The American social media users revealed what surprised her about UK supermarkets
People were left amazed after an American woman in London shared what surprised her about living in the UK. Grace Lechner, 24, who posts on TikTok as @glechyyy, explained there are a few big differences between supermarkets.
In a recent video post, Grace told her followers: “Nobody warned me about these five differences when I moved from the US to London.” She went on: “These differences are kind of random. So the first two points actually go hand in hand.
“The first is that grocery stores here are so much smaller than in the States, and honestly, I kind of like it because I feel like I just have way too many choices back home, especially like the really small ones, like Sainsbury’s local or those sorts of things.
“I just feel like we don’t do that as much, like you would just drive to a bigger supermarket. Obviously, like I guess in New York you have bodegas and like smaller supermarkets, but I feel like everything is just smaller here, including portion sizes, so that’s another one.”
Grace explained: “I feel like portion sizes here are so much smaller, like if I go to a restaurant in the States, I am guaranteed leftovers. I mean, it depends on, obviously, what sort of restaurants you’re going to here, but we just generally do portion sizes so much larger.”
For her third point, Grace said: “The other thing is washing machines. They’re usually in the kitchen, which I find quite bizarre. I think that’s also just like a European thing, but I feel like in most apartments in the States you would have like a laundry closet if you had any unit. I just feel like it’d be like its own separate thing usually. In our house here and in my last flat it was in the kitchen, which is kind of bizarre.”
She added: “Another big thing, at least in London, is contactless payments. The city is essentially cashless. I have never, fun fact, never had cash while being in this country.
“Maybe I should carry it, but I kinda feel safer, cause then I just don’t have anything on me, but everything is cashless. Apple Pay is huge here, so I mean, oftentimes I could just leave my house with just my house keys and be perfectly fine.
“In fact, most restaurants will be like, ‘We are cashless is that okay?’ cause everything here has just moved completely cashless. Like everyone accepts Apple Pay, which I feel like we’re really behind on that in the States.
“Then the last one, to be fair, I think that this is also kind of the culture in the States, but a bit less, but queuing is just like a massive thing. I feel like I’m always in a queue, aka a line; they call a line a queue here. It’s a big queuing culture.”
Responding to the post, someone wrote: “Stresses me out when I’m in the states and they take my card away to swipe and pay for when at a restaurant like whyyy in 2025.” A similar comment said: “Went to the US and they TOOK MY CARD, swiped it ?? And then asked me to sign..??? Blew my mind. This was a few years ago, I hope it’s improved a little.” Someone else asked: “What do you do instead of queuing?”
