Your comments are so true. When anyone is in a new culture they always assume that their own perspective is the “normal” one. It’s just part of culture shock. Also, sometimes it’s embarrassing to see my fellow Americans traveling in Mexico!

I too am considered blunt in my home area. Additionally, where I’m from people don’t smoke inside, so from my experience the guy was being very rude.

I just want people to think about this topic and to practice being polite in Mexico.

Enjoy house sitting. Write back after you’ve been in Mexico and let us know how you experienced being diplomatic in Mexico.

Julia

I have been an expatriate for many years (not in Mexico) and have been known to be blunt (“honest”) but where I grew up in the States, it was considered rude behavior. That is, some of the things you point out as being “okay” where you come from in the US would be considered rude where I come from. For example, I would say, “Would you mind smoking someplace else, since the cigarette smoke bothers me.” I don’t find that to be deceptive. After all, the cigarette smoke IS bothering me or else I would not be complaining about it. That is, that’s what I would have said if I had the nerve to actually say something to someone. Most people get the idea when I start to cough and wheeze and fan the smoke away.

What Americans consider as straightforward and honest is in many cultures considered rude and not surprisingly so. As for American honesty in general….hmmm. Although I am sure that many Americans THINK they are honest, I have seen so many cases of dishonest behavior in the US that I could fill several pages with it.

My general impression of first-time expatriates, as I call them (people who are living in their first country abroad), is that they go abroad with what they THINK Americans are like, and then tend to criticize the other culture from that viewpoint for not doing things “right”. This is not just on the part of Americans. I think that people who expatriate to any country often see their and their fellow countrymen’s behavior as being a “standard” and this is only natural. This is not really a criticism, as much as it is an observation on my part. Right now I live in a country in Europe and I have heard so many strange things from people here who have visited the US–most of them misperceptions about behavior. Once a person told me about a man who had a bottle of liquor in a paper bag at a beach with a sign showing “no liquor”. She then proceeded to tell me that this is was a prime example of American double standards–say one thing and do something else. My reply: “No, this is an example of a man who is breaking the law and trying to get away with it.” I don’t think she would have accused her own countrymen of having a double standard in the same situation, so it puzzled me as to why she did that about Americans.

Aside from that, I find this site to be interesting reading since I will be going to Mexico to house-sit in May and June, so thanks for the tips.