10 Things Americans Do that Shock the Rest of the World

#7 – Our Price Tags Don’t Include Tax

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© pixabay

In America, everyone is used to not paying what the price tag displays. We just hand the cashier some extra money, while many people calculate things to make sure the tax was correct.

Moreover, paying for something with the price tag of $10.99 can vary depending on the city, county, or even store you’re at. And there are items without added tax, including groceries, alcohol, or clothes, which have special rules.

Well, explaining all of this and more to someone who has been used to having the tax included in the price tag would be really difficult. When in doubt, pass on your wallet with the hopes that the cashier is conscientious.

#8 – We Smile like Crazy People

© Smile Nation

We smile all time. It’s a great and joyful thing, however, it makes us look silly to foreigners.

Actually, Russians, South Koreans, Iranians, Indians, and the Japanese, believe that people who smile look remarkably less intelligent than those who don’t, while people in the Maldives and Argentina believe that putting on your smiling face makes you seem dishonest.

Moreover, a simple smile seems to be so strange to some countries that US companies had to ask their employees to grin at customers.

In Germany, some male customers at Walmart interpreted smiling as flirting, so the staff was asked to stop smiling altogether! Best to keep your sense of friendliness to your American fellows.