I haven’t bought a record in a while but I used to buy a ton and buying used from Japan was always my favorite. It wasn’t like this if you bought from corporate stores obviously but almost every time I bought from just some dude on yahoo auctions or discogs or ebay or whatever I would have a similar experience. Handwritten note, candy, good luck charm from a shrine, etc. almost made up for the astronomical shipping
One time my friend ordered a book from Russia and got similar treatment except they got tea. We made it and it was the most horrible tea we had ever tried in our lives. It came with a sweet letter though so the sentiment was nice
PhilipTheBucket@ponder.cat 4 months ago
It’s that way in almost every country that isn’t America or America-light. Japan does it in over-the-top performative ways, but pretty much everywhere else, people care about random strangers, people invest time into their days and activities being nice just for the simple pleasure of human stuff and taking time to be a human and be pleasing with other people. Food, gifts, clothing, respect and value for travelers and gestures of good-will. If you’re from America, it feels “normal” here but something is clearly missing, and if you ever spend any length of time overseas you see exactly what it is and how badly wrong things are here, that it is missing.
I’m not trying to be prejudiced about it, just saying that every culture has its good stuff and its failings and not giving a shit about other people or life in general is definitely an American one.
grue@lemmy.world 4 months ago
What’s missing is walkability and “third-spaces.” Seriously.
See also:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHlpmxLTxpw
theguardian.com/…/extreme-car-dependency-unhappin…
medium.com/…/the-death-of-third-places-and-the-ev…
designdash.com/…/the-problem-with-car-centric-cit…
strongtowns.org/…/the-negative-consequences-of-ca…
usa.streetsblog.org/…/all-the-ways-that-cars-harm…
Serinus@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Europe took a long stroll in that direction too, but there are some major differences. First, most of their cities were established before cars. Second, they’re making more of an active attempt (in some areas) to be walkable again.
In short, in America 75 years is a long time. In Europe, 75 miles (120km) is a long way.
wise_pancake@lemmy.ca 4 months ago
I’m Canadian and we’re very America lite.
I grew up in a small town and I miss being young and spending so much time getting to know my neighbours or random people at the diner.
People feel less friendly the last few years, but when you get to know people they are nice. But that consideration for our fellow man is weak lately.
bobs_monkey@lemm.ee 4 months ago
This is why I moved out of a metropolis to a small mountain town. We have our share of assholes and dipshit tourists, but a lot of people genuinely care up here and it’s much easier to be of that mindset when you’re around people of a similar ilk.
Louisoix@lemm.ee 4 months ago
Not sure what it has to do with America, but the European countries (or people’s relationship) I’ve lived in are extremely far from being that nice.
idiomaddict@lemmy.world 4 months ago
I’m in Germany, which feels pretty unfriendly to me (and I’m from Connecticut), but there’s still a back current of something. I don’t know if it’s best described as a sense of community, solidarity, or shared humanity, but I work at a bakery (culturally comparable to a diner, imo, and I worked in the US at a few diners) and the clientele as a rule sees me as a person in a way that they didn’t always in the US.
It’s also the first place I’ve worked in a city that didn’t have an oppositional relationship with the local homeless population, because my boss treats them like people, and doesn’t allow anyone to do any differently.
PugJesus@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Yeah, I have a European acquaintance who I’ve heard talk at length about how America is warm and friendly relative to Europe, and it’s a notion I’ve heard backed up by online accounts as well.
PhilipTheBucket@ponder.cat 4 months ago
I ws defining most of Europe as “America light” here. People in Central America, the Middle East, and Africa all have a particular human way of interacting with each other that is absent in America and sort of muted in a lot of Western Europe. Then at a certain point my perspective flipped and I realized their way was normal, and it’s us that have something unusual about us.
The world is a big place with a lot of variation, and I’m not trying to romanticize any particular place. Just saying that a lot of looking out for each other and being kind has been forgotten about in a lot of America.
WillFord27@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Absolutely. Cold culture vs warm culture. It’s not just an American thing, but the "only america is this bad!" thought process on here is getting exhausting.
GrumpyDuckling@sh.itjust.works 4 months ago
I sell on ebay and while I don’t go that far out if my way I do put a little thank you stamp on the packing slip, make sure everything is packed correctly and I go out of my way to make sure that the item is shipped either same day or next day if they order later in the day. People are always grateful that they get their items so fast. I often ask spare parts for things, but even things like cassette tapes I imagine that they want it for the weekend or it’s for a gift for someone.