With the coming age, more and more people are required to travel and work in different places. As they travel, they bring along their culture and practices. Differences occur even between people of the same race. Intercultural conflicts often arises due to differences in practices.
Here is a first hand account of an incident where differences in practices had led to misunderstandings.
I was traveling with my family in Taiwan. We were going up the escalator and standing to the left of it. It was then I realized we are getting weird stares from the locals at the back. I dismissed it, thinking that they probably find us tourists special and hence looking at us in a different light.
We went on to board a train. After boarding, we saw the elderly seats unoccupied and we went to sit at the seats. It was then those weird stares came again. I was puzzled at their behavior.
It was until much later, that I realised from a Taiwanese friend of mine and my aunt working there, that it was the norm to stand to the right of the escalator to allow a lane for commuters in a rush. It was also a norm for them to keep the elderly seats unoccupied.
In Singapore, it was keeping to the left on the escalator. Unoccupied seats, despite reserved for elderly, will be taken and re-offered when in need. By bringing our culture there, it may seemed like we are right. This differences in practices had led to misunderstanding. The locals probably thought of us as not being civic minded and being rude and inconsiderate.
There is no right or wrong in this context. Being the minority, it will be better to conform to avoid tensions.
