" In Belgium , if by some happenstance you find yourself drinking all 8 oz of the beverage provide with your entire repast and successfully perform the esoteric dark ritual of summon the waiter back to your table to check on you , they will be shocked and say , ' Hm , you are very thirsty tonight ! ' "
While every country across the world — United States included — has its pros and cons, there are some things other countries outside the US do that American citizens find a little puzzling. So when Americans of Reddit wereasked"What’s something the rest of the world does that you find absurd?" they had to a lot to say:
1.“I don’t know if it’s everywhere, but I noticed a conspicuous lack of screens in windows while I was in Europe. It’s so simple, and it prevents bugs. I was woken up by bugs in four separate European countries. Why?! You don’t need to live like that.”
2.“When you rent an apartment in Germany, in most cases, it doesn’t come with light fixtures, kitchen cabinets and counters, appliances, etc. You either have to purchase and install these yourself or hope that the previous tenant is willing to sell theirs to you. In my last apartment search, there were even a few apartments where I would have had to supply and install my own flooring. It’s wild.”
— u / Specific - Squash
" I learned this recently and obtain it batshit wild . Like , I can maybe understand the appliances — not everywhere here includes them . But no storage locker and counters is wild . You literally have to build up a bloody way . "
— atomic number 92 / hiding - identity23
3.“I’m addressing Europe and I guess Belgium specifically because that’s where I encountered this the most. Y’all are unnecessarily stingy with the beverages at restaurants. You stop somewhere for dinner and the server comes by and asks if you want water. After the awkward exchange about whether you want ‘sparkling or still,’ they come back roughly 30 minutes later with something the size of a toddler’s sippy cup with water in it. If, by some happenstance, you find yourself drinking all 8oz of the beverage supplied with your entire meal and successfully perform the esoteric dark ritual of summoning the server back to your table to check on you, they will be shocked and say, ‘Hm, you are very thirsty tonight! It seems you have guzzled down your entire thimble of water in a mere 50 minutes. Would you like me to try to bring another?’ It’s water, you motherfuckers.”
4.“Pay toilets.”
— atomic number 92 / llcucf80
" A very efficient fashion to encourage public micturition . "
— u / wrecktus_abdominus
" So far I ’ve know in Germany , where earnings toilets are the norm , and the UK , where they are not ( except central London ) .
In Germany , public toilets are bountiful and sportsmanlike . In the UK , they ’re rare and dirty . I ’m happy to pay up 50¢ for a blank and nearby public toilet . "
— uracil / EmeraldIbis
" And then there ’s Japan , where you definitely have the stark urban center commons toilets , but the vast bulk of even combini toilet are clear and barren . It does n’t barricade public micturition , though . I went to my pet sushi eating house a few months ago , and some ojisan [ a middle - age man ] walked out , went around the niche , and pass water on the side of a building . "
— u / coffeecatmint
5.“Some countries throw toilet paper in the trash can, and that is horrifying.”
6.“How are y’all living without AC?”
— uracil / tornteddie
" Here in the Netherlands , people trust air conditioning is some exotic irresponsible sumptuousness . On blistering day , the weatherman will herald , ' Well , people , it ’s going to be another embarrassing night tonight ! '
The worst thing is that they do n’t have AC in care homes for the elderly , so there are warmth - tie in death during hot summertime , and everybody seems to just accept that . "
— u / balamb_fish
7.“Turd shelves. I’m looking at you, Netherlands.”
8.“Honestly? I understand most of it. People are raised where they’re raised. They eat food they know, watch entertainment that is local, follow the traditional sports in their neck of the world. I totally get that. I think people are the same the world over: They just want to have a good life and a better one for their kids. They don’t want to be hungry or poor or unhoused. I get ALL that. What I don’t get isEurovision. What the actual fuck?”
— u / NotHisRealName
" consider me , Eurovisionis something to behold , not to be infer . "
— u / Magistrelle
" American here . I beheld it once . I do n’t need to behold it again . "
— uranium / ymisotired44
9.“Milk in a bag.”
10.“I wouldn’t call this ‘absurd,’ but when I lived in Norway, I found out nearly every store closed all day on Sundays.”
— u / Tr4ceur
11.“That smoking is still so common. This goes for Europe, Asia, and South America. Probably other places, too. I know we in the US have since started embracing vaping, which is its own problem but at least we made cigarettes uncool. The rest of the world is dealing with both in huge numbers. There were a few glorious years in the US before vaping after cigarettes were uncool where almost no one smoked. That was amazing.”
12.“The toppings they put on pizza in Korea.”
— uranium / Pinkmongoose
" What ’s unseasonable with potato Cuban sandwich drizzled in mayonnaise ? "
— uranium / ndudeck
13.“Monarchies.”
14.“Lack of disability access.”
— u / YNot1989
" We visited Europe with my handicapped partner this year ; I expected some structural ableism but , holy crap , is it bad . Netherlands was by far the worst . Never go if you ’re in a power chair because every building has a minimum of three disjoined pointless two - gradation staircase in and exterior of it . Their system for handicapped aid for trains is horrendous , too . UK was surprisingly good for it . Their radar lavatory scheme is something we need to adopt in the US . "
— u / Long - Storage-1738
15.“Not putting ice in drinks by default.”
16.“Washers and dryers (and washer-dryers) that take three to five hours to complete a single small load of laundry. Seriously, how are you even able to get a reasonable amount done? If you ask me, any set that consistently takes longer than two hours to complete what it considers a full load isn’t worth the parts it was built with.”
— uranium / Escapist - Loner-9791
" I encountered this inFrance . The dryer literally just spun the clothes to contort them dry . They came out about as damp as clothes out of an American washing machine after the spin cycle before order in the dryer . "
— u / dr_wdc
17.“The vacation and time off in other countries. It’s wild to me — but holy cow, am I jealous.”
