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Well I don't see how rich people could shop there. By looking at the people there and the food on offer it was clear. The people were FAT.
Most of the people had like six kids and it was in a redneck area.
There are plenty of fat rich people...
In areas where they have other options, rich people tend to avoid it. If they live in a quieter, more isolated area, they may visit it if nothing else because there are no other options for various items.
In LA, for instance, there are WalMarts in the South and East parts, out of the way of the wealthy areas, but strategically placed to serve the lower-income communities that live around there. There's more or less no way you'd ever see a Beverly Hills/West LA/Miracle Mile/Santa Monica/Venice/Marina Del Rey/Playa Del Rey-dwelling middle-to-upper class person shopping there if they could avoid it, and there are plenty of supermarkets, hardware stores, clothing shops auto parts stores, Targets, etc to serve their various needs.
The biggest draw for WalMart is the convenience of having it all in one place. In areas where you already have everything nearby, there's less of a draw, especially with the negative social and political associations that the company has.
There are things I like and things I dislike about America. Unfortunately for me the cons of the USA outweight the pros.
Let me start with the things I like: Well the obvious, American's wealth and relative stability in terms of economy, prices there being lower than in much of the developed world, its cultural legacy in terms of music, movies, television, well entertainment in general, and the overall friendliness of Americans. Most Americans I come across are very friendly and easy going and that's a great thing.
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Now the things I don't like in the US: America's lifestyle seems very depresssing to me. Car-centric and car-dependant, which means the vast majority of Americans can't even go to the bakery or grocery store on foot, they need a car to do this very small task of daily life.
Why would we want to go to the grocery store on foot? I've lived in Europe and had it both ways - personally I prefer driving to the grocery store and loading my groceries into my car rather than dragging them home in one of those carts. But hey, that's just me.
I say that though to point out that though it may "depress" you - this particular aspect of American life doesn't generally depress Americans at all. We like our cars and the mobility and flexibility that our vehicles give us.
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This car centric vocation also turned most American cities into a very uninteresting and dull tangle of suburbs and freeways
I'm with you on the freeways - though Europe definitely has uninteresting freeways as well.
As for the suburbs, once again - generally speaking, Americans LIKE living in suburbs.
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Food is another factor that lowers US appeal with me, a meal in America usually means eating junk served by fast-food companies.
Not for me it doesn't. Eating "junk food" is a CHOICE - it's not a necessity for the vast majority of Americans. We have a great variety of food choices here.
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I'm also not very fond of the fact that people there live to work and are absolutely obsessed with their jobs and carreers 24/7 which creates too much individuality and results in people in America usually forming very few strong ties or real friendships throughout their lives.
Americans in general ARE career oriented. But you're assuming that one can only be career oriented - OR - friendship oriented. It's not an "either/or" thing with many Americans (me for one). I have friends I've had for decades - close friends. Most people I know do as well. We don't work at the expense of building relationships just because we may work 5 more hours a week than some people in other areas of the world.
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There's no sense of "enjoying life". You don't usually see an American willlingly stopping at a park to just relax and disconnect from the world letting time go by while reading a book or anything. Americans never seem to never "disconnect" and thus a lot of them become very stressed out and anxious (look no further than the "relashionships" session of this very forum to check what i'm talking about)...
What? We're famous the world over for our national parks, which are packed with visitors (Americans for the most part). Most cities have parks and recreational areas that are filled with people lazing about, or jogging, or walking, whatever. I don't know where you're getting this idea.
As for your strange ideas about American relationships, while the US does make the top ten when it comes to divorce rates per country - we're at #10. We're outpaced by France, Cuba, Estonia, Luxembourg, Spain, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Portugal, and Belgium. Also, divorce rates don't tell the whole story because they don't reflect accurately those countries with lower rates of marriage, where people simply live together till they break up and move on to the next live in relationship.
By the way, as for reading, I'm half way through the first Outlander book and my daughter is waiting with bated breath for me to finish it so I will pass it on to her! Most of my friends are readers as well. I read about a book a week, mostly non fiction so the Outlander series is a departure from my norm - but I'm enjoying it.
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On top of it I just think it's absurd that people in the USA don't have paid vacations (labor laws and worker's rights in the US are a joke),
Where are you getting these ideas? Americans have paid vacations. My gosh, at my last job I had four weeks of paid vacation a year - plus paid sick leave and eleven paid holidays.
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or universal healthcare.
We're working on that. Meanwhile, the vast majority of Americans have health insurance or at the very least, Medicaid or Medicare. And our standards of health care are very high.
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I could on and on about the crazy conservative crowds, the extreme puritanism that prevails in American society and manifests itself in the form of stupid laws such as their legal drinking age, the (for the most part) suble but always present racial tensions...
Once again - I've lived in Europe and in Asia - racism and racial tensions are human nature. Of course, the more racially diverse a country or region is, the more racial issues are likely to present themselves - it's very easy to say "I'm not racist" when one doesn't live in a racially diverse area. It's one thing to say it, it's another thing to live it.
I live in Texas and as a white, non Hispanic, I am a minority (Texas is one of four or five minority/majority states, in which white, non Hispanics make up less than 50 percent of the population). Even so, racism in Texas is thankfully not much of an issue. Sure, we could swap personal anecdotes back and forth but the reality is that black, white, Hispanic, Asian, etc generally work and live together very well in Texas as well as other states.
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'm not here to bash America or Americans and despite all the "cons" I mentioned it's anarguable that the US is a very successful country in many ways and I'd love to be back one day and visit more places. The beaches in california look amazing on the movies...
I wouldn't want to live there though, I just think it's not a very healthy lifestyle, too much pressure on achieving material goods and very little time for enjoying life.
Life in the US is so incredibly diverse that it's impossible to say "it's not a very healthy lifestyle" across the board. Most Americans have an amazing array of choices in front of them - from food to housing, recreational options, careers, etc. What people choose to do in their free time (and yes, we have plenty of free time) is THEIR CHOICE. Living in the US doesn't mandate that one has to eat fast food, drive everywhere, or neglect relationships, just to name a few of your negatives. I don't do any of those things (with the exception of driving to the grocery store - LOL - but I DO walk about five miles a day on top of that).
Life is what you make it, no matter where you live. In some countries, of course, options are extremely limited, and that's sad - but that's not the US.
Why would we want to go to the grocery store on foot? I've lived in Europe and had it both ways - personally I prefer driving to the grocery store and loading my groceries into my car rather than dragging them home in one of those carts. But hey, that's just me.
I say that though to point out that though it may "depress" you - this particular aspect of American life doesn't generally depress Americans at all. We like our cars and the mobility and flexibility that our vehicles give us.
As to the bolded: Not all Americans have the same view, you can't say what I like. Certainly in college and a few years afterward when I didn't have a car, it'd be nice to be able to walk to places. I would be fine with doing most errands on foot if most places weren't so spread out, don't see any point why it is. Though, yea it's easier to drive to the grocery store. But in any case, the time I spent in England most drove to grocery stores except in center city areas.
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Where are you getting these ideas? Americans have paid vacations. My gosh, at my last job I had four weeks of paid vacation a year - plus paid sick leave and eleven paid holidays.
On average, Americans have fewer paid vacations than Europeans. The difference is large, though of course some Americans do get a lot of paid vacation.
There are things I like and things I dislike about America. Unfortunately for me the cons of the USA outweight the pros.
Let me start with the things I like: Well the obvious, American's wealth and relative stability in terms of economy, prices there being lower than in much of the developed world, its cultural legacy in terms of music, movies, television, well entertainment in general, and the overall friendliness of Americans. Most Americans I come across are very friendly and easy going and that's a great thing.
Now the things I don't like in the US: America's lifestyle seems very depresssing to me. Car-centric and car-dependant, which means the vast majority of Americans can't even go to the bakery or grocery store on foot, they need a car to do this very small task of daily life.
This car centric vocation also turned most American cities into a very uninteresting and dull tangle of suburbs and freeways
Food is another factor that lowers US appeal with me, a meal in America usually means eating junk served by fast-food companies. I'm also not very fond of the fact that people there live to work and are absolutely obsessed with their jobs and carreers 24/7 which creates too much individuality and results in people in America usually forming very few strong ties or real friendships throughout their lives.
There's no sense of "enjoying life". You don't usually see an American willlingly stopping at a park to just relax and disconnect from the world letting time go by while reading a book or anything. Americans never seem to never "disconnect" and thus a lot of them become very stressed out and anxious (look no further than the "relashionships" session of this very forum to check what i'm talking about)...
On top of it I just think it's absurd that people in the USA don't have paid vacations (labor laws and worker's rights in the US are a joke), or universal healthcare.
I could on and on about the crazy conservative crowds, the extreme puritanism that prevails in American society and manifests itself in the form of stupid laws such as their legal drinking age, the (for the most part) suble but always present racial tensions...
I'm not here to bash America or Americans and despite all the "cons" I mentioned it's anarguable that the US is a very successful country in many ways and I'd love to be back one day and visit more places. The beaches in california look amazing on the movies...
I wouldn't want to live there though, I just think it's not a very healthy lifestyle, too much pressure on achieving material goods and very little time for enjoying life.
I agree with the bold parts completely. I also agree with a few other points but don't feel like getting into an argument. I hate the live to work mentality we have. I simply don't participate in it. My job encourages us to work 6 days a week and I refuse to. This means that I am less successful than my peers but I am also less stressed than they are.
In areas where they have other options, rich people tend to avoid it. If they live in a quieter, more isolated area, they may visit it if nothing else because there are no other options for various items.
In LA, for instance, there are WalMarts in the South and East parts, out of the way of the wealthy areas, but strategically placed to serve the lower-income communities that live around there. There's more or less no way you'd ever see a Beverly Hills/West LA/Miracle Mile/Santa Monica/Venice/Marina Del Rey/Playa Del Rey-dwelling middle-to-upper class person shopping there if they could avoid it, and there are plenty of supermarkets, hardware stores, clothing shops auto parts stores, Targets, etc to serve their various needs.
The biggest draw for WalMart is the convenience of having it all in one place. In areas where you already have everything nearby, there's less of a draw, especially with the negative social and political associations that the company has.
Thank you, this is what I've been trying to get across to people. I don't think a lot of people understand that California is a rather classist society. People with money don't shop there simply because they don't have to, in general.
As to the bolded: Not all Americans have the same view, you can't say what I like. Certainly in college and a few years afterward when I didn't have a car, it'd be nice to be able to walk to places. I would be fine with doing most errands on foot if most places weren't so spread out, don't see any point why it is. Though, yea it's easier to drive to the grocery store. But in any case, the time I spent in England most drove to grocery stores except in center city areas.
On average, Americans have fewer paid vacations than Europeans. The difference is large, though of course some Americans do get a lot of paid vacation.
I was just speaking generally - of course I can't say what YOU like. Generally speaking, Americans like their cars and the car centric lifestyle. Of course there are exceptions to every rule.
As for Americans on average having less paid vacation that Europeans, yes, of course that's true. But that's not what I was responding to. The post I was responding to stated the poster's belief that Americans do not have ANY paid vacation time. Generally speaking, that's not true at all. Most companies offer paid vacation as part of their benefits package to full time employees.
I agree with the bold parts completely. I also agree with a few other points but don't feel like getting into an argument. I hate the live to work mentality we have. I simply don't participate in it. My job encourages us to work 6 days a week and I refuse to. This means that I am less successful than my peers but I am also less stressed than they are.
LOL I don't have a "live to work" mentality and neither do my American friends. So I guess you could say that we don't participate in it either.
I have never worked in any job that expected or encouraged people to work six days a week. Maybe it's just your particular career field? I don't know.
That being said, my husband does work 14 days straight. Oh, but then he's off 14 days straight. Not shabby.
I was just speaking generally - of course I can't say what YOU like.
Ok. Though some of these posts (maybe not yours) assuming that everyone likes all aspects of the national culture and shares similar tastes.
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But that's not what I was responding to. The post I was responding to stated the poster's belief that Americans do not have ANY paid vacation time. Generally speaking, that's not true at all. Most companies offer paid vacation as part of their benefits package to full time employees.
True, that poster was exaggerating. And yes, I liked most of your response.
There's no sense of "enjoying life". You don't usually see an American willlingly stopping at a park to just relax and disconnect from the world letting time go by while reading a book or anything. Americans never seem to never "disconnect" and thus a lot of them become very stressed out and anxious (look no further than the "relashionships" session of this very forum to check what i'm talking about)...
I don't know where in the States you have been, but parks always seem to be full of people relaxing. The parks around me need more benches because I often end up on the grass. But that's OK, that's where the sunbathing women in bikinis are.
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Originally Posted by victorhernandez
On top of it I just think it's absurd that people in the USA don't have paid vacations (labor laws and worker's rights in the US are a joke), or universal healthcare.
I have to agree here.
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Originally Posted by victorhernandez
I wouldn't want to live there though, I just think it's not a very healthy lifestyle, too much pressure on achieving material goods and very little time for enjoying life.
These are choices. In some industries people are indeed pressured to work a lot more. That is a choice, too, though. In some countries like Spain, 25% of those people relaxing all the time and reading books in the park have no choice. They are unemployed.
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Originally Posted by Natsku
most of the Americans I've ever met were decent people and I'm fairly sure they represent the majority of normal people over there so the people are cool too. Not too keen on how much more religious the average persons seems to be but meh, I can deal with that.
I rarely meet religious people (that I can tell anyway). I'm just lucky I guess.
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Meanwhile, the vast majority of Americans have health insurance or at the very least, Medicaid or Medicare. And our standards of health care are very high.
Not shabby.
