North American Observations
14th of October, 2007
Randy Walker requested I write up my observations on the USA and Canada from an Australian perspective. Similar to the Swiss Stephanie Booth’s notes on American culture.
- A lot of cars in the US use their rear/brake lights flashing as their indicator lights. I guess this is more efficient than having separate indicator lights but it’s not very obvious.
- Utes (or trucks as they’re called here) are absolutely massive. Bonnets are as high as my shoulders.
- Pennies are a complete waste of time.
- While Australia does it’s best to be more like the United States, Canada does all it can to distance itself from the US.
- TV commercials are ridiculous. They’re never funny, they’re just awkward and stupid.
- Brands are multiplied. We have two major grocery stores — Woolworths and Coles. I can think of seven or eight differently branded big grocery stores just in this area.
- Peanuts or peanut butter are put in every kind of snack.
- Tartare sauce is difficult to find but ranch sauce is everywhere. Ranch tastes pretty good.
- Hockey and American Football are great, fun to watch games.
- Security officers wear bullet-proof vests at my school in Canada.
- Food in general seems to be far more bland than back home. I can’t find a cereal with a really strong fruit flavour, same goes for super-bland yoghurt and chips have little seasoning.
- College football is much better than the NFL, they want it more.
- Sport in general at college and university is a strong force. My university at home doesn’t have a sport team in anything let alone a grand statue of a cougar, my school’s sport mascot, standing proud at the gym entrance.
- Beer at a bar is served in pint glasses and it’s really expensive — $6.50 and up. A schooner back home is around $3 which is a little smaller than a pint. Here they call steins “schooners” which are a lot bigger than a pint. They also call basic spirits highballs, although they’re never served a highball glass. It’s complicated.
- Tipping is a stupid waste of time. Here’s an idea — charge 15% more for everything and just give that money to your staff — annoying awkwardness gone!
- Speaking of money, not including tax in list prices is also stupid. It’s a fixed number, why not just list the price you’re going to pay? Buying things here is complicated.
- Many people wear caps.
- VISA is a lot less popular than Master Card in Canada, sometimes it’s really difficult to find an ATM I can use.
- Toilets are like swimming pools. I always used to wonder how it was possible for a dog to drink out of a toilet bowl, now I know and it’s gross.
- Every single place I’ve been has used a unique approach to turning on the water in a shower. What happened to the plain old hot and cold knobs?
- People I’ve encountered generally have poor geographical knowledge outside of North America. One person thought New Zealand was in Europe.
- I’ve seen hundreds of caravans but not one box trailer.
- In some public toilets it’s possible to flush, wash and dry your hands without touching anything, I like that.
If I think of anything else, I’ll add it.
Re: “# Tipping is a stupid waste of time. Here’s an idea — charge 15% more for everything and just give that money to your staff — annoying awkwardness gone!
Speaking of money, not including tax in list prices is also stupid. It’s a fixed number, why not just list the price you’re going to pay? Buying things here is complicated.”
I agree 100%. Mandatory tipping is ridiculous and a waste of money.
List prices should always be the final price.
Made by Daniel Nicolas who has a website — http://www.wakingideas.com
You miss the point of tipping… Too many people, even Americans, view it as expected to tip at least 10%. That’s wrong. A tip is supposed to be for exceptional service, not for a standard experience. If they didn’t do everything they could to make your time at their restaurant better, they don’t deserve a tip.
Personally, I either tip very little or excessively well. There’s just very little middle ground in my opinion - the service was either exceptional or it wasn’t.
And including tax could be difficult, particularly for franchises, because it’s not exactly a fixed amount. Taxes vary too much - it’s 5% for the state, 2% more for prepared food and other entertainment, 1% for groceries, and another 1% for our local city.
All the McDonalds advertising would have to change, because their sandwich is no longer 99 cents… It’s $1.08 in the city, but $1.05 outside the city, and $1.09 in the next city over… It’s just like buying a house. When you buy the house, they don’t include the property taxes you’re going to have to pay on that house - that’s up to you to cover later on (and for the rest of the time you own the house) - treat the sandwich the same way.
Made by Chris Meller who has a website — http://incoherentbabble.com
Sure, you can tip badly or not at all for poor service but if you’re at a bar don’t expect to be served again all night.
That still results in a flat rate across all products at a specific store in a specific location. The same amount of tax is still applied to every transaction. There’s no reason prices can’t be shown with tax included at the establishment. Sure, nation-wide advertising can still say $1 + tax because it’s variable everywhere but why do it when the amount of tax is known?
Made by Jim who has a website — http://jimwhimpey.com
I really liked reading your observations! More people should do this kind of thing when they travel.
Made by Stephanie Booth who has a website — http://climbtothestars.org
You forgot your fascination with custom license plates here.
Made by Joey Brooks who has a website — http://milkcartondesigns.com
As a German in Canada I can only agree… It must be the emphasis of “freedom” that leads to endless possibilities of “how to turn on the water” in washrooms.
Made by Christian who has a website — http://mandelbrenner.info
Jim, if you’re at a bar with piss poor service, they don’t ever deserve your business, let alone a tip.
Made by Daniel Nicolas who has a website — http://www.wakingideas.com
Uhh… why would you be tipping before you left? I don’t know what crazy-ass bars you’re at, but I run up my tab and pay when I’m ready to leave.
You don’t think McDonalds designs and prints all their menus for all their stores nationally? How else could you visit one in NYC and one in SFO and still see the same items in exactly the same ways?
It’s an ever-increasing global economy, and it’s just not practical to have varying prices on menus for every individual local zone. That’s just too much hassle and added expense for too little benefit for a huge multi-national corporation.
For what it’s worth, I know several mom-and-pop places that’ll have a lunch special, etc. listed including tax. When you’re talking that small of a scale and they’re interested in getting people in and out as quickly as possible, it’s convenient - otherwise, it’s just added work for no benefit.
Besides, who honestly cares that it comes out to be $5.07 instead of $5.00 even? I don’t know a single person (aside from myself) that carries any cash anymore. Your Visa doesn’t mind that extra 7 cents one bit…
Made by Chris Meller who has a website — http://incoherentbabble.com
Which of these apply to the US and which to Canada? From what I understand, there are all about Canada except the part where you said
My friend recently lived in Canada (we’re from the States) and she has some weird observations as well. You were right on about Canadian geography. They also think that all the American companies are theirs as well. For instance, a Canadian girl thought Ford and GM were Canadian.
Great post!
Made by Luke Hoersten who has a website — http://openradix.org/