Non-Americans who have been to the US.. What is the weirdest thing about America that Americans don't realize is weird?

return2ozma@lemmy.world to Asklemmy@lemmy.ml – 302 points –
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Going out in public in your pajamas.

How difficult it is to find fresh produce in small shops (food deserts)

How much fat is in all the meat.

How old and badly maintained many of the roads and bridges are (I am from Africa, so that says something)

The levels of national arrogance.

I don’t really ever leave my house and I live in loungewear. I ain’t changing just to go to the store. That’s a ridiculous waste of time and energy. I don’t think that most Americans care what other people think about their clothes.

How old and badly maintained many of the roads and bridges are (I am from Africa, so that says something)

The US is very large, and this varies wildly by state. Some states actually care about funding/repairing infrastructure. Others, not so much.

Going out in public in your pajamas.

I have seen this on very few occasions, and each time, the pajama-wearing individual is very obviously only out in public so they can either stock up at the liquor store or meet their meth dealer. I don't think this is common.

This was in early 2000 New York and Washington DC. Spent about a month there and saw it daily.

Once upon a time not long ago
when people wore pyjamas and lived life slow...

checks out.

It’s common at the high school level. It’s a byproduct of pandemic lockdowns.

I had coworkers in the early 2000s who would do this, working in a white collar profession, and pretty sure they weren't alcoholics or doing (hard) drugs.

That’s crazy. We couldn’t even wear polo shirts then and before 9/11 we had to wear ties.

They didn't wear pyjama's to work, but they did wear them out of the house to go buy snacks or such. Also, a number of us didn't normally wear suits or ties to work, especially if we were technical and not sales or administrative. This might have been due to not being in Canada. I did a few weeks in Toronto, and a number of guys followed the same rule.

Edit: the most frustrating programming error.

I used to see it in the States maybe 15 years ago but I also saw it in the UK (Liverpool) about a decade ago.

I have seen thqt zero times.
But tbf I don't live in a big metropolitan area.

I do it regularly because it's comfortable and I do not give a single shit about what anyone thinks.