Laws, technologies, service: what turned out to be different in the USA than the immigrant from Russia expected
'15.11.2020'
Author "Happy in America" in Yandex.Zen shares his experience of life in the States. Further - from the first person.
Compliance with the law
I thought that in the United States, the vast majority of people are very law-abiding and always act within the law.
In reality, for example, on the roads, speeding can be observed constantly - and not by 5-10 miles, but by all 25. And if you see a police car ahead, as in Russia, the whole traffic starts to slow down to fit into speed limits.
There are many violations on the roads. But some rules are still followed much more often because violations have very serious consequences. For example, driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, speeding more than 30 mph and in city traffic, especially where there is a sign for “school zone” or “watch out for children”.
Smoking weed, by the way, is not allowed everywhere. For example, it is impossible on the balcony, but this also does not bother anyone - we constantly feel the corresponding smells.
Modern technology
This is still a mystery to me. Here, in the vast majority of places, you cannot pay by phone. How?! This was invented in California. But for some reason unknown to me, you can't really use this technology here. This situation does not limit me at all. But I am very interested in why this is so.
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Service
He's not as good here as I thought before.
Perhaps the point is that many are treated lightly here. And this is both a plus and a minus. On the one hand, a priori, they bring you a glass of water and easily remake the coffee if it is not hot enough (I once observed this picture - a girl knocked over a glass of coffee and was offered to make another one for free). On the other hand, they may not understand why you are asking not to wipe the mug with a dirty rag, which is used to remove it from the table (again, a case from life).
I got the feeling that people in this country (maybe only in our state) are rather unassuming. As if they do not need to be “gratified”, to gain trust and loyalty. Many do not bother when choosing the interior of a cafe, others are not very concerned about the issue of cleanliness. It is quite possible that in expensive establishments you will have to hang your outerwear on a chair - due to the lack of a wardrobe. This is, of course, not a big problem. Just another note to support my opinion.
Services sector
Moving, I knew nothing about this topic at all. More precisely, I did not think about her, because I did not even think that in such a developed country there could be problems with this. And they are. And big ones. No wonder the overwhelming majority of Russian-speaking people are looking for their own former compatriots: the quality is incomparably better, and the prices are several times lower.
Again, I can't say that poor education among hairdressers or nail artists is to blame for this. No. It seems that people, again, are not worried. And the point is not that our people put on tons of cosmetics and cannot go to the store without a marathon. And the fact is that it is quite common here that after going to the salon you will have a whole lock of unpainted hair or varnish not only on your nails, but also on your elbows. And the locals don't complain.
Garbage
People litter here - often and a lot. Especially in the city center. And it’s not so easy to find an urn. In many places, they simply do not exist - at public transport stops, for example, an urn is an infrequent phenomenon.
Of course, one can recall the well-known "not cleanly where it is cleaned, but where it is not littered." I agree with this expression. But I also think that not all people are ready to carry their garbage with them and it is easier for them to throw it on the ground than to scour in search of trash cans. Therefore, I believe that it is important to create conditions in which it will be easier for a person to maintain cleanliness than to litter.
And I also have a lot of questions about waste recycling. I was sure that everything was fine with this in America. It turned out that not everything is so simple. I still do not understand this process, but there are more and more doubts that waste recycling works well here.
On the subject: Ten features of life in the United States that you should know about before you travel
And yet not all people clean up after their pets. And here there are chic conditions for this - in many places there are stands with free bags and trash cans.
To be honest, in Russia I didn't clean after my dog. Here I always do it. Why did I do it differently? At first I thought that no dog excrement would dry out quickly and there would be no trace of it, and the plastic bag would last forever. We are now buying degradable cornstarch bags. But the question of disposal remains open - it is not clear where the contents of the urns are taken.
Original column published on the blog. "Happy in America" in Yandex.Zen
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