California’s Legislative Analyst’s Office found that 13% of the state’s employees worked mainly from home in 2024. That’s nearly triple the pre-pandemic share. Your manager has been watching that Zoom rectangle for years now, and they’ve gotten good at reading it. These are the things your California manager notices during video calls. Note: This is…
The USDA counts about 24.7 million hogs in Iowa, in a state of roughly 3.2 million people. That ratio is the last thing out-of-staters expect. These are the things that confuse everyone who moves to Iowa. 1. Fareway’s Carryout Service Fareway, Iowa’s homegrown grocery chain, sends a bagger out to the parking lot with every…
The Texas Legislature made chili the official state dish in 1977, by House Concurrent Resolution 18. That settled the paperwork and nothing else. Nearly every dish Texas is known for carries an assumption that falls apart the second it crosses a state line. These are the Texas dishes out-of-staters almost always misunderstand. 1. Chicken-Fried Steak…
Bankrate’s 2025 survey found 55% of people who lent money or covered a shared expense expecting repayment ran into trouble afterward. More than half. Among family. Virginia’s small claims court caps a case like that at $5,000 and won’t let either side bring a lawyer into the room. These are the rules Virginia families should…
More than 2,000 dealers set up at the Springfield Antique Show’s fall Extravaganza this Friday, by the organizers’ count. Buyers with flashlights circle the tables before the gates open. None of what they’re after looks expensive, and a lot of it spent thirty years in somebody’s cabinet. These are the once-ordinary items Ohio collectors are…
Most Ohioans aren’t trying to make a cashier’s job difficult. But some of the things they do at the register create extra work without them realizing it. These are the customer habits that make an Ohio grocery cashier’s shift harder. 1. Skipping the Order Divider For an Ohio grocery cashier, a thin plastic bar on…
Ashwagandha gummies are chasing a supplement market that Grand View Research values at nearly $840 million a year worldwide. Pennsylvania living rooms had a version of this in 1950. It had a different name, a different pitch, but the same promise. The Food and Drug Administration still doesn’t approve any of it before it goes…
San Diego’s median home sells for $686 a square foot this year, per Redfin. Drive an hour inland to Riverside, and it drops to $390 per square foot. That gap moved a lot of people, and it isn’t the only thing that changed for them. These are the things Californians who moved inland miss about…
The tailgate lots outside a North Carolina stadium fill up hours before kickoff. A first-time visitor pictures grills and coolers. What’s out there runs on rules other Americans would never dream of. These are the things North Carolinians do at a tailgate that tourists find strange. Fans Along the Team Walk UNC tailgaters claim a…
New York opens archery season for deer in the Northern Zone on Sept. 27, and Upstate spends most of this month getting ready for it. Downstate, nobody notices. These are the things Upstate New Yorkers do in September that the rest of the state finds strange. 1. Racing the First Frost Old bedsheets and tarps…
