CULTURE DIFFERENCES ON PUTTING UP WITH THE UNSATISFACTORY:

European journalist Jessica Furseth published a smart and thoughtful piece on Curbed describing the cultural differences uncovered when she and her American partner moved into a London apartment together and found their attitudes toward domestic appliances were worlds apart.

“He went through a rite of passage that every U.S. expat must endure: an encounter with the typical British combo washer-dryer,” Furseth writes. “It appears to be a stroke of genius until you realize that the dryer part doesn’t really work—and everyone who lives here knows this.”

This last sentence encapsulates what is, to me, a fundamental difference in the British and American psyches. The frustration an American feels upon removing a poorly washed, barely-dried load from his or her UK appliance isn’t really about the laundry at all. It’s about the tension between how each culture sees the world.

Indeed.