Probably one of my first ever encounters of intercultural conflict occurred when I was 18 while working as a waiter at Indochine Wisma Atria. Due to its prominent location in bustling Orchard Road and the alfresco setting amidst the unforgiving Singapore weather, the bar regularly sees a steady stream of beer and sun loving tourists dropping by for a pint of ice cold beer. I had the utmost displeasure of serving a particular frenchman one evening.
"Can I have your order, sir?", I asked.
"One Carlsberg.", he replied curtly.
"Certainly", I replied and turned towards the bar to collect his drink, sighing as I thought about the long night ahead.
Soon, I returned with the beer and presented the bill to him and he flew into a rage.
"Singapore is very rude, in France we get bill only when we finish our drink! Here, everywhere I go to drink, I get bill straight!", he yelled in his attempt at the English language.
Taken aback, I took a deep breath and explained to the irate customer that it was common practice in local bars for non-dining customers to pay for their drinks upon receiving them. Without drinking a single drop, he slammed a $50 bill on the table and walked away leaving a trail of expletives in a mix of French and English. By this time, the change from the $50 was not enough to erase the stares from everyone in the premises.
My manager advised me that occurances like this, even though uncommon, was not rare. Different cultures have different expectations. The Europeans tend to be sensitive to perceived 'impatience'. My guess is that they bring their day-long coffee drinking culture wherever they travel. The fast-paced life in metropolitan Singapore could be a little hectic for them and the last thing they want is to be rushed to pay up for their drink which they have not even enjoyed.
From then on, I took extra caution and effort to identify different cultures and levels of hostility. The problem was solved by asking customers if they would like to settle the bill immediately or later. Even though the majority of patrons are warm and accomodating, there are always the not-so-friendly ones and it takes a keen eye and a bad experience to identify one.
"Can I have your order, sir?", I asked.
"One Carlsberg.", he replied curtly.
"Certainly", I replied and turned towards the bar to collect his drink, sighing as I thought about the long night ahead.
Soon, I returned with the beer and presented the bill to him and he flew into a rage.
"Singapore is very rude, in France we get bill only when we finish our drink! Here, everywhere I go to drink, I get bill straight!", he yelled in his attempt at the English language.
Taken aback, I took a deep breath and explained to the irate customer that it was common practice in local bars for non-dining customers to pay for their drinks upon receiving them. Without drinking a single drop, he slammed a $50 bill on the table and walked away leaving a trail of expletives in a mix of French and English. By this time, the change from the $50 was not enough to erase the stares from everyone in the premises.
My manager advised me that occurances like this, even though uncommon, was not rare. Different cultures have different expectations. The Europeans tend to be sensitive to perceived 'impatience'. My guess is that they bring their day-long coffee drinking culture wherever they travel. The fast-paced life in metropolitan Singapore could be a little hectic for them and the last thing they want is to be rushed to pay up for their drink which they have not even enjoyed.
From then on, I took extra caution and effort to identify different cultures and levels of hostility. The problem was solved by asking customers if they would like to settle the bill immediately or later. Even though the majority of patrons are warm and accomodating, there are always the not-so-friendly ones and it takes a keen eye and a bad experience to identify one.
Hey Hanrong,
ReplyDeleteI guess it's unevitable to bring their own expectations of culture during travelling. Since we grew up in different countries and experienced different cultures, we can't help but expect and compare. In fact, I myself will think back about how Singapore will fare in certain areas such as service, when I was in Taiwan for holiday. For the frenchman, being served the bill probably wasn't what he had considered will happen in Singapore bars.
Like you mentioned, it takes a keen eye and bad experience.Even though we know and tried to be considerate of other cultures, it might still not be enough. You happen to learn it the unpleasant way. Well, at least he paid for the drink he ordered. :)
Munting
Hahah, thanks for the comments... I got to keep the change as well!
ReplyDeleteHey Hanrong,
ReplyDeleteI guess one of the problem here is that Singapore is too 'efficient'. This can be good and bad. As compared to other countries, Singapore is generally more efficient in settling in their working attitude. Generally any business administrative matter will take us 2-3 working days to settle but other countries which adopt different cultures may prefer the 'take your own time' culture to settle it. Hence I would say that in this area, Singapore is doing a good job. However, if this attitude is used in the above circumstances, our culture will seem to be rude in the eyes of foreigners. Maybe only Singaporeans will be acceptive to this culture. Though you learnt it the unpleasant way mentioned by munting, at least you get paid to learnt that lesson. Haha ;p
Sherri
Hi Hanrong,
ReplyDeleteThis post is really well written. It always takes one some time get accustomed to another country’s culture. Ironically, although he commented we were rude, shouting at another stranger in public does not seem quite a pleasant thing to do either. I guess you were just there at the wrong place, wrong time.
A similar episode happened to me before. My friend and I were mistaken for other girls who were laughing at the Thailand transsexual ladies and received quite a lashing. In Thailand, transsexual surgery is quite common. However, in a conservative culture like Singapore, they are often met with much staring. I think maybe both the Frenchman and the Thailand ladies were feeling very insecure in Singapore. They needed an outlet to express their bottled frustration. I do sympathise with the situation some foreigners face. I will be very insecure in another foreign country alone too. Although those experiences were unpleasant, I guess we both learned to be more sensitive towards another culture.
Cheers,
Michelle
Hi Hanrong!
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry to hear of your unpleasant experience, but at the same time, I'm also glad that you managed to learn something from it. :)
I have always believed that everyone who is planning to go overseas MUST make an effort to read and find out more about the culture of the country which he/she is planning to visit. Your experience with the Frenchman further reinforced my belief.
If he had knew beforehand that for Singaporeans, there is no intention of being rude when we present the bill at the start, he would not have had that outburst of emotion.
Having Cultural Intelligence is important as it can save you from being caught in an embarrassing situation. It can even save your life especially if you're in a country whereby a single wrong step may result in you becoming a victim of violent rage.
So let us all strive for a better CQ!
:)
Regards,
Faidah.
Hey Hanrong,
ReplyDeleteYou have must felt unjust for receiving such a scolding when you were just following common practice of that pub/cafe. I was once a waitress at the Acid Bar, where is it frequented by mostly tourist and foreigners. My impression of drinking in western culture is to relax and then the waiter come bill first without having a relax moment yet.
Acid bar only practices billing immediately when the crowd is large and harder to manage. That was to prevent people from walking away without paying. I guess that the french man could have felt that the cafe was implying that he is a potential free-loader! And hence, he flared up.
Lastly, I feel that the frenchman should understand that it is a common practice for pub/cafe in Singapore to bill first and should not have such a big reaction. The pub/cafe should understand the culture of their target customer and practice billing later.
Cheers,
Huixin;)
Hi all,
ReplyDeletethanks for your comments! Really appreciate them... Seeya in class =)
Hanrong
supersonique.. magnifique.. très très cool.. très très chic... LOL.
ReplyDelete