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Original poster

Biggest cultural shock you have come across?

731 replies

hibbledobble · 08/05/2017 14:11

What have you encountered while travelling that was your biggest cultural shock?

I'll go first: in Poland I saw families/extended families living 10+ in a 2 bedroom home. The concept of having a bedroom or even a bed to oneself is seemingly unheard of. Everyone sleeps in different beds each night, and beds are often shared. Having visitors in this set up is no problem either: everyone just rearranges. Water also came from Wells, lots of homes had no bathrooms. Ovens were these metal beasts that were plugged into the mains.

OP posts:
KroplaBeskidu · 08/05/2017 16:19

whatwould It's awful isn't it. This American I was chatting to basically completely justified it to himself that he was giving them money they wouldn't have had otherwise Hmm

LaLegue · 08/05/2017 16:20

Ohhhh! I work in a university and on more than one occasion a colleague has gone into the toilet immediately following the same overseas student and found shit on the seat. I've been utterly baffled about how a functioning adult can repeatedly shit on a toilet seat but if they were standing on it, that would make sense!

Of course, I'd completely forgotten that part of the story!!! - my DH's utter horror wasn't just at the fact there were footprints on the loo seat but shit as well! He'd had to try a few before he could find one that he could hover low enough over without having to touch any. Shock

MsGameandWatch · 08/05/2017 16:21

How rude, abrupt and arrogant every single customer facing person I met in the U.S was. Seriously, so quick to move to confrontation before peaceful resolution. And they don't want to listen, they want you to follow instructions and STFU and will shout you down till you do. God knows what they teach them on their training courses because it seems to be "You're fabulous, you're in charge, fuck the customer."

First time in Bangkok, from the hotel room it was skyscrapers and roads - like any other city. Once you step outside it's noise and street food and steam grates and it's not laid out in a logical way, dead ends everywhere and endless passageways to who knows where. I couldn't get to grips with it at all.

RubbishMantra · 08/05/2017 16:22

Manchester - 8am seeing a man in an alleyway, sticking a syringe up his anus. Confused

Gambia - going to police station - several goats and a brood of chickens in the yard. There were families living in the empty offices, which they rented off the police. And yes, the holding hands thing. I just assumed they had a much more laid back attitude than other Muslim countries to being gay. (was wrong, obv.)

megletthesecond · 08/05/2017 16:23

Those gaps around the doors in toilet cubicles in the USA. It all looks lovely. Until you realise people can see you peeing from a fee angles.

And yy to the toilets in China. FWIW I've been to India where the ones at tourist sites and monuments really were surprisingly ok.

megletthesecond · 08/05/2017 16:24

few angles.

mommybunny · 08/05/2017 16:26

MsGame you have obviously never been to a restaurant in the US if you think "every single customer facing person" is that rude, abrupt and arrogant. Wait staff in restaurants are completely reliant on tips and most would seriously lick your shoes and call you "Your Majesty" if they thought it would lead to a bigger one.

That said, there are plenty of rude, abrupt and arrogant customer facing people but they're usually in the airports. No tips there, so no reason to be polite.

Puzzledandpissedoff · 08/05/2017 16:26

megle whatever you do then, avoid the toilets in Costco in the UK ... they appear to have imported the US-type cubicles along with everything else Wink

mommybunny · 08/05/2017 16:29

Having visited loos in Costco in the US and the UK, I can say the UK's are slightly better.

FamilySpartan · 08/05/2017 16:32

On a boat in the Mekong in Laos we passed a dead body floating in the water. It had obviously been there a few days. The captain of the boat just kind of shrugged.

I had a number of experiences in SE Asia that really showed me that life can be cheap there.

MsGameandWatch · 08/05/2017 16:33

I actually have been to restaurants in the US quite a few times and have found them abrupt there too. In a bar in New York the waitress had a screamy row with the manager and then came and shouted at us because we'd tried to order our drinks at the bar not realising it was table service only.

OneWildNightWithJBJ · 08/05/2017 16:33

Our tuk-tuk driver taking me to a doctor's surgery in Sri Lanka, which was absolutely packed, with people sitting on the floor, standing... People insisting I go ahead in front of them all. I didn't obviously and left. Managed to pick up what I needed from a chemist.

Also in Sri Lanka, people living in actual huts on the beach. I knew they did I suppose, but it was weird seeing it.

LillianGish · 08/05/2017 16:33

Joining a gym in Berlin and finding out that the rule in the (mixed) spa was no swimwear or towels - but woebetide anyone who went in barefoot!

Kursk · 08/05/2017 16:35

CrunchySeaweed

I have seen the chain gangs too in the US.

Also our neighbor being so happy that he and his 12 year old son got doe tags that year because they really needed the meat.

amusedbush · 08/05/2017 16:36

MsGame

That's unfortunate. Any time we've eaten in the US the wait staff have fallen over themselves to give excellent service. I was once served a bad meal and everything I'd ordered (including drinks and sides) was taken off the bill with a massive apology.

I will agree that I've experienced shitty attitude from people working in retail. I've never had a nice experience in Century 21, for example and I've shopped there many times.

Cackleberry4 · 08/05/2017 16:36

Where do I begin?

Afghanistan, the Kabul Co-Op, a shack shop with legs of lamb hanging in 30C temps.

Southern state in the US where I asked a gas station attendant how far the highway Junction was. His reply was, 'I don't know, I live up in the mountains', less than half a mile a long the road I found the junction.

China, I don't know where to begin, but it was a long time ago.

Malaysia was much cleaner and friendlier than I had anticipated, especially in the markets where I loathe being hassled.

Italy, prostitutes hanging around in lay-by's ready to entertain the next passing punter.

CheersMedea · 08/05/2017 16:36

meglet

Those gaps around the doors in toilet cubicles in the USA.

Don't you mean people can see you from all angles! I really don't get it. Why would you design a toilet door like that? And have it EVERYWHERE???? WHY?? Do they have no sense of privacy?

Another thing that I had to learn (not exactly culture shock but different) was that the flush handle is low in those kind of office/public toilets because it is designed to be used by your foot for hygiene reasons - so no one has to touch the toilet handle with their hand. I was "aaaahhh! I get it!"

Pallisers · 08/05/2017 16:37

How rude, abrupt and arrogant every single customer facing person I met in the U.S was. Seriously, so quick to move to confrontation before peaceful resolution. And they don't want to listen, they want you to follow instructions and STFU and will shout you down till you do. God knows what they teach them on their training courses because it seems to be "You're fabulous, you're in charge, fuck the customer."

this is completely the opposite of my experience in 20 years in the US. Every single customer facing person I have dealt with whether it be phone company, waiters, hairdressers, etc etc has been helpful and pleasant. You had a distinctly unusual experience.

Trollspoopglitter · 08/05/2017 16:37

No OP, that is not the norm in Poland. It was in early 1970s but not today. Especially not near Kraków. Were you with Dr Who when you visited?

OlennasWimple · 08/05/2017 16:39

The more I see of the world, the more I realise that it's not "them", it's us Brits who are the odd ones out...

supersop60 · 08/05/2017 16:39

Beggars in India.

Xmasbaby11 · 08/05/2017 16:40

A communal trough for a toilet in China.

Spitting bones onto the floor in China.

Spitting randomly in China.

People leaving plastic packaging on things to make them look newer. For years. Eg inside of car. In China.

Nowhere else I've been has been as shocking. I lived there 10 years ago. Would love to go back!

user1471523870 · 08/05/2017 16:41

@Barbara, sorry I didn't mean in any way to imply Brits are filthy! I should think before typing sometimes but I genuinely wrote my 'shocking' discoveries as genuine cultural diversities.
In fact I not only no longer use a bidet, but haven't even got one when I renovated my home. I just take a shower in the morning and use the small shower head on the bath during the day.
The standard way of using a bidet is when you still have your knickers down, you just jump on it (it's normally next to the toilet) and you dry with a special 'bidet towel', which is just a small towel (that you put in the laundry bin straight after). Or you take off one leg of your trousers
You do it only if at home and it takes seconds.

MsGameandWatch · 08/05/2017 16:41

Then there was the bar tender who tried to give my ex husband change for a ten dollar bill when he had paid with a fifty. We'd been warned about that so were really on it. Loads of bluster and till slamming. Then the waitress that huffed and puffed and moaned because we came into the diner at 6 am and you know actually ordered breakfast because it was open at 6 am. Also we were in a restaurant where you had to turn a sign round on the table when you needed service and they'd see it and stop, that sign clearly pissed her right off and she made it quite clear that it did. Maybe we were just unlucky though.

Turkeyneck · 08/05/2017 16:43

Yes, lack of central heating in houses in Australia. They really need it in autumn and winter! Especially as the older houses there tend to be very draughty. I was always freezing!