Etiquette and cultures

Cultures and first contact

Here are some extracts from your intercultural adventures that we have grouped by theme. They remind us that interpersonal skills vary between cultures but also within the same culture.

How to do it the first time? How to greet each other? Should you leave your suitcase carried? What is the place of the customer, the value of time?... So many questions that we can find ourselves confronted with very quickly when we encounter another culture.

The welcome of a Japanese subcontractor

A few years ago, as an engineer for a large Japanese company, I happened to go to Japan to visit my colleagues at the head office. If I had already perceived the quality of the treatment reserved for the customer in a restaurant or a store, I did not expect what was going to happen to me, this time, in the position of customer, in a sub -Japanese contractor.

Who should carry the suitcase?

When my taxi arrives in the company courtyard, around ten people, lined up and motionless, are waiting for me. When the driver opens the trunk, a small elderly man rushes to take my suitcase.

I'm obviously embarrassed because my suitcase weighs more than 20 kg and the man could be the age of my father, or even my grandfather. I signal to him that I will take care of it alone; he categorically refuses; I insist, but he grabs my suitcase without wanting to hear anything.

Already confused, I am even more so when I discover that we have to go up one floor. The sight of the old man struggling under the weight of my suitcase makes me really uncomfortable.

What a surprise !

In the meeting room, my interlocutors introduce themselves one by one, carrying out the traditional exchange of business cards in a very formal and respectful manner; I know this way of doing things from a brief from my Japanese colleagues.

I am surprised to see the old suitcase carrier also introduce himself to me. He gives me his name and speaks to me a few words in Japanese that I don't understand. I introduce myself to him while wondering why the suitcase carrier introduced himself to me, with a business card.

Amazing ! By carefully reading his card, I discover that it is the director! Already very embarrassed given his age, I am even more so…

Anthony HAMEN

Greetings Senegal…

Auditor for a large French telecommunications company, I often travel to Africa. During a mission in Dakar, Senegal, I visited a call center.

The management team is invited to the interview and we find ourselves in a large meeting room where several people are already present.

Here, professional greetings are generally very close to French usage.

• In the room, I shake hands with the first person.
• The second is a lady, who kisses me! It was unusual but she told me, in a few words, that she lived in France!
• I extend my hand to the third person. It is a lady who takes a step back by placing her hand on her heart. I am slightly unsettled and realize that his clothes do indeed betray a rigorous religious practice. I had already experienced a similar situation during a tourist trip to Jordan. So I immediately corrected myself by apologizing. She was not offended and the meeting went very well.

In a few seconds, I was confronted with three very different attitudes in the same country, within the same company.

This situation illustrates that it is difficult to establish general rules and that you always have to know how to adapt!

Luc-Henri PAMPAGNIN

The customer is king in Mexico

One Friday afternoon, I received an email from a client asking me to come to his company headquarters in DF (Federal District of Mexico) on Monday to discuss an important point in the contract. Based in Mérida, 2,000 km from Mexico City, I have been in Mexico for a short time.

I arrive from France where diaries are managed with visibility of several weeks, even several months, and I think in my heart: “what is this summons for the following day?”

Finding the requirement too strong, I refused on principle and suggested moving to Thursday, which my interlocutor accepted without any problem and, probably, without suspecting the effect his request had on me.

I would later discover that calendars in Mexico leave plenty of room for impromptu meetings. You take the plane there (almost) like Uber in Paris. Finally, the mantra, repeated during all customer-supplier meetings in Mexico, is “estamos aqui para servile”: “we are here to serve you”.

Bertrand SEURRET