Hi everyone. So we had some people with Arabic-sounding names in our hotel. They asked us if they could smoke in the room (not allowed) and proceeded to do so anyway. Now violating the rules, especially if you asked about them, is sucky in itself, but it got me thinking about something.
I'm not exactly sure where the guest is from (and to be fair, I know there is a lot of cultural diversity between places in the Arab world just as there is outside of it), but I'm thinking there was a clash of cultures going on. Whatever you grew up with gets so embedded in your unconscious approach to the world that it takes quite a bit of time to adapt to a new culture. Here, smoking in an enclosed environment, especially one owned by someone else, is considered extremely rude. Based on my limited knowledge of the Arab world, smoking indoors is common there (much like it was during earlier decades in the West, think Mad Men), so I'm wondering if that's what made the guest assume we were being draconian for not allowing them to smoke inside and decided to do so anyway. And yes, they ARE getting charged a damage fee.
NOTE: Please take any opinions about Islam, Arab culture or immigration to Fratching. This is a dispassionate question about norms in the United States (where smoking is generally frowned on) vrs cultural norms elsewhere, with no "right" or "wrong" assumed.
I'm not exactly sure where the guest is from (and to be fair, I know there is a lot of cultural diversity between places in the Arab world just as there is outside of it), but I'm thinking there was a clash of cultures going on. Whatever you grew up with gets so embedded in your unconscious approach to the world that it takes quite a bit of time to adapt to a new culture. Here, smoking in an enclosed environment, especially one owned by someone else, is considered extremely rude. Based on my limited knowledge of the Arab world, smoking indoors is common there (much like it was during earlier decades in the West, think Mad Men), so I'm wondering if that's what made the guest assume we were being draconian for not allowing them to smoke inside and decided to do so anyway. And yes, they ARE getting charged a damage fee.
NOTE: Please take any opinions about Islam, Arab culture or immigration to Fratching. This is a dispassionate question about norms in the United States (where smoking is generally frowned on) vrs cultural norms elsewhere, with no "right" or "wrong" assumed.
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