Potato does the US

[Potato]

So, I'm sitting in the American Airlines lounge at LAX after a 14 hour overnight flight waiting for my connection to Philly and then moving on to Richmond, VA.

It'll be about 30-odd hours travel all up from start to destination.

Just pondering tipping. Like, do I tip all service staff? The guys looking after shit in this lounge for instance? Or is it just a fast food/restaurant type of deal where tips are built in to the bill? Do I just hand people cash on the sly? Do I hand it over openly? What's the going rate for a guy at the bar who got me a bag of ice to keep my son's eyedrops cold?

[benji]

Okay, so I know you'll want to get a couple guns immediately but you should wait until Richmond before you start shopping.

Most people only tip at restaurants for their wait staff, other places often have some kind of tip jar for people to throw random amounts in. For everyone else it's really mostly if you think they were quite good and handy or whatever, they probably don't expect anything from foreign accents anyway.

Fast food is not a tipping situation.

[Potato]

Okay, so I know you'll want to get a couple guns immediately but you should wait until Richmond before you start shopping.

Closer to the truth than you realise.

Also, thanks for the tips  

[Polident]

Typically in lounges you only tip the bartender for booze. Keep in mind, when it’s expected and you refuse, they will shoot you. Not a serious wound. But even a leg shot will cost you several hundred thousand in US health insurance.

[Potato]

Small price to pay to keep someone below the bread line

[Eric Cartman]

If you don't have a full on croc-hunter accent, most septics will assume you are british, so make sure you let them know youre australian and they will be nicer to you

[Potato]

Next question. What the hell is half and half milk?

2% I get. Half and half is a mystery.

[Eric Cartman]

Its milk with added high fructose corn syrup

[Eric Cartman]

the american corn industry has fucking GREAT lobbyists

[Potato]

Its milk with added high fructose corn syrup

Please tell me that's a joke. Please.

[Eric Cartman]

Its supposed to be half milk, half cream, but creams expensive and corn syrup isnt.
It also won't separate if left on the shelf long enough like cream and milk would

[Potato]

Weird country

[Uncle]

a lot of people already never tip for anything, you should not stress over it at all

practically the only common tip situation is a sit down restaurant where they will usually recommend/ask for a tip explicitly, where the touch screen or receipt might offer suggested tip amounts to do the math for you

if it's extremely casual like starbucks? fuck em, a lot of companies post covid have decided to start asking for tips which never did before and it's a clear cash grab

if you see a tip jar/box on the counter, those are completely optional and ignored by most, those are to toss your loose change into

[Uncle]

I have never been to richmond, but I feel like it's probably a decent place to visit

- it's not west coast so it's less of a shithole where you'll get accosted by homeless or mugged

- it's considered part of "the south" which has warm, genuine, but often racist people

- but it's urban south so it's much less backwater and not as racist as it could be

- it's also not fucking florida or texas

- it's a good 8 hour drive away from nepenthe so you're safe

[Snoopy]

Don’t tip these people. Tell them you’re a Spec Ops Navy Ranger and demand the retard meal discount

[Cauliflower Of Love]

Don't tip. 

Use your foreign stereotype to save money and fight the system.



dont ever tip at those machines where you're picking up at the counter.

[Uncle]

https://www.escape.com.au/destinations/north-america/usa/things-that-still-stun-me-as-an-australian-living-in-america/image-gallery/97801cd0bd111b263815dd64ed988a2d

grits are a southern thing and it is potentially gross, but try everything once

https://www.whoneedsmaps.com/things-australians-in-america-find-weird/

yes soft drinks like Coke are usually free refills, just not specialty/expensive drinks like beer, if you aren't sure and are in a sit-down restaurant it doesn't hurt to ask the waitress

yes condiments are free, fill your pockets

yes liquor is at every convenience store and cheap

[chronovore]

Next question. What the hell is half and half milk?

2% I get. Half and half is a mystery.

It's half cream, half milk. 

The mystery for me still is what is "fat free half-and-half"? 
It didn't exist when I left the USA in 2001, and no-one can explain it. Berenstain Bears reality shit.

[chronovore]

Tipping is weird, but not complicated. 

Just stick to 15% of the pre-tax amount, wherever you have been served at a table.  If you carry your cup or plate to a table, you weren't served. Tip jars at donut places, starbucks, chipotle, don't worry about those. 

Tipping a bartender is the exception, because they'll remember and treat you better throughout the evening. 

Leave $3-5 dollars on your bedstand for the hotel staff whenever you request your room refreshed.

[Potato]

So, finally made it to Richmond. Visiting family we haven't seen in 10 years, so I'm out in the suburbs. Such a beautiful part of the world. 

Today we're barbequing and hanging out watching football. I'm excited because we're going to visit a Cabela's too.

Heading to New York for a couple of days on Monday.

I will be trying everything I can food-wise.

[Eric Cartman]

https://www.escape.com.au/destinations/north-america/usa/things-that-still-stun-me-as-an-australian-living-in-america/image-gallery/97801cd0bd111b263815dd64ed988a2d

I don't believe australians would be weirded out by people who literally spend all day sitting in a bar chatting shit and drinking.
Or by bar staff that enable that behaviour.
In the UK there's a high probability those bar staff are australian.

The mystery for me still is what is "fat free half-and-half"? 

I wasn't joking about the corn syrup

[Potato]

Oh man, Cabela's is like heaven for me. Heaps of cool hunting and fishing shit in a massive store.

I love how "American" this place feels.

[Potato]

I did a transphobia.

I ate Chick-fil-A

7/10

[Uncle]

I like the waffle fries a lot

[porkbun]

Chik Fil A is ok.  If you can go to a mom and pop chicken place in the hood, you'll taste the difference.  Popeye's is a good substitute though.  KFC buffet is god tier for American fatassery.

Don't bother with US mainstream beers, they suck.  Any decent bar will have much better ones on tap or in bottles, just ask the bartender what they recommend.  I'm sure Richmond has some good tap rooms.

[Potato]

New York was fun. One of my top 3 places to visit in the world. I just love the feeling that you're in a place where "things" happen.

Didn't get to do as much as I hoped because the kids were complaining about sore feet. Ate New York pizza, bagels and Five Guys.

Statue of Liberty was good. Hadn't done that in my previous two visits. 

I'm in Chicago now. Staying with family again in the suburbs. Sitting at an Olive Garden power eating.

[Uncle]

for well known burgers in the US I always think of Jack in the Box = west coast, Five Guys = east coast (even though both are kind of all over)

have you had both? which is better?

[porkbun]

If you're in Chicago try some deep dish pizza like Giodarno's.  Not a big fan of it myself, but it is a quintessential midwest food.

[Uncle]

also Portillo's hot dogs/beef etc

[Potato]

for well known burgers in the US I always think of Jack in the Box = west coast, Five Guys = east coast (even though both are kind of all over)

have you had both? which is better?

Never heard of Jack in the Box. Sorry.

Five Guys were good burgers. But I've had them in Aus.