I'll first give a little background. I'm a software engineer by trade. I work best with ones and zeros. I'm very logical and pragmatic. I'm all about the easiest path from A to B. I do okay in social settings but I'm not Mr. Personality. I'm generally regarded as a "nice guy but kind of shy". Unfortunately, my shyness is interpreted as rudeness here. As you might surmise, I have a hard time dealing with a lot of Dominicans when it comes to professional/business stuff (real estate, banking, lawyers, etc). I feel like it's a weird dance and I don't know the steps. I understand Dominicans are all about personal relationships but I just want to get the task at hand completed. I'm sure my directness is not appreciated.
I'm trying to figure out just how much I can push people. A classic example. I'm working with a woman on a potential real estate transaction. I invariably have to ask multiple times before I can get a useful answer. Trying to schedule anything is a chore. She will say something like "We can meet in the afternoon". I'll text back "how about 2:00pm?" ... no reply. I wait a while and text again.... still no reply. I finally call (for whatever reason, we do a lot of texting instead of calling) and she says she couldn't text me back because she couldn't meet me at 2:00 and that she was waiting until she knew exactly when she could meet me before she was going to text me with the time. My logical/pragmatic brain just explodes when I have to deal with crap like this. It doesn't make any sense. Just tell me immediately you don't know what time you can meet. In my opinion Dominicans have zero critical thinking skills.
This is just one of many examples of how this place makes me crazy. So, here's my question. How much can I bother and hound these people to get straight answers before they get fed up with me? I don't want to sabotage my efforts.
Thoughts/Advice?
I'm trying to figure out just how much I can push people. A classic example. I'm working with a woman on a potential real estate transaction. I invariably have to ask multiple times before I can get a useful answer. Trying to schedule anything is a chore. She will say something like "We can meet in the afternoon". I'll text back "how about 2:00pm?" ... no reply. I wait a while and text again.... still no reply. I finally call (for whatever reason, we do a lot of texting instead of calling) and she says she couldn't text me back because she couldn't meet me at 2:00 and that she was waiting until she knew exactly when she could meet me before she was going to text me with the time. My logical/pragmatic brain just explodes when I have to deal with crap like this. It doesn't make any sense. Just tell me immediately you don't know what time you can meet. In my opinion Dominicans have zero critical thinking skills.
This is just one of many examples of how this place makes me crazy. So, here's my question. How much can I bother and hound these people to get straight answers before they get fed up with me? I don't want to sabotage my efforts.
Thoughts/Advice?