Is it just me, or are people not respecting the personal space all are entitiled. I was on line in the bank speaking to the teller and the next person was standing right behind me ( there is a rail that stops for the next person ) yes it was roped off)). When I was waiting in line that same person was so close I could hear her breathing. Lucky I had a bag with me so that when she came too close I turned alittle and the bag jab her gentley and she moved back. The same thing happened in ST. Thomas I told the the woman she was standing too close and she acted as though I offended her. I reside here and would not like to offend a person I may bump into again. Am I too cautious, are my city instincts ( developed in the states ) aliating me from my Island Neighbors?
- Thread starter Wanna
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Too Close For Me
hmmm..
Good Question!! Is an arms length too much to ask?? I think it may be...
I would take it as a compliment,they are treating you no different than they treat their own people, would you rather that or them backing away from you like you had the plague?
if anything it should make you feel local. It may take a while for you to get accustomed to it, but I think it may have to do with their living quarters, many share small homes with numerous family members and space is limited, so to them it's normal.
I'm sure you will get more comfortable as time goes on.
Good Question!! Is an arms length too much to ask?? I think it may be...
I would take it as a compliment,they are treating you no different than they treat their own people, would you rather that or them backing away from you like you had the plague?
if anything it should make you feel local. It may take a while for you to get accustomed to it, but I think it may have to do with their living quarters, many share small homes with numerous family members and space is limited, so to them it's normal.
I'm sure you will get more comfortable as time goes on.
We Americans and Europeans need our "space", however, this is a foreign concept here, where if you use the public transportation here one becomes somewhat intimately familiar with the passenger seated next to you. Therefore, there is less awareness for the locals in this regard. As for me, when standing in a line, I typically like enough room to be able to turn around without clocking the person behind me with an elbow, but sometimes I don't even get that.
You, Wanna, are a product of the society in which you were raised where you received countless messages, verbal and non-verbal, as to what the appropriate space between people should be. Likewise, so am I, so are all of us. These notions of appropriate space vary from culture to culture. It isn't that any are right or wrong, they are just different. Hispanic 'personal space' may well be different from what you're used to, but if you want the real end of the spectrum try some Arab countries
. There's a whole field of study on this, called proxemics. Maybe some reading would help? If you gain an intellectual awareness maybe your body won't react too much to the closeness here? And you will get used to it. :cheeky:
Communication Theory: A First Look
i agree and this isnt something that is limited to the DR. ive travelled extensively in asia and i find the same thing there too. if i hopped on the philippines' version of a publico, i could end up sitting on the laps of strangers while trying to cram in and in line-ups, everyone inches forward no matter how close they are to the people in front or behind them
aranoid:I was paying my phone bill by credit card at Codetel once and the lady behind me in the line came up beside me and was attempting to look closely at what I was doing.
I looked her in the eye and asked her firmly but politely to please give me some space. She was shocked and backed off.
I looked her in the eye and asked her firmly but politely to please give me some space. She was shocked and backed off.
I don't think it's too bad here but then again I grew up in the Mediterranean region. Only once in a while do I notice someone getting a little too close, like people mentioned, in the queue at the bank. My worst experience was waiting to pay at a supermarket in Haiti, where people really do crowd your personal space.
