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Being rude is also largely cultural. Sometimes American niceties although superficially are very pleasant can get tiring to people who tend to be more introvert
by bdhe 15y ago
Being rude is also largely cultural. Sometimes American niceties although superficially are very pleasant can get tiring to people who tend to be more introverted and are from cultures that are more straightforward. Many people I've personally known complain that German flight attendants seem rude which I think is more a cultural difference than anything else. Similarly, however difficult it might be, one must always be judged to be rude or not based on intent and not body language or tone alone (at least, give him/her the benefit of doubt).
- vacri 15y agoI met a 70-year-old South African man living in Arizona. He mentioned one of the strange things about polite behaviour was sending 'thank you' cards. He said it was more for his generation and wasn't so much with the younger folks, but basically he was saying you would visit someone and stay with them, and it didn't matter if you thanked them profusely and gave them gifts or paid for dinners to show gratitude, you still needed to send a 'thank you' letter when you got home. If you didn't send it, the other party would usually be offended. Similarly a consultant friend of mine talks of a US colleague who worked in her office for half a year here in Aus. Just before he went back he lamented that he probably would have had a better time if he'd realised that the people being perfectly polite to him in the office probably didn't like him, and those making friendly fun of him probably liked him a lot.
- vacri 15y ago(to clarify, the 'thank you' note was a US thing, strange to a South African upbringing)