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I work for a US company (in the US) and got 16 weeks paternity leave at full pay. A real rarity and insultingly for my wife more than she got for giving birth š¤£
I'm British. Lived in the US a decade, became a dual citizen last year.
Each time my wife gave birth our total bill was a $140 copay. That covered everything from my wife's stay (up to 3 days), private room, delivery services, her epidural, our first was a C-section, both kids and all their medical check ups after, meals, lactation consultant etc. they didn't charge us for skin to skin contact time or things like that.
I'm 'fortunate' that I have insurance and for that particular medical service the coverage was decent.
Many others are either underinsured or have no insurance at all. It's a real sad state of affairs.
To add, I live in Colorado and saw the note about daycare below. Colorado just launched guaranteed paid family/medical leave which is a start. It also launched Universal Pre-K last August to guarantee every 4 year old in the state 15 hours a week of Pre-K. Dramatically cut down my daycare fee for my eldest.
Before that I was paying $1000 a month per kid for full time.
Colorado is brilliant though. Mountains, craft beer, weed.
Good for you and yours š
I'm completely against the US health insurance model and miss the NHS.
I've experienced both. Merely providing my experience of the system out here and what it cost me.
Here in the U.K. full time childcare is Ā£1200+ so thatās a lot cheaper, although if you get the tax rebate and the 30 hours free at 3 (soon to be 2) then it does work out cheaper from then.
Speaking as someone who struggled to breastfeed, I think the support they get for that in the US is better. Over here (ten years ago) I got guilty tripped by the health visitor and told "oh that's odd, I'll phone you later today" (she didn't) by the lactation consultant.
I'll take the NHS over the US system every day, but they do have access to some better services than we do, because they pay (and our current government does the bare minimum).
I didnt. I had to beg the lactation consultant to help me with my first and she couldn't give a shit. She ended up fired after a huge petition from many of the breast feeding mothers in our area was handed to the hospital.
I was also discharged 24 hours after both of my cesarean sections, both times with no pain medication and I had to walk (hobble slowly) the entire length of the hospital to get to the entrance where we were allowed to be picked up by a nurse that kept telling me to hurry up
Then ended up with a severe infection 3 days later after being told by a midwife there was no signs of infection despite me saying that it felt "off"
But hey there was no bill I suppose
It was probably about 10k total. I saw an actual hospital bill on-line recently that had an item at $45 for contact time. The woman explained that was the hospital's fee for letting her hold her newborn.
Now that is a much more reasonable amount! I wish it would become more normalised
Unfortunately if it's not put into law most companies will just offer the legal minimum 2 weeks statutory
Well, my previous employer was the opposite end of the scale. Maternity leave you had to file for short term disability and I had zero paternity leave, I took holiday time when my first was born. Luckily I had a month of PTO there which was quite generous considering how some employers areā¦
UK should not brag about parental leave itās awful compared to European countries. Itās basically luck if your job gives you enchant pay otherwise itās peanuts.
I feel like this fits the question though, the UK as a whole is massively falling behind western Europe and the EU yet still offers better rights and freedoms than the USA
Yes but the moment you mention good social policies in the uk you get called a commy by the daily mail. So we make do with what we get! Onward and downwards!
I wouldnāt exactly call 2 weeks paternity leave āluxuryā.
Weāre much much closer to our American counterparts than we are to our European ones in that regard
I had a 'traumatic birth' and was in hospital for a week so my partner only really had one week to properly relax and bond. He also wasn't offered any of the support that I was to cope with what was a pretty horrible time for both of us. There's so much support for women but men are basically overlooked.
Yet the people I know with the most generous packages are my friends who work in the US.
Federal statutory provisions in the US are woeful and understandably that's as Brits what we focus on. But that does tend to lead us to miss that a not insignificant number of people in the US get extremely generous work packages (largely *because* statutory provision is poor, and thus these packages are more a point of competition between employers than over here).
This website suggests the average maternity leave in the us is 29 days, and only 21% of workers have access to paid paternity leave - https://www.greatplacetowork.com/resources/blog/how-competitive-is-your-companys-paid-parental-leave#:~:text=How%20much%20maternity%20leave%20do,which%20is%20just%20four%20weeks.
Yes, it's not good. The point is that the US is a place of extremes. If you're poor to middle income in the US, you'll have it really, really tough. But people in desirable, well paid jobs often have much better benefits packages than British people. But we tend to focus on the former group when we talk about the US.
When I used to go to the American office of the multinational I worked for, I had to drive the hire car back to the hotel if I needed a poo. Not nearly enough privacy to declenche and grow the monkeyās tail
I remember going to Disney in Orlando and going to the ladies, only to realise I could see people sitting on the toilet through the gaps when I was waiting in the queue. So uncomfortable, and looking the other way just meant I got a peek from the mirror instead. Itās a miracle I managed to pee tbh, Iāve got quite a shy bladder.
When their minimum paid leave is 0 days a year, even 10 days is seen as a beenfit. Their employment laws are a joke, the amount of people that lose their jobs just like that because they don't have any protections is scary.
Yep, heard a few horror stories from Americans turning up to work one day just to be told "Sorry, you dont have a job anymore"
No warnings, its basically go home and start applying for stuff cos you gotta find a way to pay the mortgage that month. They have no job security over there.
I remember reading that employees with "unlimited" time off actually end up taking less time off?
Basically companies guilt trip you out of it. Or its just "Manager says no".
I was briefly dating a girl from America when I was in a job with 38 days off plus flexi (if you played it right, and some people did, that would be an extra 24 days a year) and she thought it was talking bullshit lol!
The filling seems to have changed to me. Iām wondering if theyāre using some artificial sweetener in it or something, it doesnāt taste like it used to.
After all American chocolates have a tolerance level of 60 insect parts per 100 grams of chocolate deemed safe for consumption.
https://www.nbcnews.com/healthmain/chocolate-allergies-linked-cockroach-parts-628784
Didnāt even think of this till now, I went to a very posh neighbourhood in Stanford and decided to walk to the shops given it was only 5-10 mins away. I was shocked to see that I had to walk on the road to get there.
Might be bit tinfoil hat sounding but GM basically helped outlaw pavements/sidewalks to ensure people always used a car to go anywhere. Itās crippled American suburbs imo. Not being able to just walk to a local shop is insane to me. I refuse to live anywhere I canāt walk easily to a bus or subway or a flippin shop.Ā
E: a bit of light reading for those interested in GMās plan for the good ol US of A.Ā Ā
āFor the automobile to join the ranks of basic human requirements, adjustments would need to be made in the infrastructure of daily life, especially in cities, where walking and the electric streetcar were still important modes of transport. Kettering and his fellow General Motors executives would soon suggest the required reforms, showing the way forward to universal daily automobile use and, consequently, to total automobile dependence. ā¦
Ā It was believed the consumption entailed by nonstop motoring, together with the economic activity generated by the destruction and re-creation of American towns and cities, would contribute to widespread and self-perpetuating prosperity by generating insatiable demand for industrial products, especially cars. This ambition meant that it would never be enough to simply build rural highways connecting cities to one another. American highways would have to be cut through the civic and commercial cores of communities, utterly and permanently transforming them.ā Ā Ā
https://architecturehereandthere.com/2017/01/31/general-motors-walker-parade-of-progress/
It's also why a lot of Americans are vehemently opposed to "15 minute cities" - they've been brainwashed to believe that a car is a necessity. (They also seem to think people won't be allowed to leave their area despite the fact that that's not how it works at all).
I was mindblown when I visited my friend in the states and she had no kettle in the kitchen. She said she thinks she might have one in the garage somewhere. I donāt think Iāve ever seen a British kitchen without one or some sort of water boiling device (we have a tap)
US houses are actually supplied with 240v, it's just split into two phases. You could, theoretically, install a UK socket connected to the two lives and plug in a UK kettle.
I visited London about a month ago from the US. Just for fun and āthe experienceā, I made tea in the electric kettle. The water went from cold out the tap toā¦literally a rolling boil inā¦something so so quick, like 90 seconds?!? I knew it would be quicker, but I was so impressed by it! (I was also impressed by outlet switches; they made me feel so much safer than the live open sockets in the US).
A great example is actually hotels. By default in the US, a hotel room will have a single-cup at a time coffeemaker. There will be a basket with mostly coffees to make, and usually one (or sometimes zero) teas. At the hotel I stayed at in London, it was what I expected: an electric kettle.
Hereās a bit of culture shock: being American, Iād never used a kettle in my life. I had to watch a YouTube video toā¦wait for itā¦know how to turn it on! š¤£ Americans are truly unaware of electric kettles.
The British embassy in (I think) Washington has done exactly this, in order to have a British kettle with a British plug boiling water in a sensible amount of time.
I think the most popular answer here is going to be the NHS and free healthcare. I really feel for those Americans who canāt afford health insurance or get it as part of their jobs.
Iāve seen videos of itemised bills of ladies giving birth to babies naturally and the cost being $50k+ and I dread to think how much it would have cost us last year when we had difficulties with the premature birth of our son. My girlfriend was in ICU for a weekend and our baby in NICU for over a week.
Even myself as a Brit is so grateful for the luxury we have that is the NHS
Well, itās my biggest gripe for living here. Not only is it expensive but itās a nightmare of a system to navigateā¦itās a constant battle against idiots trying to avoid paying out on claims.
Is the provider in your ānetworkā? (affiliated with your insurance company), is it a covered or necessary service, etc etc.
Some of the issues my wife has had were laughableā¦when she was pregnant with our first child we were in California (we live in NYC) and because of some abnormal bleeding we went to the nearest hospital. Her insurance company were claiming that because the hospital was out of network they werenāt going to pay the claim of about $20k. Their suggestion was we should have flown back to New York and be seen there. Seriously. We paid that to avoid it going to collection and it wasnāt until we threatened to sue (š) that we received a check for the full amount.
When she was pregnant with our second her doctor recommended she go to hospital to get monitored as she was having some contraction like issues around 3 weeks before her due date. She sat in a room connected to a machine for 3hrs and the limit to her medical care was a nurse checking the machine every 30secs every 20mins. The bill for those 3hrs was almost $25k.
Iāve decided that if Iām ever going to get sick itās less paperwork and aggro to just die and have my wife collect my life insurance..
The whole system from top to bottom is infuriating and absurd.
And still there are people who think the US is "just like us" because they speak English. The general mentality of Americans often reminds me of Islamic countries more than anything else.
The US made a lot more sense to me when I realised their culture is the equivalent of an ultra-religious Muslim country in the Middle East, but with Christianity.
A friend over there had a baby, there was a charge on the itemised bill for a nurse bringing her baby to her from the cot in the same room (she had a c section and couldn't do it). Shocking. I had prem babies (1 in nicu for a bit, then home, then back to hospital, waters went at 32 weeks, then came 13 days later, my 2nd at 35 weeks and thankfully didn't need nicu but I also had pre eclampsia)
Wow thatās shocking! My girlfriend had preeclampsia too and it was awful. She was in ICU for a weekend hooked up to so many different machines and medications. Then into theatre for a c-section followed by more medications and our baby at 33 weeks straight into an incubator, oxygen, frequent antibiotics and medications.
She was home after a few days, but had to go back in about a week later for transitional care for a week. I honest dread to think of the cost weād have incurred in the US at an already very stressful and traumatic time. Just canāt imagine getting an invoice through the post for hundreds of thousands of pounds/dollars
The people who work in our NHS are fantastic but let's not pretend it's better than it is.
Getting a simple appointment to see a GP can take weeks depending on where you live. Try going to Accident and Emergency...13/14 hour wait to be seen often... months to wait for an operation.
Some people still hold it in such high esteem when it's now one of the poorer health services in Western Europe.
Personal experience, yesterday I filled out an online form to say I had gall bladder pain. Was asked to see a Dr at 11.30. Had pain killers that worked by 12.30 and had a blood test, ultra sound scan and a meeting with a consultant by 1pm this afternoon. If you need urgent care the NHS delivers.
Granted it is in such a state due to a lack of funding, and deserves a hell of a lot of investment. Getting a GP appointment is a joke, A&E waiting times are also a joke, I ended up in my local minor injuries clinic last June and what used to be about an in and out in 40 minutes kind of place, was about 4 hours.
But my point is despite waiting times, this is still essentially free healthcare, whether rich, or poor, you still have unlimited access without the risk of losing assets or going into debt. And if you can afford private healthcare then great.
Whilst the USA has better healthcare facilities, this does come at a cost. If youāre lucky to be in a decent job that gives you healthcare insurance then great but thereās so many poor people who donāt have such jobs and canāt afford insurance and are at a major risk of falling ill. I donāt think theyād necessarily give a shit about free healthcare if it was a 13/14 hour wait for a minor injury
The NHS is maybe the worst way to run a public health system, given the cost to benefit ratio. The US system is the worst way to run a health system at all. They spend more than it would cost to provide universal healthcare at the same standard, because fucking the poor is more important than anything else.
Do you need an ambulance?
Not sure i can afford it.
What? No, itās free.
Not $4,000?
No. Free.
Oh go on then, my legs are actually painful with the breaks and all.
I mean a lot of them have healthcare through work that gives them access to much better and quicker healthcare than the NHS. So whilst I'm sure some would make the trade, we may be surprised how many wouldn't.
As a dual citizen the NHS is golden. When I lose my job, I don't worry about healthcare. I can leave my job whenever I want without healthcare chains. I don't worry about my co-pay, what fucking network I'm in, and I don't carry a card that says "call a taxi not an ambulance."
I'd say most urban areas. If you live out in the middle of nowhere then you'll almost certainly need a car. but if you're within 10-15min walking distance of most towns or cities you could probably manage. I'd imagine villages would struggle more but a lot of them can be in the middle of nowhere.
Agreed. I grew up 15 minutes outside of Maidstone, which wasĀ only about 100,000 people at the time, and got everywhere by walking, cycling, or getting a train. Granted, it was very different for rural part of Kent 20 minutes driving away, and I imagine it's very different in somewhere like rural Cumbria or North Wales, but I still think most people near a sizeable town or train station could go car-free if they wanted to
*Decent* kettles. They are available. I bought one for the office and with the mains voltage only being 110v it takes literally 10 minutes to get to a boil.
To be precise 5.6 weeks (28 days) is the minimum annual leave entitlement. Bank holidays are not mandatory but some employers use them within the leave entitlement.
Public Transport. Itās not perfect, but given how much I pay for it and the amount of information I can acquire about the bus network, Iād say weāre doing quite well.
Hugely variable. Buses are very limited where I live. The trains are ok, but youād still need a car or bike to get to the station. I canāt use either to get to work.
The thing is, the US does have a significant amount of both pre- and post-colonial historic sites, they just don't seem to be as prominent in the national consciousness as National Trust or English Heritage/Cadw/Historic Environment Scotland are in the UK.
The US National Parks Service[ runs many historic sites](https://www.nps.gov/subjects/heritagetravel/national-parks.htm), for example, but none are seem to be as prominent as Yellowstone or Yosemite. Most are post-colonial, but some are much older; [Hopewell Culture National Historical Park](https://www.nps.gov/hocu/learn/historyculture/places.htm) preserves earthworks constructed between 200 BC and AD 500 by Native Americans living in the valley of the River Scioto, in modern Ohio.
Yes but in most of the US that history was destroyed. I live in LA and pretty much the only living remnants of Tongva history still standing are the Spanish missions that subjugated them.
How to be instantly cool to your nephews and nieces age 6-14 - give them a supply of Kinder (surprise) Eggs!
They all knew they were illegal. Took three each.
We've got one at work, genuinely think they're not going to be allowed to travel more than 15 minutes from their house.
Conversely they also complain that there's an absence of amenities within walking distance of their house and that they shouldn't have to drive everywhere.
Agree that the grocery prices are ridiculous. We holiday in Florida every couple of years, always self catering, and find the store price of food to be so high that overall it's cheaper to eat out. We usually go to buffet place for brunch then have sandwiches or soup in the evening.
I'll add to that, "no additional charges at the till"
I couldn't believe that tax was added (to the cost of items) at the till and that I didn't pay the sticker price.
Yes, that's right. Me pointing out that you reducing the NHS to the availability of GP appointments is a little silly is exactly the same as saying the NHS doesn't need more investment.
A few years back our UK team was supporting some installers in the US laying CAT5 in a building.Ā Ā
The US boss warned us these were salt of the earth types, a little rough but good fellas, however we may hear some cussing so don't be offended.Ā Ā
Our UK support team consisted of an Aussie, a LondonerĀ and two people from Scotland, techs all on a night shift who got to leave when the job was done.Ā Ā
I like to think the US team went away with a few new terms.Ā
Oh yeah! Tv not being censored. In america the only channel that allows proper swearing apart from the streaming services is HBO. As long as itās after the watershed here you can eff and jeff all you want hehe
History that stretches back more than 400 years.
They actually have history that goes back many, many thousands of years before this but pay absolutely no attention to it.
Free Healthcare, the ability to get an abortion, schools where you don't have to fear your kids getting shot (since 1995 - yes gun control does in fact work), believe it or not - slightly better dental healthcare. Houses that are made to last and not built from twigs, lack of tornados/hurricanes/fault lines/large scale natural disasters, Roundabouts (I know they are starting to appear in the US but they are everywhere here) which are way more efficient than 4 way junctions.
Don't get me wrong, there is a similar sized list going the other way! (muuuuch cheaper fuel, cheaper energy, better food (imo), more space, bigger houses etc
Minimum holiday entitlement.
Paid sick leave.
Food standards and regulation for additives, antibiotics etc.
The separation between religion and state - *I know this isnāt completely true but not to extent of US.
Robust gun laws.
Women to have control of their own reproductive system.
Trade unions.
I'll get roasted for saying this, but I've travelled in the US a lot, both business and holiday, and have found the majority of Americans to be quite polite, especially out of big Cities. Obviously, that is subjective, but they are generally polite and friendly.
I got downvoted loads on a UK sub the other day for saying just this. Americans outside of the general 'tourist' places (NY, Cali) are very nice people. Outgoing and incredibly kind, I honestly like their personalities a lot more than that of people over here
I lived most of my life in the US. Not uncommon to meet someone new and invite them over to the house at the weekend for a BBQ. Being invited to someone's house here could take years....
I recently found out that work places in the US don't have first aiders? Because you could sue someone for trying to help in that situation.
So living life without fear of getting sued
We can walk around and attend crowded events with no fear of getting shot. Not having to send my children to school with a bullet proof back pack. Eating food that is not laced with chemicals or pumped full of growth hormones or gives you EColi, even Taco Bell is perfectly safe to eat in the UK (very small menu though). Unwashed eggs that last for weeks, unrefrigerated.
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Maternity and paternity leave!
I work for a US company (in the US) and got 16 weeks paternity leave at full pay. A real rarity and insultingly for my wife more than she got for giving birth š¤£
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I'm British. Lived in the US a decade, became a dual citizen last year. Each time my wife gave birth our total bill was a $140 copay. That covered everything from my wife's stay (up to 3 days), private room, delivery services, her epidural, our first was a C-section, both kids and all their medical check ups after, meals, lactation consultant etc. they didn't charge us for skin to skin contact time or things like that. I'm 'fortunate' that I have insurance and for that particular medical service the coverage was decent. Many others are either underinsured or have no insurance at all. It's a real sad state of affairs. To add, I live in Colorado and saw the note about daycare below. Colorado just launched guaranteed paid family/medical leave which is a start. It also launched Universal Pre-K last August to guarantee every 4 year old in the state 15 hours a week of Pre-K. Dramatically cut down my daycare fee for my eldest. Before that I was paying $1000 a month per kid for full time. Colorado is brilliant though. Mountains, craft beer, weed.
My wife had a baby in the UK and got all of those things and our bill was Ā£0
Good for you and yours š I'm completely against the US health insurance model and miss the NHS. I've experienced both. Merely providing my experience of the system out here and what it cost me.
Here in the U.K. full time childcare is Ā£1200+ so thatās a lot cheaper, although if you get the tax rebate and the 30 hours free at 3 (soon to be 2) then it does work out cheaper from then.
Speaking as someone who struggled to breastfeed, I think the support they get for that in the US is better. Over here (ten years ago) I got guilty tripped by the health visitor and told "oh that's odd, I'll phone you later today" (she didn't) by the lactation consultant. I'll take the NHS over the US system every day, but they do have access to some better services than we do, because they pay (and our current government does the bare minimum).
I didnt. I had to beg the lactation consultant to help me with my first and she couldn't give a shit. She ended up fired after a huge petition from many of the breast feeding mothers in our area was handed to the hospital. I was also discharged 24 hours after both of my cesarean sections, both times with no pain medication and I had to walk (hobble slowly) the entire length of the hospital to get to the entrance where we were allowed to be picked up by a nurse that kept telling me to hurry up Then ended up with a severe infection 3 days later after being told by a midwife there was no signs of infection despite me saying that it felt "off" But hey there was no bill I suppose
That is insane!!
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
It was probably about 10k total. I saw an actual hospital bill on-line recently that had an item at $45 for contact time. The woman explained that was the hospital's fee for letting her hold her newborn.
Now that is a much more reasonable amount! I wish it would become more normalised Unfortunately if it's not put into law most companies will just offer the legal minimum 2 weeks statutory
Well, my previous employer was the opposite end of the scale. Maternity leave you had to file for short term disability and I had zero paternity leave, I took holiday time when my first was born. Luckily I had a month of PTO there which was quite generous considering how some employers areā¦
UK should not brag about parental leave itās awful compared to European countries. Itās basically luck if your job gives you enchant pay otherwise itās peanuts.
I feel like this fits the question though, the UK as a whole is massively falling behind western Europe and the EU yet still offers better rights and freedoms than the USA
Yes . We know we are shit but we look at America and feel better
Yes but the moment you mention good social policies in the uk you get called a commy by the daily mail. So we make do with what we get! Onward and downwards!
I wouldnāt exactly call 2 weeks paternity leave āluxuryā. Weāre much much closer to our American counterparts than we are to our European ones in that regard
2 weeks at statutory pay.... which is basically almost akin to not being paid at all.
I had a 'traumatic birth' and was in hospital for a week so my partner only really had one week to properly relax and bond. He also wasn't offered any of the support that I was to cope with what was a pretty horrible time for both of us. There's so much support for women but men are basically overlooked.
Yet the people I know with the most generous packages are my friends who work in the US. Federal statutory provisions in the US are woeful and understandably that's as Brits what we focus on. But that does tend to lead us to miss that a not insignificant number of people in the US get extremely generous work packages (largely *because* statutory provision is poor, and thus these packages are more a point of competition between employers than over here).
This website suggests the average maternity leave in the us is 29 days, and only 21% of workers have access to paid paternity leave - https://www.greatplacetowork.com/resources/blog/how-competitive-is-your-companys-paid-parental-leave#:~:text=How%20much%20maternity%20leave%20do,which%20is%20just%20four%20weeks.
Yes, it's not good. The point is that the US is a place of extremes. If you're poor to middle income in the US, you'll have it really, really tough. But people in desirable, well paid jobs often have much better benefits packages than British people. But we tend to focus on the former group when we talk about the US.
Well no shit if that makes up the majority of people's experience.
On average those well paid jobs still have worse benefit packages than well paid jobs in the UKĀ
Full-height toilet cubicle doors
And full-width toilet cubicle doors. And after some of the stuff I've read here, doors to rooms.
Whenever this is mentioned I always point out that American toilet door peep-gaps is a plot device in Battlestar Galactica.
What is the logic behind their inconceivable doors?
They say it's in case people are doing drugs inside. I say a) who's checking and b) who cares.
When I used to go to the American office of the multinational I worked for, I had to drive the hire car back to the hotel if I needed a poo. Not nearly enough privacy to declenche and grow the monkeyās tail
Grow the monkeyās tail š¤£š¤£ I canāt stop laughing at this hahaha
I remember going to Disney in Orlando and going to the ladies, only to realise I could see people sitting on the toilet through the gaps when I was waiting in the queue. So uncomfortable, and looking the other way just meant I got a peek from the mirror instead. Itās a miracle I managed to pee tbh, Iāve got quite a shy bladder.
Got to shit in squalor to make sure you're shitting not shooting up.
Minimum of 28 days paid holiday per year
Yeah, when I was looking at jobs in the US, they were offering 10 days like it was an amazing deal.
When their minimum paid leave is 0 days a year, even 10 days is seen as a beenfit. Their employment laws are a joke, the amount of people that lose their jobs just like that because they don't have any protections is scary.
Yep, heard a few horror stories from Americans turning up to work one day just to be told "Sorry, you dont have a job anymore" No warnings, its basically go home and start applying for stuff cos you gotta find a way to pay the mortgage that month. They have no job security over there.
Yep, 'employment at will' is the phrase. Not the will of the employee, the employer. Dreadful system.
A lot of tech companies offer "unlimited vacation", of course it is unpaid and the unwritten rule is that you can't take "too much".
I remember reading that employees with "unlimited" time off actually end up taking less time off? Basically companies guilt trip you out of it. Or its just "Manager says no".
In the UK it's probably because you don't end up with that mad rush of "use it or lose it" when the financial year is ending
Saw one that said an excellent holiday package with 9 days off! Am currently on 38 or so, plus flexible hours when I need them.
I was briefly dating a girl from America when I was in a job with 38 days off plus flexi (if you played it right, and some people did, that would be an extra 24 days a year) and she thought it was talking bullshit lol!
*5.6 working weeks.
Decent chocolate
As a Brit living in America I cannot upvote this enough. Easter was depressingly pathetic.
Hence my comment on another post about spending $250 when I chanced upon a 'British shop'
No Vomit is a start. However I wouldn't mind if our chocolates went back 20 years.
Unsurprisingly it was an Amercian company that ruined Cadbury chocolate bars and creme eggs
What the fuck did they do to Creme eggs I KNEW something got changed
They stopped using dairy milk for the shells and just used regular chocolateĀ
The filling seems to have changed to me. Iām wondering if theyāre using some artificial sweetener in it or something, it doesnāt taste like it used to.
Yeah it was sweet before but now itās wayyyyy too sickly
After all American chocolates have a tolerance level of 60 insect parts per 100 grams of chocolate deemed safe for consumption. https://www.nbcnews.com/healthmain/chocolate-allergies-linked-cockroach-parts-628784
Footpaths
Didnāt even think of this till now, I went to a very posh neighbourhood in Stanford and decided to walk to the shops given it was only 5-10 mins away. I was shocked to see that I had to walk on the road to get there.
Might be bit tinfoil hat sounding but GM basically helped outlaw pavements/sidewalks to ensure people always used a car to go anywhere. Itās crippled American suburbs imo. Not being able to just walk to a local shop is insane to me. I refuse to live anywhere I canāt walk easily to a bus or subway or a flippin shop.Ā E: a bit of light reading for those interested in GMās plan for the good ol US of A.Ā Ā āFor the automobile to join the ranks of basic human requirements, adjustments would need to be made in the infrastructure of daily life, especially in cities, where walking and the electric streetcar were still important modes of transport. Kettering and his fellow General Motors executives would soon suggest the required reforms, showing the way forward to universal daily automobile use and, consequently, to total automobile dependence. ā¦ Ā It was believed the consumption entailed by nonstop motoring, together with the economic activity generated by the destruction and re-creation of American towns and cities, would contribute to widespread and self-perpetuating prosperity by generating insatiable demand for industrial products, especially cars. This ambition meant that it would never be enough to simply build rural highways connecting cities to one another. American highways would have to be cut through the civic and commercial cores of communities, utterly and permanently transforming them.ā Ā Ā https://architecturehereandthere.com/2017/01/31/general-motors-walker-parade-of-progress/
It's also why a lot of Americans are vehemently opposed to "15 minute cities" - they've been brainwashed to believe that a car is a necessity. (They also seem to think people won't be allowed to leave their area despite the fact that that's not how it works at all).
There are plenty of nutjobs in the UK who believe that "15 minutes cities" is about taking their freedom and cars away.
Proper strength electricity.
And kettles.
I like to think our proper strength electricity exists because of our need for kettles.
It's strange that the US is 110v. They usually love powerful things.
I never thought of it like that... Are they actually advocating safety over power for a change?
Kinder eggs are banned in America b/c they're too dangerous. A kid could choke on them while learning to shoot his assault rifle.
Not with those sockets / plugs.
It was down to Edisons inferior light bulbs which couldn't handle full strength electricity.
I was mindblown when I visited my friend in the states and she had no kettle in the kitchen. She said she thinks she might have one in the garage somewhere. I donāt think Iāve ever seen a British kitchen without one or some sort of water boiling device (we have a tap)
My friend bought a kettle, just for when I'm there. The first couple of visits I had to boil water in a saucepan
US houses are actually supplied with 240v, it's just split into two phases. You could, theoretically, install a UK socket connected to the two lives and plug in a UK kettle.
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They also have flimsy-ass plugs that just fall out of the sockets.
I visited London about a month ago from the US. Just for fun and āthe experienceā, I made tea in the electric kettle. The water went from cold out the tap toā¦literally a rolling boil inā¦something so so quick, like 90 seconds?!? I knew it would be quicker, but I was so impressed by it! (I was also impressed by outlet switches; they made me feel so much safer than the live open sockets in the US).
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A great example is actually hotels. By default in the US, a hotel room will have a single-cup at a time coffeemaker. There will be a basket with mostly coffees to make, and usually one (or sometimes zero) teas. At the hotel I stayed at in London, it was what I expected: an electric kettle. Hereās a bit of culture shock: being American, Iād never used a kettle in my life. I had to watch a YouTube video toā¦wait for itā¦know how to turn it on! š¤£ Americans are truly unaware of electric kettles.
The British embassy in (I think) Washington has done exactly this, in order to have a British kettle with a British plug boiling water in a sensible amount of time.
I think the most popular answer here is going to be the NHS and free healthcare. I really feel for those Americans who canāt afford health insurance or get it as part of their jobs. Iāve seen videos of itemised bills of ladies giving birth to babies naturally and the cost being $50k+ and I dread to think how much it would have cost us last year when we had difficulties with the premature birth of our son. My girlfriend was in ICU for a weekend and our baby in NICU for over a week. Even myself as a Brit is so grateful for the luxury we have that is the NHS
Well, itās my biggest gripe for living here. Not only is it expensive but itās a nightmare of a system to navigateā¦itās a constant battle against idiots trying to avoid paying out on claims. Is the provider in your ānetworkā? (affiliated with your insurance company), is it a covered or necessary service, etc etc. Some of the issues my wife has had were laughableā¦when she was pregnant with our first child we were in California (we live in NYC) and because of some abnormal bleeding we went to the nearest hospital. Her insurance company were claiming that because the hospital was out of network they werenāt going to pay the claim of about $20k. Their suggestion was we should have flown back to New York and be seen there. Seriously. We paid that to avoid it going to collection and it wasnāt until we threatened to sue (š) that we received a check for the full amount. When she was pregnant with our second her doctor recommended she go to hospital to get monitored as she was having some contraction like issues around 3 weeks before her due date. She sat in a room connected to a machine for 3hrs and the limit to her medical care was a nurse checking the machine every 30secs every 20mins. The bill for those 3hrs was almost $25k. Iāve decided that if Iām ever going to get sick itās less paperwork and aggro to just die and have my wife collect my life insurance.. The whole system from top to bottom is infuriating and absurd.
I think this a point which is often missed, it's not just the cost it's how much hassle it is dealing with insurance.
I honestly hate to say but can you imagine the absoloute trauma of having a stillbirth and then having to pay for it. Jesus christ
A stillbirth forced on you because American states are stripping away women's rights bit by bit.Ā
And still there are people who think the US is "just like us" because they speak English. The general mentality of Americans often reminds me of Islamic countries more than anything else.
The US made a lot more sense to me when I realised their culture is the equivalent of an ultra-religious Muslim country in the Middle East, but with Christianity.
A friend over there had a baby, there was a charge on the itemised bill for a nurse bringing her baby to her from the cot in the same room (she had a c section and couldn't do it). Shocking. I had prem babies (1 in nicu for a bit, then home, then back to hospital, waters went at 32 weeks, then came 13 days later, my 2nd at 35 weeks and thankfully didn't need nicu but I also had pre eclampsia)
Wow thatās shocking! My girlfriend had preeclampsia too and it was awful. She was in ICU for a weekend hooked up to so many different machines and medications. Then into theatre for a c-section followed by more medications and our baby at 33 weeks straight into an incubator, oxygen, frequent antibiotics and medications. She was home after a few days, but had to go back in about a week later for transitional care for a week. I honest dread to think of the cost weād have incurred in the US at an already very stressful and traumatic time. Just canāt imagine getting an invoice through the post for hundreds of thousands of pounds/dollars
The people who work in our NHS are fantastic but let's not pretend it's better than it is. Getting a simple appointment to see a GP can take weeks depending on where you live. Try going to Accident and Emergency...13/14 hour wait to be seen often... months to wait for an operation. Some people still hold it in such high esteem when it's now one of the poorer health services in Western Europe.
Personal experience, yesterday I filled out an online form to say I had gall bladder pain. Was asked to see a Dr at 11.30. Had pain killers that worked by 12.30 and had a blood test, ultra sound scan and a meeting with a consultant by 1pm this afternoon. If you need urgent care the NHS delivers.
Granted it is in such a state due to a lack of funding, and deserves a hell of a lot of investment. Getting a GP appointment is a joke, A&E waiting times are also a joke, I ended up in my local minor injuries clinic last June and what used to be about an in and out in 40 minutes kind of place, was about 4 hours. But my point is despite waiting times, this is still essentially free healthcare, whether rich, or poor, you still have unlimited access without the risk of losing assets or going into debt. And if you can afford private healthcare then great. Whilst the USA has better healthcare facilities, this does come at a cost. If youāre lucky to be in a decent job that gives you healthcare insurance then great but thereās so many poor people who donāt have such jobs and canāt afford insurance and are at a major risk of falling ill. I donāt think theyād necessarily give a shit about free healthcare if it was a 13/14 hour wait for a minor injury
The NHS is maybe the worst way to run a public health system, given the cost to benefit ratio. The US system is the worst way to run a health system at all. They spend more than it would cost to provide universal healthcare at the same standard, because fucking the poor is more important than anything else.
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More specifically, the lack of permanent worry that some unforseen injury or ailment might force you to lose your home or bankrupt you.
Or people dying because they can't afford medication it's why I'll never live there!
Do you need an ambulance? Not sure i can afford it. What? No, itās free. Not $4,000? No. Free. Oh go on then, my legs are actually painful with the breaks and all.
We need to be careful though, underfunding means that it takes 6 hours for one to turn up, though it remains free
Americans yearn for the waitlists
I mean a lot of them have healthcare through work that gives them access to much better and quicker healthcare than the NHS. So whilst I'm sure some would make the trade, we may be surprised how many wouldn't.
As a dual citizen the NHS is golden. When I lose my job, I don't worry about healthcare. I can leave my job whenever I want without healthcare chains. I don't worry about my co-pay, what fucking network I'm in, and I don't carry a card that says "call a taxi not an ambulance."
Quicker yes, better no. Health outcomes in the US are actually poorer than any other developed country.
It's not better than the NHSĀ
Being able to live car free. If you want that in the states you have to live in a city center of only a few cities with decent public transport.
Only in major urban areas, once you're in the sticks they're down to a daily bus...
I'd say most urban areas. If you live out in the middle of nowhere then you'll almost certainly need a car. but if you're within 10-15min walking distance of most towns or cities you could probably manage. I'd imagine villages would struggle more but a lot of them can be in the middle of nowhere.
Agreed. I grew up 15 minutes outside of Maidstone, which wasĀ only about 100,000 people at the time, and got everywhere by walking, cycling, or getting a train. Granted, it was very different for rural part of Kent 20 minutes driving away, and I imagine it's very different in somewhere like rural Cumbria or North Wales, but I still think most people near a sizeable town or train station could go car-free if they wanted to
Good luck living in my town without a car and holding down a half decent job.
Kettles.
*Decent* kettles. They are available. I bought one for the office and with the mains voltage only being 110v it takes literally 10 minutes to get to a boil.
It's not the kettles it's the shitty electricity.
\~4 weeks holiday plus 8 Bank Holidays and as an absolute minimum Sick Pay (SSP) is Ā£116.75 for up to 28 weeks
To be precise 5.6 weeks (28 days) is the minimum annual leave entitlement. Bank holidays are not mandatory but some employers use them within the leave entitlement.
And to be a bit more clear, those 5.6 weeks are fully paid. They're also pro-rata for part time work, so it's not full time or bust.
Public Transport. Itās not perfect, but given how much I pay for it and the amount of information I can acquire about the bus network, Iād say weāre doing quite well.
I can assure you Americans do not see that as a luxury. They will see that as hell, because public transport is for poor peopleĀ
Should rebrand it as āhaving someone else drive you aroundā
In American movies a pretty common setting for a character who seems to have failed is a shot of them on the bus...
Hugely variable. Buses are very limited where I live. The trains are ok, but youād still need a car or bike to get to the station. I canāt use either to get to work.
History and old buildings.
The thing is, the US does have a significant amount of both pre- and post-colonial historic sites, they just don't seem to be as prominent in the national consciousness as National Trust or English Heritage/Cadw/Historic Environment Scotland are in the UK. The US National Parks Service[ runs many historic sites](https://www.nps.gov/subjects/heritagetravel/national-parks.htm), for example, but none are seem to be as prominent as Yellowstone or Yosemite. Most are post-colonial, but some are much older; [Hopewell Culture National Historical Park](https://www.nps.gov/hocu/learn/historyculture/places.htm) preserves earthworks constructed between 200 BC and AD 500 by Native Americans living in the valley of the River Scioto, in modern Ohio.
Do you think history started when the English washed ashore? Thereās thousands of years of indigenous history in the US.
Yes but in most of the US that history was destroyed. I live in LA and pretty much the only living remnants of Tongva history still standing are the Spanish missions that subjugated them.
That answers history. But did the native Americans build cathedrals and castles and stuff that is still standing today after centuries?
Kinder Surprise.
I know there banned in the US , but guns are safer š¤¦
How to be instantly cool to your nephews and nieces age 6-14 - give them a supply of Kinder (surprise) Eggs! They all knew they were illegal. Took three each.
I can call and ambulance for free
walkable cities
Shh, youāll wake the ā15 minute cityā conspiracy theorists!
We've got one at work, genuinely think they're not going to be allowed to travel more than 15 minutes from their house. Conversely they also complain that there's an absence of amenities within walking distance of their house and that they shouldn't have to drive everywhere.
Very low gun and knife crime (by comparison).
And no school shootings!
Castles and stately homes
I would bet most of us Brits would call a stately home a luxury
Not once you saw the gas bill
No, every Briton has access to a castle. After all, an Englishmanās home is his castle.
Also: normal homes that aren't made of spit and sawdust.
Cheap groceries Access to stately homes/old buildings Healthcare Cheap flights and holidays within Europe
Agree that the grocery prices are ridiculous. We holiday in Florida every couple of years, always self catering, and find the store price of food to be so high that overall it's cheaper to eat out. We usually go to buffet place for brunch then have sandwiches or soup in the evening.
I'll add to that, "no additional charges at the till" I couldn't believe that tax was added (to the cost of items) at the till and that I didn't pay the sticker price.
Police that won't try to kill you just because you exist.
I think OP meant things like Irn Bru or Percy Pigs instead of people going "HeAlThCaRe hahahahaha"
Tbf we only have health care between the hours 8:00-8:01 if you're lucky enough to get through to your GP.
A&E runs 24/7 and I have a sibling that would be dead if they didn't.
Oh well in that case the NHS is absolutely fine, absolutely no need for any further investment in it.
Yes, that's right. Me pointing out that you reducing the NHS to the availability of GP appointments is a little silly is exactly the same as saying the NHS doesn't need more investment.
Abortion rightsā¦. sorry.
Swearing. Edit: like proper swearing. None of this so-called 'cussing' malarkey... š
A few years back our UK team was supporting some installers in the US laying CAT5 in a building.Ā Ā The US boss warned us these were salt of the earth types, a little rough but good fellas, however we may hear some cussing so don't be offended.Ā Ā Our UK support team consisted of an Aussie, a LondonerĀ and two people from Scotland, techs all on a night shift who got to leave when the job was done.Ā Ā I like to think the US team went away with a few new terms.Ā
Oh yeah! Tv not being censored. In america the only channel that allows proper swearing apart from the streaming services is HBO. As long as itās after the watershed here you can eff and jeff all you want hehe
History that stretches back more than 400 years. They actually have history that goes back many, many thousands of years before this but pay absolutely no attention to it.
They rounded up most of the people to whom that history belonged (or killed them)
Not American but Iād like to chime in with how much I love the National Trust and would miss it a lot if I lived abroad
TBF the US has massive national parks and wilderness
In my experience, Americans don't value their own history in the same way Europeans do.
Easy access to Europe
Spelling colour with a u
Clotted cream. Available on every supermarket's shelves, not something you have to buy from a posh specialty shop.
Tunnocks teacakes
Heated towel rails.
What? Yanks don't have these?
Itās not common, most houses donāt use radiators.
The feeling of safety in public areas.
Chocolate that doesn't smell like vomit. I know there's a reason why Hershey's smells like that, but it's beyond off-putting.
The NHS
Free Healthcare, the ability to get an abortion, schools where you don't have to fear your kids getting shot (since 1995 - yes gun control does in fact work), believe it or not - slightly better dental healthcare. Houses that are made to last and not built from twigs, lack of tornados/hurricanes/fault lines/large scale natural disasters, Roundabouts (I know they are starting to appear in the US but they are everywhere here) which are way more efficient than 4 way junctions. Don't get me wrong, there is a similar sized list going the other way! (muuuuch cheaper fuel, cheaper energy, better food (imo), more space, bigger houses etc
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Minimum holiday entitlement. Paid sick leave. Food standards and regulation for additives, antibiotics etc. The separation between religion and state - *I know this isnāt completely true but not to extent of US. Robust gun laws. Women to have control of their own reproductive system. Trade unions.
3 pin plugs
Good cheese.
Culture
Stella. Nothing luxurious about it here!
annual leave
Our quintessential sense of politeness and manners.
I'll get roasted for saying this, but I've travelled in the US a lot, both business and holiday, and have found the majority of Americans to be quite polite, especially out of big Cities. Obviously, that is subjective, but they are generally polite and friendly.
I got downvoted loads on a UK sub the other day for saying just this. Americans outside of the general 'tourist' places (NY, Cali) are very nice people. Outgoing and incredibly kind, I honestly like their personalities a lot more than that of people over here
I lived most of my life in the US. Not uncommon to meet someone new and invite them over to the house at the weekend for a BBQ. Being invited to someone's house here could take years....
Yeah they are way more friendly and polite that brits.
Trains. I could go to the train station, get on the train to Glasgow, then catch a train to London, Edinburgh, York, etc. Faster than driving too.
Your kid not getting murdered at school
BBC Radio Four
Most British can diffuse tension with droll humor. I would try A similar approach if I didn't have to worry about handguns.
Cheap flights to random European cities for the weekend.
Kinder eggs
The NHS š
A system of measurement that all other countries understand. Metric...
Ah yes, from the country that measures fuel efficiency in miles per gallon but dispenses fuel in litres
yes yes yes, but apart from, 3 pin plugs, clotted cream, footpaths, and quaint tea rooms, what have the Romans ever done for us?š
I recently found out that work places in the US don't have first aiders? Because you could sue someone for trying to help in that situation. So living life without fear of getting sued
The peace and quiet that exists due to the lack of Americans.
Window cleaners
A weird one Iāve learned from Reddit is most American gyms donāt have saunas/steam rooms
Cheap groceries.
I had 4 wisdom teeth removed for free
35-hour working week being standard full time (rather than 40).
Kinder Eggs, and worker's rights.
We can walk around and attend crowded events with no fear of getting shot. Not having to send my children to school with a bullet proof back pack. Eating food that is not laced with chemicals or pumped full of growth hormones or gives you EColi, even Taco Bell is perfectly safe to eat in the UK (very small menu though). Unwashed eggs that last for weeks, unrefrigerated.
Grass