Hot answers tagged local-customs
37
As a French native, I discovered this practice in North America. I never asked for a doggy bag in France, nor have I seen someone do it. So it is likely restaurants don't even have boxes.
You can obviously take out food from fast-food restaurants but for regular restaurants I don't think it is correct behaviour. I usually finish my dishes, I only order what ...
35
Take name cards with two hands when given to you, give them with two hands. Look at the received card, put it in front of you on the table while you are talking to the person(s).
You CAN punch with one chopstick into food and hold it with the other if it's something hard to eat (dumplings, potatoes etc). Don't stick both in however.
Do not soak your sushi ...
26
Funnily enough, I read an article on askmen.com about the top 10 Japanese etiquette mistakes.
Boiled down to bullet points, we have:
Blowing your nose in public
Pointing with your forefinger
Don't pour your own beer
Wearing toilet slippers outside of toilet
Giving gifts in multiples of four
Failing to wash first before entering a public bath
Passing food ...
19
Not sure if this is quite the scenario you are outlining, but:
If you're really really broke, chances are you won't be eating at restaurants or places that require tipping in the first place :) At least in the US, tipping is not the norm (or is completely optional - eg. tip jar might be present) at fast food (McD, Chipotle), sandwich shops (Subway) or other ...
17
Mount Athos, in Greece, does not permit women to enter. Wikipedia explains the rationale behind this prohibition as
Monks feel that the presence of women alters the social dynamics of the community and therefore slows their path towards spiritual enlightenment.
However, you may want to refine your question. For example, most restrooms are divided on ...
15
I'm Chinese so I can probably tell you this. As you're a foreigner they know already that you're not used to their culture. So, be yourself and you'll be fine. If anything, I guess it must be you to prepare for culture shock. As most of my foreigner friends complain about the spitting and toilets. So be prepared. Another thing is they smoke everywhere, if ...
13
I can't say that I completely understand your situation (I am, after all, of European descent), but you should not be surprised to find out that
Some people are stupid have prejudices
I have indeed been treated sometimes differently for being Eastern European (and proud of it!), and the thing that I found works best is to just ignore them and pretend that ...
13
Mark's answer is excellent and covers all the big ones. From experience, just thought I'd add some other / my own social faux pas:
Eating in public whilst walking
Crossing your legs in front of your superiors (boss or manager, usually)
Wiping your face with 'oshibori' (moist cloth given before a meal to clean your hands)
Stabbing food with chopsticks ...
11
but [tipping] is meant to be for a good job
Yes, in theory, but in practice it's standard to (almost) always leave a tip. Even if the service is merely "bad", then you generally leave a tip on the low end of the scale. If it really is appalling (ie, they got your order completely wrong, or were excessively slow for no good reason), then you leave a ...
10
Have you tried to visit Jjimjilbang? I seldom go to a public bath, and sometimes I can see a man with tattoo. I think most of Jjimjilbangs will not block you to use it. I am able to say this because I assumed that it will be a small tattoos (i.e. on arms or on neck back.) But with a big tattoo like covered whole your back?.. Let's think about it.
I saw your ...
10
I've used a good few of those fancy Toto do it all bidet sprayer dryer toilets, most of which (as the toilet isn't designed for a single gender) have the flush noise function. Department stores are a good bet, as are mid market restaurants.
It's really nothing to write home about though. It's the sound of a flushing toilet, which I'm sure you've heard ...
10
Don't even try it, it may send an already obnoxious Parisien waiter over the edge. He'll likely pretend to not understand what you're saying.
European portion sizes tend to be manageable for most normal people unless you go to an American themed 'restaurant' that engages in the likes of rib eating competitions.
10
Try one of the following sites:
TimeAndDate. pick up a country and a year, it will list all holidays for the chosen country. Very nice!
Holiday Calendar it gives you holidays in different countries.
Wikitravel provides holidays information for each country.
10
Sabarimala, a Hindu pilgrimage/temple in Kerala, India, does not allow women between the ages of 10 and 50 (or more precisely the entry of the women in the menstrual age group) to enter the temple. Essentially, this is due to the fact that Ayyappan (the God of Sabarimala) is a Bramachari (Celibate).
8
In Western countries, it's usually best to be discreet about it. When in doubt, always look around and see what the others are doing, in a normal-sized restaurant there would be always people around ordering and clamoring for attention, so get some clues from there as well.
Generally, I'd usually try to make eye contact the waiter and communicate my desires ...
8
Japan, birthplace of the camera phone, is relatively photo-friendly if you are taking candid pictures for your personal use with your own camera (i.e. not for publication or resale and not using a tripod or professional equipment). Places where photography is expressly forbidden will be marked by signs. By and large, these are the same places where you can ...
8
Basically, there are two different kind of carnival in Germany. The one in the Rhineland, called Rhenish Carnival and the one in the Southern part of Germany, that looks similar to the Carnival in parts of Switzerland and Austria.
The Rhenish Carnival is especially strong in Cologne, Mainz and Düsseldorf. In the Southern region of Germany, the Carnival is ...
7
There are different ideologies when it comes to tipping. As a former waiter in the US myself, I tend to tip very generously. This is how I do it. YMMV.
I calculate a 15% tip, based on the price of the meal (before any discounts are applied).
If the service was very good/friendly, I increase, up to 25%. I only ever exceed 25% in very rare/exceptional ...
7
Here are the actual prices for Hotel Lohmod that you mentioned.
OK, there are different kinds of accommodation in India and not every place is the same.
If you are thinking of going to aforementioned hotel, you most likely won't be able to get the price down by haggling, only if you have a discount card or something. Besides, for such a hotel, the price ...
7
There is such custom, but it's not very strict rule and even many people in Poland doesn't know about it (but waiters probably do know).
It's quite natural, because when you give money and say "thank you" ("dziękuję" in polish) it looks like transaction is ended. But if you give money and say nothing, expecting for something, then it may look that you are ...
6
I'd like to preface this with saying that I don't agree with the prejudice but I acknowledge the fact that it exists and with that painful point in mind here are my thoughts and advice.
The bad news is without actual interaction, it's really hard to change somebody's silent prejudice. To put people at ease around you that you are not going to actually speak ...
6
It's very simple to use.
When you are done, use some paper to wipe the remainings just like you usually do.
Then use the tap to wash it WITHOUT using your hand in there. (use some paper to operate tap)
Then wipe with paper again until it's clean and dry.
That way, it will be more hygienic. Paper + water is better than just paper or just water.
Don't ...
6
Namaste HaLaBi!
In my experience, and my opinion, behaving in a friendly and respectful AND assertive manner goes a long way.
I am a what people would call a "white South African", and have travelled in Turkey, Greece, Egypt and Indonesia, to name a few. In spite of dressing modestly (long skirts, arms completely covered and hair covered) I was constantly ...
6
Yes, but it is not very strict rule.
Obviously if you give 100zł note, paying lets say 50zł bill, no one will assume that you're leaving that much of a tip even if you happened to say thank you. However, if your bill is 90zł and you give 100zł saying thank you, it's more than likely that this will be interpreted as keep the change. General practice is that ...
6
I've been to India a few times, usually in the southern part of the subcontinent, and hotel prices were the only "item" we accepted to pay as per request (along with food in restaurants).
I suppose that, if you go to a hotel counter in person, you may perhaps succeed in getting some kind of discount on the requested price, but I doubt you can do that over ...
5
While a different type of attention, as a blond Caucasian people would stare when I was walking around South America, and point, and you'd hear "gringo, gringo" and often some choice words after that. A few cheery words back in my awful Spanish would get a laugh and they'd carry on as per normal.
I had a friend who was of Sri Lankan descent, who grew a ...
5
One thing you could try: Learn a few phrases in an obscure third language.
I speak Romanian, for instance. So if I'm in France and trying to learn French, and they reply in English, I just give them a polite but blank look and say,
Îmi pare rău, nu înțeleg.
Of course, the risk is that they'll decide that you're not worth the trouble. So it just depends ...
5
Here's some first hand experience (I visited the region a few weeks ago). Visiting Armenia is not a problem for Azerbaijan, nor is it the other way around. What is a problem, is having a visa for Nagorno-Karabakh (NKR) in your passport when you want to visit Azerbaijan. Indeed, at best, you will not be let in to Azerbaijan.
It is said that NKR has no ...
5
There is an article on exactly that on Fox News: No Women Allowed. In addition to the Mount Athos there is Mount Omine and a few others.
I am not sure where this is but it's still prohibited to women
5
The Herbertstraße "Herbert street" in Hamburg (only in German). It is a street where prostitutes are offering themselves to suitors, sitting in the windows. The street itself has screens so noone outside can look into the street.
There are red signs which prohibit to enter the street for minors and women. While in former times both minors and women were in ...
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