Article created by: Denis Tymulis
The United States has plenty of pros and cons, just like any other country. However, you can’t deny America tends to have more of each and some of them are turned all the way up to 11 on the weirdness scale. Like having the police patrol your school, writing the date in a weird way (let’s not even talk about the Imperial measurement system), and having full-on smear ads against political opponents.
Welcome to the Wonderland that is the USA. And what better way to learn about the bizarre things that Americans think are completely normal than by asking non-Americans for their opinions? That’s exactly what one Reddit user (who told Bored Panda that they wish to remain anonymous because of all the attention they're getting) did in a viral thread that got more than 50.9k upvotes and over a whopping 38.9k comments. Scroll down, have a read, check out our in-depth interview with the original poster, and upvote the weird things that happen in the US that left an impact on you, dear Pandas.
When you are 18 years old, you can be shipped to a foreign country to kill humans, but you are not allowed to drink alcohol.
Ambulance rides costing money seems pretty absurd to people from other countries
Paying people less than minimum wage. How is it a minimum if it's legal to pay less than that?
Archaic, unhelpful standard units of measurement.
Putting a ton of sugar in products like bread.
Gun ownership.
Having only two parties: Republicans and Democrats. I know there are some smaller parties, but the system is stacked against them.
Date Order (MM/DD/YYYY)
Portion sizes.
My maternity leave was an unpaid 6 weeks, and I had to fight them on not shorting me because I went past my due date and didn’t keep working until the day I went into labor.
Doing the pledge of allegiance in the morning at school
Identifying as your heritage instead of your nationality. Americans will say that they’re Italian, German, polish, etc. when they don’t speak the language and have no real connection to those countries anymore.
In other parts of the world people just identify with the country they were born in or have lived in for a significant amount of time regardless of their ancestry.
Had some American colleagues in Norway asking us how we celebrate 4th July
Willingly putting yourself massively in debt for a college degree.
I come from a place with free university education (which has its own drawbacks of course), and the fact that you can make such a huge, life-altering decision at 17 is considered normal over there, that seems downright bizarre to me.
The enabling customer service culture.
It’s created excessive portions in restaurants, created Karen, gives way to a disposable attitude towards products, and generally gives a sense of entitlement where most people start adding it to their list of rights.
When I was there during the last election I was shocked at how phrases like ‘well they have the black vote’ or the ‘Latino vote’ came up all the time on the radio. Obviously it’s not racist but it’s just something that would never come up in my country. Like, why would latino people all vote for the same person?
Actively avoiding healthcare visits/checkups because if there's something wrong and you don't have the money to pay for treatment, then you'd rather just not know
This one is more on the positive side, because I think we could learn some from it.
Talking and sharing your life with complete strangers. I have met quite a few americans so it seems the norm that you share and engage with strangers in public. The bus, train, parks etc. And then you go on your way.
In Denmark you'd be a "freak" if you did that.
Asking everyone “what do you do?” when you first meet them. I live outside the US and realized there are some people I’ve known for years and I still don’t know their job. I think in the US jobs are a bigger part of a person’s identity than in some other places.
Side effects on medication adverts.
Friggin hilarious to us Brits.
With James' Hayfever meds, I can get through the day with ease!
Side effects may include:
Loss of sight
Loss of hearing
Loss of sense of smell
Coma
Headaches
Fever
Vomiting
Diarrhoea
Loss of consciousness
and death.
American Corporations have convinced us our work culture is totally normal.
not owning kettles and MICROWAVING their water for coffee/tea
Shoes inside
being able to vote before reaching the legal drinking age
Bankruptcy because you went to the hospital
Wondering if you're sick enough to call that ambulance or if you should just risk ubering it.
Medical bankruptcy after you're charged $200,000 for a week long hospital stay and now you're homeless.
Being mentally ill and getting hospitalized by others for your own safety, but then getting a massive bill for it that you cant pay (which will totally help the suicidality right?)
Choosing between food and medicine.
Deciding that it's less expensive to just go into palliative care and die instead of fighting a disease like cancer.
As you can see I really hate the american medical care system.
Turning scientific information into a political discussion.
Not putting the final price on the tag. I'm not sure whether it's still like this, but a few years ago one never knew whether the $1.00 item in McDonald's or Burger King is actually $1.00 or maybe $1.08.
The plot of Breaking Bad being about a science teacher getting cancer and worrying about leaving his family with massive medical debt when he dies.
Toilet cubicles, where people not only can peek, but an adult person could crawl into your cubicle, there is so much space under the "door".
Talking about their freedom as if they're the only country in the world who has it...
