- Only $20 notes in ATMs: On our first day in NYC we went to withdraw some cash. We needed a large amount of cash to pay for our apartment. However each ATM we went to only gave out $20 notes! This is apparently pretty standard. In fact, most shop keepers do fraud checks on notes larger than $20. This is why I took a photo when an ATM in Santa Fe spat out $50's -Wow! I'd never seen one! The shit thing about carrying around a lot of $20s is that it makes your wallet so super fat.
- Hygiene paranoia and irony: Every 'restroom' in the States is equipped with automatic flush, toilet seat cover sheets, soap machine, taps and towel dispenser (which, by the way never gives out enough paper towel so you have to wave your hands in front of the sensor twice or three times), and some even have hygiene papers near the door so you don't have to touch the door on the way out. HOWEVER, there are NO 'sanitary napkin' bins. Occasionally there is a waste paper basket, but that is IT! Talk about irony for a country that is paranoid about toilet hygiene. Those poor cleaners! They need Pink to set up business in the States.
- Mobile ph companies must be making a motza!: I thought that people at home were bad re: being on their phone all day, but it's even more noticeable here. As soon as a plane touches down everyone is on their phone, telling shit stories to whomever is at the other end. Shopkeepers would prefer to be on their phones than serve you (more about that later). Most talk as if they are in a bubble when really they are revealing, very loudly, the intimate details of their new boyfriend to a friend, or their issues with a new boss - as if no one else can hear their conversation. I pretty much hate it. I think it's completely unnecessary. This gadget in the picture below promotes a ladder system to be able to carry your bags together so you can 'talk on the phone'! It's like they might spontaneously combust if they weren't able to talk on their phone?!
- Wheel chairs get you everywhere: People in the states are either severely disabled or really lazy or two fat to walk or perhaps all of the above. At Disneyland and at most airports there were a disproportionally high number of people in wheelchairs. Also, it's not unusual to see said people get up and out of their chair to walk through the metal detector at security, or to buy something in a shop etc OR to GO ON A RIDE AT DISNEYLAND!! My theory is that by being in a wheel chair you get preferential treatment and get to join the front of a queue. Therefore people invent fake ailments to be able to get a wheelchair. At Disneyland it was common to see a mom in a chair get to jump to the front of a line with her entire family. That's the other thing, if you are with someone in a wheelchair you get to jump the queues also.
- Customer service is shit - Most sales staff would much prefer to a) continue a conversation on their mobile b) text on their mobile or c) bitch with their colleague about some work drama - than to serve you or even acknowledge you. Sometimes they just simply ignore you and act like you are bothering them by actually making them do their job. For example, we posted the package below at a post office in Miami and halfway through the transaction the post office worker got a call on her mobile phone. She stopped serving us to have a personal chit chat!! Fark. That to me is the HEIGHT of rudeness! Then these people expect you to tip them at the end - therefore this observation goes hand in hand with my I hate tipping mantra.
- Hierarchy - there is a noticeable hierarchy of employees and even citizens it seems. Wealthy jews are at the top, then 'regular' white people, then african americans and mexicans are at the bottom. Even other immigrants 'rank' higher than mexicans. Mexicans are often seen in restaurant kitchens, filling up water in restaurants (clearly they aren't qualified enough to take your order?!), as cleaners, and stockroom workers. Basically the 'shit' jobs are reserved for mexicans.
- Pot everywhere - The legal drinking age in the states is 21. This means that most kids under 21 (or at least the ones that we saw) smoke a lot of pot. Surely it would be a better health policy to lower the drinking age, then kids would have an alternative to smoking a lot of gunge?
- Baby carrots = best invention: At grocers, deli's, pharmacies and corner stores where can buy an apple, you can generally by a bag of baby carrots. They are THE BEST snack. I love them. They are so portable and so handy. I wish there was greater availability at home.
- American companies have amazing marketing budgets: There is free stuff left right and centre. For example at the Lollapalooza music festival there was an Adidas village with free tshirts/photobooths, a local radio station sponsored free Hammocks, Toyota Prius vodka slush, free tote and novelty energy bikes/see saw, Sony lent out it's latest videocam the 'bloggie' to people for entire days to take film at the Lollapalooza festival. The marketing budgets must be huge! and also, the strategies are different to just plain TVCs or magazine ads (don't get me started on those - 3/4 of a fat glossy Vogue or Marie Claire is made up of ads, predominantly on the right hand pages to catch your attention. This makes it particularly shit trying to read an article on the left hand side).
- Pharmacies everywhere - but no supermarkets - Don't bother looking for a supermarket in NYC. It's either a deli or a pharmacy that you are likely to come across. Pharmacies offer strange array of shit, similar to a convenience store combined with a pharmacy and limited food products. Kind of like a priceline. At first I hated this because I was looking for FOOD in these big supermarket-type pharmacies, however then I learnt to get food from a deli or a specialised supermarket and to get all sorts of goodies from a Pharmacy.
- The two nicest people in customer service that we met were called Dave. Dave 1 - took us on a tour of a hotel in Boston and bought us Boston cream pie. Dave 2 - upgraded us to an amazing mustang for a very cheap price at the rental car company. I like Daves.
- Not aware of personal space - Americans are so happy to push in front of you (especially in the airport) or to bump you and not say sorry or acknowledge that they brushed you, they won't move out of the way, and will attach to your butt like a hemorrhoid when you are in a queue. They don't seem to understand the concept of common courtesy and personal space.
- 'uh huh' - When you say thank you, the common response is 'uh huh'. WTF. What is 'uh huh'? Is it 'You're welcome but I'm too lazy to say it'? Is it 'whatever'? I reckon it's just plain rude.
- Own language - Rain boots: It was raining when we were in Chicago so I asked in a shop where we could get Gumboots. *Blank look*. Ok, how about Galoshers? *Blank look*. Ok, how about Wellingtons? *Blank look*. So I asked, what do you call the rubber boots you wear when it rains? The response was "Ahhh - They're called Rain Boots!" Stupid me.
They didn't understand me when I ordered 'Take away' and had to repeat it several times or change what I was asking for and get 'Take out' instead. They aren't very good at similies. Surely Take Away sounds like Take Out or you can make out the gist right? Also you have to ask for the 'Rest room' instead of the toilets or bathroom. If you ask for coffee you get black instant brew.
- Polite beggers: The beggers asking for change on the street corner say 'Thank you', 'god bless you' and 'have a great day', regardless of if you drop change in their cup or not. Whereas at home, you'd tend to get abused for ignoring someone asking for change.
It seems I'm the only one to make such observations. Check out this article that M-pie recently posted.
