Me? Life would certainly be simpler without it. I am also not sure I'm loving the "tip creep" that cashless payment systems are introducing. But I don't hate it. It just sort of is what it is, part of the American landscape. It affects the type of service we receive and the type of personality that will thrive in a tough job. Now that said, fuck any business who doesn't augment to the local minimum wage if necessary, and double fuck any that steals tips, like the very popular barbecue chain near my house.

My wife was a server in high school and all through college, and she said it was a better job because the tips meant that performance would be (on aggregate) rewarded, and for her at least, it made her effective hourly wage much better than it was when she worked, for instance, retail. She also had a sense that her wage was higher than the restaurant would have been willing to pay in a tipless paradigm. She had regulars she was genuinely fond of, and she felt like she could tell the difference between an asshole and somebody who lacked knowledge or just needed to stretch the budget for that special meal.

I suspect I'll always feel more comfortable in the American system, but in time I've realized that's a wjrii issue, not a Europe issue. Once I grew up a little and wrapped my head around the different dining culture I've encountered in Europe (and the sort of "split the difference" one in Canada), I was able to relax and enjoy the slower pace, and feel less awkward about actively requesting more water or the check when I was ready. I do still tip 15% and feel like I'm getting a bargain, lol.

I had a bit of a discussion with someone on Reddit a while ago about American bread. They claimed decent bread was available in almost every bakery section of every grocery store. All American bread I remember was full of sugar and preservatives, not just the wonder bread type, but also everything else. Since my memory could be wrong, or one-sided, or perhaps things have changed, I left it at that.

Now I've been in the U.S. for over a week and visited at least one grocery store per day (we don't have reliable access to a fridge so we buy fresh stuff daily). I just cannot find anything close to the fresh bakery section in a Dutch supermarket. And compared to other European countries that isn't even a particularly high bar.

What I find is either to way too sweet and fluffy/cakey, and nothing even close to the mediocre pre-sliced bread back home. What am I doing wrong?

I've tried Aldi, Walmart and a few local(?) chains.

The USA has literally more than one mass shooting^1^ per day. It has reached the point where these don't even reach the news any longer unless there's some special angle to make them "interesting". The reaction to this, from an outsider perspective, should be "maybe we should do something about the proliferation of freely available guns". The reaction to this, again from an outsider perspective, seems to be rather "OMG I BETTER BUY MORE GUNS!!!!!111oneoneoneeleventy!"

What gives? How come the USA has not yet figured out that doubling down on the strategy that led to the nation having a shocking murder rate for the developed world is not a working solution?

What is it about the USA and guns that makes you tolerate this state when you've got a culturally-similar nation to the north of you that, despite your cultural problems being imported, still doesn't have your kill rate?

^1^ Defined as a shooting event in which at least 4 people other than the shooter are injured or killed.

Like, come on guys, I was in Las Vegas for our honeymoon and we could not find a single place where we could buy a Coca Cola. I thought Vegas was still the USA? What’s going on there?

Personally, I would have athletes and teachers swap salaries.