So before I start writing about out time in Germany, I just
had a couple of random things about the States that I wanted to write about…
Food:
When we were in Hollywood, we had a really hard time finding
anything healthy to eat. Most of the places along the boulevard were fast food,
including one place that we went into that called itself “Indian Masala Grill”.
We thought ‘grill’ sounded like it could be healthy, but I think grill means
something different in the States than it does at home! It was basically
curries in a bain-marie, like something you would see at a mall, except even
worse. Blergh. It wasn’t until we got to New York that we discovered the best
places to eat (cheaply) in the States is at diners! Funnily enough, my lovely
friend Chanell told me this a while ago, but I’d completely forgotten. We went
to a couple of different diners and they were very similar in
price/quality/service etc – delicious, home-cooked style food with really
friendly waitstaff, and all at a really good place. I highly recommend diners
if you’re heading that way! (Oh and also, HUGE meals! Salad or soup is usually
included with your main – or ‘entrée’ if you’re American).
Tipping:
Speaking of eating leads me to my next topic – tipping.
Before going to the USA, I’m pretty sure I’d never tipped anyone ever in my
life. As I’m sure most people know, tipping is pretty much mandatory in the
States. When I say pretty much, I mean that I don’t think anyone is going to
chase you down the street if you don’t leave a tip, but some places include it
on the bill, and I don’t think you’d have much luck getting served twice in a
busy pub if you didn’t bother to tip your bartender. I had no idea how much you
are supposed to tip, I thought maybe around 10%, since that seemed logical (and
a nice round number). Turns out the ‘going rate’ is 18%! For starters, how are
you even supposed to work that out off the top of your head – we usually just
tried to round it to about 20%, or to an even number. Cam was pretty annoyed
when we went to one place and they included the tip on the bill, because the
service hadn’t been very good. So we paid the bill but rather than rounding it
up to $50 (it was about $49.65) we used all our change and left the exact
amount. Apparently the reason they tip in the States is because wages for hospo
workers are really low (I have heard as little as $4hr, but that was from a few
years ago). That doesn’t seem very fair to me, that restaurant owners can pay
their staff ridiculously crap wages, and diners are expected to make up the
rest. I understand tipping when you’ve had really good service, someone who has
gone out of their way to provide fantastic service to you. But just tipping
them for doing their job, and not necessarily very well? Isn’t that what their
boss should be paying them for?
Taxes:
In the States, taxes aren’t included on prices you are
given. For example, it might say $5 on the menu, but that doesn’t include the
sales tax (GST). Sales tax is different in every state apparently – around 7 –
10% in California, and 9% in the States. This is definitely less than the GST
we pay at home, but man is it a pain in the arse when you are paying for
something. Most food tends to be pretty cheap when you go out for dinner, but
it can be so deceptive. You forget that whatever you order, you need to add
sales tax, and then an 18% tip. Gah! Not good when you are running out of money
and calculating exactly how many dollars you have left.
Accents:
The last thing I wanted to say is quite short. I can’t
believe how many people had trouble understanding us in the US! People thought
we were Australian, English, Scottish even! I spelt my name to a receptionist
in the Hollywood hostel, and when I said ‘Zed’ (instead of ‘Zee’) she looked at
me like I had two heads, and was like “Huh? What??!”. Surely you’d think
working in a hostel you would have encountered ‘zed’ before. Anyway. We didn’t
really have a hard time getting people to understand us, but there was
definitely a lot of repeating ourselves and trying different words. Really
strangely, people had real trouble when we said that Cam’s bag had a bike in it
– repeated this several times (including Cam doing actions haha) until we said ‘bicycle’
and then they got it.
That is all, Germany soon to follow….
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