The USA on notice

[Fat Tone]

Hehe. No worries. I am pretty used to driving on the right, something I do at least two weeks annually, but usually in Spain. The only time I have to be careful is when I have been in a one-way environment and come back to a two-way road. Helpfully, my satnav reminds me every time I set off! We bought the North America map for our TomTom before we went there in 2012. We program all our destinations in as Favourites before we go, and then everything is smooth and stress-free.

[Fat Tone]

And another thing, ok, two things.

1) Why do so many restaurants not serve alcohol? It's very normal here to have a beer or wine with a meal out. Unlicensed restaurants here are rare, mostly Indian restaurants in my experience - and they say bring your own.

2) Why are so many restaurants in a hurry? The most extreme example was a Pizza Hut where she took our drink order literally before we had even sat down, and then most restaurants will ask if you want dessert when you are only half way through your main course.

I get that rapid turnover means more covers per table per night (but they were almost empty in Pizza Hut) and from a psychological perspective I get that if people continue eating the 'I'm full' signal may not have had time to reach the brain before ordering dessert - so you end up ordering more and probably over-eating, but for a country where customer service is supposedly king I didn't appreciate this.

So is this usual these days? I don't recall this experience on previous trips to the states. Is it a change or a geographical thing maybe?

[Fat Tone]

So my American relatives are over right now. The live a couple of hours up the coast from NYC. I posed this question about offering dessert while we are still eating, and it's not something they experience.

Is it a Mid West thing maybe?

[Claymonkey]

So my American relatives are over right now. The live a couple of hours up the coast from NYC. I posed this question about offering dessert while we are still eating, and it's not something they experience.

Is it a Mid West thing maybe?

Having lived in the Northeast, Northwest, Southwest and South (but not Midwest) asking for drinks when you first sit down is normal. It's a good service/wet the appetite thing. As for offering desserts while in the middle of the meal... I don't think I've ever seen that. You will get them to come around and ask if you want refills on drinks/coffee. Also... Pizza Hut stopped being a real restaurant sometime in my teenage years. It used to have the feeling of going to an Applebee's or Outback, not upscale, but fully competent. They switched to a model of lowest denominator and did things like remove spices and garlic from the sauce and put them in shakers.... just no.

[Fat Tone]

I'm genuinely interested in this. Did some Googling with little success. I did find an article suggesting many low-mid range restaurants would probably prefer you not to have dessert because they can't charge a lot for it and the client will probably linger so much that the amount of money they earn per minute you are at the table drops massively.

[Claymonkey]

That sounds about right. If it's a high turnover night, and your tip is likely to be under $10 I'd agree with that statement.

[dZeus]

And another thing, ok, two things.

1) Why do so many restaurants not serve alcohol? It's very normal here to have a beer or wine with a meal out. Unlicensed restaurants here are rare, mostly Indian restaurants in my experience - and they say bring your own.

2) Why are so many restaurants in a hurry? The most extreme example was a Pizza Hut where she took our drink order literally before we had even sat down, and then most restaurants will ask if you want dessert when you are only half way through your main course.

I get that rapid turnover means more covers per table per night (but they were almost empty in Pizza Hut) and from a psychological perspective I get that if people continue eating the 'I'm full' signal may not have had time to reach the brain before ordering dessert - so you end up ordering more and probably over-eating, but for a country where customer service is supposedly king I didn't appreciate this.

So is this usual these days? I don't recall this experience on previous trips to the states. Is it a change or a geographical thing maybe?

Recently visited Chicago for business, was there for two and a half weeks...
regarding #1: on several occasions I had to stop the waiter from leaving in order to have them take an order for a glass of alcohol to go with the lunch.

things I'd like to add to your list (based on all my visits to the US):
3) bath rooms: the bath tub and toilet bowl in my hotels were 'midget-friendly'.... never seen facilities with such a low height in Europe. Also fascinating to see showers where you cannot control temperature and water intensity independently (not that I mind). I'm not yet decided on whether the detachable shower-head is european, or if the fixed shower-head is american. Maybe forum members that have traveled extensively outside of either the US and Europe can answer this.

4) it's very difficult to get water without ice or beer that does not come in a 'frosted glass'. It's even funnier when they often ask you if you want your beer served in a frosted glass, and when you say 'no', they tell you that they unfortunately don't have anything else. Why ask in the first place?

5) the European concept of attentiveness/service in a restaurant is very different from the US one (as much as you can speak about a 'european' concept, as it differs wildly between nations in Europe). I find it very annoying that people interrupt your breakfast/lunch/dinner every couple of minutes to refill your drinks (coffee/water/etc), or ask you if you are doing alright. In some countries in Europe, this type of service would actually be considered to be very rude. I wonder if americans make a lot more requests for 'service', requiring their near-constant presence?

6) the US is going metric! nearly all stuff that was sold in shops had metric units on it for volume and weight, either exclusively, or in both US imperial and metric measurements. One thought that came to mind is that it probably makes more sense for manufacturers that are active world-wide, to make a single size product, which logically then is going to be in metric units.

7) was very impressed by the size and length of freight trains. While passenger rail was a joke in the trains I've used (Chicago-Aurora line, and the Caltrain in bay area), freight transport seems to be very big in the US. In Europe, there is some freight transport, but we do a lot more using trucks on roads (which probably contributes to a relatively bigger amount of diesel pollution than when doing it over rail). It helps that the US has a very open lay-out, and that trains use diesel and not electricity; the full height US freight wagons would not even fit on European rail system, as they would be higher than what the overhead lines and tunnels allow for.

[Jammrock]

#1 - Alcohol during work hours is frowned upon heavily in the US. In many workplaces it is prohibited, even during your lunch break since you have to go back to the office afterward. Wait staff will generally not ask about alcohol during lunch hours because of it.

Liquor licenses can also be expensive. And if you get caught serving to a minor it is often times revoked, regardless of circumstances. Some places don't want the responsibility and cost that goes with it. You generally will not see alcohol served in any "fast food" restaurant either. Primarily only at "sit down" places (ones with menus at the table).

The fast food one has a lot to do with the majority of their employees being too young to server alcohol. Yes, there is an age limit. If you can't legally drink it you can't legally sell it. There is also the ideal of a family friendly atmosphere which, in the eyes of many Americans, does not including serving alcohol when the part of the target market involved children. If McDonald's served beer or wine in the US there would be an uproar.

#2 - Turn around and profits. To get slow, casual service you need a higher grade establishment these days. Or a local, non-chain, with a more laid back attitude.

#3 - You can't control water temp because of liability and dishonest people. You have to understand how absolutely stupid the US legal system can get. People will do all sorts of stupid things to try to sue and get a payday. Even if that means faking a water burn in the shower. To prevent this the hotels take measures where you can't control the temp to reduce the chance of getting sued. As for midget friendly, part of that is requirements for handicapped, part of that is pure cheapness.

#4 - Americans like their drinks cold. Nearly all of them. Frosted mugs is a way to keep the beer cold without using ice, which can water the beer down (or water it down further, depending on your perspective).

#5 - American wait staff get paid poorly. Less than minimum wage, usually. They check in and refill drinks, and do things like that to ensure there are no issues with the meal. Because poor service will translate to a poor tip. So that kind of service is considered normal here.

#6 - Blame Canada! Seriously, it's because most products are sold in both the US and Canada. Instead of printing separate packaging they print packaging with both. But yes, we are, very, very, very, very, very slowly moving to metric.

#7 - US does a lot of both freight train and trucking. You don't see even half of the trucking because most truckers drive at night, when car traffic is light. Cruise the interstates after about 10 or 11 at night and the road will be filled with trucks hauling freight.

And yes, public transport in general stinks in the US. Very large cities, New York, LA, Chicago, etc. will have an okay public transit system. Buses and trains and the like. Get out of the big cities and all you get is a bus. Maybe. It's actually more expensive to rid a train between most cities than it is to fly or drive. The US is car-based transport everywhere outside large cities.

[Greebe]

They keep sit down resturants cold as heck to insure you leave promptly. Funny my father had a master key to the thermostat locking cases and would adjust accordingly whenever it pleased him. Lead to more than one interesting conversation with the resturant management. Pops would always win the arguement.

[UtwigMU]

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Back on topic, the England vs USA jokes.

English traditional and English simplified.