People have spoken to death about the big differences between living in the US and the UK. However, there appears to be a dearth of talk about the little things, things that don’t stick in my mind all day, but which build up to give the unmistakable feeling that I really am as alien a resident as my immigration paperwork says. These things have, as far as I know, gone undocumented. There have been lists springing up over the last year about the differences most noticeable about living in the US (for example, tipping lots more, and the overreliance on cars,) but the thing is, I was expecting that. There are lots of little things that caught me unaware.
As I’ve been in America for over four months now, I can feel myself acclimatizing. I think that soon I’ll have stopped noticing them at all. So before it’s too late, here are a few of the differences:
Credit Cards are Stuck in the 80s
The first time I ate at a restaurant in America, I was incredibly confused. I was waiting on my first bank card, so my wife paid. When the waiter took her card, swiped it, and gave her a receipt to write the amount out, I didn’t get what was going on. Why not just use the chip?
In the UK, I’ve only known using chip and pin, and later, contactless to pay for things. I thought that little strip on the side was just for putting it into the cash machine, or nostalgia, or something. Not in America.
In that restaurant, my wife tried in vain to explain to me that you have to write the amount and tip on the paper, and not just type it into the machine. I couldn’t get it. In my defense, I was very jet lagged.
When my cards came through, I missed the chip and the contactlessness of my upbringing. I’ve now gotten used to the fact that I will lose valuable seconds when paying for things, by waiting for receipts and writing on them.
There are things like Apple Pay; but I can never see myself getting an iPhone, so I wait in hope for American cards to join me in the new millennium.
Door Knob Locks
I refuse to make this blog puerile. I could go into great detail about the differences in bathroom stuff; but am just going to mention this. In American homes, most bathroom locks are on the doorknob. This just seems strange.
I treated these with great suspicion when I first arrived. How could something so weak looking, and which doesn’t make a noise as it twists, lock the mighty door?
About a week into my American life, I found out they work when it repelled a potential bathroom usurper whilst I was using it, and my faith in this country’s ingenuity grew enormously.
Supermarkets are a Mess
When I was 13, I visited the world’s largest hedge maze. I needn’t have bothered.
I’ve spent the last few months attempting to navigate American supermarkets, with little sign of improvement. Things are a mishmash.
One nearby supermarket, that I go to when I can’t be bothered to walk half a mile to the better one, has its spices sorted not into a spice area, but by brand in five different places at different ends of the store.
I try to avoid asking the shop assistants for help as much as I can; but am getting into the habit of going into a supermarket, spending 20 minutes scouring the aisles for the particular item, giving up, finding the nearest shop assistant, and being told to go to an aisle where the item isn’t, and repeating the whole process again.
Delis Everywhere
I’ve been told that this is more of a New York thing than an American thing, but hey, it’s what I know.
Pretty much every little corner shop has a hot sandwich making deli in it. This is very convenient, but also means that there is a great variance in the quality of the sandwiches you buy; as some corner shop owners really aren’t equipped to handle fresh sandwich preparation.
My first ever Deli sandwich ordering experience was going great, until I noticed the preparer had green blobs where his teeth belonged. Once, I ordered a sandwich which turned out to be filled with plastic. That this happened to be at just about the lowest point in my house hunt made the incident much more depressing than it should have been.
On the other hand, I’ve had some great deli sandwiches. Often the price is cheaper than Subway, and the food of a much higher quality.
It also took me an eternity to work out that a "hero" meant a huge sandwich. That’s very American.