It's more than that

I sell language learning software. Yes, I am one of those people sitting at a kiosk in the mall, waiting to sell one piece of product.

The other day, a guy came by and asked to look at the Japanese program. I happily obliged. At one point he said something interesting. We got something wrong. Not a word, but a custom. In Japan it is considered rude to say "thank you" if someone compliments you. It's expected that you will be polite and modest. I didn't know that. The software program has it so that a compliment is followed by a "thank you".

It got me thinking about how we are all so different culturally. It's interesting.

Another prime example just presented itself to me. The person who works at the kiosk next to mine is Jewish. It's important to the story that you know. He came up, made a little polite conversation and then asked if I was Jewish myself.

"No, I'm not Jewish" I replied. Meanwhile I was thinking, why would he ask? I'm not wearing my Star of David bracelet. Hmmmm..

So I continued "That's a random question."

He said that he asked because it's Saturday and I am wearing a skirt and long sleeves.

I decided to wear a skirt today because it is really comfortable. It gets cold in the mall, so I am wearing a light-weight turtleneck.

"It's Saturday, and women leaving the Synagogue would be wearing what you're wearing. If it were Sunday, I never would have asked."

Ok. I'm not offended, but I am a little put off. Frankly, I think it's a but rude to come out and ask what religion someone is. I was raised to think of a person's faith as a private matter. If they shared it with me, fine, but I was not to go and seek out information.

Maybe it's that we live in a society so concerned about being politically correct, we forget that sometimes people want to talk to each other.