People Reveal Which Things They Believe Europeans Are Better At Than Americans

20.

Coffee.

-sushim

I don't understand how something they named "black coffee" can be see-through

-FRMRLRKR

If a soul can find its way through, the coffee is not black enough.

-nomicakes

19.

making chocolate and other candy

-debate-sucks

true, and that the default chocolate is always overly sweet/ milky/ artificial milk chocolate. even european milk chocolate is different that ours.

don't get me started on dark chocolate

-tesscrooks

18.

Not allowing kids to go into lunch debt

-faxwithmebb

Funny story about that, when I was younger my foster mom refused to pay my lunch debt and after a while and many many many phonecalls and arguments with the school they just stopped allowing me to have lunch there until my debt was paid. My debt was never paid and I still remember being exceptionally hungry during those years and it definitely affected my ability to learn and focus in school.

-miraculousofficial

17.

One thing it ain't is air conditioning, I tell you what.

-happywithsushi

If we have a few more summers like this that might well change.

-bless-you-mlud

16.

Languages

-SpiderStaaan

True, around where I live you learn french, German and English. And then you have the chance to learn italien, Greek, Latin and Spanish. In schools.

-4fish4

15.

Having paid holidays.

-nealius

Im an American with 6 weeks paid vacation a year and it blows peoples minds. I got a job offer with a significant pay raise, but only 2 weeks vacation, and I didnt even have to think about it before I turned it down.

-TLT

14.

Public transportation.

-enternalrefuge86

Yes. The U-Bahns in Berlin and Munich were exceptional and every small town has multiple trains a day.

Phoenix doesn't have any train service. Dallas, Houston, and Atlanta have one train a day in each direction.

-OhHeckf

13.

Cheeses and breads

-Dardar1989

I went back to Paris last summer. The bread was so good it actually made me angry.

The baguettes from any random corner shop and the croissants even from the sh*tty train station kiosk were so much better than anything I can buy in America, even at the most upscale bakeries! WHY D:

-AskMrScience

12.

Using 'u' in Scrabble

-TannedCroissant

flashbacks to trying to figure out if i was spelling colour and armour wrong my whole life when i saw it in runescape

-travis01564

11.

When I visited Ireland and Scotland, I talked to people in pubs and what struck me most was their passion for politics was local. They cared more about town hall meetings than the national and international stuff. Taking a "The government that governs closest governs best." approach.

-eviljason

10.

Building restroom doors.

-CaseyL1914

In one of our US offices the door gaps are not only about 18 inches off the ground, but the doors themselves are louvred and you can clearly see the person sitting behind them. As a Brit this completely freaks me out. It's a huge squillion dollar business with an enormous state-of-the-art office building and they thought the girls wanted to see each other pee and poop? It's just whack.

-Fattydog

9.

Work-life balance

-motherofcatsx3

I work an industrial sales position in the US. But our company is Headquartered in Sweden.

We always DREAD July 15th-August 15th. The whole Swedish office and warehouse just stop production and go on 'holiday'. This is on top of their normal PTO.

I have to explain to my clients in the US that we're a Swedish company and they take their vacation VERY seriously. Our lead (delivery) time is usually 8 weeks. So if someone places an order on July 14th...they're probably not getting it until November/December. Not a fun conversation to have.

It honestly blows my mind that they can just shutdown completely.

And I'm jealous.

-airplanesandass

This. And it's amazing how many Americans think it's so screwed up how the Europeans can just take a month off. If you anything you should be jealous. We are really an entire nation in Stockholm syndrome.

-charliegrs

8.

Price tags. In European stores, the price you see on the sticker is the price you pay at the cash. In America, you have to add tax to the price on the sticker. Shopping is so much easier in Europe, especially if you're on a budget

-ColdPuffin

​I understand and you're quite correct, but I want to be clear on one seemingly small but actually significant point: items in U.S. shops hardly ever have price tags on them. The price is on a nearby sign, not the item. Why does this matter? Because it is telling you the store uses bar code scanners and a computerised pricing and inventory system. These signs are literally printed out by laser printers that get data from the central computer system.

Calculating price including tax is a trivial task for such a system. It is far from a trivial task for the average customer. I have been in U.S. shops and asked what the local tax rate was (which varies from city to city, not just state to state) so I could work out what an item was going to cost before I reached the register, and more often than not, the store employees don't know. It is a completely ridiculous system.

-DanTheTerrible

7.

Maternity leave.

-FRMRLRKR

and less infant mortality. (and mother's mortality)

plus prenatal care.

and PAID maternity leave

and costs of all of this

-tesscrooks

Paternity leave too, in case it's more convenient for the husband to stay home with the kid instead of the mom.

-karl2025

6.

American here. I've noticed, in my travels, that Europeans are significantly better at having a quiet conversation in public.

-ThePolloblanco

As a European, I agree.

Unless you go to Spain or Italy. Why are they so loud???

-TeaWithNosferatu

5.

Prison systems

-utdJoker

European Prison Systems = A reform system

US Prison Systems = A punishment system

The period from 1850 onwards in Europe is when we learned that you have to change people's behaviour to stop them committing crimes and not just treat them like sh!t for committing crimes.

-BloodAnd

Is even worst, the USA prison system is not even designed for punishment but for profit, how the HELL do you let a prison be run by a private company?

There have been cases judges were bribed to increase the number of prison sentences so they could profit on more inmates, also the increase in the prison time for drug and paraphernalia possession.

The USA is totally run by corporations, without any kind of consumer/citizen protectionism by the state.

-Joseluki

4.

Age restrictions, Switzerland for example, 16 for beer and cider, 18 for spirits, I believe 17 for driving, 18 for military or civil service.

I don't understand the American system, driving at 16? Fine. Handle gun at 16? Uhh. But at 18? No sense with previous point. But drinking, oh no, he'll no, 21 for that.

-4sfish4

3.

Accepting nudity in art. Americans are super-uptight when it comes to nudity of any kind. I wasn't allowed to take my niece to the museum because she might see naked statues.

-schooltie

Saw a number of butts on billboards in Germany. Shrug. Boobs on sides of vans for some sex shop in town. Shrug. Loved walking through the Lourve and seeing all of the art naked or not. We, Americans, need to chill out.

-highasakite77

2.

Night life. Have you seen what the capitals in European countries are like at clubs during weekends compared to the US?

-krakonHUN

Not even just the capitals. Any mid-large city in Europe tends to have a booming nightlife.

-AthleticSloth1

1.

Going to the hospital without also going into bankruptcy.

-wbotis