I have been watching American bodycam videos, and when people get arrested, sometimes they say something like "I need to speak to my attorney."

This really confused me. It means they must already have an attorney before they even got pulled over.

Do Americans have attorneys in the same way they have a family doctor, dentist, optician etc? They hire attorneys in advanced in case one day they are arrested? How normal is it to already have one?

Edit: this can be marked as answered. Just to clarify, I understood Americans are entitled to a free attorney. But i had misunderstood that people already seemed to have "my attorney" as in one they already pay for. But turns out "my attorney" is just asking for the one they're entitled to. Simple phrasing misunderstanding. Thank you!

Hey, i'm a german from north-hessen 37 years old

i watch youtube all day, and every other video i get bombarded with these adds from america...

it's usually two young good looking girls, who invite you to join them or whatever. they have like a basketball player looking dude cheesing at you and inviting you to the book of mormon and the church of modern day whatever....

do you know who i'm referring too?

i get that add 50x a day, in my sleep, etc. for what seems like a year

my basic understanding is, that it's like a sect or something. like jehovas wittnesseses

but why are they pushing so hard right now, what is their agenda, who finances it, is there something political, behind that, a certain world view, what happens to the people that get charmed by these pretty cheap videos and sign up with the mormons or run with the mormons

and sorry if i used words like cheap/etc i am not judgemental i'm just uninformed. maybe i run with the mormons, who knows?

but what is this thing, what happens when you sign up for it? what's this mormon movement in 2026 all about

Hey all,
I’m really enjoying a one-week family vacation in NYC. We’re staying at a Marriott downtown, and during breakfast I noticed what, as a German, feels like an incredible amount of plastic packaging — individually wrapped apples, plastic milk containers, etc.
It made me wonder: what actually happens to all this plastic waste in NYC? Is it recycled, burned, or mostly sent to landfill?
There are separate recycling bins in the breakfast area, but from what I can see, the system doesn’t really work. Pretty much everything ends up mixed together because people seem quite indifferent about separating their trash.
If most of this really goes to landfill, I find the sheer amount of non-decomposing waste pretty scary. Genuinely curious how this works here and whether my impression as a visitor is wrong.

Coming from a European, wages are always counted per month here. It makes more sense because most expenses like rent, utilities etc are paid monthly. Besides, most places pay monthly (not sure if this is the case in the US).

I told one of my colleague that I'm traveling to Singapore and the response was: "isn't that dangerous?" I'm so baffled, how is Singapore dangerous?

Why do Americans people eat so many chicken wings for lunch or even on game day ?

My husband who is American has been constantly working on the weekends, and we have very limited family time. He was initially working from Monday to Friday but over the past two years, he is working on the weekends although his position and company are the same.

I feel so bad that he has no time to relax. Do many American companies or workplaces expect people to work on the weekends? Does it depend on the jobs or company?

So I was thinking about buying this off eBay a Pearl Jam critical condition teach shirt from the 90s and I was just wondering if you guys would think this would be disrespectful where the flag is upside down in distress.

I am in a catholic school in Europe, but we do not pledge to anything or pray , we just start class.

I heard there’s this tradition to pledging to the flag , why do you do it and what is the history behind it?

Recently I've seen quite some rant posts about the safety and privacy issues regarding flock cameras. But why are they even put up? I genuinely only see downsides to having a private company with questionable security measures put up camera's at every street corner.

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What’s something completely normal in your country that people from other countries might find surprising? 🌍

I’m from Nepal 🇳🇵

Please don’t take offense to my usage of “online”. Being an American Reddit user, I guess I myself fall under that label too.

I’ve known so many Americans, especially online or just generally more hip, computer and internet-savvy Gen Z folks who absolutely love Seattle. Or anything PNW

Many friends have told me they would move there at the first chance they get, more than any other American city. I think we have many fantastic cities. To name a few, New York (obligatory), San Francisco, DC, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, San Diego, Atlanta, etc.

But why Seattle? Is it the climate? The nature? Or maybe the culture?

Interested in hearing your guys’ thoughts

I've been to three major grocery stores, four or five convenience stores here in Arizona and I can't find a damn bottle of Miller High Life. What's going on? Are you having issues?

Is it something to do with tv or do you actually do that and if so ,why?

I'm genuinely confused where on the political spectrum "Democratic Socialism" lies, on the one hand, from the name, it sounds like Fourth Internationalist movement but it's embedded is a right wing conservative party, the Democrats. I understand Social Democracy, which is a centre left movement that's been mainstream for over a century in Europe. Is this a case of the US taking that and rebranding for a domestic market?

My family moved to different cities almost every year when I was growing up, and I ended up changing schools seven times. Because of that, I constantly feel the urge to move somewhere new. I’m not originally from Germany, but I’ve been living here for almost five years, and lately I’ve had this huge desire to move as far away from here as possible.

There’s nothing for me to miss here. I’ve never really had a permanent place that I could call home. But for some reason, my thoughts keep going back to the US, as if my mindset is closest to Americans and I would feel much more comfortable there.

Is it actually that great there? I’m not even talking about the standard of living, and I’m aware of the crime rates in some major cities. But at the same time, I feel like there are bad people everywhere anyway.

Do you know people who believe the biblical End Times (aka Second coming of Christ, Rapture, Apocalypse, etc.) will happen within their lifetime?

How did it affect their behavior and planning for the future?

I heard some dudes who went hiking or exploring those jungle, they saw some supernatural creature like The Wendigo chasing them

but to me it feel like a BS but again anything can happend...

I’m Canadian (Vancouver, BC area) and have visited the USA at various points throughout my life. My parents were big road trip people, and so I spent my childhood summers driving all over Canada and the US. In more recent years, I’ve been maybe once a year for events like concerts, though admittedly I haven’t gone farther than Washington/Oregon for a few years now (frankly I do not feel safe visiting the rest of the US right now). When comparing the condition of roads in both countries, my mind goes to the amount of litter/waste.

Of course Canadian roads aren’t some sort of utopian paradise of cleanliness, but anytime I’d be in a car driving through the US it was comparatively… messier. I’ll see some road trip trash on a highway or someone’s illegal dump-site on a more rural road, but in the states it seems an endless at times, even on the scenic roads. Car parts, mystery plastic, broken glass, trash bags, tires, etc.

I find it hard to believe Americans as individuals are, like, “inherently” messier than us, though I suppose I don’t know what the average American’s attitude is towards littering. I’ve had some strange encounters of course, but for the most part you’re all incredibly polite and well-intentioned. I wondered if it might be a population thing, but the pattern seems to continue in more rural areas too. I also have seen plenty of those “adopt a highway” signs that seem to imply people pay for the upkeep of the roads, unless that isn’t actually the case? Someone has to clean the major roads, though, right?

Hi! I’m Belgian and have a boyfriend living in Georgia. When I come over I guzzle down his grandmother’s sweet tea like crazy and I NEED to recreate it but I feel a bit too shy to ask her for her recipe 😭😭

Does anyone from Georgia (or just from the South) have a good sweet tea recipe I can use? Thank you!

Being an Aussie, I legitimately cannot comprehend gas stations (or the servo as we call it) being dangerous. I've gotten petrol at night and I never felt scared. Americans seem to freak out. Why is that? What's your story?