Americans share their 9 ‘biggest reverse culture shock’ stories on returning to the US

‘Murica. Land of the free, home of the brave. Bernardo, from West Side Story, sang it best: “Everything free in America / For a small fee in America.”

But that was in 1957. What do the Americans of 2024 have to say about their purportedly hallowed land?

Reddit user Zealanderrat posed the question in the r/AskReddit forum:

1.

It ‘screams into your brain at every opportunity’

Advertising and upsells. As soon as you get on a plane back to the US, it’s all “sign up for this credit card” and “watch these ads before and after the safety briefing” and “you can pay later for all this, no payments today”.

It absolutely screams into your brain at every opportunity.
–dmx007

As a Canadian it always drives me nuts that there’s audio ads at gas stations…
–Anton-sugar

Marketing is soft core terrorism.
–BigBadMannnn

Pharmaceutical commercials on TV was the most shocking. Smiling happy people talking about taking a pill to counteract the pill they were taking for (insert issue). Side effects may include mass murder, jumping from bridges, and uncontrollable diarrhoea…. At least you’ll be smiling while you deal with all the side effects!
–Hinano77

I remember seeing a pharma ad in the US where one of the potential side effects in the cheery-voiced listing was “sudden death”.
–roehnin

2.

Music in restaurants

Music in restaurants is SO LOUD.
–airin1994

Everyone hates that. What is the point of not being able to talk to each other over the music?
–dirt_mcgirt4

It’s typically done on purpose at restaurants in order to move and turn the tables faster. That’s also why the seats are typically not that comfortable and it’s too cold or hot. Absolutely this is something in the industry.
–Panta7pantou

And bars too. It’s ridiculous. They say it encourages more drinking but for me it means I’m finishing my drink and leaving because I can’t hear the person sitting right next to me.
–boldjoy0050

3.

The lobby is on the first floor

It took me a second to remember that 1st floor is ground/lobby floor here every time I got in an elevator for a few weeks.
–rickettss

When my mom visited me in Germany, she kept going to the first floor of the hotel thinking it was the lobby.
–yumdumpster

4.

Nobody smokes in the US

I quit when I came back from Germany, and I was blown away by how often I didn’t encounter other smokers, when I had assumed I’d have to deal with that temptation often.
–StJoeStrummer

I smoked cigs in Portugal while I was there and came back home and smoked a pack and had to like hide from the public while I did it. You get the stank eye…
–Whelpseeya

Funny, I just got back from Portugal yesterday, and remember thinking it was odd when my Portuguese friend just started smoking during lunch, on a college campus / outside dining area. That would never fly in the US anymore.
–guesswho135

One of the few health-related things Americans seem to be doing alright at.
–Elend15

Hear, hear!

One of the best changes in the country over the last 25 years.
–averageduder

5.

The subway sucks but the people are ‘the nicest’

Lived in Russia for 18 months (this was over 10 years ago), when I came back to the US I spent a week in NYC and was taken aback at how nice everyone was and how shitty the subway is.
–KingCarnivore

When my wife and I visited NYC, we were super jet-lagged (flying in from Europe).

Our first trip in the subway honestly felt like it was taken out of a movie or TV show. An orthodox Jew, a Muslim and some other dudes were jovially discussing the best route somewhere.

We must have looked very jet-lagged, because a dude who I’m pretty sure was homeless asked us where we were going, and offered to help us get there.

When we got off at the stop he said was the right one, he just ambled over and opened the emergency exit and waved us through.

We kind of panicked about that until we saw that the rest of the people on their way out were like, “Oh, someone opened the shortcut, nice,” and walked through.

He showed us how to get to the hotel, and we got there super fast. He didn’t want any money or food or anything, he just helped us.

I didn’t think NYC was any more or less rude than anywhere else we’ve visited in the States; it’s one of my favourite cities I’ve visited in the US.
–Barl0we

I didn’t grow up in NY, but living here the thing I always see is people are very hard on the outside towards strangers, but it takes like 10 seconds and they’re the nicest people ever.

Show up, people are cold, and it would take like 10 seconds of not being an asshole and they wanted to invite you over for the football game.

In NY, people are guarded and hard but you show you’re nice and they will be the nicest in the world.

Oklahoma: People use niceness as a tool. Everyone will be super nice at the offset, but they will stab you in the back the second it benefits them and call you the jerk for getting punked.

Oregon: people act nice and also are nice, and expect everyone else to be too. People smile at each other on the street and it’s earnest. If someone fell on the sidewalk you’d have people looking to help you.

It actually freaks out people from the east coast. They think people in Oregon are trying to pull one over on them.
–rukh999

6.

Healthcare is ‘absurd’

To go from a system where you can go see a doctor/specialist any day of the week without an appointment, to know you will be covered, and to have the peace of mind that you’ll spend probably less than $20, to then go to whatever we have here… it’s just absurd to me.

I also pay twice for my healthcare here than I did in Korea. We are so duped for a system that is openly robbing us and not keeping us well.
–Shauney

When I found out how much it cost my friend to get her wisdom tooth removed in the U.S. (vs. the $20 it cost me to remove mine), I was floored.
–daphneannn

7.

The streets are ‘dirty’

I lived in Japan for a year. Coming back to the States made me realise how dirty it is here and people are lazy and disrespectful when it comes to taking care of the city and each other.

In Japan, it’s a collective effort. Public restrooms are clean. If you have trash you put it in your pocket or purse and hold on to it until you can find access to a trash can.

Here? People will drop it on the ground because they cannot dare to be inconvenienced. I’ve seen people at stop lights open their door and leave bags of McDonald’s trash on the street and drive off so they can have a clean car.

Of course, one of the first public restroom experiences when I came back home was in a store where there was a drainage grate in the floor. A woman had her kid taking a piss in the grates instead of the toilet.

And don’t get me started how if they even have the sniffles they wear a mask in public to be courteous but here people like to cough directly into the wind.
–PicadillyVanilly

8.

Portion sizes

Goes without saying, though plenty of people say it.

Oh, and:

Shitty quality food
–travelingisdumb

9.

Americans love small talk

People are super chatty here compared to Germany! It felt weird at first, but now I kind of enjoy those random small talk moments with strangers.
–Velemyst

Ran into a Canadian tourist in Germany while visiting friends (out of the way area, not a city or common tourist area). They heard my American accent and made a beeline over just excited to small talk with some folks.

We ended up having lunch together, just delightful people, but was humorous to see how much they were dying inside having gone too long without being able to casually socialise with strangers haha.
–TheIndyCity

Want more? Try this. Americans are talking about not drinking tap water after this image of bottled water delivery went viral

Source: r/AskReddit