What are Americans missing???

I think perhaps you need a little help in learning how to put forth an opinion without making it sound as if you're insulting an entire nation and those who choose to live in it. That may not have been your intention, but that is how it was perceived by many of us. Learn from it.

Noone's saying that one person's opinions are less valid than another's. Quite the contrary. All opinions are welcome. However, SouthernBoy stated his views as fact, not opinion. That's where I got insulted. It's comments like, "Nearly everything is second or third rate in quality than what you are used to in America," that annoy me. If it's an opinion, that's fine. But please make it clear that it is. SouthernBoy did not do that.

How I say anything to your liking and then being told by you or anybody to 'learn from it' is beside the point and immaterial to this forum's question.

Further, I am sorry you thought I was stating fact when indeed it was only my opinion based on my expereinces here. For some reason, you took it as a matter of fact, maybe I do'nt maybe the truth hurts!...lol...just joking...seriously, the point is 'it was my experience here' and I listed it.

How I say anything to your liking and then being told by you or anybody to 'learn from it' is beside the point and immaterial to this forum's question.

Huh? Didn't you get no schoolin', boy? This don't make no kind o' sense!

Hey guys! Polite request - Mindy asked that all the who said what stuff be kept to PMs.  Please can you respect this, and get back to answering the original poster's questions.   

Sorry Nanady to further mess up your thread. Just adding my comments to the discussion as a Brit.

I didn't really take much offence at Southernboy's post - he is entitled to his opinion. On a few forums (where I don't post) I've read many arguments and a lot of anti-English/British comments from Americans - and vice versa. In visits to US most have been wonderful, but sometimes I've been the recipient of comments - like a guy who collected me from the airport one time and I asked if he'd been to the UK and he said he had been there for less than one day in his military service and couldn't wait to get out of there! Needless to say there wasn't much conversation after that and I know what I thought of him  !!! I don't know if the guy already had something against Brits in the first place?! I have other examples but they don't matter - I learn to laugh off and ignore other people's ignorance now! I know there is certainly anti-British sentiment out there too!

As for stereotypes, I've seen some about the US which are true... and I know some about UK which are true... but some are 100% trash! I know that wherever you're from (and consider home) you are going to defend that country when it is bad-mouthed. I think it's just a natural reaction. I've done it myself! Sometimes I admit that I have "decided" that a stereotype is true and used that in my argument, when in fact I haven't experienced that stereotype and in the end it may have been proved wrong! So I have become better educated and less ignorant 

If you've been to a country and spent time there as Southernboy has then of course you have a right to your own opinion. I don't know if some of the things said were out of frustration or angry because he mostly received a negative reaction to previous posts and so went on the defensive - don't know! If it's really what his view of UK is then that's okay too! It doesn't affect one bit my view or my love of UK! What I'd say is that unless there a relationship which stops someone moving, is there really any other reason why a person (including Southernboy) can't just leave and "go home" if they are so very unhappy? Can something really make a person stay somewhere they hate being? That applies to any expat. I know UK expats in US who are happy, been there for years and wouldn't come back. I also know of others who would be on the next plane out of the US, but can't because of "family" ties.

Personally I have enjoyed several visits to US (not long term though), but I've talked with people I've worked with (Americans) and others and found out things I would not enjoy - like "living to work"/vactaion time etc and health care. But there are parts about the UK I don't like too! I'm not looking to eventually move to US with rose coloured glasses, or thinking the grass is greener... Well, the grass is greener regarding some things - but in others the grass is definitely brown or burnt up!!! If it weren't for a very special person then I wouldn't even think about leaving UK, but - even if I "had" to move there for another reason, I know that I could live there and make the most of it! Doesn't mean I wouldn't miss "home", family etc. I know that UK has problems, but I'm not going to US pretending that everything is perfect and doesn't have any problems, because it does!

And you know the sad thing about all of this? Are that even the locals here say the same thing to me, they hate the conditions, they’d rather be in the USA and ask me why would I come here? I can not say that I am surprised at all.

.....but I have learned that you just can't make a place something that you dreamed out of your head all your life as a child in school into something it's never going to be.

So Southernboy - as a child, into adulthood you had this wonderful dream of UK which has obviously turned out for you not to be the reality. Don't you think that the same would apply to your "locals" who see the US as this wonderful place too? Don't you think that after 2 years Stateside that they'd find fault too and maybe complain as much as you have and want to come home??


Oh well... in any case I'm not here to argue this - I agree with what others have said in response - both good and bad.

Nanady I hope normal service can be resumed asap for ya! And hope that if you ever make the move to Brighton or wherever you find best for you, that you will have a wonderful time, even past the "honeymoon" period, and hope that you find all the support you need pre,mid and post-move from the forum here... The UK isn't perfect, but if you're looking for anywhere on the planet that is perfect you'd be better looking at other planets      All the best! 

Hey, what's going on here? I've been off for awhile, but last time I was here, everybody was nicey nicey......I feel like I've just walked into a gang riot!!!! What's this?? Kiss, kiss, group hug, everyone make up. Were are all nice, friendly people here! ( honestly, dunno if I wanna come back!)

Hey, what's going on here? I've been off for awhile, but last time I was here, everybody was nicey nicey......I feel like I've just walked into a gang riot!!!! What's this?? Kiss, kiss, group hug, everyone make up. Were are all nice, friendly people here! ( honestly, dunno if I wanna come back!)

LOL! Apparently it's something to do with the retrograde in Mercury!   We'll all be back to normal before too long!

What are Americans missing out on & why should they move to the UK... 

Well I just started my job this week & I am loving it!!!  Such a BIG difference in the work culture, and IMO/IME -- a HUGE improvement.  My new employer offers 23 days annual paid vacation (to start, more at 2 & 4 years' service) -- I received a pro-rated amount (starting mid/late July) of 10 days for this year.  These are in addition to the paid public (bank) holidays.  In the States -- I accrued vacation time as I worked through the year, only receiving 10 days by the end of the first year -- and I was not permitted to take any time off until it had already been accrued.  It took me five years of service to begin receiving 20 annual paid vacation days (which also had to be accrued through the year).  Here -- using my vacation days is expected in the normal order of things & no big deal.  In the States, I frequently felt as though I were begging to take time off that I had already earned anyway.

From what I can figure out so far -- the sick policy seems to be considerably different as well, with some days that the company gives you & then there's an extended statutory period of sick leave (govt required?).  My impression is that taking sick time off here is a little bigger deal than in the States -- possibly because you get so much annual holiday time already?  I am still trying to understand this bit -- what I do know is that I seriously doubt I will feel the need (or as much need) to pull a sickie here for 'mental health reasons' because I know my next vaca is just around the corner anyhow.

My previous employer in the US (I am not kidding) made a cottage industry out of tracking (and taking punitive measures against) employees who were as little as one minute late, clocking in for the day or back from lunch...  Such a waste of time & money -- how much effort the supervisors & managers put into tracking people who were +-3 minutes late.  Bizzarro world!  At my job here, I have certain 'core hours' that I'm expected to be in the office (10-11:30 am and 2-4 pm) -- other than that, *I* decide when I arrive, leave, and take lunch (and how long of lunch) between the hours of 7:30 am & 7:30 pm...as long as I put in 7 hrs/day -- 35 hrs/wk.  WHOA!!  I'm not sure how to handle all this 'being treated like an adult' stuff in the work culture.   Currrrazzzy!!

OH!  Also -- we get a free basket of fruit in the dept every morning at 10 am -- and the company encourages us towards ALL kinds of training...even to the point of occasionally (not frequently) offering small vouchers for us to put towards the training of our choice outside of work hours...think like a course for meditation, yoga, foreign language, cooking, etc.

Now outside of work...my health has improved by approx 40% since I moved here (I'm using my weight loss as the benchmark).  I eat more healthfully and walk so much -- I would say the UK is much more pedestrian friendly!!  Last time I was in the States, hubs & I were taking our life in our hands -- trying to walk to a restaurant less than 1/2 mile away...there were no sidewalks & we had to cross a busy highway!

I love being around all the diverse cultures here in close quarters within the UK alone -- and that's just the tip of the iceberg, what with the rest of Europe on our doorstep.  It's made me much more aware of what's going on in the big wide world.

I complain as much as the next person does -- about prices, some things being smaller, we don't have a clothes dryer (yet) in our house or a dishwasher that works (yet)...blah de blah de blah...but those are just things.  The quality of my life has improved tremendously!!

All of the post are giving me so much to think about. 
As a social worker in a country who does not value my job nor my education I am in hopes the UK can and will offer a bit of respect.  This comment comes after getting a NEW JOB. 
No party or congrats wanted nor needed since my job is only paying me $10.25 an hour.  I am just SICK of this attitude that what I do is not valued or even a job that is needed.  I have a masters degree and have started post graduate research and I am payed $10.25 an hour.  That will be one thing I WILL NOT MISS.
 
Perhaps this is sending the thread in another direction BUT from experience of other social workers and other trades represented on the forum, do you receiving better pay for your work and is there a since of appreciation for your level of education and the job you do? 
Here in Kentucky (which is where I am presently) there is not as much appreciation or respect for someone who has a Masters degree, or education in general, as there is for a basketball player. 

A bit of respect and wanting to give my daughter the opportunity to expedience other cultures, is why I am wanting to move.  I need a job that will pay my worth and have some respect for what I do, I guess that is to much to ask for in the US.

I'm pretty sure you can safely say that jobs in general pay less here than in the US. However in some fields like social work, you may find the opposite - though that could be regional both here and in the US.

As far as appreciation goes, again, it could be the luck of the draw. My company just received a pretty prestigious award for customer service and the CEO bought every single staff member a bottle of Pimms! That said, they are shortly introducing a new software system that they hope will automate a lot of the work... which could well mean major staff cuts. 

As for the education... again, it may be regional and trade/job specific. I'm working on a PhD and experienced 'reverse' snobbery when I worked retail. Now that I'm back in an office (albeit not in my area of expertise), it's less of an eyebrow raiser.

You could probably do far worse than move to the UK from Kentucky! But as I'm sure you know, there will be hurdles and differences. Just do as much homework as you can!

Well, I guess that didn't work.  Thanks for anyone who tried to rein this in and get back to the topic.  It obviously isn't going to work.  
And here's the problem.  Someone says something that is questionable.  A couple of people respond.  The person goes on to explain.  A few more people jump in.  The person defends their right to an opinion.  Now a few more people add their opinion on an opinion.  And on and on.  We have a few hundred regular members.  We have a few more hundred sporadic posters.  We have a couple of thousand members.  Every time someone posts some outrageous belief, do we ALL have a right to response?  This isn't the first thread this has happened to in the last couple of days.  Could we not just let it go if someone else has already responded?  

And um, Southernboy.  Aren't you the own who went postal all over the Kentucky thread because you objected to people's opinions about the south? But now your opinion on life in Britain should go unchallenged?    What's fair for the goose, I'm afraid.