Giver of skulls
How would an illiterate dude living in a cave register to vote?
I guess America just can’t pull of what just about every European country does, but even then you don’t need this recurring manual registration mess. Just register everyone who filed a tax form last year and you should get most of the voting age population already.
Then there really are no excuses left for those supermarkets. Just a weird Americanism, like using imperial units.
Sending the labels from a central location seems wildly inefficient when label printers are as cheap as they are.
Plus, prices are already adjusted at the state level at the very least, if you’re gonna ship every store their labels from a central location you may as well update the tax info on them.
Even the budget stores here are switching to a digital display system with those small e-ink displays. When that technology hits the US, there really won’t be an excuse not to label things including tax anymore.
Most expats leave after a few years. They only move in to make a quick buck with tax advantages and then move back/on to another country.
I suppose they’re a form of immigrant, but a very specific subgroup. One that often also doesn’t intend to integrate with local culture, so their approach is quite different from most legal immigrants. You can’t really compare the experiences of war refugees with Americans that come work in another country for five years, even though they’re both forms of immigrants.
I don’t just consider the Brits and Americans to be expats, I’ve also met expats from eastern Europe, India, and South East Asia. Maybe the rich expats don’t like to be grouped together with them, but I also consider the cheap eastern European labourers that do jobs like working the fields for half a year to be expats.
I mean I guess stores in places with 0% sales tax don’t, technically. American stores just don’t want to bother doing the math while labeling and make you do the math in your head (and then they do it at the till).
Another consequence of the crazy American tax system.
They know the price to charge at the till so they definitely can show the full price. It’s just convention not to at this point. Why go through the effort when it only makes you look more expensive compared to the competition, after all?
It’s a bit hard to articulate the difference I’ve noticed with Americans when talking about work. It’s not like America is stuck in the 60s with executive toilets and executive lunches, but office culture definitely seems different.
What probably makes a difference is the difference in management styles.
Some people don’t like to receive help from others without getting something in return, because it makes them feel pitied. If you think this applies to you and they’re refusing help because they don’t want to be a burden, ask for a little favour yourself every now and then, even if you don’t really need to borrow that lawnmower/hammer/bucket. That way, they don’t feel as burdened asking you when they need help.
If you’ve got money leftover for them, you can’t go wrong with keeping some funds reserved in case they need it. It sounds like they’re doing fine, so an emergency fund is all the monetary aid they may need. If that doesn’t get used, you can always invest it and have it ready for them when they age and run into stuff like healthcare bills.
You could also spend the money another way, like giving nice birthday/Christmas gifts. Save up for holiday vouchers, or get them a roomba or a dishwasher to sneakily help with cleaning.
Also consider that maybe they really are fine, and would be happier seeing you invest your money in yourself and your future. Most likely, they’ll appreciate spending time with you much more than the money you may be able to provide.
First of all, a practical item that people sometimes forget: traffic laws are different in every country. Even if your driver’s license is valid in other countries, take a moment to read up on traffic rules.
If you live in a city, give public transport a serious consideration. It’s not for everybody and not every place has good connections, but you’d be surprised how little you need a car if you live in an area well-served by public transport.
As with any foreign country, you’ll do well to learn the language. Written Danish probably isn’t too difficult to learn when you already know English (they share a heritage after all) but spoken Danish is quite peculiar. You’ll probably get by with just English just fine, but most people will prefer to speak their native language.
What I’ve heard from family moving to Denmark: check and double check your tax information and registration. The bureaucratic process can take a while, even when moving within the Schengen zone. Also: America has some weird laws where you need to pay taxes regardless of if you live there or not, as long as you’re a citizen. Make sure you know how much taxes you need to pay to what government! You generally don’t need to pay tax in both countries unless you make a boatload of money but it can’t hurt to check.
Speaking of, you’ll pay a lot of taxes. You get a lot in return, but make sure you know what your net income is going to be like and what taxes are hiding around the corner. The amazing Danish welfare state needs to be funded somehow!
If you live near any borders (European definition of “near”), check any visas you may have for what you’re allowed to do. Some visas allow you to move freely within a single country but not leave it for x amount of days consecutively/in a year, for instance. Denmark is actually one of the few countries with border checks (Germany too these days).
What I’ve heard from other Americans visiting Europe: it’s smaller than you think and everything seems closer than you think. That’s very nice when it comes to stuff like grocery stores, but some people feel a little claustrophobic because of the lack of free, open space.
Make sure your credit card is set to allow for international payments, unless you already have your money in a Danish bank account. You don’t want to arrive and find out you can’t pay for anything.
Get yourself a local SIM card. It’s probably a lot cheaper than carrying your American number in general, but roaming charges between the US and the EU are Not Fun.
Most Danes speak English well, in my experience. However, don’t let that fool you into thinking they share the same cultural norms. Things common in some American subcultures (calling everyone “dear”, saying stuff like “we should hang out some time” without actually meaning it) can cause some humorous/awkward interactions when misinterpreted. Knowing the words isn’t the same as knowing what you actually mean!
Prepare to do a lot of currency conversions in your head. You can get tricked into spending more money than you thought if you don’t know what amount of DDK translates to USD. 1 USD is about 6.8 DDK, so yeah, good luck with that, multiply by seven and subtract a bit I guess?
Stores in Denmark will often show prices including tax, so don’t do too much mental math. You generally don’t need to apply the 25% VAT on listed prices unless you’re buying business to business.
Based on experience from expats: immerse yourself into the local culture and language. Making connections with strangers is hard, likely harder than in the US, but you’ll end up quite lonely if you only hang out with coworkers and other expats.
Also read up on punctuality expectations. Some cultures expect you to be five minutes to half an hour “late” to an agreed upon time, others expect you to be there much earlier, and then other cultures expect you to arrive right on time. That applies both professionally and socially!
On a similar note, make sure you read about the expectations your coworkers may have of you, culturally. If you work for an American company you may end up with an American style corporate hierarchy, but Danish companies are a lot more egalitarian on average. Not just office wise, but also “only addressing the boss by their first name” wise.
Working overtime may not be appreciated as much, and may even be seen as a bad thing in some contexts (i.e. constantly working after 5PM to finish your work, implying you can’t finish in time when you’re really trying to show your work ethic or something like that). Work/life balance is important and every country has different standards.
From what I can tell, the Danes are quite strict in not wanting to spend too much of their life working, so don’t be that person that brings work into every conversation. As a foreigner, you probably have much more interesting topics to talk about!
I’ve only head good things about Denmark from people who worked/moved there, so I hope you enjoy your time there!
No manager is willing to sign off on the risk of jail time for something like this.
They’re probably a bunch of dumb teenagers trying to make a splash. Professionals would’ve sold the data without informing anyone.
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Are there people of voting age that are exempt from paying taxes? Because I’m pretty sure the federal government has a huge database of its citizens already through the IRS. People who became adults after the last tax season and people committing tax fraud would need to register manually once, but I don’t think that’s such a big risk.