Since moving Down Under with her husband she has been sharing the biggest culture shocks she has experienced on TikTok.
Last year she revealed her surprise at being asked if she wanted a bag at the supermarket checkout – only to then be charged 15 cents for it (she is also aghast that we have to pay for extra sachets of BBQ sauce).
She is also stunned by the fact you can visit a hospital and it doesn’t bankrupt you, that the price you see on an item in a shop is the price you actually pay (ie there are no added taxes as there are in the States), that the level of water in our toilets is so low (“I thought all the toilets were broken here”), and that we get so much annual leave – which is fair. Those poor folk in the USA only get around 10 days of paid leave per year. Brutal.
Ms Wuerfel also told her 250K followers on TikTok that she found something odd when she passed an Aussie playground for the first time.
She wondered “why are all those kids sitting looking bummed while the others play”?
She eventually discovered that the “poor buggers probably forgot their hats.”
The “no hat, no play” rule clearly hasn’t found its way to the United States.
Other culture shocks Ms Wuerfel said she experienced were realising you “don’t leave tips in Australia” after eating at a restaurant, which she said was the “most amazing thing I’ve ever heard”.
Ms Wuerfel also recalled being asked if she wanted chicken salt for the first time but having “literally no idea what chicken salt is”.
McDonald’s is better in Australia than it is in America
Perhaps the biggest statement Ms Wuerfel made was that Macca’s is better here than it is in its country of origin.
In a TikTok titled “Three things I’ve come to love in Australia”, Ms Wuerfel said she preferred Australian Macca’s to the American version as the “food quality” was so much better.
“I never ate it much in America because when you eat McDonald’s in America you genuinely feel like you are going to die,” she said.
“And I know here is probably not much better but it is so, so good.
“I’m eating those Chicken McPieces and downing my frozen Coke, the last thing on my mind is my health — which probably is a bad thing.”
In the comments, plenty of Aussies agreed, suggesting it could be because US McDonald’s used different oil to cook their food. Other customers have previously claimed that the difference is down to Australia’s premium ingredients such as high-quality beef, or the lack of sugar in Aussie bread.
With news.com.au
This article originally appeared on Escape and do not necessarily represent the views of australiaexploring.com
