMENTARIES too. Lmao

    3. How convenient everything is for me. In my country we need to go EARLY in PUBLIC or GOVERNMENT offices because there would be a huge line and it would took you WHOLE DAY.

    4. TIP
      Mandatory TIP everywhere.

    5. TRAFFIC
      Ha. It’s just funny how Americans complain about their traffic wait till you get to PHILIPPINES. HAHAHA

    6. Coming from a poor country I find the healthcare here advanced and everything must be done by APPOINTMENTS. In my country, you can go to doctors by just walking in. First come, first serve.

    7. MALLS
      Your malls are sad.

    8. TAX
      Your tax is not yet included on the actual price. It confused me before. 🤣🤣

    I have a lot actually..

  31. wromit Avatar

    At TX A&M campus, complete strangers saying “Hi” as they walked past me on the sidewalk. People holding open the door 20 ft ahead of me. Strangers offering rides as I walked back home from campus at night. After the 9/11 incident, churches began contacting international student organizations offering rides to grocery stores and around campus. Mighty proud of that city 👏

  32. Confused_Orangutan Avatar

    I was a camp counselor soccer coach, and it felt like I was in a movie from the 90’s. Everything from the outfits, to the cheers, to the dining hall, to the trunks the kids would bring to camp with all their middle schools trinkets. Going from a council estate in london to a camp was a culture shock and I loved every minute.

  33. readzalot1 Avatar

    I am Canadian. I went to Disneyland for the first time when my daughter got engaged. Her guy was from a Disney loving family so both families went.

    I had never particularly wanted to go to Disneyland, but I loved it. The fun, the giddiness of the place, the attention to detail.

    I was utterly charmed.

  34. akiralx26 Avatar

    The listed price in stores not being what you pay. So coupled with my unfamiliarity with US coinage I bought everything with notes and ended up weighed down with pocketfuls of loose change at the end of each day.

  35. Itchy_Championship_6 Avatar

    Everybody was so nice. I’m Canadian, and up here so many people have misconceptions about Americans. In my experience, they’re nicer and more polite than those here at home

  36. Mac-N-Cheeses Avatar

    How hospitable people are in the south!😊

  37. Shoddy-Stress-8194 Avatar

    The contrast between rich neighborhoods and poor neighborhoods. The outright poverty in some areas of the richest country in the world.

  38. Matrozi Avatar

    Ive been living in the USA for a year.

    One thing I am absolutely LIVID at is that you have to PAY in order to find out how much taxes you owe.

    You can do the calculation by yourself but I wasnt confident enough to do it so I did was most americans did and used a proxy to file my tax and I had to pay 50 bucks.

    Like this is fucking insane. Why doesn’t the IRS just tell you how much you owe is bafling to me. This felt like a scam.

    In France, your taxes are already filled automatically because the equivalent of the IRS knows your employment status and how much you make and your family situation. You just have to verify if everything is in order and you can add some deductions if needed

    It took me 20 minutes to file taxes in France while it took me 2 days to check things 10 times and look at all the do, what I needed to send to whom and all.

  39. TheBumblingestBee Avatar

    The accents. In Canada, there are a few regional accents, but not that many. In the US, there were SO MANY.

  40. SuperPsotka Avatar

    No privacy in public bathrooms! What’s the deal with that huge gap under the stall doors? And they are often made in a way that while I’m peeing, I can make eye contact through the gap with someone washing their hands. That is super weird!

  41. grumpyoldmanBrad Avatar

    Tipping

    As visitors or anyone really you are paying the wait staff to do their job when in fact it should be the employers

  42. 408wij Avatar

    How are Jesus billboards not the top answer?

  43. YourMothersButtox Avatar

    One British boyfriend of mine was flabbergasted at the size of my parent’s bathroom sink.

  44. MischaJDF Avatar

    How big and beautiful your country is. Zion, Bryce and Yosemite are stunning. I drove Arizona, Utah and California just amazing. Flew to Houston – jungles and plains. New Orleans was out the gate exciting. Beverly Hills Cop did not prepare me for your national parks.

    However your indigenous folk are treated appallingly and applying sales tax at the till is a joke.

  45. MikesLittleKitten Avatar

    How great the interstate highways are. My husband and I (Canadians) went to Las Vegas for a week last year and rented a car to travel to Death Valley. Long story short, there was freak flooding in the valley and we had to take a 5 hour detour back to Vegas which took us through California as well. I was amazed at how great the highway was. So smooth and straight. Everything is clearly marked, the off and on ramps all give ample time to merge, there are decent roadside stops for food and gas, even the paint on the roads was brighter! After decades of travelling the 400 route in Central Ontario, not to mention all the weather worn pot-holed roads of Muskoka, I was pleasantly surprised.

  46. Stroby89 Avatar

    We were driving towards the grand canyon in the middle of nowhere with no building around and suddenly there was a fireworks shop next door to a preschool…

  47. NigraDolens Avatar

    The accommodations provided for physically disabled people in public transit/public places. I felt genuinely happy that there is a country which takes its protections seriously.

    You would not want to catch yourself in a disabled state in my country.

  48. jery007 Avatar

    Wanted to say something nice… I was amazed at how kind everyone was. When people saw me and my wife struggling with strollers and 2 babies at Disney, people would always happily help us.

  49. jeffbell Avatar

    I took someone from overseas to a baseball game. The things that impressed her:

    • Little kids with baseball cards following who is up. 

    • The enormous ketchup tub with a pump at the snack counter. 

    • You could order something from the vendor, pass your twenty dollar bill down the row, and your food and change would be passed back.