I'm an American and I've travelled to over 80 countries, here's why I think the USA is one of the most selfish countries I've been to

Hello everyone, I've been fortunate to travel to over 80 countries throughout the years and have lived in many of them for a few months at a time. This doesn't make me an expert or an experienced world traveller, but I do have a solid basis of comparison. I'm American and always stay in the USA for a few months between trips before I travel again.<br><br>I've seen a lot of travellers complain about the USA in general and wanted to share my thoughts. I've travelled here for over a decade and I have to say that the United States is one of the most selfish places I've been to out of all the countries I've been to. I would go as far as to say that it's the only country I've been to where the residents seem to outright refuse to make even the smallest changes to improve the country.<br><br>I've found that the most compelling proof of this is food establishments that don't have their menu items listed online anywhere. A lot of times I've found myself calling restaurants and asking them for their menu so that I can order something free from animal products. A lot of times the people on the phone are upset that I would ask them to read out their entire menu to me, but honestly I just don't get why they wouldn't want to list all of their menu items online for everyone to see. It seems obvious to me that your customers would want to know what they're buying before they buy it.<br><br>This may seem like a small thing to many, but when you're a vegan this is a big issue and you will encounter this often. It's honestly one of the worst things about living in the USA in comparison to other countries. It's so bad that I avoid eating out because it's not only unhealthy but I feel guilty knowing that I'm harming the environment and animals for something that I don't even enjoy that much. It's disappointing when you go to a restaurant that looks nice and is serving a cuisine that you love, only to find out that they have nothing on the menu that you can eat.<br><br>I feel that this trivial issue holds a lot of weight and is a great example of the selfishness of people in the USA. It's not just that they refuse to list their menu items online, it's the way they react to you asking for their menu. They're upset and annoyed that you would even ask for that. They don't care that what they're doing is making it impossible for you to access the services they're providing. They don't care that you're going to go home and cook yourself because their menu doesn't cater to your needs.<br><br>A few people suggested that it's because restaurants frequently change their menu items and don't want to confuse customers by having outdated menus online. This is a weak excuse in my opinion, because they can just list the items that remain on the menu every day and then list their specials for each day of the week. Once again, I see this as a small compromise for the business to make in order to satisfy a larger amount of customers. I don't see why that's such a bad thing.<br><br>It's hard for me to say that America is selfish when I know that there are so many good people here who care about others, but my experience is that this country is set up to only cater to certain people and intentionally alienate others who don't fit into a narrow criteria of a standard American. I have to change my entire lifestyle in order to live here, whereas in other countries it's easy for me to find places to eat and other services that cater to me and others like me.<br><br>&#x200B;