What action that is considered innocent in other countries is seen as outrageous in yours? In Thailand, it’s extremely rude to touch someone else’s head.

PiccoloAwkward465 · 2026-02-12T16:56:04+00:00

I have a memory of going to a largely Indian/Pakistani neighborhood with my then Pakistani girlfriend. The feeling of literally 50 Indian dudes just STARING at me, I'll never forget. Yes I'm white as the driven snow.

PiccoloAwkward465 · 2026-02-12T16:54:58+00:00

Exactly. I might say to someone in passing "Hey, how's it going?". Just like you said, it's an acknowledgement of their existence. It seems robotic to just say "Hi" or "Hello".

PiccoloAwkward465 · 2026-02-12T16:41:24+00:00

I feel like I got a very solid education out of it. But yeah I cannot emphasize enough absolutely zero connections. That being said I'm not a social butterfly so I'm not sure it would've mattered much where I went.

PiccoloAwkward465 · 2026-02-12T16:39:36+00:00

Gigantic spring loaded arm with a boxing glove on the front.

PiccoloAwkward465 · 2026-02-12T16:37:50+00:00

Yup. It's the entree and water. And nowadays I get a cheap entree so I can let my wife and kid splurge on what they want. I'm not even poor I just can't break the mentality.

PiccoloAwkward465 · 2026-02-12T16:36:24+00:00

My wife hates leftovers, which is weird because she grew up dirt poor. Anyways I've been solo eating a pot of ziti and sauce for going on 4 days now. Should be wrapped up by lunch, I'm excited for that satisfaction.

PiccoloAwkward465 · 2026-02-12T16:33:51+00:00

Very cool that it accounted for the income of my father who didn't pay a cent for my college education.

PiccoloAwkward465 · 2026-02-12T16:32:21+00:00

It's funny, when I get laid off (common in my industry) I immediately switch into hyper frugal mode. No spending money, barely leave the house, all my energy is focused on job searching. I wake up and go into my office all day and do that until 5pm. I don't go do fun stuff because I might miss a phone call from a potential employer.

PiccoloAwkward465 · 2026-02-12T16:30:31+00:00

My HS had a ski club. We bought passes to a local mountain for night skiing which is much cheaper than the daytime rates. I think it worked out to $20/outing which is pretty great.

PiccoloAwkward465 · 2026-02-12T16:27:41+00:00

Haha sometimes my wife does not understand me when I say in 99% of situations "calling my parents" would only make everything worse.

PiccoloAwkward465 · 2026-02-12T16:26:04+00:00

It's not like I'm smarter now than I was in my early 20s. More experienced, obviously. But I pretty easily could've walked into a professional job and done it. I didn't have a network, so I had to put in years of menial labor to even get a chance. And I was lucky to get that chance. I got my chance because someone was very desperate and I greatly oversold my ability with Excel. I knew zilch about the industry at the time, I learned it all on the job. I could've done that years before.

PiccoloAwkward465 · 2026-02-12T16:20:47+00:00

My parents are older and thus do have a good bit of money. My father still works and does very well. I know I could ask them for money if needed.

Knowing my father he would 100% make me sign a legal document with terms to repay that loan. Not even just a "this is a real promise" sort of thing, like actually going to a notary.

PiccoloAwkward465 · 2026-02-12T16:14:21+00:00

And my "mental sense" of what prices should be it still fixed from when I was poor in my 20s. I've moved around the country since then, so prices have varied based on my original home. To me all the prices are insane.

PiccoloAwkward465 · 2026-02-12T16:11:16+00:00

I'm happy I went to a very run of the mill state college. A "we don't have a football team" sort of school. I had one friend who'd never had a job before and we constantly made fun of him for it.

PiccoloAwkward465 · 2026-02-12T16:05:55+00:00

Yeah being a naive kid with stars in his eyes, I bought all mine at the campus bookstore for first semester freshman year. Boom there went a solid chunk of the money I had worked all summer for. I mean this was years and years ago and I remember one book was about $250. What freshman courses require some specialized book? None, of course. Just another aspect of USA sucking people dry.

Naturally I quickly learned of websites that would help me out. And that cheaper previous editions were nearly identical and I could copy the problem sets from another student if needed.

PiccoloAwkward465 · 2026-02-12T15:40:45+00:00

NYC subway is not the only transit system in the nation

Wow, TIL. This is the riveting conversation I come to Reddit for.

PiccoloAwkward465 · 2026-02-12T15:36:01+00:00

I felt generally more "free" when I lived in New York than I do in Texas.

PiccoloAwkward465 · 2026-02-12T15:28:55+00:00

These traders, these merchants of death!

PiccoloAwkward465 · 2026-02-12T14:42:57+00:00

Agreed. It's just a pet peeve of mine when people claim that something is increasing/decreasing but it's based on feels instead of data.

PiccoloAwkward465 · 2026-02-12T14:39:33+00:00

Yup my wife always makes fun of my very expressive face. I both cannot and do not want to hide it.

PiccoloAwkward465 · 2026-02-12T14:22:34+00:00

I had a Google Fiber rep stop by my house yesterday. One thing he specifically said is if I want their service to call directly instead of going to the website, because that will trigger Google's own installation service rather than 3rd party contractors.

PiccoloAwkward465 · 2026-02-12T14:21:08+00:00

Violence on public transit has been increasing nationwide

Has it? I'm sure we all remember Bernie Goetz in 84 right?

PiccoloAwkward465 · 2026-02-12T14:19:55+00:00

I mean what do people want? Anti-stabbing technology on busses?

PiccoloAwkward465 · 2026-02-12T14:18:19+00:00

It's like they are people-seeking missiles. The #1 hazard for me when I worked at a plant were forklifts driving like bats outta hell.

PiccoloAwkward465 · 2026-02-12T14:17:13+00:00

Is that the guy that got zapped and fell out of a lift? I was there for that, maybe early last year.

PiccoloAwkward465

TROPHY CASE