Following upon my rant (read it here) about all these lists on the internet that talk about the many ways Americans stand out overseas (and they usually seem to be somewhat negative), I thought I'd create a list of my own.
1) If I had brought my dogs with me, I would not leave their shit on the sidewalk. I would dispose of it properly. Yesterday Hubs and I watched someone actually pick up their dog's crap... I about fainted.
2) When waiting to get on a train/tram/elevator, I back away from the door to allow the people getting off enough room to do so
3) When waiting to get on a train/tram/elevator/bus, I don't try to butt my way in front of others who have been waiting to board prior to my arrival. (I intentionally omitted bus from #2 because here in Den Haag riders can only board the bus at the front and riders can only exit the bus from the other doors). When we were coming back from Keukenhof last month we were the 3rd, 4th and 5th people to wait in line for the bus to arrive. Once the bus finally arrived, the people who had been standing behind us in line tried to worm around to my left and squeeze between me and the door. I wasn't having any of that... with my left hand I took a hold of the bar just inside the bus door, blocking any further advancement of the jerks behind us, and made sure hubs and my friend got on the bus before them.
4) I actually verify there are no bikes/mopeds/cars coming before I step out onto the street. Interestingly enough, drivers seem to get irritated if I wave for them to proceed while I'm standing beside the road. Hubs and I were walking yesterday, not even in a crosswalk but getting ready to cross the entrance to a parking garage. We waved the approaching car to proceed, but the driver refused. Whatever.
5) I DO NOT RIDE MY BIKE ON THE SIDEWALK!!! Just this past Saturday I almost got mowed over because I verified there were no bikes approaching in the bike lane (it was a situation where bike traffic is 1 way), crossed the bike lane and stepped in front of a bicycle riding on the sidewalk in the direction I hadn't looked, because the fietser was too freaking lazy to go on the other side of the street to ride in the bike lane going in the proper direction. And on Friday I was walking on the sidewalk facing down a fietser because she wanted to turn right, and even though the sidewalk was curbed to accommodate fietsers turning right, she didn't feel compelled to actually bike where she was supposed to, even though the bike lane was literally RIGHT BESIDE THE SIDEWALK!!! GRRR!!!
6) I don't push my shopping cart sideways down the grocery store aisles. Here in NL, the grocery carts (winkelwagens) have 4 wheel drive... each wheel on the cart can spin 360 degrees. On more than 1 occasion I've come across a fellow shopper who, for some reason I cannot fathom, thinks it is a wonderful idea to push their cart perpendicular to the aisle.
7) (Related to #6) If I see other people coming down the sidewalk or store aisle, I will make room for them, even if I'm walking with someone else. I swear the Dutch play a game called "How much sidewalk can I use?". I have seen groups of 4-5 people walking side-by-side on the sidewalk. And these aren't American sidewalks that are luxuriously wide... nope. There is barely room for these people to walk abreast. But, by God, they will do it and they're not interested in making room for people walking in the other direction. Similarly, I've seen groups of fietsers biking side-by-side where 1 is actually biking on the sidewalk to achieve this goal. Heaven forbid that person should have to bike behind the others (to be fair, these are usually school-aged children).
8) When I get on the bus/train/tram, I always get into the interior seat (if it is available) and place my bags on my lap, making sure the seat beside is available for other rides to use. (See this blog post)
9) I'm not openly belligerent to strangers if they don't acknowledge that I'm speaking to them. (See this blog post and this blog post)
10) I actually say "Yes, please" and "No, thank you". As I mentioned here all conversations are to be bookended with some form of salutation. You can be as rude as you want anywhere between the salutations, but if you don't bookend your conversations you are rude.
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