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I thought it was an entertaining read, nothing more than that. Surely nobody thinks it's some sort of doctoral dissertation on the merits of US society...
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When people smile in Europe it means something.
Yeah, it means watch yourself and be real careful what you say and do next, you are clearly dealing with a lunatic
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...the people who always complain the most about the local country are travelling Americans.
In my experience, Americans abroad vie for the position with the British. My god in heaven, can those poms complain.
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But when I do finally settle down it will not be in the United States..
No it won't, because you can't get a green card
Since I've got nothing better to do I'll try to contrast his statements with my own experience. I haven't been to as many places in the US but I did live in Texas for about a year and a half.
1. Americans are way too sensitive
- Or maybe you are a rude jerk. Just because it's ok to be mean to people where you come from doesn't mean it's ok everywhere else.
2. Everything is “awesome”!
That is a minor cultural issue, but easily dealt with. I remember one guy who asked me "How are you?" and got the details exactly how I felt that day. The look on the poor man's face! I wised up after that. Yes, when someone says they're "ok" and not "great," something IS the matter. Hasn't this guy ever had a girlfriend?
3. Smiles mean NOTHING
- See above. Seriously, just because someone smiles a lot doesn't make it mean nothing. People smile a lot in Thailand as well, apparently. Personally, I don't know about this whole thing. At the time, I didn't think people were smiling insincerely at me and instead thought that it was nice that people appeared happy to see me. Maybe I should have worried more?
4. Tipping
Terribly annoying to get decent service? That's what I call 1st world problems... My own biggest problem in this respect was to figure out how much to tip, but I did like being able to directly reward people who I thought provided superior service. I don't know where else this guy has been when he's talking about ":the rest of the world," but I'll take good service over bad service any day. I've been to enough restaurants where you have to leave your table and go find the waitstaff if you want anything.
5. False prices on everything
This didn't bother me once I got the hang of doing simple calculations in my head and knew what the state sales tax was. Maybe the Irish have poor math skills or something. On the other hand, imagine if price tags over on this side of the pond displayed what the store charges for the item, and then the (usually around 25%) sales tax gets added onto the total at the register. There would be riots! You could easily say that including the tax on the price tag is also lying, since that's hiding how much the gubmint makes from your purchase.
6. Cheesy in-your-face marketing
I didn't really notice this, except for some rather strange billboard ads for remaining a virgin until you're married - they were displaying some guy in a medieval suit of armor, and I remember thinking "that's gotta chafe". Anyway, this guy has clearly not watched a lot of European commercials when he complains about US ones.
This is a Norwegian commercial for lamb sausage, the captions are "Speed bump, Voss style" and "Cold cuts, Voss style"
No more random phonecalls on any landline (including hotels I was paying for) with a recorded voice to try to pitch me something and no more spam promotional brochures taking over my physical mailbox.
I'm sorry but this is a global phenomenon and not exlusive to the US. Anywhere people have money to spend there will be crass commercials. Looks like he'll have to stay in a developing country if the absence of marketing is what makes him feel at peace.
7. Wasteful consumerism
Not sure about this, at any rate it's clearly not limited to the US so I don't understand why he makes it a specifically US issue. Sure, if you live in Uganda I'm sure there's going to be less "consumerism," but in my experience it's not something you're going to evade in any developed country. It's just that the goods or services being consumed are different, as in the example of a restaurant visit taking four hours and costing you half a week's pay in Europe as opposed to taking half an hour and costing the equivalent of maybe three to four hours of your salary.
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I wish he had the common sense to realise that if he stopped wasting his money he’d have plenty left over.
But then you couldn't have bought your cheap second-hand iPad from him, could you? You'd have to fork out for a new one, probably much more than what it now costs, as if everyone did as you wish, goods would be considerably more expensive because fewer items would be sold.
8. Idiotic American stereotypes of other countries
Well, pot, kettle, and all that. I've lost count of how many times people in Britan or Ireland would regard me with the utmost suspicion upon hearing my accent, until they figured out I was not German but Norwegian... And the Irish do drink, much more than they should since they can't hold their drink very well.
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my actual experience in hanging out with thousands of you.
Oh, come ON!
Anyway, sure there's stereotypes, but you're going to run into that anywhere in the world. The alternative is complete and utter ignorance that your country even exists, I don't know which is better. If you talk to a Japanese dude and tell him you're from Norway, he'll be sure to say something about salmon, as that's pretty much the only thing he's likely to know about us.
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How was the boat ride over here?
Sounds like he wouldn't recognize a joke if it jumped up and bit him in the behind.
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Too many people insisting that Ireland was part of the UK. They actually argued it with me!!
Northern Ireland is part of the UK. And Ireland was
9. Heritage
I didn't experience this as a problem and I'm uncertain why the author thinks it is. People are trying to make conversation and establish common ground.
10. ID checks & stupid drinking laws
It's not stupid. Once again he fails to realize differences between (most) of the US and (most) of Yurp. Given that you have to drive almost everywhere, and the propensity for 18-21 year olds to get in to all sorts of trouble while even slightly inebriated, it makes a lot of sense to restrict access to alcohol for this age group. Even with this restriction about 75,000 deaths are linked to alcohol each year in the US. The number of DUI fatalities in the 18-21 age group has been positively affected by raising the minimum age.
I do agree with the carding to a degree, once you're going bald you shouldn't get carded anymore. On the other hand - what's the big deal?
11. Religious Americans
Ya, sure. At least the Americans have mostly, with a very few and limited exceptions, stopped killing each other over religious issues. Can't say I'm seeing the same in Europe, not to mention some other parts of the world.
12. Corporations win all the time, not small businesses
I disagree, there are and were many small businesses in the US that are successful. What he thinks of as small businesses are probably small stores which are parts of corporations.
13. A country designed for cars, not humans
The towns and cities might be designed for cars (with humans in them, of course), but unless you subscribe to one of those distasteful Christian affiliations you find so objectionable, the country wasn't designed with anything specific in mind
Sure - it's hard to get around without a car, but a) cars are inexpensive and b) gas is relatively inexpensive. Going to the US and not driving is like going to Nepal and not climbing a mountain.
14. Always in a hurry
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but even in a posh sit-down restaurant your food will usually come out in less than five minutes after ordering
!
AAAAGH! The humanity! Maybe this guy is a masochist or something. Something about what he said made me think about this classic:
And then he complains about people "cutting to the chase too quickly." I thought Americans were not direct enough?
At any rate, in my experience nobody was particularly hurried in the US. Maybe I lived in the wrong state?
15. Obsession with money
I don't see how this is exclusive to the US. You'll find people obsessed with money all over the planet. He's just envious because the "celtic tiger" has been poached and sold to the Chinese as an aphrodisiac and he can no longer make a mint on his superior technological knowledge.
16. Unhealthy portions
... You don't want to live somewhere because there's too much food? 'k.
I thought the portions were just right, but then I was doing a man's work at the time Maybe that's the author's problem?
I do recall being somewhat disappointed in Mississippi plates compared to Texas plates, but then I discovered Ryan's Family Steakhouse
17. Thinking America is the best
Well, I liked it. I won't go into the author's irrational fear of guns, but it's interesting to note that he feels safer in a herd.
Ah, young people always complain about anything having to do with cars. But I'm sure that the majority of people would HATE a world without cars. Love it or believe that you hate them, the fact of the matter is, they're convenient. I'm sure that once these young people hit their 40s, they'll retire the idea of going grocery shopping and bringing those bags home without a car.
First of all, the guy spent time in some cities that I, as an American, would never pay my own way to even visit. It's obvious he was in the wrong areas of Chicago and in the wrong areas, mainly, of San Francisco. The other places like Houston, San Antonio, Los Angeles, etc are mainly unlike that of NYC, DC, Boston, Chicago, San Fran, etc.
I have lived in a lot of places here and most of the author's points are only true in certain areas. Only a few of these things are universally true no matter where you go such as Tipping and the whole tax thing. The whole tax thing though, yeah does it suck? Sure, but it's something you get used to easily.
I have seen a lot of this country, and what he says is true of much of America, but not all of it, especially in the big cities. It sounds like for the month he was in Chicago for example, that he probably stayed only in the Near North Side (and a small-ish section of it) and the Loop. Get outside of these areas and you will barely find any chains (except McDonald's and Starbucks) and almost no in your face cheesy marketing. The author needs to spend more time in the real NYC, Chicago, San Fran, Boston, Miami, DC, etc.
I agree with pretty much all of his points, though he's being kind of ugly and snarky about it.
One thing he does need to be schooled on is taxes. Rates vary from state to state, county to county, and even city to city. This is why they're not included on the price on the shelf; you'd have to make a jillion different price tags for each municipality. Nobody's going to do that. If you managed to finish sixth grade, you can calculate the tax yourself.
Another point is American ignorance about other countries. I hear these anecdotes from Europeans all the time, but I have very rarely met Americans as stupid as the ones they're describing. Also, Europeans can also be staggeringly ignorant about the United States. I could write a book about Europeans' stupid assumptions about Texas.
Also, I find it amusing that someone from Ireland is being so preachy when Ireland is one of the most backward countries in Europe, certainly the most backward in western Europe. Try getting a divorce or abortion there and you'll see what I mean. They also built a lot of their recent wealth on graft and EU subsidies...the Celtic Tiger turned out to be made of paper.
I think some can never actaulyl even move within the US they are so homebuys and girls. I never wanted to live in europe because i feel s its so lackig in individualism compared to what i am use to. Its all what you like really. Most euroepans are clueless has to the real diverity of america in its regions and americans are much more likely to have lived and served in military around the world and on business.
I worked in Public Affairs for years. In London and then overseas, inc to the US. I travelled, met many people and observed.
Also, having spent years in academe I interacted with the most able citizens who shared the frustration that too many of the people have a narrow vision of the world.
Again, not all of the US is like this. There are areas where most of this **** is frowned upon. There are people from all around the world living in many cities like NYC, Chicago, San Fran, etc who don't complain too much and don't move back.
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