Europeans Are Sharing "Totally Normal" Things That Are "Nonexistent" In America, And I've Personally Never Thought Of 90% Of These

"It's not unusual to see nudity in public parks, newspapers, TV, shared public showering nude after swimming nude, or advertisements. There are too many examples I can't even think of them all as it's normal to us...and highly shocking to Americans to outrage. In my opinion, it's the definition of hypocrisy. Americans are so stunned, baffled, or revolted by European openness on nudity, yet, almost all of the porn worldwide comes from the USA itself!"

Reddit user u/TREE__FR0G asked, "What is something that is normalized in Europe yet is a completely unknown concept in the US?" and it's fascinating. I have honestly never thought of 50% of these.

Here are the top-voted answers:

1. "Prices already include taxes."

CBS

—u/Badass-19

"I’ve lived in Australia most of my life, but I spent a few years living in the US when I was young. I vividly remember having saved up for a Wii game I wanted, going down to the electronics store with my $50 bill, and trying to buy the game with a '$50' sticker on it, only to get to the counter and find out that it actually secretly cost more than that (and the guy at the checkout was pretty rude about it, too). I had to go home empty-handed 'cause I didn’t know enough about US taxes when I was 12."

—u/mayanais

"I feel you. I saved $1,000 bucks for a TV, and at checkout, I found myself seeing $100 taxes. That's absurd, LOL."

—u/Sadaxer

2. "Nudity is way more common. And not all nudity is sexual inherently. In my country, we are not ashamed of nudity nor immediately correlate it with sex."

NBC

"It's not unusual to see nudity in public parks, newspapers, TV, shared public showering nude after swimming nude, or advertisements. There are too many examples I can't even think of them all as it's normal to us...and highly shocking to Americans to outrage. In my opinion, it's the definition of hypocrisy. Americans are so stunned, baffled, or revolted by European openness on nudity, yet, almost all of the porn worldwide comes from the USA itself!"

—u/That_Babe_Anesthesia

"I went hiking today in the Black Forest in Germany. My girlfriend and I sat at a small river having a break, when suddenly, two couples in their 40s and 50s showed up. One gets completely naked, walks into the river while having a chat with the rest of them, and comes out a couple minutes later again, dries herself off, gets dressed again. A family with kids walked by, and a group of twentysomethings. No one cared. Nudity is just an issue if you raise everyone to make a big deal out of it."

—u/kingkongkeom

3. "Tips are optional."

Mashed / Via giphy.com

—u/OldandBoldDude

"This. I went to a bakery in the US recently to buy ONE loaf of bread, and at the end of this one-minute exchange, the girl at the counter turned her iPad around to ask for a tip. WTF!?"

—u/doctorgoulash

"Hey, someone’s gotta pay the employees, and it sure as hell ain’t gonna be the business owner."

—u/BossJarn

4. "Taking your own shopping bag(s) to the supermarket. Totally normalized in all European countries as far as I know. Or buy a (firm) shopping bag at the store if you don't have one with you. All those plastic bags in US stores, so small that it can only hold two cans of milk so you see customers with a dozen plastic bags for their groceries. This is unthinkable in Europe."

TLC

—u/Shrooma111

5. "Bathroom doors with no gaps."

Getty

—u/P1nk_barbie

"This completely baffled me on my US trip. It's not just in this or that location which had a construction error or really had to go for the cheapest option; it's virtually everywhere. Why do Americans want to watch each other sh*t? Even their coworkers in a nice office building? I'd love to understand."

—u/krommenaas

"Oh God, as someone with IBS, I loathed American public toilets. I was always extremely stressed when I had to use them. What's the point of even having a door if you can still see someone through it?! The worst were cubicles I used that had Western-style saloon doors as the doors. Literally no lock or anything and just enough door to (kind of) cover the genitalia, but you could see everyone's head and shoulders. Blergh."

—u/Impressive-Bench9223

6. "Six weeks vacation."

STARZ

—u/nomadProgrammer

"Va-cay-tion? What is this va-cay-tion you speak of?"

—u/EHonda92m

7. "Trains."

Clearwater Features

—u/Complete_Spot3771

8. "More people are day drinking in Europe than I have ever seen in America."

NBC

—u/CamilaHelena

"There's a completely different culture and outlook on alcohol. I believe in the US, it's viewed like addiction to alcohol rather than a regular daylight hours thing to see. We also have way lower or far more relaxed drinking ages depending on country."

—u/That_Babe_Anesthesia

9. "Paying to use a toilet."

TLC

—u/Yak-Focker-5000

"But not paying to use a hospital."

—u/Comprehensive_Round

10. "Not worrying about wild animals when you're going out hiking. In most of Western Europe at least, needing to carry bear spray or whatever is just not a thing. Our 'wildlife' is pretty tame, and sadly, any wilderness we have isn't really...wilderness on the scale of North America."

Latino Outdoors

—u/palishkoto

11. "Not putting eggs in [the] refrigerator. 🥚"

Getty

—u/blacksystembbq

"In Europe, they leave the natural protective coating on the eggs, so you can store them on the countertop. They will stay good for ages. In North America, commercial eggs have that coating scrubbed away, and the shell itself is porous, so you need to keep the eggs cool in the fridge to keep them from going bad."

—u/blitzen_13

12. "Go to the grocery store on your bicycle."

Netflix

—u/GreenButterfly1234

13. "Mayo with French fries. I’m in the US but have cousins in Holland. They introduced me to to this years ago, and it’s pretty awesome."

Rovio Entertainment / Angry Birds

—u/Robhow

"The irony of Americans putting mayo on everything EXCEPT French fries."

—u/TheMightyMustachio

14. "The right to roam. It's glorious to be able to hike across private land when you grow up used to signs saying 'Trespassers will be shot.'"

AFV

—u/suzycreamcheese260

And finally...

15. "A good fitting bra. American bras are trash. The cups are lousy and only come in one piece. European bras are far superior to them. The construction is a lot better and so are the materials."

TV Land

—u/aysiel

Now, it's your turn! What's something normal in Europe that American's don't experience? Comment below!

Note: Some submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.