Week number...I'm losing count. Is that good?
Continuing saga of culture shocks in America....
Well... it's week number 8 or something or
other now. Now it's becoming difficult to keep count.. .Is that good or bad?
Let's see. What's there to report. WELL.
My shipment arrived. There is definitely a difference in the level of service
between the USA and Asia. When I moved to Singapore, not only did they unwrap
my things, but at my request, they even put the books into the shelves (in no
particular order) and kitchen-ware etc into cupboards. Okay, I'd go look for
them, but at least that meant that my place did not look like a war zone.
Here, everyone wishes you a nice day, but, "Sorry - you want me to put the
books into the shelves? Sorry, not allowed to do that. Doesn't matter what
you say, sir, we are not allowed to put things away. You can do that
yourself.... " In Asia, the movers offered to come back within the week
once I'd decided where I wanted my pictures hung, and they would hang the
pictures for me. Here, well...one of the pictures didn't make it- sounds
like a broken frame. Guess what? I have to go myself to get a quote and get
it repaired. Sorry, but this is a 5ft by 3 ft frame - I don't have a truck or
a van here. "Sorry sir... that's how it is." I now learn that when she moved
to the US one my female colleagues turned on the movers and told them in no
uncertain terms they were not leaving her home until they had packed things
away. They complained like crazy, but did pack things away. I think women
can get away with things like that...
Anyway this incident reminded me of the
greetings when going into shops - people rush up to you to wish you "Have a
nice day!" but strangely don't realise that the day would be nicer if I got a
bit of service.
On the "Have a nice day" point, you've got to
hand it to some Americans in terms of how pleasantries have developed
into meaningless expressions that are automatically trotted out without a
thought as to what is being said. Case in point, how many Americans do you
know that cannot just say "Hello" without proceeding to ask you "How are
you?" Just listening to the opening words around the office here, and this
overflow of care and concern can make the office sound like the Samaritans or
Befrienders switchboard. Truth be told, they probably don't really give a
hoot how you are. I recently had a case of a woman, with whom I had
just engaged in a long telephone conversation, ring me less than 3 minutes
after we had ended our call:
"Hello, Darren speaking."
"Hello Darren, it's XXXX here. How are you?"
... my mind decided to evaluate the
possibility of launching into an organ recital ("my headache is still here,
and my sinuses are bad. However my tonsils are fine, and my lungs are
clear...") then thought about something dramatic, like, "Well, I haven't
developed cancer, and my cholesterol is under control - blood pressure still
normal..." but then decided that would be too easy - like taking candy from a
child... just no fun at all...
"Fine. What's up?"
Having said that, this litany of pleasantries
seems to get longer the further South you go. Down in the Deep South, the
litany does not end with a simple "How are you?" Be prepared to listen to
recital of your origins and genealogy, your antecedents and predecessors! And
the amazing thing is that down there, there is actually a feeling of warmth -
they actually ARE interested. Luke is a great friend of mine who hails from
Nashville, and I had the great privilege of visiting him there. We had gone
driving around the area, and had stopped at what looked like a historic
village - which had a tourist information centre. So we dropped by.
Amazingly, Luke approached the counter, and after the initial, "Good
afternoon" launched into a disclosure of who he was, where he was from, who I
was, where I was from, where we met... At that time, I thought it odd - we
only wanted a tourist map, not a security pass to the vaults! But you know
what? I still feel that the people I met there actually enjoyed the telling,
the talking, and it showed in their warmth. I will say this - don't usually
get that up in New York, that I can tell you.
Let's see - I won't give an organ recital,
but I must say, my sinuses have been acting up lately. Seems like Cincinnati
ranks somewhere near the top of the list of cities with the worst air
quality. However, this is winter - wonder why that would be so bad. Am
trying an over the counter anti-histamine for now, but may well have to drag
myself to a doctor soon as my anti-histamine of choice is only available by
prescription. If this doesn't clear up, I'll have to do that. Which leads
to another Culture Shock Item: you can't find general practitioners here.
Everyone is a specialist in one thing or other. Or in more than one thing. I
had to plough through a whole long list of specialists just to try to find
someone with something that looked like general medicine. My colleagues have
their own allergist, podiatrist, cardiologist, and what-ever-ist.
Oh - so far, I have managed to avoid P&G
people outside of work. Well, Bob at church is retired, so that's fine,
right? So far, I've managed to end up hanging out (when I do go out) with
people from the artistic side of life. Very different world, which makes it
all the more interesting. Having said that, it's interesting to meet people
like Richard and Howard (http://www.concertartists.com/SteinbachandHelvey.html)
and realise they are actually humans, and nice ones at that. (By the way, I
actually have their CD, which I had bought before meeting them!) Makes for a
change when the topic of conversation isn't about corporate restructuring,
foreign tax credits, captive insurance companies or transfer pricing defences,
but is about Steinways, the voicing of the pianos, the number of hours before
a concert a performer has to practice on instruments before a performance.
Which also brought up at dinner last night, a similar problem for dancers - at
dinner last night was a dancer from the Cincinnati Ballet, who explained that
it can get very bad for them because they need to be able to gauge the breadth
and width of a stage so that they can dance and leap etc without falling off
the stage. Once the stage lights are on, you can't size the place by sight:
has to be done by feel. Sometimes the theatre might not give them more than
an hour before curtain to run around, and get a feel for the place.
Not my normal dinner conversation, that's for
sure!
Okay. Time for me to go. I have to go to
sleep soon.
Good night for now.
***************************************************************************
Darren N T Koh,
LLB(Hons), Barrister, FCA, CTA, CA(M)
224 East 8th St
Apt 204, Cincinnati OH45202-2124; United States of America
Telephone: +1 (513) 721 0801 Fax/voicemail: +1 (646) 514 6327 Mobile: +1 (513)
293 9348
Homepage:
www.oocities.org/dazzakoh
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Amended on:
Sunday August 01, 2004