Every week I do one brief writeup of some cultural experience I had during the week. This was one I wrote up a month or so ago. I hope it helps you to better understand what life is like here and I think you'll get some laughs out of it, too. Enjoy!
Physical Location
Inside the post office. The whole post office was located in one large room. When I first walked into the post office I saw a long counter with around 10 people standing on one side of the counter waiting for assistance. They weren't standing in a line, but were all standing up against the counter. On the other side of the counter there were four people waiting on the people on the other side of the counter. In the back, there were five or six people sorting mail or running mail from the front counter to the back of the room to be sorted. There was a small storage room in the back that looked like it stored mailing envelopes and supplies.
Participants
The people behind the counter are waiting on the customers on the other side of the counter. There is one leader waiting on people behind the counter. There are runners who are taking the mail from the counter to the back to be sorted. There are people in the back sorting the mail.
Goals
My goal was to mail a package to another [location in my city]. This was my second attempt at mailing something from this post office. I had visited the p.o. the previous day, but the man told me they were closed. I went in expecting that it would be crowded without lines and it would be more of a "free-for-all". I'm glad that it wasn't more crowded because I think it might have been more confusing. At first, I guess I tried to form my own line. I was the only person forming a second row behind the people standing at the counter waiting for service. I quickly realized that I would need to push my way into a spot at the counter to be waited on. I did this, but I didn't say anything because I was waiting for them to get done with the other people they were waiting on first. Then I realized I had to get pushy and interrupt for them to wait on me. One p.o. worker kept staring at me and even asked me what I needed, but wouldn't help me (maybe she couldn't understand me?). A man finally waited on me and then gave my package to the lady who didn't want to help me earlier. She told me how many rupees the package would be, I paid her and she gave me three stamps. I started to walk away from the counter and realized I had no idea what to do with the package once I affixed the stamps, so I asked a young girl who was waiting for service at the counter. It took awhile fo her to understand what I was asking, but she finally told me I simply needed to glue the stamps and hand it back to the p.o. workers. I glued the stamps and then forgot that I needed to be pushy to get service again, but the young girl who had helped me intervened on my behalf and got the p.o. worker's attention. I handed my package over, thanked the young girl and left.
Feelings
I was a little confused at first, but overall I felt confident and went into the event prepared for anything. I'm glad I was able to locate the p.o. and get help from the young girl. I got a little frustrated at myself for being too timid. I was reminded that I need to be pushy and more assertive to get things done here - that's a struggle for me, but I'm still working at it!
Questions/Activities for future exploration
How can I be assertive and "pushy" without coming off as a rude Westerner?
6 comments:
Maybe it would be useful for you to think about the meaning of "rude" in American culture and the meaning of "rude" in this part of India. The same behaviors may not and, likely, will not have the same meaning.
It's funny (odd) that here in the U.S. certain behaviors are considered rude in some locations but commonly acceptable in others. In my part of the Midwest, people stare at each other in ways that I think would not only be considered rude in the eastern U.S. and northern Midwest, but also dangerous in some urban locations. Here, however, people do it and do not seem to think there is anything wrong with it.
Anyway, people will perceive and judge or evaluate your Westerness and not just your behavior depending on who they are and their predispositions toward westerners, I think.
Maybe you should adopt the "when in Rome" attitude.
The post office needs more structure so that people don't need to be pushy and things will get done sooner. If I was in that place, I would be very angry.
As for behavior, you have to learn to behave like them. I think this philosophy "If you can't beat them, join them" is kind of applied to your ordeal. I agree with del. So I don't have to say anything more.
It's funny how foreigners come to US to get good education and then go back and not use it. Sadly, lots of Koreans come to get a degree from Harvard just to look good, not to get proper education.
In India's case, it would be cool if they could build a system for post office to follow so everyone could be happy. RIT have bunch of them! Engineers and Computer Science... I hope they could do that. I mean, that's what education is for! To better the world.
*facepalm* Complain, complain, whine, whine, cheese.
The thing is, Annie, there's nothing inherently "wrong" with their system. It works fine for them and I don't believe that they need to change the way they run their post offices. That's not the point of this post. My apologies if it came across that way.
Being "pushy" is how they operate in their environment. It's not considered rude or wrong, so you're right in saying that I need to learn how to behave like them, not criticize their behavior. Everyone here is happy with the way things operate, so why change it?
Maybe you need a crowd distraction. You know those hand held air horns so beloved by boaters. Properly blown could disperse the chaos thereby allowing quick service.
you're right that there is nothing inherently "wrong" in the PO system in India. del makes a good point about what is rude, exactly?
however, the "when in rome" advice falls apart at a certain point when it runs counter to values our father teaches us. in this case, there certainly is some overlap between rude and loving, but determining whether or not there is a line separating the two is a valid exercise
Post a Comment