What are some of the differences?
They charge you less if you take away than if you stay in. So my coffee at Café Nero is 25p less if I get it to go. In the US, everyone would buy it to go and stay in.
They Queue for everything. And if you get in on the wrong side of a Queue no one says anything, nobody yells at you. They look at you and hope the staring will set you straight. In America we are impervious to dark stares, we wouldn’t move if it gets us what we want, faster.
And finally, when there is traffic or merging of lanes, it is civilized beyond recognition. No one makes the maneuver of trying to get to the head of the line and sneaking in.
One would think with all this politeness an aggressive American could make a lot of progress in this country, along with a lot of enemies. But instead we’re cowed in by the politeness and we don’t want to offend.
Maybe you could teach us a thing or two about politeness?
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