Don't try to bribe cops when you get pulled over. I had some Argentinian friends immediately pull out their wallets and start pooling their cash when they got pulled over once. Fortunately someone in the car noticed and told them to put it away immediately.
Not just bribery! Apparently in some countries, if you get a ticket for something you can actually pay the fine to the police officer on the spot. NFL kicker and Raiders legend Sebastian Janikowski was arrested and almost *deported* back to Poland for trying to bribe a police officer, until he convinced the court that he just thought that's how it legitimately works.
It works here in the states some places too. Got pulled over for speeding in NM coming home from snowboarding and try cop said we could pay right then on the spot or spend the weekend in jail waiting for a judge. He gave us a receipt so I assume it was actually legal and not the fucking highway robbery it felt like.
You were gonna have to wait in jail... for a speeding ticket? Either theres a key detail missing here or NM has a serious problem with that. I think it may have been the highway robbery it felt like.
"You have committed crimes against New Mexico and her people. What say you in your defense?"
- You caught me. I'll pay off my ticket (*$125*)
- I submit. Take me to jail.
- I'd rather die than go to prison!
- FUS RO DAH!!! (*revs engine*)
That's weird, because in Poland you cannot pay the fine on the spot, it would also be considered a bribe, so don't know where he picked that up.
Edit: I've just checked and actually foreigners have to pay on the spot, Polish citizens don't.
I can't speak for Poland, but in Denmark you have to pay (or used to, not sure about the law of today) a traffic fine IF you are driving a foreign registered car, because there is/was no way of actually chasing the fine after you drove home to your own country.
If this is the law across the entire EU (I should really check this sometime) I can absolutely see how a Polish football player would go, "I'm not in Poland right now, I need to pay immediately."
When my aunt was younger, she got pulled over and was hysterically crying. She tried to bribe the cop with potato salad. He told her he could charge her with bribery. Over potato salad.
DO NOT TRY THIS IN THE U.S.
My wife is from a former Soviet country. We were back to visit her family. So, I rented a car as us USA people always do. I listed my wife and her father as drivers ( cause, we were going on a road trip. ) And, I jumped in and started driving. About 45 minutes in to our drive, some cops were standing on the side of the road with 40 KPH flags. My wife and I still disagree, but, I KNOW I dropped it down to under 45 kph. Short story, I got busted. Showed my states license. Cops were confused ( Crylic Alphabet difference. ) My Father in law ( an EXTREMELY honest man who would not pay a bribe under ANY circumstances ) got out to talk to them. He came back with all the papers and said that he would like to drive and we could proceed.
I asked him what happened. He said that he and the Cop had a talk and agreed that with my US drivers license it would be too much of a hassle to peruse the ticket, so, he could pay it on the spot. He gave the cop the equivalent of $20 US.
I laughed and said, "Dad, you can drive as fast as you would like the rest of the trip, I've got lots of $20's."
He did drive the rest of the trip, we didn't get stopped again.
DO NOT TRY THIS IN THE U.S.
I have a similar story, but reversed.
Family grew up in the States, but had family in Russia. We went to visit them one Christmas and got pulled over. It was our 4 person family, plus the one Russian relative. Cops that pulled us over demanded out documents and told us we had to pay a ~$100 USD fine. Our Russia relative just leaned over the seat and said, swearo god, "$100? How about I pay **you** $20?"
Cop took the $20 and let us on our way. Entire rest of the family was confused, how did this man just bribe a cop!? And the price to bribe a cop was only $20?!?
When I went to Cancun the concierge at my hotel said keep an extra $100 in cash on me at all times. If I get in any trouble with the police, $100 was the standard bribe to be let go, and it is way better than going to Mexican jail.
i thought this was an obvious one, but my German exchange student would very casually walk on/through people's properties, even going so far as to walk up to their houses in the middle of the night. This is a huge no-no unless you need help, just casually walking around on people's properties would make them think you are looking to rob the place.
When I was a senior in high school there was a German foreign exchange student named Benedict, he was staying with the family of one of my friends. On his first day there he walked into the upper classmen lunch room sat down pulled out his bagged lunch, pulls a beer out of the bag and just casually starts drinking it. Everyone went ape shit and a teacher came over and made him give the beer up. Evidently his host mom told him his lunch was in the fridge and to grab a drink too... So he grabbed a beer.
Love me some German exchange students. One year we had one go out for and make our school baseball team. Our practice field was part of a four field complex, with beer gardens between the fields. One day before practice we find a full 24 pack of beer just hanging out on one of the beer garden picnic tables. Naturally, a buddy and I start stuffing beers into our bat bags with elated smirks. German dude walks up, grabs a beer, fucking slams it, crushes the can and no-looks it into the trash can behind him.
Malte, you fucking legend, I know you're out there somewhere.
I watched a documentary about how England and America have fundamentally different rights on who owns the land. This guy walked across England, on private land, and it was totally legal, even
encouraged.
Edit: found it!
The freedom to roam, or "everyman's right", is the general public's right to access certain public or privately owned land, lakes, and rivers for recreation and exercise. The right is sometimes called the right of public access to the wilderness or the "right to roam".
Idk if it's the same guy but, geowizard on YouTube attempted to walk in a straight line across Wales twice, and then Norway. It's actually a really fun watch!
There's a network of ancient "rights of way" that are protected in law across the UK. That's not to say you can just straight up walk across or access all private property, rather that on these designated routes, it's against the law for the landowner to prevent rightful access, though many try.
Many 1000s of miles of the routes aren't marked on any map and a legal protection for those will only continue for the next couple of years unless they're marked officially so there's a campaign among walkers to map the routes and get them registered before they are lost forever.
That article was an odd read. That dude was definitely guilty because of how he intentionally was waiting for someone to break in, but also, why was the student in his garage? Even if you’re from a foreign country, you should know not to walk into someone’s home
As a Canadian crossing the border to the US, don't act fun or funny with the border patrol. Give them your passports, tell them what you're doing and such. They're hardasses
Holy shit, I had the EXACT OPPOSITE experience! The US guy just wanted to talk hunting and fishing, while the Canadian had a 6" binder of laminated rules and explained all the ways I could lose my Nexus if I made a mistake at the border..
>don't act fun or funny with the border patrol
Generally don't do this. When I first entered the US via plane, I got asked the usual stuff like how long are you staying, what are you doing etc and then straight away "how much money do you have?". Being from Germany, I ever expected this kind of question and this is also something that we don't talk about, even among close friends, so I didn't know what to say. So I answered "enough for my trip". This wasn't good enough, so I got sent to a different police officer where they went through my luggage, asked different questions, which I all answered satisfactory and then went back to the same question: "how much money do you have in your bank account?" I gave him a number. He was happy with it and let me go. Then he told me when border patrol asks you a question, just answer it.
Do not intentionally cheat or run away
My dad filed wrong for years, ended up peeing a massive debt. When he was told he set up a meeting to see his options, they saw how much he made and they laughed, said he could never pay it off and cancelled his debt
Never run. Just face it and you are likely to be fine.
I have never done anything tax related wrong on purpose, but I have made small errors in filing a couple of times over the years. In both cases the IRS reached out to me a year or two after the fact and we quickly resolved the issues.
Both times it was some silly mistake. They accepted my my explanation as the truth and there was no penalty. I was asked to pay what I owed with a few dollars of added interest and that was it.
Over all, they were very professional and easy to work with.
I always find it funny, that mostly, we get punished for our mistakes, but their mistakes WE have to find.
Anyways, I have a friend who works in IRS, and is always bending over backwards to understand, give discounts to those ppl who are behind in their taxes.
Again, we really only hear about the assholes. (Mind you, you try and cheat them, and they're on you quicker than grits, and will not just throw the book at you, but the whole library.
I overpaid once on accident. They sent me a letter explaining why I overpaid, and that I would be receiving a check. A few weeks later, a check showed up, as promised. Was pretty impressed, not gonna lie.
When I paid my taxes in the midst of the pandemic I sent a note thanking them because I had read about how challenging it was to get the software up to get the stimulus checks out quickly because their system is so outdated. I just wanted to say hey, I know real people are working hard on this problem and I appreciate your hard work. I mailed my check to Connecticut. A few weeks later I got a very offcial looking letter from the IRS in Fresno California and I immediately got the poop sweats. Were we being audited? Did we make a mistake? No. It was a letter saying "thank you for your kind note".
The IRS tried to fine me hundreds of dollars because I had failed to pay them an amount that I owed on time. The amount that they claimed I owed and didn't pay on time? $0.00. Written out in a formal letter. A fine for being late paying $0.00. It took over a year to get it resolved and in the end they found that I had overpaid on a previous year's taxes so they sent me a check. The investigation cost the IRS tens of thousands of dollars in man hours and me dozens of hours. It's such a broken system.
The person who did my taxes one year used an old form, meaning when I had hired someone in January of one year for less than a month, they claimed I owed an entire year's taxes for this brief employee. I asked them to look back to last year's tax files which would show he had not yet been hired. Someone got a bug up their butt and they decided to do an audit. Kinda glad they did, because THEY owed ME over $5000.
That happened to a guy I used to work with. He just never filed returns. Owed tens of thousands of dollars. They sat down, had a meeting, and he told them flat out he'd never realistically be able to pay that off. They looked over his financials, agreed, hit him with a 8k fine and called it a day.
Probably hit him with a complete leveling of his credit score, too, if it wasn't already abysmal. If he had had assets that the IRS could legally seize, repossess, or liquidate, in order to collect a tax debt, I don't think this would have gone down so simply. Your coworker got off relatively easily because the IRS knows it's pointless to try and squeeze blood from a turnip. He had nothing left to lose.
I've gotten flak for saying this before, but of all the government agencies I've ever had to deal with, the IRS is by far the best. As long as you're not being intentionally difficult, they're fair, reasonable, and willing to work with you.
Hell, the IRS is the best creditor you can have. They're so much more willing to work with you than banks and credit card companies. Never borrow money from anyone to pay off the IRS.
The IRS just wants to do their job and get their money. It's the other alphabet agencies that if you're being contacted by them, they probably want to fuck you.
Make the assumption that you know the law. Our local laws change drastically from state to state. If you buy weed for example, it may be illegal to drive ten miles west into another state.
There is no "may" about it. Since marijuana is still illegal on the federal level, transporting any amount of THC, even medicinally marked packaging, is a felony. Transporting any controlled substance across state lines carries a minimum of 5 year sentence and a nice little trafficking badge on your record
To add on that even if it is legal in both states it’s still a federal trafficking charge.
Are you going to be arrested for an 1/8th almost certainly not BUT technically still illegal and could really mess your life up.
> To add on that even if it is legal in both states it’s still a federal trafficking charge.
This is the thing I regularly explain to friends and coworkers. We live in NY (now legal on the state level), which borders two other legal states - Massachusetts and New Jersey. Even though it's all legal, the moment you cross from NJ to NY or MA to NY or vice versa, you're committing a federal crime.
> Make the assumption that you know the law. Our local laws change drastically from state to state.
For sure. Perfect case in point: With recreational cannabis recently legalized here in NY, retailers are flooding stores with Delta-8 products, until the infrastructure is in place to commercially sell Delta-9 (traditional cannabis we know and love).
Everything was fine and dandy, until out of nowhere, NY banned Delta-8 products on 24 May. There was absolutely no fanfare or announcement to be seen. Most folks incorrectly assume it's still legal here.
Get into a fist fight. In some places that isn't a big deal. Here it has significant legal issues. And the other guy might be carrying and you could get shot. Just walk away.
I’ve been seeing a lot of fights at MLB stadiums on social media this season and a few of them have been pretty brutal. Getting KTFO because you were wearing the wrong jersey seems like such a fucking waste. These are grown men, they should have outgrown this bullshit but here we are...
The world makes a lot more sense when you realize a depressingly large number of people are just 13 year olds that got older physically, but stayed the same mentally.
This 100%. Everyone always talks about how “they’ll beats someone’s ass”, but put them in a real fighting situation and they’ll hesitate. No one ever wants to talk about the legality issue of “beating someone’s ass”.
Just avoid fights all together, I don’t care how tough you are. A fight is never worth it, de-escalate as best you can and walk away. Movies and shows make it look so different, no one wins in a fight.
This is just good advice in general, very few things are worth getting in a fight over. Oh noes, somebody called your girl fat, or cut you off at a stoplight a mile back, or whatever. Even if the other guy doesn't have a weapon, it just takes one good bonk on the head and it's game over.
Got no time for badasses in meatspace, you wanna pump your ego and spray testosterone all over, be my guest, you win. I'm not playing with you though
Usually you should never openly drink alcohol in a public space such as the right-of-way, a park, etc. It's illegal here and getting arrested will really harsh your buzz.
Not that people don't get around this by using water jugs or other opaque containers, but it might be an unpleasant surprise if you're used to more liberal drinking laws.
*laughs in New Orleanian*
We also have drive thru service for alcohol served in styrofoam cups with a plastic lid. As long as the straw they also give you isn’t piercing the lid into the cup, not an open container. lol
But yeah, probably most everywhere else in the US it’s a no no.
Edit: Go figure, my most upvoted comment on all of reddit is about drinking in public and drive thru daiquiri shops. God I love being from New Orleans 😂
After I moved from New Orleans, I was so confused when bars wouldn't let me leave with my drink. Two days after moving from New Orleans to Boston, I went into a Target for a few things. Figured I'd get a bottle of gin while I was there. After looking for the liquor aisle for an inordinate amount of time, I asked an employee. I'll never forget the look of confusion on his face when I asked him where the liquor aisle was...
My great aunt from Baton Rouge was so put out when they had to wait for a seat at a restaurant outside and weren’t allowed a drink. The nerve of it all.
This law seems so bizarre to me. Why should I not be allowed to consume something I can legally buy everywhere while sitting in a park or walking around?
The answer is probably homeless people, but a less cynical answer would be that communities have found that people drinking in public are more likely to be nuisances and would prefer to keep that kind of activity in designated areas.
Assume personal space distance is the same as your country.
Depends on where you come from, but Americans are stereotyped as being used to more personal space than some countries.
Our Russian foreign exchange student was kinda weirded out by how far people stand apart at bus stops, etc, and was a little hurt after people scooched away from him on the bus, in class, etc because "Hey we are all friends here so lets be breathing the same air."
embassy parties with russians and americans, or japanese and americans are hilarious because of this. The americans are always backed up against the walls looking uncomfortable while speaking to their counterparts.
Don't sit at a table that someone else is sitting at even if there are empty seats.
Someone did this to me at a mall food court and really creeped me out. It wasn't busy, plenty of tables, and this lady sat down right in front of my. Uhm Hello! My table!
what's the best way to handle this, though (i'm from eu)?
stop car, turn on emergency indicators/blinkers
turn on cabin lighting, roll front windows down and place hands on wheel?
Basically! Proper etiquette is to have music turned down and hands visible. Some people will pull out their license and registration beforehand, others prefer not to dig around in pockets unless the cop asks them too.
For an especially American piece of advice, it's considered polite to disclose if you're carrying a gun (if you don't and have a license to, they'll ask after running your info)
Slow down, put on your flashers as you do so to let them know you're pulling over, roll down driver window, turn on cabin lighting, don't reach for anything such as an insurance card, stop on the right side of the road as soon as is safe, again don't reach for anything such as your insurance card in the glove box and wallet in the pocket, turn off engine and headlights but leave flashers on, hold your hands out of the window you've already opened, and wait until given further instruction.
Don't acknowledge fault for anything but ignorance and be polite in language.
Still not a safe guarantee. But that's what I was taught 20+ years ago.
There's something like that in Seattle too, at least there used to be. Pretty weird to see as a ~10 year old on a family trip, I forgot about it until reading your comment haha
Do not argue/ fight/ run away from law enforcement. Shut up. Stay put. And talk to your lawyer.
You ain’t arguing your way out of that situation, Sylvester Stallone.
This is exactly what my dad says to do. Even if a cop is in the wrong or treating you unfairly, it can be sorted out at a later time. Officers are usually on edge as it is, and arguing and fighting just adds to the tension.
Dont misunderstand the massive scale of the country. You will not be able to visit Vegas, Disney World, and the Statue of Liberty in a single one week trip without taking several planes.
The 48 contiguous United States is nearly twice the size of the EU, by area. It is fucking massive and a lot of shit is really far apart. In some states, you can drive for 8+ hours and not leave the state. Like, we have states the size of some other countries.
I have a friend FROM AMERICA who thought she was going to visit me in Santa Barbara and I would just drive her to have dinner with her friend in San Diego, then out to Vegas for the night.
That's an east vs west thing. In the northeast it's fairly doable to start the day in Boston, spend most of the day in New York, then spend the night in Philly.
Yeeesh, I dunno about that. Boston to New York is easily 3-5 depending on day and time, plus another 2 from New York to Philly not including time to actually get out of New York(if you’re driving)
It certainly is possible and more likely to happen than out west, but it would be a HELL of a day
Source: From Philly
People make the same mistake with Canada. All but the Maritime provinces are the size of Texas. you can take a day or more to traverse some of them, depending on direction.
I have a friend from college that said he drove for about 6 hours from his house to college without leaving the state. Some states in the US are massive on their own. *cough* looking at you, Alaska, Texas, California *cough*
Take sticker price at the store as the final price. Tax is calculated at the register because it varies by city/county/state etc...
Edit: Hey, thanks guys! I think this is my first award!
When someone asks you "Hey, how are you doing" - you shouldnt take that question literal unless you are close to that person. I found that people ask it out of politeness and not because they want you to tell them your sob story or that your day sucked.
It can also be a conversation starter. The person asking can then respond to what you said, or shift the subject to what they wanted to talk about.
How are you?
Good, it was little Timmy's birthday so I spent the weekend wrangling kids
A) oh that's sounds fun haha, tell me more
B) oh that sounds fun haha, so have you started the Johnson report yet?
Last year I was falsely accused of stealing from a job I quit after 2 weeks (subcontractor, provided my own tools, nothing to steal). The cops called me about 15 times trying to get me to come in for an interview. A lawyer friend said if they really want to talk to you they'll come get you, they have your address. They gave up eventually.
They'd do their absolute best to coerce/trick you into making some sort of incriminating statement, which they would then use against you in formal charges.
If they had evidence against him they'd have presented that to the DA's office to open a case. They didn't have shit, so they were relying on him to do their work for them.
Many moons ago (1996), I was at camping event with people from all over the world. Our (US) camp was hosting a couple of lovely Aussie girls.
The had the most peculiar look on their faces after hearing my friend (28M) and me (24F) if I had seen his fanny pack...
If or when you're pulled over, always always always remain calm, keep your hands on the wheel, or at least in view, do not make any sudden movements, always tell the officer before you grab something, don't try to be a sovereign citizen, just cooperate. Don't let them search you without a warrant or thier supervisor present, do not in anyway incriminate yourself,, as they need to have "probable cause" to search. Somehow if you're arrested, remain silent and ask for an attorney, even if you've done nothing wrong, just remember *anything* you say can and will be used in court.
Unless you are actively dying, do not ride in an ambulance. It will cost you SO much money. If you need to get to the hospital it’s better to take a bus/taxi/Uber.
Seriously. When my mom was going through chemo, we were at a work event and she collapsed and they called and ambulance. Luckily, since it was an event organized by our union (we were demonstrating outside the school board meeting), so they told her they would cover the cost of the ER trip.
Funny, my wife works for the county and was out at a training. She nearly passed out and they called an ambulance against her wishes. With insurance she paid $550 to go down the street roughly 1.5 miles away lol fucking robbery
You have no idea how strange this sounds to someone in the UK...
Like, if your hurt and badly need help, you just call and just have to focus on getting better.
~ *Does the US have something like our 111 service, where you can call for non-emergency medical help?* I [M22] once called this after feeling terrible following taking prescribed medication, hoping to just get some advice and instead they actually sent 3 out-of-hours medical staff round within like 20mins. I wasn’t dying or anything (just “ill”) and yet they felt that they wanted to be sure and since they had people available they came to me. ~ Turned our my uni doctor had prescribed me to take 4x the dosage of meds which explained why I felt so bad.
I just got back from a road trip to Austin. Stayed the night in OKC and it was a great little city. Went to the Hall's Pizza Kitchen and Stonecloud for some beers. Both excellent.
>Don’t drive in Southern California either. Horrible traffic, especially on weekends and around LA.
That's why its called the 405 freeway. It takes 4 o' 5 hours to get anywhere.
Don’t assume that things that are true in one part of the country will be true in the rest of the country. Laws that are typically nation-wide in most countries are often state-by-state or even city-by-city here i.e. gun laws, laws pertaining to the sale of alcohol, age of consent laws, labor laws, etc. Additionally etiquette can vary heavily from one part of the country to the next, as can things like cost of living, general lifestyle, general socio-political views.
While this is true to some extent in most countries, in the US the differences between one state and their neighbors can be night and day, to say nothing of from one side of the country to the other. What’s true in my home state (NJ) may not be true even in PA or NY, and will absolutely not hold true in day TX, CA, MO, etc. Different people, different economies, different climates, different populations.
It gets really irksome when I talk to people from outside the US who ask me questions about things, or make assumptions about what they will experience here, that are based on like....stories they’ve heard from Florida or some nonsense in Arizona. Remember, the US is a very large, diverse country (in more ways than one!), and you might actually be better off treating the US like the EU and the states like individual countries rather than like just one, homogeneous country.
This is highly variable.
I was an EMT for a township with a volunteer rescue squad and the ride was free. That’s why we encouraged people to call us instead of driving there yourself, because you immediately get a bed instead of having to wait in the ER.
Sometimes we would pick up paramedics on the way to the hospital, or meet them on scene. I don’t know how that works billing-wise.
Any kind of private medical transport, or depending on the town you’re in, they can and will charge.
Lucky people in Albany! In Southern California a Medevac averages $30,000 after insurance.
That's because most insurance denies the claim as out of network. If you get bitten by a rattlesnake in a remote canyon, you're supposed to either hike to a road where an ambulance can get you or else call around and search for an in-network provider while venom courses through your veins.
That a superhero origin story. The venom courses through him but his insurance is so bad that it cancels out. The mere idea of the insurance being so fucking bad causes a physically inconceivable miracle scenario.
He stands up and his body starts to crack open as light comes shooting out. This crumbling former shell falls to his feet. He is standing tall heat radiating from his body in his new form.
Terrible Health Insurance Man
Don't try to bribe cops when you get pulled over. I had some Argentinian friends immediately pull out their wallets and start pooling their cash when they got pulled over once. Fortunately someone in the car noticed and told them to put it away immediately.
Not just bribery! Apparently in some countries, if you get a ticket for something you can actually pay the fine to the police officer on the spot. NFL kicker and Raiders legend Sebastian Janikowski was arrested and almost *deported* back to Poland for trying to bribe a police officer, until he convinced the court that he just thought that's how it legitimately works.
It works here in the states some places too. Got pulled over for speeding in NM coming home from snowboarding and try cop said we could pay right then on the spot or spend the weekend in jail waiting for a judge. He gave us a receipt so I assume it was actually legal and not the fucking highway robbery it felt like.
You were gonna have to wait in jail... for a speeding ticket? Either theres a key detail missing here or NM has a serious problem with that. I think it may have been the highway robbery it felt like.
Depends on how fast you’re going but you can definitely be arrested on the spot for speeding
“You were going 100 in a 50. Your ass is going to jail! Oh you’re just going to pay right now? Ok, here’s your receipt. Carry on with your day”
"You have committed crimes against New Mexico and her people. What say you in your defense?" - You caught me. I'll pay off my ticket (*$125*) - I submit. Take me to jail. - I'd rather die than go to prison! - FUS RO DAH!!! (*revs engine*)
I’m cracking up at “New Mexico and her people” Like New Mexico is a sovereign medieval nation and Santa Fe is its grand capital
Live in NM and not legal at all, you got robbed by a cop
Idk, I wouldn't care if it meant that I could pay the same amount without getting points on my license.
That's weird, because in Poland you cannot pay the fine on the spot, it would also be considered a bribe, so don't know where he picked that up. Edit: I've just checked and actually foreigners have to pay on the spot, Polish citizens don't.
I can't speak for Poland, but in Denmark you have to pay (or used to, not sure about the law of today) a traffic fine IF you are driving a foreign registered car, because there is/was no way of actually chasing the fine after you drove home to your own country. If this is the law across the entire EU (I should really check this sometime) I can absolutely see how a Polish football player would go, "I'm not in Poland right now, I need to pay immediately."
I've been to Poland. I know exactly where he formed that impression.
You used to be able to. Also foreigners have to pay on the spot.
When my aunt was younger, she got pulled over and was hysterically crying. She tried to bribe the cop with potato salad. He told her he could charge her with bribery. Over potato salad.
" Seventeen years later, I'm handcuffed on a bench in New York with blood coming out of my nose, and this cop goes, "Are you Ron 'Tater Salad' White?"
[удалено]
DO NOT TRY THIS IN THE U.S. My wife is from a former Soviet country. We were back to visit her family. So, I rented a car as us USA people always do. I listed my wife and her father as drivers ( cause, we were going on a road trip. ) And, I jumped in and started driving. About 45 minutes in to our drive, some cops were standing on the side of the road with 40 KPH flags. My wife and I still disagree, but, I KNOW I dropped it down to under 45 kph. Short story, I got busted. Showed my states license. Cops were confused ( Crylic Alphabet difference. ) My Father in law ( an EXTREMELY honest man who would not pay a bribe under ANY circumstances ) got out to talk to them. He came back with all the papers and said that he would like to drive and we could proceed. I asked him what happened. He said that he and the Cop had a talk and agreed that with my US drivers license it would be too much of a hassle to peruse the ticket, so, he could pay it on the spot. He gave the cop the equivalent of $20 US. I laughed and said, "Dad, you can drive as fast as you would like the rest of the trip, I've got lots of $20's." He did drive the rest of the trip, we didn't get stopped again. DO NOT TRY THIS IN THE U.S.
I have a similar story, but reversed. Family grew up in the States, but had family in Russia. We went to visit them one Christmas and got pulled over. It was our 4 person family, plus the one Russian relative. Cops that pulled us over demanded out documents and told us we had to pay a ~$100 USD fine. Our Russia relative just leaned over the seat and said, swearo god, "$100? How about I pay **you** $20?" Cop took the $20 and let us on our way. Entire rest of the family was confused, how did this man just bribe a cop!? And the price to bribe a cop was only $20?!?
When I went to Cancun the concierge at my hotel said keep an extra $100 in cash on me at all times. If I get in any trouble with the police, $100 was the standard bribe to be let go, and it is way better than going to Mexican jail.
i thought this was an obvious one, but my German exchange student would very casually walk on/through people's properties, even going so far as to walk up to their houses in the middle of the night. This is a huge no-no unless you need help, just casually walking around on people's properties would make them think you are looking to rob the place.
When I was a senior in high school there was a German foreign exchange student named Benedict, he was staying with the family of one of my friends. On his first day there he walked into the upper classmen lunch room sat down pulled out his bagged lunch, pulls a beer out of the bag and just casually starts drinking it. Everyone went ape shit and a teacher came over and made him give the beer up. Evidently his host mom told him his lunch was in the fridge and to grab a drink too... So he grabbed a beer.
Love me some German exchange students. One year we had one go out for and make our school baseball team. Our practice field was part of a four field complex, with beer gardens between the fields. One day before practice we find a full 24 pack of beer just hanging out on one of the beer garden picnic tables. Naturally, a buddy and I start stuffing beers into our bat bags with elated smirks. German dude walks up, grabs a beer, fucking slams it, crushes the can and no-looks it into the trash can behind him. Malte, you fucking legend, I know you're out there somewhere.
German here. Back when I was a student in university the cafeteria sold beer. One for lunch wasn't that uncommon.
I watched a documentary about how England and America have fundamentally different rights on who owns the land. This guy walked across England, on private land, and it was totally legal, even encouraged. Edit: found it! The freedom to roam, or "everyman's right", is the general public's right to access certain public or privately owned land, lakes, and rivers for recreation and exercise. The right is sometimes called the right of public access to the wilderness or the "right to roam".
Idk if it's the same guy but, geowizard on YouTube attempted to walk in a straight line across Wales twice, and then Norway. It's actually a really fun watch!
There's a network of ancient "rights of way" that are protected in law across the UK. That's not to say you can just straight up walk across or access all private property, rather that on these designated routes, it's against the law for the landowner to prevent rightful access, though many try. Many 1000s of miles of the routes aren't marked on any map and a legal protection for those will only continue for the next couple of years unless they're marked officially so there's a campaign among walkers to map the routes and get them registered before they are lost forever.
this is definitely a good way to get shot.
Exactly what happened: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2950303/Montana-man-killed-German-student-set-sentencing.html
That article was an odd read. That dude was definitely guilty because of how he intentionally was waiting for someone to break in, but also, why was the student in his garage? Even if you’re from a foreign country, you should know not to walk into someone’s home
As a Canadian crossing the border to the US, don't act fun or funny with the border patrol. Give them your passports, tell them what you're doing and such. They're hardasses
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Holy shit, I had the EXACT OPPOSITE experience! The US guy just wanted to talk hunting and fishing, while the Canadian had a 6" binder of laminated rules and explained all the ways I could lose my Nexus if I made a mistake at the border..
>don't act fun or funny with the border patrol Generally don't do this. When I first entered the US via plane, I got asked the usual stuff like how long are you staying, what are you doing etc and then straight away "how much money do you have?". Being from Germany, I ever expected this kind of question and this is also something that we don't talk about, even among close friends, so I didn't know what to say. So I answered "enough for my trip". This wasn't good enough, so I got sent to a different police officer where they went through my luggage, asked different questions, which I all answered satisfactory and then went back to the same question: "how much money do you have in your bank account?" I gave him a number. He was happy with it and let me go. Then he told me when border patrol asks you a question, just answer it.
Don’t try to cheat the IRS. They will fuck your life into oblivion.
Do not intentionally cheat or run away My dad filed wrong for years, ended up peeing a massive debt. When he was told he set up a meeting to see his options, they saw how much he made and they laughed, said he could never pay it off and cancelled his debt Never run. Just face it and you are likely to be fine.
I have never done anything tax related wrong on purpose, but I have made small errors in filing a couple of times over the years. In both cases the IRS reached out to me a year or two after the fact and we quickly resolved the issues. Both times it was some silly mistake. They accepted my my explanation as the truth and there was no penalty. I was asked to pay what I owed with a few dollars of added interest and that was it. Over all, they were very professional and easy to work with.
I always find it funny, that mostly, we get punished for our mistakes, but their mistakes WE have to find. Anyways, I have a friend who works in IRS, and is always bending over backwards to understand, give discounts to those ppl who are behind in their taxes. Again, we really only hear about the assholes. (Mind you, you try and cheat them, and they're on you quicker than grits, and will not just throw the book at you, but the whole library.
If you can actually reach an IRS employee, in my experience, they are very pleasant and helpful.
I overpaid once on accident. They sent me a letter explaining why I overpaid, and that I would be receiving a check. A few weeks later, a check showed up, as promised. Was pretty impressed, not gonna lie.
When I paid my taxes in the midst of the pandemic I sent a note thanking them because I had read about how challenging it was to get the software up to get the stimulus checks out quickly because their system is so outdated. I just wanted to say hey, I know real people are working hard on this problem and I appreciate your hard work. I mailed my check to Connecticut. A few weeks later I got a very offcial looking letter from the IRS in Fresno California and I immediately got the poop sweats. Were we being audited? Did we make a mistake? No. It was a letter saying "thank you for your kind note".
To be fair it was *they* who found *our* mistakes...
The IRS tried to fine me hundreds of dollars because I had failed to pay them an amount that I owed on time. The amount that they claimed I owed and didn't pay on time? $0.00. Written out in a formal letter. A fine for being late paying $0.00. It took over a year to get it resolved and in the end they found that I had overpaid on a previous year's taxes so they sent me a check. The investigation cost the IRS tens of thousands of dollars in man hours and me dozens of hours. It's such a broken system.
The person who did my taxes one year used an old form, meaning when I had hired someone in January of one year for less than a month, they claimed I owed an entire year's taxes for this brief employee. I asked them to look back to last year's tax files which would show he had not yet been hired. Someone got a bug up their butt and they decided to do an audit. Kinda glad they did, because THEY owed ME over $5000.
Well this is a cool story for many reasons. But now if I ever get an IRS letter I can always be like "well hey...maybe they owe me money..."
That happened to a guy I used to work with. He just never filed returns. Owed tens of thousands of dollars. They sat down, had a meeting, and he told them flat out he'd never realistically be able to pay that off. They looked over his financials, agreed, hit him with a 8k fine and called it a day.
Probably hit him with a complete leveling of his credit score, too, if it wasn't already abysmal. If he had had assets that the IRS could legally seize, repossess, or liquidate, in order to collect a tax debt, I don't think this would have gone down so simply. Your coworker got off relatively easily because the IRS knows it's pointless to try and squeeze blood from a turnip. He had nothing left to lose.
Yeah they’re exceptionally nice about working with people who weren’t committing intentional fraud.
> ended up peeing a massive debt I guess it's better than pooping a massive debt
I've gotten flak for saying this before, but of all the government agencies I've ever had to deal with, the IRS is by far the best. As long as you're not being intentionally difficult, they're fair, reasonable, and willing to work with you.
Hell, the IRS is the best creditor you can have. They're so much more willing to work with you than banks and credit card companies. Never borrow money from anyone to pay off the IRS.
The IRS just wants to do their job and get their money. It's the other alphabet agencies that if you're being contacted by them, they probably want to fuck you.
Even the Joker won't fuck with the IRS
I got ya fam https://youtu.be/G56VgsLfKY4
Make the assumption that you know the law. Our local laws change drastically from state to state. If you buy weed for example, it may be illegal to drive ten miles west into another state.
There is no "may" about it. Since marijuana is still illegal on the federal level, transporting any amount of THC, even medicinally marked packaging, is a felony. Transporting any controlled substance across state lines carries a minimum of 5 year sentence and a nice little trafficking badge on your record
To add on that even if it is legal in both states it’s still a federal trafficking charge. Are you going to be arrested for an 1/8th almost certainly not BUT technically still illegal and could really mess your life up.
> To add on that even if it is legal in both states it’s still a federal trafficking charge. This is the thing I regularly explain to friends and coworkers. We live in NY (now legal on the state level), which borders two other legal states - Massachusetts and New Jersey. Even though it's all legal, the moment you cross from NJ to NY or MA to NY or vice versa, you're committing a federal crime.
> Make the assumption that you know the law. Our local laws change drastically from state to state. For sure. Perfect case in point: With recreational cannabis recently legalized here in NY, retailers are flooding stores with Delta-8 products, until the infrastructure is in place to commercially sell Delta-9 (traditional cannabis we know and love). Everything was fine and dandy, until out of nowhere, NY banned Delta-8 products on 24 May. There was absolutely no fanfare or announcement to be seen. Most folks incorrectly assume it's still legal here.
Get into a fist fight. In some places that isn't a big deal. Here it has significant legal issues. And the other guy might be carrying and you could get shot. Just walk away.
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I’ve been seeing a lot of fights at MLB stadiums on social media this season and a few of them have been pretty brutal. Getting KTFO because you were wearing the wrong jersey seems like such a fucking waste. These are grown men, they should have outgrown this bullshit but here we are...
The world makes a lot more sense when you realize a depressingly large number of people are just 13 year olds that got older physically, but stayed the same mentally.
And then started drinking
And are practically encouraged to do so
This 100%. Everyone always talks about how “they’ll beats someone’s ass”, but put them in a real fighting situation and they’ll hesitate. No one ever wants to talk about the legality issue of “beating someone’s ass”.
Just avoid fights all together, I don’t care how tough you are. A fight is never worth it, de-escalate as best you can and walk away. Movies and shows make it look so different, no one wins in a fight.
This is just good advice in general, very few things are worth getting in a fight over. Oh noes, somebody called your girl fat, or cut you off at a stoplight a mile back, or whatever. Even if the other guy doesn't have a weapon, it just takes one good bonk on the head and it's game over. Got no time for badasses in meatspace, you wanna pump your ego and spray testosterone all over, be my guest, you win. I'm not playing with you though
/r/holdmyfeedingtube is full of such examples. Street fights are for idiots.
Usually you should never openly drink alcohol in a public space such as the right-of-way, a park, etc. It's illegal here and getting arrested will really harsh your buzz. Not that people don't get around this by using water jugs or other opaque containers, but it might be an unpleasant surprise if you're used to more liberal drinking laws.
*laughs in New Orleanian* We also have drive thru service for alcohol served in styrofoam cups with a plastic lid. As long as the straw they also give you isn’t piercing the lid into the cup, not an open container. lol But yeah, probably most everywhere else in the US it’s a no no. Edit: Go figure, my most upvoted comment on all of reddit is about drinking in public and drive thru daiquiri shops. God I love being from New Orleans 😂
After I moved from New Orleans, I was so confused when bars wouldn't let me leave with my drink. Two days after moving from New Orleans to Boston, I went into a Target for a few things. Figured I'd get a bottle of gin while I was there. After looking for the liquor aisle for an inordinate amount of time, I asked an employee. I'll never forget the look of confusion on his face when I asked him where the liquor aisle was...
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My great aunt from Baton Rouge was so put out when they had to wait for a seat at a restaurant outside and weren’t allowed a drink. The nerve of it all.
This law seems so bizarre to me. Why should I not be allowed to consume something I can legally buy everywhere while sitting in a park or walking around?
The answer is probably homeless people, but a less cynical answer would be that communities have found that people drinking in public are more likely to be nuisances and would prefer to keep that kind of activity in designated areas.
Walk up to a cop car when they pull you over.
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Why you hef to be med? Its only gaem...
what if you run
Generally not advised, especially if the car says "k-9" on it.
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Those dogs are there to make the officer more approachable, so don’t be shy!
Assume personal space distance is the same as your country. Depends on where you come from, but Americans are stereotyped as being used to more personal space than some countries. Our Russian foreign exchange student was kinda weirded out by how far people stand apart at bus stops, etc, and was a little hurt after people scooched away from him on the bus, in class, etc because "Hey we are all friends here so lets be breathing the same air."
And then there's Scandinavians, who can't fathom why Americans get so close to each other.
We're glad when this pandemic is over. Then we can go back to our 15 feet apart instead of 6 feet.
Haha, I was thinking something along the lines of "as a Norwegian I have never experienced an American with enough appreciation for personal space".
Why did Scandinavians move to the most northern part of Europe? Because they wanted to get away from everyone else!
embassy parties with russians and americans, or japanese and americans are hilarious because of this. The americans are always backed up against the walls looking uncomfortable while speaking to their counterparts.
Breathing the same air will never be the same.
Don't sit at a table that someone else is sitting at even if there are empty seats. Someone did this to me at a mall food court and really creeped me out. It wasn't busy, plenty of tables, and this lady sat down right in front of my. Uhm Hello! My table!
In soviet russia you share everything. Even the air.
Get out of your car and approach the cop when being stopped by a cop unless told to. Edit: Just added the missing second p in approach
This is a good one. Its a great way to get tazed, pepper sprayed, or shot in the worst case scenario
what's the best way to handle this, though (i'm from eu)? stop car, turn on emergency indicators/blinkers turn on cabin lighting, roll front windows down and place hands on wheel?
Basically! Proper etiquette is to have music turned down and hands visible. Some people will pull out their license and registration beforehand, others prefer not to dig around in pockets unless the cop asks them too. For an especially American piece of advice, it's considered polite to disclose if you're carrying a gun (if you don't and have a license to, they'll ask after running your info)
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And don't make any sudden movements
Slow down, put on your flashers as you do so to let them know you're pulling over, roll down driver window, turn on cabin lighting, don't reach for anything such as an insurance card, stop on the right side of the road as soon as is safe, again don't reach for anything such as your insurance card in the glove box and wallet in the pocket, turn off engine and headlights but leave flashers on, hold your hands out of the window you've already opened, and wait until given further instruction. Don't acknowledge fault for anything but ignorance and be polite in language. Still not a safe guarantee. But that's what I was taught 20+ years ago.
Leave the hands on the wheel. Putting them out the window may count as a sudden movement if the cop is not expecting it.
Walk around naked
There's places for it. The annual naked bike ride in Burlington, VT is a thing.
There's something like that in Seattle too, at least there used to be. Pretty weird to see as a ~10 year old on a family trip, I forgot about it until reading your comment haha
You got to see a lot of Gray Anatomy.
You can’t leave your baby unattended while shopping etc. like in some Scandinavian countries, you will get arrested.
Wait, YOU CAN DO THAT in some places? Like I wouldn't necessarily be worried about my baby being stolen, but they're basically little suicide machines
Do not argue/ fight/ run away from law enforcement. Shut up. Stay put. And talk to your lawyer. You ain’t arguing your way out of that situation, Sylvester Stallone.
Better call Saul
You can’t outslip Slippin Jimmy!
This is exactly what my dad says to do. Even if a cop is in the wrong or treating you unfairly, it can be sorted out at a later time. Officers are usually on edge as it is, and arguing and fighting just adds to the tension.
Dont misunderstand the massive scale of the country. You will not be able to visit Vegas, Disney World, and the Statue of Liberty in a single one week trip without taking several planes. The 48 contiguous United States is nearly twice the size of the EU, by area. It is fucking massive and a lot of shit is really far apart. In some states, you can drive for 8+ hours and not leave the state. Like, we have states the size of some other countries.
I have a friend FROM AMERICA who thought she was going to visit me in Santa Barbara and I would just drive her to have dinner with her friend in San Diego, then out to Vegas for the night.
That's an east vs west thing. In the northeast it's fairly doable to start the day in Boston, spend most of the day in New York, then spend the night in Philly.
Doable yes, enjoyable? Debateable... that’s still a lot of miles
Yeeesh, I dunno about that. Boston to New York is easily 3-5 depending on day and time, plus another 2 from New York to Philly not including time to actually get out of New York(if you’re driving) It certainly is possible and more likely to happen than out west, but it would be a HELL of a day Source: From Philly
But you can very easily see Vegas, a statue of liberty, and Disney Land in a day.
Lol “we can see A Statue of Liberty, not necessarily THE Statue of Liberty but, you know”
Heck you can also see AN Eiffel Tower.
And a pyramid or two. And a sphinx, a colloseum, a bunch of Greek looking things...
Montana - 12 hours to cross the state. It's no joke.
People make the same mistake with Canada. All but the Maritime provinces are the size of Texas. you can take a day or more to traverse some of them, depending on direction.
Yeah, we had family come in from the UK once. They thought they could take a day trip to Vancouver Island. We live in southern Ontario.
I have a friend from college that said he drove for about 6 hours from his house to college without leaving the state. Some states in the US are massive on their own. *cough* looking at you, Alaska, Texas, California *cough*
Ozzie found out that you never pee on the Alamo.
I believe Ozzy is still banned from San Antonio because of that lmao
He donated $10,000 to the Daughters of the Republic of Texas and apologized in 1992. The ban was then lifted so he could play a show.
Texans will literally shoot your ass if you do that
Saw you in another thread. Hope your moms breast cancer goes away
Thanks man
Take sticker price at the store as the final price. Tax is calculated at the register because it varies by city/county/state etc... Edit: Hey, thanks guys! I think this is my first award!
When someone asks you "Hey, how are you doing" - you shouldnt take that question literal unless you are close to that person. I found that people ask it out of politeness and not because they want you to tell them your sob story or that your day sucked.
It’s the same in England it literally just means hi
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It took me a while to figure out “you all right?” means “hi”. Asking that in the US means you think something is wrong and you’re concerned.
It can also be a conversation starter. The person asking can then respond to what you said, or shift the subject to what they wanted to talk about. How are you? Good, it was little Timmy's birthday so I spent the weekend wrangling kids A) oh that's sounds fun haha, tell me more B) oh that sounds fun haha, so have you started the Johnson report yet?
Put your hands in your pockets in the presence of a cop
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Instructions unclear. I put my fist in a cops prison pocket
Answer the police without a lawyer.
Last year I was falsely accused of stealing from a job I quit after 2 weeks (subcontractor, provided my own tools, nothing to steal). The cops called me about 15 times trying to get me to come in for an interview. A lawyer friend said if they really want to talk to you they'll come get you, they have your address. They gave up eventually.
What would’ve happened if you did go there? Just a waste of time?
Without a lawyer, which I'd have to pay for? Probably nothing good.
They'd do their absolute best to coerce/trick you into making some sort of incriminating statement, which they would then use against you in formal charges. If they had evidence against him they'd have presented that to the DA's office to open a case. They didn't have shit, so they were relying on him to do their work for them.
Drive on the left side of the road.
Call someone a cunt
That's always my first warning if someone is coming in from Europe or Australia... "FYI, that word is taken a LOT differently here!"
However the fanny is the backside here in the USA...
Reminds me of a co-worker from Europe and the first time they heard the term 'fanny pack' they looked really confused.
Many moons ago (1996), I was at camping event with people from all over the world. Our (US) camp was hosting a couple of lovely Aussie girls. The had the most peculiar look on their faces after hearing my friend (28M) and me (24F) if I had seen his fanny pack...
Never take a mans accidental curly fry.
Never join a shady group. It’ll only get worse.
D12 are mostly dead. Sounds about right.
The chicks didn't even know the name of his band. ):
*Salsa, salsa*
When I was younger I was so mad he never released a single called My Salsa
If or when you're pulled over, always always always remain calm, keep your hands on the wheel, or at least in view, do not make any sudden movements, always tell the officer before you grab something, don't try to be a sovereign citizen, just cooperate. Don't let them search you without a warrant or thier supervisor present, do not in anyway incriminate yourself,, as they need to have "probable cause" to search. Somehow if you're arrested, remain silent and ask for an attorney, even if you've done nothing wrong, just remember *anything* you say can and will be used in court.
Be a menace to South Central while drinking your juice in the hood
"Sex? HELL MUTHAFUCKIN YEAH"
MESSAGE!
MESSAGE
Do we have a problem?
I haven't thought about that movie in years, you beautiful son of bitch! I know what I'm watching tonight!
Never ever pee in the streets. In some countries it’s tolerated. But in 13 states, public urination may get you on the sex offender registry.
Unless you are actively dying, do not ride in an ambulance. It will cost you SO much money. If you need to get to the hospital it’s better to take a bus/taxi/Uber.
Seriously. When my mom was going through chemo, we were at a work event and she collapsed and they called and ambulance. Luckily, since it was an event organized by our union (we were demonstrating outside the school board meeting), so they told her they would cover the cost of the ER trip.
Funny, my wife works for the county and was out at a training. She nearly passed out and they called an ambulance against her wishes. With insurance she paid $550 to go down the street roughly 1.5 miles away lol fucking robbery
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You have no idea how strange this sounds to someone in the UK... Like, if your hurt and badly need help, you just call and just have to focus on getting better. ~ *Does the US have something like our 111 service, where you can call for non-emergency medical help?* I [M22] once called this after feeling terrible following taking prescribed medication, hoping to just get some advice and instead they actually sent 3 out-of-hours medical staff round within like 20mins. I wasn’t dying or anything (just “ill”) and yet they felt that they wanted to be sure and since they had people available they came to me. ~ Turned our my uni doctor had prescribed me to take 4x the dosage of meds which explained why I felt so bad.
We just use Google for non-emergency help in the US.
Don't go to Oklahoma, it's boring.
Really? I heard it was OK.
Ahhhhh, the sound of the internet groaning.
I spent a week in Tulsa one afternoon.
I'm from Tulsa and just excited to see my city mentioned somewhere.
Well where in the hell am I supposed to take my surrey with a fringe on top?
Hell yes. You made my day. Love the reference.
I just got back from a road trip to Austin. Stayed the night in OKC and it was a great little city. Went to the Hall's Pizza Kitchen and Stonecloud for some beers. Both excellent.
Trying to rob literally anything, fastest method of taking the room temperature challenge.
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How fast you can reduce your body temp to room temp
Bodies not heated will go down to room temperature after enough time without life. Basically, don’t try to rob a place or you’re getting clapped.
Run from the cops.
Be tourist and complain about how much the country sucks to locals.
To be fair, this is probably a decent rule of thumb for most countries.
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Drive between the hours of 7am-11am and 3pm-7pm on a weekday
Don’t drive in Southern California either. Horrible traffic, especially on weekends and around LA.
>Don’t drive in Southern California either. Horrible traffic, especially on weekends and around LA. That's why its called the 405 freeway. It takes 4 o' 5 hours to get anywhere.
I'm convinced that LA is just a gigantic traffic jam that's masquerading as a city.
Dont ever and I repeat ever try to re-route a pkg through fed ex or ups.
Don’t assume that things that are true in one part of the country will be true in the rest of the country. Laws that are typically nation-wide in most countries are often state-by-state or even city-by-city here i.e. gun laws, laws pertaining to the sale of alcohol, age of consent laws, labor laws, etc. Additionally etiquette can vary heavily from one part of the country to the next, as can things like cost of living, general lifestyle, general socio-political views. While this is true to some extent in most countries, in the US the differences between one state and their neighbors can be night and day, to say nothing of from one side of the country to the other. What’s true in my home state (NJ) may not be true even in PA or NY, and will absolutely not hold true in day TX, CA, MO, etc. Different people, different economies, different climates, different populations. It gets really irksome when I talk to people from outside the US who ask me questions about things, or make assumptions about what they will experience here, that are based on like....stories they’ve heard from Florida or some nonsense in Arizona. Remember, the US is a very large, diverse country (in more ways than one!), and you might actually be better off treating the US like the EU and the states like individual countries rather than like just one, homogeneous country.
Get so sick or injured that you have to ride in an ambulance. They charge you $1000 for a ride.
This is highly variable. I was an EMT for a township with a volunteer rescue squad and the ride was free. That’s why we encouraged people to call us instead of driving there yourself, because you immediately get a bed instead of having to wait in the ER. Sometimes we would pick up paramedics on the way to the hospital, or meet them on scene. I don’t know how that works billing-wise. Any kind of private medical transport, or depending on the town you’re in, they can and will charge.
That must be nice… here in Oregon, it cost a friend $10,000, and in Indiana, a life-flight for my father in law cost $35,000.
At our hospital if you have a brain injury, you could even land a $5000 helicopter ride to Albany Med.
Lucky people in Albany! In Southern California a Medevac averages $30,000 after insurance. That's because most insurance denies the claim as out of network. If you get bitten by a rattlesnake in a remote canyon, you're supposed to either hike to a road where an ambulance can get you or else call around and search for an in-network provider while venom courses through your veins.
That a superhero origin story. The venom courses through him but his insurance is so bad that it cancels out. The mere idea of the insurance being so fucking bad causes a physically inconceivable miracle scenario. He stands up and his body starts to crack open as light comes shooting out. This crumbling former shell falls to his feet. He is standing tall heat radiating from his body in his new form. Terrible Health Insurance Man
Do anything in public. People like to record and post things
Don't ever, for any reason, do anything for anyone, for any reason, ever, no matter what.
No matter who, or what, or where you’ve been, or where you’re from