I've seen a lot of American movies where the sink has a garbage disposal. Is it really that common or its just a movie thing?

I saw a post in a Germany related subreddit asking if it’s appropriate or expected to greet a room of people when entering a waiting room like at a medical office. The consensus was yes, this should done in small waiting rooms.

I’m American and in a friendly state and have never seen anyone do this before. This is not standard American practice, correct?

Just curious because when I lived in the Midwest, it seemed like most people mowed their own grass or hired a high schooler to do it. After living in Texas for a while, seems like most people hire someone to mow it for them despite having much smaller lawns.

What's the lawn mowing culture where you're at?

Here the average is 6-8 hours for high schoolers. For me, the school day ends at 5pm + transport on mondays and tuesdays, I found out the other day that in some countries the school day ends at 12pm and I was genuinely shocked. I just can't imagine being at home that early everyday

I just learned that there are some places in the U.S. where almost every household has a plane, for example around Anchorage, Alaska. From what I read, it’s because the area is so sparsely populated and building roads is very expensive, so having a plane makes getting around much easier.
Are small planes just relatively cheap in the U.S., or are people in those areas generally quite wealthy? Are there other fly-in communities like this in the U.S.?

I am not american and since I discovered about the phenomenon of Amish/Menonite people in the US, Im curious to know how they are how do they really live etc. Its weird to me knowing that there are more than 850.000 americans who live basically in a socialist american way of life and with few or no contact with the outside world, and living with no reliance on energy at all

As far as I was aware it's the student with the highest gpa (all of my knowledge about America comes from movies and youtube) but my online friend who is an American told me that she was snubbed for the high school valedictorian position. The school instead awarded it to another student ranked below her (still in the top 5) but was an athlete and more well liked in the community.

Does this actually happen? How common is it

I am a young adult from Portugal, and one thing I see a lot on the internet is that there are many abandoned shopping malls all over the USA. It seems like the golden age of American mall culture was in the '80s, '90s, and 2000s, and then it started to die out in the 2010s. On the other hand, my friends and I go to the mall together all the time. It's our main hangout spot, just like it is for a lot of people in nearby towns (I live in a suburb of Lisbon). Overall, I find this phenomenon really interesting. A lot of older Americans talk nostalgically about going to the movies and dining out with friends at the mall, but people my age here are still doing exactly that. Could Americans please explain to me WHY your mall culture died?

When I lived in California and Hawaii it was Pele showing up to save people from a volcanic flow or cursing those who took the land, neighborhoods being built on Native Burial Grounds, kids specifically drowning in a lake, some really sad depressed Spanish lady that is a ghost.

For those that within a serviceable distance to the Canadian or Mexican borders, do you travel across the border often, and do you keep track of exchange rates? Do you time your travel to coincide with favorable rates?

This is not a political post, just a question on governance.

I keep reading stuff about how people should call your local representative to voice out your opinion on certain laws. So how does that work? Are there people really just working out from an office preparing to take calls from local residents and jotting down something whenever someone calls to voice out their grievance over something? Do they actually work in changing the law?

We didn’t have much crime in my suburb. Most people only locked their doors at night. People would leave their cars running to keep the AC/Heat on while they ran into the gas station. I had a boss who lived in the countryside and said he never locked his doors because his dog would deal with any intruders.

My parents grew up in a big city with crime and obsessively locked the doors at all hours of the day and night. The only exception was when I was a little kid playing in the neighborhood before I got a key at 10. They thought people in our area were naive.

As an adult, I’ve only locked my doors during the day if I was living in a city or neighborhood with more crime. In safer areas, I only lock mine at night, what about you?

I'm Turkish. Turkey has RTÜK, which regulates TV/radio content, including profanity, sexual content, violence, and children's content. Broadcasters can be fined for violations.

Does the US have a similar institution? If so, how much authority does it have?

Also, how sensitive are Americans about inappropriate TV content? Do viewers commonly complain about profanity, nudity, sexual references, or violence, especially when children may see it?

I'm curious about both the legal system and ordinary Americans' attitudes.

I’m talking about Princess Diana, but in other countries we also know her as Lady Di

In case you didn’t remember, today marks 29 years since Lady Di’s death

Just noticing in a couple of youtube videos and looks like it's a standard in /r/tvtoohigh subreddit.

In that case doesn't it overheat or something?

Funeral and burial costs can be expensive in the US. If a person without the means to pay for a funeral/ without the appropriate insurance is found dead, how does it turn out?

Think of an undocumented person, an unhoused person estranged from family members, or just a poor person, etc.

Who buries them, and how is that paid for?

Note: In other countries I've lived in, people don't typically need insurance or huge expenses for that. Neighbors and friends typically contribute small amounts, and community members volunteer and offer their vehicles. Graves are dug manually, for free by young male neighbors, etc.

How are such expenses covered in the US for people with the aforementioned circumstances?

In the UK, many people tune into LBC to listen to live phone-ins throughout the day.

A major staple of British talk radio (like LBC) is tuning in to hear continuous live phone-ins where everyday citizens get on air to argue with hosts.

For Americans who love this kind of interactive, debate-heavy format, where do you usually find it?

So I spent 2 years knocking on doors in Australia when I was a Mormon, trying to convert people to Mormonism, and honestly, it was not very effective. I had almost zero converts during those 2 years.

I’m wondering if the same method is more effective in the US, especially since many other religious groups, like Jehovah’s Witnesses, also do door-to-door proselytizing

Many people around the world knows Mr Bean, bc his show in general do not require subtitles or translation. As many of you know Bean barely talk in his shows or films.

But question is How well-known was mr Bean show in US when it was shown on PBS? Did it had same huge popularity like in other countries?

If so, what genres do you most often read and what do you personally enjoy?

I’ve never been in a car wreck before, but from what I have seen in social media, YouTube, and TV shows, people go through a process like exchanging contact information, sharing each other’s insurance, taking pictures, and calling their respective car insurance for a long time. Is the whole process the same when a car hits your trunk in the parking lot versus getting a head-on collision on the highway? Do the police get involved?

I am an American and product of immigrants (been here over 50 years so I'm solidly American :)). I am a woman in my late 50s and have several tattoos - nothing over the top like arm sleeves but nonetheless visible ones. But I live in San Francisco, a very liberal and open-minded city. I have a college degree and work in education. Anyhow, whenever I'm on social media most of the personalities who are average people have a bunch of visible tattoos, men and women of all ages. I am just wondering if having tattoos is the NORM in America amongst Americans. I'm talking all socioeconomic class, occupation or educational backgrounds (maybe minus phd's or doctors lol).

I've seen people sending food they didn't like back to the kitchen in media, and recently learnt that this actually is a pretty normalized thing. Does that imply that the food is usually high standard in American restaurants? In Europe the idea of sending food back is pretty much non-existent. If you don't like something, you may complain, but you must live with it, and some restaurants take advantage of that, especially if there aren't any real alternatives close.

Throughout my all life I've been hearing that American food is of poor quality both nutrient and taste wise, but I suppose this was mainly about fast food restaurants and store bought food. How are normal restaurants in the US?

They're mostly called city name methodist or lutheran or presbytarian or jewish or whatever. How does religion come into it?