Also nobody gives a **** about your mail order ex-commie bride.

The paradox with busses is they can make the overall efficiency of the system much higher while lowering the efficiency of every single user at the same time.

I'm American and agree with everything he said (except about tipping).

Lol at the american crybabies whining about a little criticism.

Um, okay.

I guess you're the only one that didn't get it. I'm sorry you feel stupid about it and have to post in such anger.

I guess you do, since you've gone out of your way to make an incorrect slur against her.

I guess you didn't pick up on the fact there is a Slovene poster in this thread.

Do what you do best: hang out in a hot tub with 5 other dorks.

now now don't be so ******ed

I love America. Every ****** can get a Bachelor's degree there.

Here you actually have to study.

why are you being such a crybaby whining about others posts?

Yep, still champion.

I suppose in a very crowded country overflowing with cars, buses increase efficiency of the system as well as single user efficiency. This of course only applies if the country is so crowded that cars are stuck in jams for hours.

I do enjoy taking the bus in Singapore. Plenty of time to just chill and surf the web/edit videos on my phone while I lol at women showing each other their prada/berkin bags or whatever.

Also... Oski

Lol. Yeah, I've been there five times and still think the story is true

If the routes are designed well, you minimize stops and improve everyone's experience.

if it was a joke (and, to be fair, it wasn't), then you are remarkably awful at comedic writing

mlagoo don't you get it? His wife is from there! I mean, he's ****ing BEEN there! Do you really think he's that stupid?

Yeah, I do too.

Buddy: not my joke. The people that told me that were joking.

I think the joke is funny, by the way.

A guy with zero sense of humor (you) is the last person we need to hear from on the topic of jokes.

The "hey I'm the angry guy" shtick works when you're young and its played ironically.

Now that your older and your knuckles have more hair than your head (excluding your ears), its kinda lame.

I'm guessing you don't get verbally accosted by piss-soaked bums on the bus quite as often in Singapore as in SF.

I think the author's criticism is much more whiny than any comments here. Really nitpicky stuff. He just pointed out some systematic and cultural differences. The reason that he would not want to live in America is that he is not used to these differences. The article isn't even criticism really. Oh, we smile too much. Oh lord, we're a capitalist country. The horror. Being different than what the author's used to doesn't make America wrong any more than it makes his own native Ireland wrong for being different from America.

I agree with about 80% of the article in the OP.

One custom in the US that even seems to be getting more popular is retail places, mainly fast food, screaming out a "welcome to x" greeting the nanosecond you walk in. Who likes that kind of crap?

normal people

I don't like it either

Tipping and the hidden prices reasons are the only two really valid reasons IMO, they are terribly annoying for foreigners. The rest are just things that personally annoy him or ones that apply to many countries.

The whole ignorance thing is pretty unfair as well. I'm astounded at how ignorant some Australians are about New Zealand when I visit, for example. I think with the internet becoming more and more the place of information gathering, more and more people are becoming ignorant on other countries and cultural issues in general.

The thing that I would have mentioned is how Americans classify all Europeans as one, which I personally think is far more stupid than any reason he listed.

They do this?

no but apparently some irish do

They do that ("welcome to X") at my bank now, and yeah, it's vaguely creepy.

I mostly just feel badly for the fast food people who have to do it, as I assume it's corporate policy. A lot of corporations appear to be laboring under the delusion that shoppers want someone with a forced smile and shrill voice to make them feel welcome.

They just don't want to leave it up to the dope behind the counter. They'd end up getting, "Yo! ******. What up."