I’ve been bingeing on UK mystery series for a while now and some things happen so frequently that I am concluding they are totally customary yet virtually never happen in the United States.
Here’s a typical scenario. A detective arrives at the door of a potential witness and asks if he might come inside. Once admitted, he is either offered tea (sometimes coffee) or the host simply goes ahead and brews some. Often, the cop waits to be served before beginning the questioning.
Is this the custom? Is this normal or even expected?
Here’s another scenario. The manager or boss has a visitor and he breaks out two glasses, pulls out a bottle of whiskey from a desk drawer or perhaps from off a window sill and pours some for himself and the visitor. In the U.S., anyone lower than ownership or top-level management might be put on notice or even fired for even having whiskey around, much less pouring some for himself and/or a visitor.
What’s going on over there across the pond?