Life in the United States is simultaneously cake and impossible - but if you think things are a magical utopia in other countries, you should probably make more international friends.
'Cause the world is kind of a beautiful dumpster fire everywhere.
One Reddit user asked:
What makes you sad about the country you live in?
And yeah ... turns out the issue is probably not the place, but that humans need to just get it together.
Divided
It feels like the "Divided" States of America instead of United.
People have seemingly lost the ability to talk to one another in a civil, productive way to achieve a better result for everyone.
Online, yes, but in person I just don't see that. I live/work around, right, left, black, white, rich, poor, religious, non religious etc and we all get along fine in political discussions in person.
Social media makes it seem a lot worse, I think. Some people are unreasonable in person, but most of them didn't need social media to be unreasonable
A Brazilian Grandma
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I was walking down the street the other day on my way to a friends gathering, when this very ancient-looking lady, dressed like a Brazilian grandma, approached me at a street corner and kindly said something like this: "Oh dear young man, could you please help me cross the street? I am afraid a car can hit me because of my slow pace."
Normally I am very happy to lend a hand and help people out, especially elders, but it was a quiet and poorly illuminated street in a central district of Sao Paulo past 10 pm. That means a perfect place for street crime. I only needed to walk 3 blocks from the subway station to my friend's apartment, and as a local aware of our high crimes rates, I was planning to do it as quickly and unnoticeably as possible. But I said yes.- mavaremkj
The old lady holds my arm firmly and we start crossing at her very slow pace. All of a sudden it felt like something was terribly wrong. "It's a trap" I immediately thought. "She's an actress part of a gang whose members will come out of nowhere, attack me, rob me or do anything at any moment," I thought. It seemed like a really long crossing-the-street minute while I was so sure something bad was going to happen to me. "How could I be so naïve?" and "I'm screwed" were my last thoughts... before reaching to the opposite sidewalk safely.
That was it. She thanked me and went on her way, leaving me feeling COMPLETELY relieved for not being a victim of a gang or something like that, and TERRIBLY bad at the same time for having suspected about her attitude and, worse, her sincere need for help.
That made me realize that my fear of losing my life has largely blocked my sense of trust and empathy for others, and how much of a commonplace this is in Brazil's today society. Of course, we have a lot of problems, but this makes me really sad about my country.
Indigenous Canadians
As an Indigenous person in Canada, I'm extremely sad that my native language was almost wiped out during colonization. All of our remaining speakers are elders. We are doing our best to relearn.
It's not even during the colonization! So many traditions and language was lost during the f*cking residential schools that indigenous kids were forced into. Thousands of children died. Thousands more lost their roots and identity.
The f*cking craziest part was there were still residential schools in THE GODDAMN 1990's! We Canadians should feel immense shame when we think of how our country has completely f*cked an entire group of people, but if you ask the average person on the streets, they probably have some deeply racist opinions about the aboriginal people in the country.
Sh*t hadn't changed. We still treat the indigenous people of Canada like absolute sh*t.
Women have been forced to get hysterectomies, CAS has taken children from families without justification, they are targeted by police, they are targeted for murders because killers know there won't be a serious investigation into the disappearance of an indigenous person. Its nice to think that Canada is so much better than the US in regards to tolerance, but I think a lot of us just have our eyes closed
- 0ngar
Tolerating Intolerance
Netherlands. We've always told ourselves that we're a tolerant nation, to the point that now we've grow accustomed to tolerating intolerance.
I expect a lot of Western Europe is feeling the same.
German here. I understand you well.
We are at a point in history where we need to tolerate these QAnon people who endanger our democratic and relatively safe lives with their "Corona isn't real" and "wake up sheeps of the system" bull.
We recently got a young racist douchebag of a woman drawing parallels between herself and Sophie Scholl (a brave woman of the resistance against the Nazis, for those who don't know her) - and we have to tolerate sh*t like that, because otherwise we are hindering them in their right for free speech eye roll.
So Much Potential
Everything. (The Philippines.)
I mean, you could name a dozen other countries that are just politically, economically, even culturally f*cked we are.
But when I read through our history, we had such potential. Our agricultural and industrial sector was pretty good after recovering from WW2. We were either ahead or on par with the likes of Singapore, South Korea, and even Japan. We should be standing alongside those countries as equals today.
But the 70s and 80s were wasted under a brutal dictatorship that embezzled the equivalent of billions of dollars worth of our national capital and left us heavily in debt. The political climate never quite recovered from the cronyism of that era. Our government continues to be extremely corrupt and dismissive of the public's needs.
Our job market is so terrible, a significant portion of our workforce has to migrate overseas for work. The "Overseas Filipino Worker" is like a labor class onto itself, with connotations of people being exported like cattle to prop up a dysfunctional domestic economy. It's also led to the rather negative stereotype that there are Filipinos all over the goddamn place, cos there's hardly a corner of the world where you won't find our people.
Just when things were starting to climb in the early 2010s, we elected the "Trump of the East" in 2016, an authoritarian who has spent the last 4 years dismantling our democratic institutions, persecuting critics, allowing China to infringe on our sovereignty, and waging a brutal war on drugs that has accomplished nothing more than an indiscriminate massacre of the poor. And he's not due to leave office until 2022.
So here we are, a poor, backward, shadow of what we could have been, surrounded by neighboring countries who have long since surpassed us.
Greek "Superiority"
I live in Greece and incase you didn't know, Greece is heading to hell financially.
I don't mind patriotism but at school they teach you about achievements we accomplished thousands of years ago as if they were yesterday and speak of us as if if we are superior to other countries because some took reference of our ancient vocabulary, and honestly I don't like that.
I Want To Live In People's Imaginations
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The way people think of it.
People are all: "BEAUTIFUL NATURE!! Freedom in the forest! The graceful mountains. The north-sea..."
Me: Normal county... ???
The way people think of Norway makes me want to live in their imagination... but I can't. The nature and environment people think of - that was before.
I'm never gonna know that. I'm never gonna be in it. It makes me think of people destroying the earth, something that makes me sad.
The Police Do Nothing To Stop It
Mexico
Every day there's 10 women who are murdered and our police system does nothing to stop this. There was a case of a CEO who murdered his wife and nobody did anything. The victims even report their abusers many, many times but the police does sh*t and then it's too late.
I live in a pretty calm city but now it's almost regular to hear about a woman being murdered or abducted.
It is horrifying. The fear is real. Even when we weren't in quarantine, we thought twice about even going out with friends or even at night.
In school it was risky to be alone. There were many stories of students who were almost abducted and this is just in my city but there's worse cities that deal with this every day.
"Outraged"
How tax evasion and small corruption in general is considered normal, despite being one of the causes of our high national debt. Obviously when a major case of corruption is discovered they're all "outraged."
Plus the growing intolerance toward immigration, due to some parties propaganda. I live in Italy
Unimproved Since The Fall Of The Soviet Union
Bulgaria
Corruption is everywhere. Our wages are laughable and it is even worse when it is time to retire.
Our educational system is mediocre, students are intentionally flunked so they can pay their retake sessions of which associate professors and professors take a chunk out of.
Our healthcare system is pretty much unimproved since the fall of the soviet union. Emergency medicine is late most of the times. Our doctors lie to the patients in order to perform operations that are not needed so they can take money from the state, which is financing some of those procedures.
We Used To Be
Germany.
We used to be a country in which everyone pulled in the same direction. Focus on education, expand the great healthcare system, get an balanced economic growth and reduce the number of poor people every year. Everything changed in the last 6-10 years.
Now we are a country filled with hate against those we don't really know and don't even try to understand. Instead of fighting real world problems we fight against right winged politicians who think it's smart to shoot people trying to enter our country or let them drown in the ocean instead of letting them enter the European Union.
We have to fight people who describe German history and it's actual representation as mostly fictional instead of learning from the past. The saddest part in all of this is: these people represent a decent number of people and their political views.
We should have learned from the last years but it looks like we did not. We drown in politeness and political correctness instead of fighting those who "fight the democracy" as they call it themselves.
Our democratic system seems to fail to protect itself against those who are determined to destroy it.
- El_Com
Something Bad Is Always Coming
Cuba is a country where we can't enjoy good stuff for too long because there is always something bad coming. For example, last year we got a salary increment - but then started a scarcity of food, hygiene supplies and fuel. We had a little bit of money, but almost no public transportation or diversity of food to buy.
This year, due to Covid and lack of tourism, the government decided to get dollars by switching our stores payment method from national money to US dollars.
We cannot purchase those dollars or buy in stores with them, you must own a magnetic card and you must get the money from outside the country. Guess what?
Trump said he had enough of us and forbid banks from send us dollars.
There are many examples, but living in Cuba is like that: something good happens and few weeks or months later something bad comes and F*CKS US, VERY HARD. VEEEERY HARD.
We Cubans are strong, happy people. We have faced adversity and survived troublesome times but F*CK! We just want to live simple, regular, happy lives without worrying about so many f*cking issues all the time.
We Already Went Through This
People saying Refugees (mostly Muslims) should live in separate places designed for themBasically camps. I live in Austria. We already f*cking went through this sh*t and people still support history repeating itself.The Most Blessed And Most Cursed
I live in Pakistan, it is the most blessed and the most cursed country.
Pakistan consists of forests, jungles, precious mines, deserts, sea, mountains and godly windy terrains along with multiple agricultural fertile land.
If utilized properly, Pakistan's economy could've massacred the other top ranked countries. But the only curse is that we have the most corrupted and the scummiest leaders, causing it to just slowly fail.
Even with nuclear power, Pakistan is heavily in debt with the US and other countries. Moreover, Pakistan's founding fathers and later on Prime ministers made some poor decisions to which residents are still suffering from.
Science
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I don't usually like to post comments like these, but I feel really strongly about this topic.
America.
Simply too many people don't understand or believe in basic science and health principles that should be common sense. Simply too many people fight tooth and nail against wearing masks.
It's so depressing that in the same country with a good amount of the world's leading scientists/doctors you have so many people that don't understand that we can eradicate this damn virus by putting a freaking face covering over out face and by staying 6 feet away from each other.
That in the same country we have so many people that swear up and down that climate change is false yet we're seeing undeniable evidence of climate change wearing away our planet.
That in the same country there are so many people who make their life revolve around politics, even things that were never meant to be politicized in the first place.
I haven't even mentioned the disgustingly expensive healthcare situation
Beautiful - But Ugly
Serbia is a really pretty country - like the nature and everything it's so cool.
But the people who live here are stuck with a mindset of people from the 15th century or something. They are all blaming AmEriCA for everything. I see so much ingrained ugly; like just a lot of homophobes , transphobes and racists.
Then they sit around wondering why nobody likes us.
I don't hate it here, actually. It's Beautiful. I hate the people here. Ugly.
- Nanat1me
Lesson Not Learned
We allowed a fascist to run and ruin our country. For the second time!
Like we didn't have enough in 2012 when his party collectively stole more money than the country makes in a year. And they tripled the number since February!
Slovenia
It's Not That Much Fun
Everything is small and there is no variety.
For a country only a few spots down the leaderboard from 1st place, life is surprisingly dull and bleak - unless you're into the same looking old buildings everywhere.
It's nothing like America, the country it's most compared to. In America, if you have something you want to do there is probably a store/place not too far that does it.
Here, if there's something you wanna do it means you need to either go on holiday or expect to drive across the whole country.
England isn't as fun as people make out.
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But we should also be prepared and ready to ask the right questions to have a leg up on the competition.
"What is THE best question to ask on a job interview?"
A company's history or information about a past employee were suggested subjects appropriate for questioning.
Prior Knowledge
"When you were interviewing here, what would you have liked to know before you joined?"
"This worked for me. I asked my interviewer a question about how she had personally dealt with a company policy she had just explained. She bragged about her stellar adherence to the policy. I nodded my approval. I got the job."
A Previous Employee
"One that has always gone over well for me:"
"What were some qualities that the previous employee in this role brought to the job that you would like to see carried forward?"
"Another good thing to do is research the company you are interviewing with and you can ask things about what they may be involved in or you could drop that while reading about the company, you wondered this."
Hypothetical questions were suggested as helpful examples of inquiry.
Indicators Of How Companies Treat Employees
"A question that landed me a job once was: 'If I asked your direct reports about your management style, what do you think they'd tell me?' Stumped a hiring manager and he emailed me personally to tell me about it, no one ever asked him that question but got the job.
"In my current interviews I'm asking 'what did your company do for its employees during [the virus] to improve their day to day, work life balance, etc.' and I ask 'Is there anything your company adopted during [the virus] that they plan to keep post [the virus]?"
"These questions give a lot of insight into whether a company treated their employees well."
Past Performance & Adjustments
"If we were currently sitting in my 1 year review, what would I have done in this year for you to say I excelled in my role?"
"If I could snap my finger right now and change anything about your job or the company, what would it be and why?"
The following questions about a prospective company may not be answered from initial digging on their website.
Measure Of Success & Career Trajectories
"How is success measured in this role?"
"What are some possible career trajectories within the company that could stem from this position?"
Being A Solution
"Ask them what is the biggest problem you can solve for them in your first six months with the company. Similar to 'don't think of a purple hippo,' this forces them to imagine you succeeding in the position."
Simply The Best
"Who is your best employee and why is he/she the best?"
"You will then face 2 situations mostly:"
"panicking CEO who can't answer you 'Bob who works 17 hours a day for a slice of bread' so the fear in their faces must be a big nono for you"
"entusiast CEO who actually follow their business and can tell you who is an added value for the company and why."
– ThePiz91
My experiences with job interviews are different than others seeking work in office environments.
Having had a years-long career as a dancer, my "interview" was the dance audition, where hopefuls dance in small groups of people at a time after learning a routine and then awaiting their fate after the panel evaluates their performances.
The question I may or may not have asked in such a scenario earlier in my career was: "Did I make the cut?"
I did not make the cut. And I learned never to ask that again.
I remember the worst date I ever had. My biggest regret is that I stayed for the entire thing. I should've left as soon as I realized this was not going well, which was basically at hello. But he was paying so I drank, a lot. I'll keep names and dates to myself to protect the innocent.
0/10
Big Brother Reaction GIF by Big Brother After DarkGiphy"Went to brewery, date said I had hairy arms and that meant I was horny, said "you look really awful in this light" and then tried to dig out of that hole by saying in his native language that was a term of endearment long term couples said to each other. 0/10 did not date again."
Lucky 13?
"My wife wanted to plan our 13th wedding anniversary. I was excited because usually, I plan it. She bought us some new disc golf discs and after a quick supper, we went to play. We hadn't played in forever. We were laughing and I had a great time. She served me with divorce papers and told me that the date was a test to see if she still had feelings for me. I also learned that she was having an affair that started well before our anniversary."
- rmorlock
Two Hours from Home
"Not necessarily a date but a person I was dating invited me to his parent's house for the afternoon. He wanted to introduce me to them and show me the house he grew up in. I thought it was super sweet and had no problems going. He was also in the middle of moving and needed to pick up a few things, so it really didn't seem that unusual."
"Yeah, we got there and it was awful. His entire family was there. They traveled from hours away too. This was not just meeting the parents, it was meeting the ENTIRE family. Even worse? At some point, this idiot told his parents that he had proposed. We had been dating TWO months. I spent the entire afternoon dumbfounded and just playing along."
"We were two hours from home and I had no cell service, no way to leave at all. We ended up spending the afternoon brainstorming wedding ideas and planning an Alaskan honeymoon that his parents planned to gift us. His brother even called to say congratulations! We drove back to his apartment in silence. When we got there, I got in my car and left, didn't even bother grabbing my stuff. Weirdest experience ever. I have no idea how he broke it to his parents that we weren't getting married."
You're Cut Off!
"Got set up on a blind date once between mutual friends. She shows up to the restaurant already a little tipsy, orders multiple appetizers and only takes like one or two bites from each one. Then she proceeds to order 3 or 4 more drinks and is visibly drunk at this point. She gets up and says she's going to the bathroom and staggers off. About 15-20 minutes go by so I try to call her several times but no answer."
"Finally I decide to pay the check and just leave. About 2 hours later I'm sitting at home and I get a call from an unknown number. It's the police department. She was picked up on a DUI on her way home after she ditched me and gave the cops my number to see if I could go bail her out!"
- mox44ah
Sorry?
Bbc Three Idk GIF by BBCGiphy"Well, I gave this answer on a different topic, but it ties in with this. We were out on a date, we had been seeing each other for a while, close to a year maybe. She gets a phone call. Suddenly she looks destroyed. Her fiancé had just died in a motorcycle accident."
What in the world? I mean how can we ever expect to pair off with the dating pool being inundated with liars and nut jobs? I'm going to delete my apps.
Girl, Bye.
Sassy Beyonce GIFGiphy"Had a girl openly flirt with the bartender in front of me. She says she wasn't. But handing him her own phone and asking for his contact info in front of her date seems like it to me."
Crazy!
"Came out from a movie, late at night, and date's Camaro was stolen. Apparently, he called his WIFE (that I did not know he had) and let her know where he was and what happened. She showed up and realized he was on a date! She started chasing ME around the parking lot telling me she was going to kill me. Saved by the cops who showed up just in time to take the auto theft report."
Hey Mom
"Met a girl at a country bar one night in my 20s. We were both pretty drunk but hit it off pretty good. Ended up getting her number and we agreed we'd go on a real date. Fast forward to the date, she gets in my vehicle and... she looks almost identical to my mom. I was mortified. I was polite and we went for lunch where I found out she also had a boyfriend she "wasn't sure if she was into". Never talked to her again."
- SgtGo
Liars...
"When I was in college many years ago, before the advancement of cell phones and social media, I was chatting with a girl I met on a BBS who lived on Long Island, NY. I was 18 at the time, but lied and said I was 22 because she said she was 25. We spent a few weeks emailing each other, as well as calling each other."
"We even exchanged pics. When we finally met up, things blew up. Turns out we both lied about our ages: She was really 33, and lied because she thought she looked younger. She admitted she sent a college photo to me. We still had dinner together, but it was awkward as hell. We never spoke again."
Doubles
Kill Me Now Season 1 GIF by FriendsGiphy"It was a double date. She was more interested talking to the other girl throughout the whole thing. Found out later from the other guy that his girl cheated on him with my date."
Ummm... I think I'm just going to stay single. That is a handful of crazy. Why can't people just be honest? I swear the search for love warps people's brains. Be careful out there people.
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