May 24, 2007
Excuse You
One of the most enduring experiences of expat life is dealing with cultural differences, especially those that are "normal" in your new country but considered quite rude in your home one.
One of the most recent I've had to deal with is the too-early phone call: I put my car up for sale in a classified ad last week, and since then, at least three people have called me at 8:30 in the morning.
Apparently, that's considered fair game here in Australia (the idea being that "most people" are headed to work for 9 am), but if you tried doing that in NYC you'd get ripped a new one. Forgetting the fact that I was asleep at the time (I'm on a tourist visa now, so of course I'm not on my way to work), it's just the idea of getting a call so damn early.
Back in New York, I was raised very specifically with the "10-to-10" rule: you don't call someone you don't know (or know well) before 10 am or after 10 pm. Of course, I haven't yelled at anyone for it, because I know they don't think they're being rude, but I can't help swearing a bit as I grope sleepily for my phone on the nightstand.
Anyone else have any stories about dealing with "rudeness" (for you, if not for them) in another culture while living abroad?
UPDATE: This morning, someone texted me at 7:49 am, and then another guy called at 7:52 am. Can you guess how furious I was?
Posted by wildsoda at May 24, 2007 06:20 AMYou don't call or call on people from midday to 4pm in Oman (everyone is praying or eating or sleeping or praying). Or at sunset (especially in Ramadan, unless you're invited to break fast). Shops sort of open at 9 and close at 12 and open at 5 and close at 9 or 10 (or 11, sometimes). Government offices, banks etc tend to be open from 8 or 9 until 1 or 2. It's quite a nice way to live, actually.
In Queensland the rule is more like "8:30-to-8:30". Then again everything's shut after 6pm :-)
Posted by: flerdle at May 24, 2007 07:36 AMback home (austria) it used to be 8-8. although i'd chop anyone's head off if they call me before 10. now that i have a teenage daughter, the phone rings day and night. i have to get used to that, earplugs have become my good friends ;-)
Posted by: johanna at May 24, 2007 02:26 PMWhat about a phone call at 7:00 in the morning I received in Germany by an employee of the municipality looking for information about the owner of a car who happened to have my same name? The car had been towed away by the municipal police and, after several weeks since then, the owner had not got it back yet. Unfortunately, in my Italian semi-asleep state I was not ready to take advantage of the situation, and the idea of getting a Mercedes under payment of a 200 Euro fine came much later, towards 10:30.
Posted by: Dichtung at May 26, 2007 12:12 AMWhen I was growing up (in the UK mostly), there was the 9-9 rule. Now I (and many of my friends) have small kids, it's more of a 7.30-9 rule, as I know most will have been up since 6 anyway! But then there are the 'windows' during the day when it's just not good to call - 8am til 9.30 (school rush), and 6-7pm (bath and bedtime).
The only people that can ring me outside these times are my mum or husband - anyone else gets put on divert (my phone ring tells me who it is). If people call excessively early or late, it has *got* to be an emergency or I am really very cross! When Lady Diana died, I knew something was *very* wrong, as a friend of ours called at 6am.
Posted by: jen at May 29, 2007 06:40 PMMy strange experience was going to a noodle house in Japan and hearing everyone "slurping' their noodles & soup. I had visions of the glare I got from my mom when I tried to do the same thing with spaghetti when I was a child. No matter how hard I tried to do this, I could never get over the lessons I had learned when I was young.
My telephone rule was 9 to 9 here on the West Coast of Canada...
Posted by: lola at May 30, 2007 08:14 PM