You value good drivers.
I’ve been to almost a dozen countries, and nobody comes CLOSE to the conscientiousness of Australian drivers; they honk as a THANK YOU for right of way in Victoria. They also have the the most dramatically sensical road system ever, which is mostly like the U.S., with one difference I particularly like: yield signs instead of the stop signs that American drivers only yield at anyway, usually for good reason. I’m a big fan of either enforcing rules or changing them, with as few exceptions as possible.
The recommendation is suspect if:
You care about what foods you eat. (Going from one country to another is going to dramatically change prices based on local crop/livestock viability and tradition.)
The way business is done provides uncomfortable culture shock. (I value free refills on soda disproportionally because I adore soda and consume a disproportional amount per purchase. Refill policies in Aus are inconsistent and necessarily more restrictive than a system that is consistently without restriction.)
Your hobby is taxed to death (video games in Aus are about 140-200% the price of video games in the U.S. - ouch).
Your utility function dramatically supports things other than accumulation of wealth which are represented by your current culture more than Australia’s. (I support high freedom in media consumption and gun rights, things that Australia is good about, but not as much as the U.S… and if money is the unit of caring, then I care about those rights with my tax dollars.)
We have free refills of water here at almost all restaurants. I’m struggling to see how the restaurant letting you drink multiple cups of soda per meal is a good thing.
I almost deleted my comment because I think it’s a bit too snarky. But honestly, I struggle with self-control issues, and can find sweet things a bit tempting. But there’s good motivation to resist, because if I drank soda like water the fitness and health consequences wouldn’t nearly be worth the taste.
The “cost” of drinking a whole bunch of soda is much more than the price of it in dollars. So I don’t feel like a restaurant’s doing me any favours by making it normal to just chug it down.
The recommendation is sound if:
You value good drivers. I’ve been to almost a dozen countries, and nobody comes CLOSE to the conscientiousness of Australian drivers; they honk as a THANK YOU for right of way in Victoria. They also have the the most dramatically sensical road system ever, which is mostly like the U.S., with one difference I particularly like: yield signs instead of the stop signs that American drivers only yield at anyway, usually for good reason. I’m a big fan of either enforcing rules or changing them, with as few exceptions as possible.
The recommendation is suspect if:
You care about what foods you eat. (Going from one country to another is going to dramatically change prices based on local crop/livestock viability and tradition.)
The way business is done provides uncomfortable culture shock. (I value free refills on soda disproportionally because I adore soda and consume a disproportional amount per purchase. Refill policies in Aus are inconsistent and necessarily more restrictive than a system that is consistently without restriction.)
Your hobby is taxed to death (video games in Aus are about 140-200% the price of video games in the U.S. - ouch).
Your utility function dramatically supports things other than accumulation of wealth which are represented by your current culture more than Australia’s. (I support high freedom in media consumption and gun rights, things that Australia is good about, but not as much as the U.S… and if money is the unit of caring, then I care about those rights with my tax dollars.)
We have free refills of water here at almost all restaurants. I’m struggling to see how the restaurant letting you drink multiple cups of soda per meal is a good thing.
Because I like soda and it tastes good! Why would it be a bad thing?
I almost deleted my comment because I think it’s a bit too snarky. But honestly, I struggle with self-control issues, and can find sweet things a bit tempting. But there’s good motivation to resist, because if I drank soda like water the fitness and health consequences wouldn’t nearly be worth the taste.
The “cost” of drinking a whole bunch of soda is much more than the price of it in dollars. So I don’t feel like a restaurant’s doing me any favours by making it normal to just chug it down.
We do? Seriously? I usually just nod or wave. :)
They are? I usually pay… oh, um, yes that brings up an important point: our broadband is still not nearly as cheap or fast as the US.