Some of those I’ve seen, but when we have people come here, one thing they always remark on is how patiently people here wait in lines.
And so many flip out in grocery stores. An entire long aisle for cereal???
And take them to Costco and they will have a cardiac event. Even when I lived in Switzerland I was one of those. ALL THIS GREAT STUFF FOR PRACTICALLY FREE!! We literally filled big shipping boxes and sent them by ocean freight home.
Another thing that freaks them out is how hard Americans work in their shorter work days. Often in Europe the actual number of hours is longer, but most of it is socializing and low energy work. Hustling Americans can get meetings over fast and can multitask. Americans seem so serious at work to some people.
The traffic is unbelievable (L.A.) to most.
They don’t “get” Disneyland and the love of it. But they go NUTS about movie studios and famous performers.
They definitely don’t understand tough alcohol laws. The guests you have to keep leaving Disneyland for drinks at the hotel and going back into the park for, are the exact ones who will have a heart attack seeing the (astronomically low) prices at Costco of huge gallon jugs of vodka, etc.
And of course they marvel at the openness of Americans. The saying in Switzerland was, if you sit next to an American on a train, by your destination you will know his entire sex life. And it is based on truth. We are so friendly and talkative to them.
It's spreading out to Europe.
The Liverpool UK Costco recognized my US membership card and made a note on my sales slip that it was printed in Pounds Sterling.
The one Costco disadvantage for the UK residents is that their houses are too small to store the big packs of toilet paper, etc.
That's interesting. I was in Germany and felt the opposite. They were prompt to get into work and efficient and hard working (no chit chat) during work hours. But you did not want to get between the Germans and the door when the end of the shift hit - you would be crushed by the prompt and efficient Germans promptly and efficiently leaving. They were hard at work at 4:59pm and gone at 5:01pm. But that may have just been the culture at that factory.