Haha you and me both, @aksounder. When I was living in the States, I was infamous for only tipping if I actually was given good service. I never thought that was so shocking, and honestly, most restaurant service is usually pretty good, so I usually tipped, but... I occasionally didn't. But anyway, I really hope this changes someday. I have read that some places in NYC are actually paying their servers decent wages and telling customers not to tip, so maybe change is in the air.

Re: the toilet. I know, right?? If I am ever in the position to build a house from scratch in the States, I am totally telling the architect to separate the toilet and bathroom.

The shoes thing def seems to be changing. When I was a kid, everyone wore their shoes inside. It was gross. Nowadays, many people are making the decision to not allow shoes inside, and certain parts of the States seem to have had that no shoe rule for a few generations now. Wish my folks were among them.... I guess I can somewhat accept shoes on tile floors, but no no no no on carpet. Arrrgghh.

We have so many social habits to change in America!