Americans shared the things they didn’t know were weird until they talked to non-Americans – 17 worldly realisations

Ah, America. The land of the free, the home of people who don’t realise their cultural differences.

Perhaps that should come as no surprise. After all, their country is the size of a continent. But for Yanks who have travelled further afield, it’s not long until they see their way of life anew. This prompted ExistingTomorrow1447 to pose this question to the folks over at r/AskReddit:

‘Americans, what’s something you didn’t realize was weird until you talked to non-Americans?’

Here are the top replies…

1.
‘Having a garbage disposal in the sink.’
-CloudySkye93

2.
‘DIY auto repair is a common hobby in the US and completely foreign to Indians. I had a co-worker who immigrated to New Jersey from India and he was so enthralled by the idea, he ended up with like 10 cars in his backyard and works on them every weekend.’
-DowntownPea9504

3.
‘I learned that root beer is something a lot of people from other countries don’t like.’
-HornetParticular6625

4.
‘Employers having to approve sick time. Apparently in other countries, your doctor decides how long you have to take off and you employer just HAS to honor it.’
-Eudonidano

5.
‘Drug testing. I’ve worked various jobs since 13 years old and never even heard about the concept, except for convicted fellons coming back from detention leave or something like that.

Then I work in US and my boss is like “Well obviously I’m gonna have to check your piss before you can sort parcels”’
-That_Attempt_7014

6.
‘Requiring cashiers to stand up.

‘It seemed normal when I lived in the US, but now that I’m in Spain and see cashiers sitting down I wonder why they can’t in the US.’
-foo_bar_qaz

7.
‘When I moved to Japan, I was shocked that people would go to the doctor for a cold. To me it was normal to avoid the hospital at all costs unless there was something really serious going on.’
-ghost_in_the_potato

8.
‘The gap under bathroom doors, I guess?’
-pelvicfractures

9.
‘Eating tons of cinnamon. Was hanging out with a french au pair, who commented about ” Americans and their cinnamon ”

‘I thought everyone loved cinnamon. Lol’
-Impossible_One_6658