Neither are chimps tho
This was great to read again, what a twist ending.
No, but it has a real deficit when it comes to RPG elements. Most quests don't really have choices that affect outcomes, the character building is essentially limited to just perks and aesthetics and doesn't really affect gameplay very much, etc. The post you replied to was making the point that usually either the shooter part is half baked or the RPG part is half baked, and the RPG side of Fallout 4 is half baked to put it nicely.
Interesting is optional tho
This is only kind of true, in my experience. A surprising amount of people will be comfortable using the word with you in private or in a small group, but in public it's about as taboo as you'd think.
I did this several times as a teenager in central Texas with cases of beer, and the store employees acted the exact same way. Like Monty said, stores would rather lose the small amount of merchandise than potentially face a lawsuit for excessive use of force. This isn't the result of California being a lawless wasteland, it's just regular old petty theft.
That's just America tho, none of those things are unique to California except for maybe the extreme drought. Spend time in a place like Lubbock Texas and Bakersfield will seem like a wonderland.