Transcript of AE 1018 - Paying to Use the Toilet & TV Tax in Australia.mp3

Paying for bathrooms. Yeah, that is fucking weird, guys. Who needs to pay to piss? TV tax, what do you mean? Like you have to pay tax on the number of TVs you've got. You've got to pay 18 euros a month to have a TV. Weird. Underage drinking seems more of a crime in the US.

In most cases, a kid is caught with alcohol in the UK, it's just confiscated and poured away. Strictly speaking, the age you can drink alcohol is really low as well, so long as your home with a parent, I think it's like five out of six. What the hell is five out of six? Is that five or six years old? No. Okay.

So, I think in the US, the difference here would be that they can start drinking legally, they can buy alcohol legally at 21. In Europe, some countries like France, I think I don't even know if France has an active law for age. But in Australia it would be 18. We definitely have an underage drinking culture here in Australia.

We tend to just basically drink slabs of beer, goon bags of wine. Young kids, 15-year-olds have 10 schooners and are seen as a hero when they come to school.

I don't know what the cops would do. I think they would punish you if you were really doing something stupid whilst, you know, drinking. And if you really got wasted and just passed out on the road, maybe they would pick you up and pour it out. I don't know. I've never been caught by the cops underage drinking, to be honest.

Yeah, I think it's a sort of- It still is a no-no. You can drink with your parents, though. Yeah, that's definitely legal in your own home. Obviously, within reason. If your parents are just giving you alcohol instead of water, you're probably going to have a bad time with the cops. Number two, paying for bathrooms. Yeah, that is fucking weird, guys.

Hey, can you bring me some toilet paper? We're all out. Finally. What's-?

Who needs to pay to piss? That's what it will probably be called in Australia, pay a piss. Oh, I'm going to go to the pay to pee, right, the pay to piss. Maybe it'd be like the dollar bog or something. The dollar bog. So, that was something I noticed in Europe, you are either expected to leave money, sometimes there are even people waiting there for the money when you go into the bathroom.

I think it's some of the really expensive restaurants in countries like, maybe like France, I think. I feel like I've seen that somewhere. In America, I think that's non-existent, and in Australia it is non-existent. If someone tries to make you pay for the bathroom, they probably don't work there and are just taking you for a ride.

Number three, almost every car having a manual transmission. When I visited Ukraine, I only saw rich people with automatic cars. Interesting. So, I guess they're saying that in Europe, most cars have a manual transmission where, as in, I guess in America, many wouldn't.

Can you drive stick?

I think here would be either or. I think we're moving towards automatic because cars are getting cheaper and more and more of them have automatic transmissions just because it's obviously easier in Australia. I do remember a day back when I was probably in my teens, where most cars were manual cars, and this is a manual like- I don't know why I'm using this hand, it's actually on this side.

It's down here as opposed to a stick shift, which they have in America. Automatics are everywhere today, in fact, the average car you're going to get into will be an automatic in Australia. In Germany, looking for an apartment doesn't automatically mean it will come 100% with a kitchen. 90% they don't have them in, and you have to buy them yourself. What? Apartment doesn't come with a kitchen.

Are you taking the piss?

That's really weird. In Australia, I think any house you're going to buy is going to automatically come with a kitchen. That's unheard of here, unless it's a shed. Maybe if you get a shed, there wouldn't be a kitchen in it. That's pretty weird. Doesn't apply to every European country, but prison sentences are a lot shorter. Life in prison without parole is extremely rare, and many countries do not have such sentences.

For example, the maximum sentence here in Finland is called life in prison, but the average time spent in prison before release is 13 to 14 years for them. That's pretty weird. America has a very different culture with prison sentences and crime. They seem to have this retribution and revenge mentality, you know, which is why they still- I feel like it's why they still have the death penalty.

We love the death penalty.

In a lot of states over there, whereas, yeah, the rest of the western world doesn't have the death penalty. In Australia, if you get a life sentence that's generally 25 years, and if it's without parole, the possibility of parole, you're not going to get out and that's still an option. But yeah, we haven't had the death penalty since, I think the 60s. Not giving your debit or credit card to your server but doing it yourself.

I wonder if he's talking about having to do that in Europe or doing that in the US. You can have both things happen here in Australia, where they'll bring the machine to your table at a high-end restaurant and you can just pay for the meal yourself.

But often, too, you can just put your card inside the bill, the sort of folder thing that they bring you with the bill in it and then just get them to do it as well. Either one of those wouldn't be weird here. Seven men on scooters. Apparently here in the US, I get made fun of. What? Even Mexico and London dudes are on scooters, it's normal.

Okay, so I was thinking he was talking about those fat people scooters. Jesus, Pete, mobility scooters. In supermarkets like Walmart, but obviously not if he means he gets made fun of. In America he's talking about actual scooters. I assume like those small ones with wheels that are either electric or you can sort of push along.

I think in Australia, if you saw a man on one of those, yeah, it's still a bit of a kid's thing. I think you wouldn't often see an adult using one unless it was like really big, motorised, you know, or electric and moving really quickly on the road. If it was like a small one on the footpath, it's probably a bit weird and you're going to get made fun of. Just get a bike.

You don't like scooters. I just think people should drive, m'kay. I don't think people should scoot.

I think what the person may have been talking about when they said scooters is this thing here, which I would call a Vespa. So, when I do a normal search for just the word scooter by and large, these are the things that come up. This is what we think of in Australia.

But yes, in Australia, if a bloke is riding one of these, he's going to be given a horrible time. Other mates of his, other blokes, other men are going to give him shit for riding one of these. We associate these with women generally because they don't have the motor in the way of the women putting their legs there so they can wear dresses and skirts and not have trouble riding a bike, a motorbike.

We've got plenty of these in Australia, you will see them from time to time in the cities, although motorbikes are going to be the most common for men.

Born to be wild.

Putting your child to sleep outside in a pram out of sight with a baby monitor, in Denmark, this is completely normal, even in public.

What are you crazy?

But are you with the pram or do you just leave the pram outside? Why have you got a baby monitor if you are right there with the pram? Hey, Kel, would you put Joanna to sleep outside in a pram and just use a baby monitor to watch?

No. What the fuck?

That seems pretty weird. That's probably Denmark, because, you know, from what I understand, it's a Nordic country, so it's relatively safe and little is going to go on there. We definitely put our kids to sleep in the pram, but we'll be with the pram and we'll be walking with the pram, and the kid will be sleeping. But a baby monitor outside the house is a bit strange.

A few days ago, someone told a story how their American relatives got so bent out of shape over naked children running around at the beach.

Won't somebody please think of the children.

On every beach in Bulgaria I've been to naked children is the norm. Women sunbathing in monokini is considered absolutely normal. Yeah, I think naked children in Australia massively normal, especially young children. Once they're about the age of five or more, you're not going to see them running around naked. If they're wearing nappies, I think that tends to be the thing.

You're going to take the nappy off when you go to the beach and let them run into the water without the nappy on, because it's just too much of a pain in the arse. Whereas if they're young enough to be able to wear bathers, you're just going to put bathers on them. But it's not a weird thing. I can't imagine anyone yelling at you or being like, cover up your child because it'll make you look like the weirdo.

It's like, what are you attracted to my kid? He's frickin' two years old, you weirdo. Just let him run around naked. It's the freest he's ever going to be. Just leave him alone. The other thing is, though, when I do go to the beach and I see naked kids running around, I definitely try and avoid them.

And as a man, I definitely am like, hands up here, you know, if they're running around with my son at my feet. It does make me feel a little awkward if I'm near them because I'm just like, I don't want anyone to think I'm a weirdo, so I'll tend to just look up, hands up or walk away.

Maybe that's just me being a weirdo, but yeah, it's something you're going to see everywhere in Australia, I think. Where do I start? German here living in the US. How about TV tax? I bet Americans would go bonkers over it. I mean, so do Germans, but wait for it, it's a classic. What can you do? TV tax? What do you mean? Like, you have to pay tax on the number of TVs you've got or after you've bought a TV, you have to pay tax?

That'll never happen.

That seems weird. I feel like in Australia, if you were to ever pay tax for a TV, it would be on the price when you're buying it, like GST. It's included in the price of the TV; you're not going to pay tax on it afterwards. Let's do a quick search. Last year, the state of Saxony-Anhalt move to block an increase in Germany's TV licence fee Rundfunkbeitrag by 86 cents. You've got to pay 18 euros a month to have a TV?! You've got a licence fee?!

Are you fucking kidding me?

Weird. Weird Germany. Very weird. Thanks for joining me, guys. I hope you enjoyed this video. Check out this one if you want to learn about culture shock in Australia, and I'll see you next time. Bye.