What was the quirkiest/most unusual custom or law you experienced while traveling?
For me, it was the picture tax in Morocco. I was taking photos of a mosque when 3 undercover policemen (no uniform) approached me and informed me I was not allowed to take photos of religious buildings without special permission. I had to pay a fine on the spot. Never even knew this was a thing until it happened to me.
restricted photography is a thing the world over and especially in religious sties
otherwise there are tourists attractions where they charge you extra to take photos like the tombs in the valley of the kings
When I ordered food in an American fast food establishment the cash register asked me for a tip.
I asked if that would allow me to skip the queue but the employee didn't answer but just reached over and tapped something on the payment terminal to keep the original price.
Uwotm8?
The machine was prompting for a tip or the human being operating the till wanted a tip?
If I'm understanding it correctly, he meant the machine. Pic related, it's a Shake Shack register asking for a tip.
Even as recent as the past decade, tipping employees of major fast food chains WASN'T the norm. In fact, it was very strongly discouraged. Now the employers have decided that they want to save every last penny on payroll by shifting some of the responsibility onto their customers. It's disgusting as a concept. Yeah, you can press the "No" button, but you shouldn't have to. The option should not even have to exist.
All of this.
Every now and then, I'll have a special order with extra work on the kitchen to separately wrap up a second sauce or bread, or cook something from scratch to leave off the salt or something like that. I can be grateful that the cashier supervised these instructions so I don't need to open boxes and check the order.
Other times, I might order something very close to arrival and they'll rush it for me, yay thanks. Sometimes, my order might not be ready but the sweet person working there offers me a cold drink while I wait. They might hold open the door and carry it out to my trunk when I go, say it's raining. These are EXTRA above and beyond services for which I might want to reward with tip. But takeout should be NO tip by policy.
Employee retention and anti-union tactics are the reason. There's plenty of non-foodservice jobs right now so people leave food service jobs unless it's especially worth it. Starbucks for example gave raises, healthcare, free coll AND implemented tipping and then begged employees not to unionize.
So... you just hit the no tip option.... whoa....
When I was in london I was amazed at how no fricking businesses take cash, even fast food chains are card-only and everything is automated, there were like three cashiers and twenty automated machines in a lidl near camden
Frick that shitty city
Guess that's not a law though, I'm moronic
OP said custom OR law. Your experience with businesses abiding by the same strange practices would qualify as a custom of that area.
>at how no fricking businesses take cash
this is normal though
the only people that have cash on them are druggies and asians for some reason.
been like that for at least a decade.
Of frick off I hate SighSee for this stupid shit because it shows how little they actually explore or go outside of something that is very part of their norm. Frick probably the ONLY place I didn't actually need cash out of all the countries I've been to was Norway, even then there were clearly places in Oslo you'd probably want to use cash.
Frick you homosexual, you think like an insect
It's not normal for the majority of the world's population. Cash not being preferred legal tender is a foreign concept for a large amount of people.
And many of us who use cash prefer it for privacy/tax reasons. Not everyone who uses cash is a gang banger you turd.
It's always funny when 1st worlders (usually scandis or aussies) are oblivious to an obvious attempt to extract a bribe.
OP is trolling you autists
OP you gullible frick.
Europeans always do this thing where they have these crippling autism attacks whenever you mention you're American.
>picture tax
you got arab'd. it's not real
Oi, das waycis!
There are polygamist towns in Utah and Arizona where they will follow you if you drive around. We were tailed by undercover security when we went sightseeing in Colorado City Utah.
Why are they following peeps?
You'd be nervous too if you had a dozen underage child brides hidden in a bunker
you're probably white? That was the "I'm white and walking through nothafrica with hiking boots and a Canon cam" tax
>Never even knew this was a thing until it happened to me.
congrats, you got scammed
they probably weren't even police
Germany being extremely strict on doing Sunday yardwork
Thanks for the chuckle, OP
In Bangkok, it is illegal for convenience stores and other retailers to sell beer between 2 PM and 5 PM.
>actual need for cash when I travel even to "cashless countries"
>germany being more closed on a sunday than a small southern town where everyone attends church
>brussels being a collective gutter trash shithole
>brit's obsession with america being 100% real, honestly thought it was an exaggerated meme
>koreans being brain dead, the sense of nationalism and how they can not fail makes them stupid
>japanese being boring, if it's not the 20 questions they were taught in highschool to pass grade 10 they are lost
>canadians being nice, they just brag about how they aren't american despite often being just slightly quieter americans
>SEA having good food
>philippines having tons of things to do
6/10 bait