Quote:
Originally Posted by Capsicum
Maybe I'm uninformed about this, but I always thought that the stereotype (at least in the west) was that westerners (Americans especially but also Anglophones more broadly) are blunt, straight-talking in a frank confident in-your-face way, and easterners (Asians etc.) were the ones who were indirect, obsessed with not sticking out, "saving face" etc.
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Caveat: my experience with east asian cultural norms is based primarily on China (where I lived for several years many moons ago), informed only by some travel to Japan and Korea. However, I think its fair to say that, in east Asia, there are very different standards of politeness for friends, family, colleagues than there is for everyday interactions with restaurant staff, bus drivers, strangers on the street, etc.
In China, it is perfectly acceptable to bark one's order at the waitress without wasting time and energy on small talk.
I think its actually pretty acceptable in the parts of Central Asia and the Middle East that I've been to. Even in Western Europe, I don't find that there is the same expectation of folksiness and small talk during "service interactions" like one finds in North America.
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