People Are Sharing Things That Are Normal In Their Country But Are Strange Elsewhere

From A Redditor:

In Australia (where I live in aus at least) we don’t having a tipping culture. I know in the US if you don’t tip you are seen as rude.

From Redditor u/didyouseeben:

Nah, we’re the weird ones for this. Whenever I travel abroad, it’s like a blessing because if you do tip someone, it’s to say, “hey, thanks for the amazing service,” and not because it’s just part of their wages.

From Redditor u/shaquille_oatmeal98:

I get the feeling here in America the whole tipping thing is just giving business owners an excuse to pay their employees in peanuts.

From Redditor u/CombinationJealous79:

No smiling, no small talks, no contacts with strangers unless necessary, being too direct.

From Redditor u/h00lmberg:

Ah, sounds like home. Finland here.

From Redditor u/SplashOfCYMK:

Sounds like my kind of place - I need to move here!

From Redditor u/Theher0not:

If you want to buy "strong" alcohol (I think above 2.5%) you have two options, either go to a restaurant/bar, or if you want for home use you must buy from Systembolaget since no other store is allowed to sell it (for bars you must be 18+ but for Systembolaget you must be 20+). To me, it is completely normal, but in most countries people would probably think that it is weird. I'm from Sweden.

From Redditor u/HipsterSlug:

Fellow Swede here. Systembolaget have even more rules. They can't sell chilled drinks, they can't have sales, they have to treat all drinks as equals, they can't have any big advertising stand for one brand.

From Redditor u/Beepulons:

Or you just cross the border and buy some alcohol there. It's very common to see Swedes travelling over here to Denmark just to buy loads of drinks.

From Redditor u/SirTheadore:

In Ireland, you’re expected to refuse if something is offered. If you're in someone’s home, and they offer tea, coffee, food or anything you HAVE to reply, “ah jaysus no I couldn’t, I’m grand thanks!” At least 3 times while the host insists. Before saying, “ah sure go on then!”

From Redditor u/Spectus1:

We do that in Poland, but lately I stopped declining any offerings and people seem to be glad they can host me properly. I recommend you try to accept their offers and see what happens, it's interesting in my opinion.

From Redditor u/pasta-is-really-good:

Actually telling people how you’re doing when they ask you how you’re doing. We don’t use a lot of polite phrases just for the sake of being polite, so when people ask “how are you,” it’s interpreted as a genuine question rather than polite small talk or a greeting. My grandma once asked a cashier how she was doing and she replied, “Not great. I have type 2 diabetes.” (I’m from Norway)

From Redditor u/cocada_:

That’s actually really nice. In my home country people say “how are you?” when they actually mean “hi.” They never really listen to your reply.

From Redditor u/fluffyclouds2sit:

That sounds magical I want that.

From Redditor u/Stephenburnett98:

I grew up in Australia and migrated to Ireland about ten years ago. First thing I noticed was people in Ireland really like to talk about death in every day conversation. Who died. When the mass is. The removal of the body and the anniversaries of their death. It's so normal in conversation. In Australia, it's rather taboo. There's a difference in the tone of conversation when talking about death.

From Redditor u/Surebegrandlike11:

Yeah they even announce the deaths on the local radio stations here in Ireland lmao! My mother and granny tune in every day to “listen to the deaths” and if they know someone on the list it ends up being a whole conversation.

From Redditor u/SirTheadore:

Weird. Irish born and raised and I never actually thought about this. But you’re right!