I call bullshit. I'm living in Ireland now, have been routinely travelling through Europe since quite some time, and while I've never visited the U.S., I've been to Canada quite recently.

It's pretty obvious, that you guys are already conditioned to see nothing wrong with that behaviour, but it's still not the norm. It's not the norm even in the US, as one of the previous comments has shown.

Let me tell you, the behaviour you're describing as normal is not normal at all. I've seen this type of attitude only once, in 1989, when travelling through the West Germany / East Germany border. For those who don't remember, East Germany was not exactly friendly to their neigbouring country.