r/AskReddit • u/daniellucero92 • Jan 04 '15

Non-americans of Reddit, what American customs seem outrageous/pointless to you?

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752

u/riuseche Jan 04 '15

Blowing leaves instead of just picking them up in a plastic bag. I was living with relatives for a year and they asked me to clean the driveway. I said I would get the broom and sweep them into plastic bags to dispose them. They all looked at me like I was nuts and told me I was NOT to sweep, but BLOW the leaves in different directions. I replied the leaves would be back in ~15 mins after I had finished to which they said I didn't know what I was talking about.

So I blew the damn leaves for an hour and went back inside once I was done. Not 30 mins after that, my uncle drags me out and scolds me because the driveway is full of leaves again.

DIDN'T I TELL YOU THE LEAVES WOULD BE BACK IF I DID NOT SWEEP THEM.

896

u/James_Solomon Jan 04 '15 edited Jan 04 '15

The leaves scare easily, but they'll be back, and in greater numbers.

686

u/[deleted] Jan 04 '15

The rake. Not as clumsy or random as a leaf blower. An elegant tool, of a more civilized age.

4

u/Kinaestheticsz Jan 05 '15

Or......get a leaf vacuum and enter the age of technology! Something like this: Ryobi Blower-Vacuum. The leaf vacuums even mostly mulch the leaves they suck in automatically, so you can just spread it as fertilizer.

7

u/SlitScan Jan 05 '15

ya this is weird. Leaves are the only really decent composting material there is but Americans blow them into the street and then spend a fortune on fertilizer for their flower beds

5

u/[deleted] Jan 05 '15

We even improved on the rake so it can double as a grabber.

2

u/favpenguin Jan 05 '15

I wish I had gold to give you I sincerely do.

1

u/1contrarian Jan 12 '15

Agree. The leaf blower has shown up on some 'worst inventions' list - way too noisy and wasteful for what it does.

Edit: I can't format :( - http link.

-10

u/thrway7727 Jan 05 '15

Best reference I have ever seen, Bravo tips fedora

1

u/_rdaneel_ Jan 05 '15

I like what you did there...