OT: Back

IMHO the difference is the UK fairly quickly legislated on 'race equality', and rightly so.

Despite claiming to be a classless society the US seem to like having second class citizens. ;-)

Although that's not driven only by race. Anyone who has watched how Americans treat waiters and waitresses would recognise that there seems to be a culture that if someone provides a service, they are to be treated like dirt.

So the 'have a nice day' comes through gritted teeth?

As I mentioned somewhere else in here, me and a couple of mates went to Vegas a couple of years back. One evening we went to the 'Italian' restaurant in the hotel, and after we'd placed our orders we were just generally chattin away as normal whilst we waited. After about five minutes, maybe less, the waitress came over again to apologise for the wait heh! We were just like, dude we're good, it's been like, no time, She then said how much she likes it when English people came in as they didn't complain about their order taking too long after 30 seconds, and were always very polite to the staff :-)

I'm fairly convinced that it ensures that the burger arrives with extra spit.

Indeed. But that is a bit like saying that there is little point trying the island malts, because we have the highland variety close to hand. They are different, and life is richer for experiencing the variety.

I'm a climber, and the nature of the climbing in Europe, the UK and the USA are all very different. That said, the reason I have normally traveled there in the first place is for work, and have then extended the journey for a (free-ish) holiday. I am not a particular fan of the American lifestyle, or indeed the populated areas in general, but I am still glad that I have been there.