30 Things You Should Never Do In The United States, According To Americans

Don’t get sick. Our healthcare will cost you a fortune.

Do not cut in line. We are not British, we won't just shake our heads and mutter under our breath. Americans will absolutely start a fight over line cutting. It will become a whole big thing, people will film it on their phones, and boom! There you are all over [internet], getting beat up because you couldn't just wait your turn in line for a few minutes

Don't wear the red hats.

The word c*nt is lot more offensive in the US (and Canada) than in other English-speaking nations. Don’t use it casually

That whole trespassers will be shot thing is not a joke

The price marked on the shelf does not include taxes. What you see is not what you pay.

21 is the Legal Drinking Age. Don't try to reason convince the bartender that it's 18 back "home". It's not that they're being difficult just to be difficult. Their jobs and possibly the liquor license of the establishment (which is super extremely incredibly crazily difficult to get in some places) could be revoked over something as small as this.

Don't dine at a sit down/table service restaurant and not tip just to make a point.

Not the way things are done in your country? Great! Part of the fun of travel is experiencing other cultures. You should embrace the opportunity to experience our primitive way of life first hand.

Back in my MMO days a scottish friend of mine went to Atlanta once and called a black guy 'boy'. I guess you just call people boy in Scotland?

Yeah but do not call black people boy. Its perceived as racist / talking down to them and its a good way to get in a fight. Especially in the South

Don't take selfies at memorials honoring the dead.

I just about threw up from all the selfie sticks at the world trade center memorial in NY.

NEVER pass an unloading school bus. When those stop signs flap out, you've got to wait until those little crotch goblins get off the bus until you even think of moving again. Whether it's hitting a pedestrian child, getting a nasty ticket, or just the absolute looks of disgust you'll warrant, it won't be worth it.

Don't complain that taxes aren't included in the price. I know it's annoying, but the poor souls who have to work retail didn't set U.S. tax policy.

If you're driving and get pulled over, DO NOT get out of the car. Roll down your window and wait for the police officer to walk up to your car. Keep your hands visible (resting on the steering wheel).

Don’t f**king use racial slurs. Good lord, I work in the service industry with lots of people from China and they’ll just say the N-word with the hard R (or just s**tty racist stuff in general) and will be confused as to why people get pissed off.

While America’s race relations are strained at best, it’s completely unacceptable to voice your racist opinions in public. If you choose to do it anyway, you will be completely ostracized - and any people who are accepting of it are probably s**tty racists themselves. Yikes.

Treat wildlife with respect, you will see it everywhere and it is generally dangerous or can kill you.

Dont try a selfie with a Bear or Buffalo

There's 330 million of us. Saying something like "I heard Americans like/dislike," is almost always going to be met with a grain of salt/resentment

Don't talk down to people in service industries. They work for the company and not for you. They are not servants, and they deserve respect and decency

Don't go to dangerous neighborhoods because you saw them on TV.

Not a foreign visitor, but a naive friend from Colorado came to visit in California and wanted to see the gangs on Crenshaw in South Central L.A. because he'd seen it on some cop show.

Yeah, no, we're not driving through the 'hood so you can take pictures of the thugs and poor people. He's a Latino guy, too, so the last thing I needed was someone thinking he was cruising and looking for a fight.

Smell bad. It sounds like a joke, but Americans are really unaccepting of any type of BO. We (probably) won’t actually say anything to you, but we will automatically dislike you.

I spent a bit of time abroad with people foreign to the US

Pointing is VERY rude! My one friend (from Thailand) would always point to people when speaking about them. It was just very uncomfortable and I didn’t realize it was part of the social structure here until she was doing it everywhere lol. Don’t point at complete strangers and talk about them, you may end up starting a fight

The American South, while known probably to some for being racist, is VERY VERY big into politeness and manners.

Generally do things like hold the door open for others, a cashier may ask you “hi how are you” just answer “good, how are you?” Or “I’m okay, how are you” but whatever you answer remember to return the ask. Always say please and thank you. If you make eye contact with a stranger give a smile and a nod. Unless they say hi, then say hi back. I also tend to end conversations with people by saying “have a good one” if meeting somebody (more of a professional thing) when shaking hands, let the person who initiated the handshake introduce themselves first.

Also Americans tend to be very friendly and will strike up conversations with people, don’t be afraid to chat, just don’t bring up politics