Cultural differences (6-2)

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1
An Irish woman was visiting tourist places in a Latin American city when she got a terrible headache. She knew what medicine she needed, so she stepped into a local pharmacy. The pharmacist was waiting on another customer when she came in. The Irish woman patiently waited her turn. While she was standing there, two other customers came in, then another, and then three more. Each time, the pharmacist turned his attention to the new people. He did not greet the Irish woman; he never said, "I'II be with you in a minute."

After about twenty minutes, the woman couldn't stand the pain in her head any longer. "Hey, I've been here a long time," she said loudly, very annoyed and insulted. "Why is everyone ignoring me? I need service too!" she shouted rudely (impolitely).

2
A Middle-Eastern businessman and his brother invited an American guest to their family home for dinner. The American got there on time and enjoyed the interesting conversation, the coffee, and the attention. But as time passed, he got very, very hungry. Finally he asked in an impatient voice, "So when do we eat?"
"Finally you are hungry!" answered one of his hosts. "We were waiting for you to say you were ready to eat."

At the dinner table everything was delicious, and the American guest ate quickly. He emptied his plate, and his hosts' wives put more food on it. As soon as he cleaned his plate a second time, the women served him more. After several plates of food, he could eat no more: he was going to burst! "Please, please, please-don't give me any more food," he begged them. "I can't eat another bite!"

"Then why didn't you leave any food on the plate?" asked the other host, surprised. "We were amazed at how much you were eating!"

3
A group of international students were attending college in Europe. They had a long time between semesters for travel, so they decided to hitchhike as far as they could in other countries. In many places, they were successful: they put their thumbs out or pointed them backwards and smiled; friendly drivers stopped. As soon as the first traveler got a "yes" answer from a driver, he motioned with his hand or fingers for his friends to come-or he held both thumbs up in an "O.K." sign or made a circle with the thumb and the next finger of one hand. The young tourists saved money, saw a lot of the countryside, and had interesting conversations and experiences.
On the other hand, in Greece and Turkey, the visitors were not so lucky. Few drivers stopped to give them rides; instead, most people ignored them. Others gave them mean looks from their cars: they seemed almost insulted that the visitors were begging for rides. A few drivers shouted terrible words at the travelers; two even got out of their truck and started a fight. The students felt confused, afraid, and unwelcome; after a few days they took the bus back to the countries where they were studying.