Are close familes the reason

RG84

Bronze
May 21, 2010
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Don't know if I worded the title correctly but why do Dominicans stand close to you in line? When I'm at the bank, paying a bill, darned anywhere there is a line people seem to be inches from you.

The other day in the super market a guy put his items on the area to get scanned, but stood close to me, I was about to pay, but turned around and said back up you are too close. He didn't speak english but got the message and backed up.
 

Africaida

Gold
Jun 19, 2009
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It is cultural. I have noticed, different cultures have a different concepts of personal space. In my experience, American tend to say not as close to people than Europeans, I sometimes think it may be a way to deal with crowds (at least in NY). Even in a crowded subway, I see tourists tend to stay closer to the next passenger.

Different cultures, different customs.

Just like DV8, I don't care how people get close to me, I like the warmth :) . It does bother if I am at the ATM (and people do stay closer than I am used to in DR)
 

the gorgon

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Sep 16, 2010
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Don't know if I worded the title correctly but why do Dominicans stand close to you in line? When I'm at the bank, paying a bill, darned anywhere there is a line people seem to be inches from you.

The other day in the super market a guy put his items on the area to get scanned, but stood close to me, I was about to pay, but turned around and said back up you are too close. He didn't speak english but got the message and backed up.

i always wondered about that one, too. it shows in the way they drive, also. they leave no space between themselves and the car in front for braking distance.

i think i have it figured out. if they are standing beside you at the checkout counter, then they will get served sooner. or, so they think..if their car is pinned to your bumper, they will get to their destination sooner.
 

chic

Silver
Nov 20, 2013
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yeh i lov it when your in some 3 world country and the b.o. is coming at u from front and rear...of course women try to douse themself w/toilet water that i probably paid for...i have figured out that smell is from the clothes....sleeping in them...
 

curlando

Bronze
Jul 23, 2003
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I notice they do stand too close to me in lines also. As Americans we are accustom to space.
 

bob saunders

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Jan 1, 2002
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yeh i lov it when your in some 3 world country and the b.o. is coming at u from front and rear...of course women try to douse themself w/toilet water that i probably paid for...i have figured out that smell is from the clothes....sleeping in them...

You must be talking about another country.
 

bob saunders

Platinum
Jan 1, 2002
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In school even at a young age they crowd together in a line and push each other, and it takes a great deal of work and patience to break them of this habit. At the bank even with lines and arrows on the floor a proper line is almost impossible- gives the security guard something to do- keeping going in the right direction.
Only bothers me when I'm in a hurry to get somewhere. Dominicans are the slowest walkers and clog up the sidewalk so it's like going through an obstacle course.
 

Cdn_Gringo

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Apr 29, 2014
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At home I used to walk along the sidewalk at the quickest clip I could sustain. I could do that because it wasn't 100 degrees very often and the walk was relatively flat and level. Here, pick any sidewalk in SD; tree roots, heaved concrete and manholes with no covers dot the landscape. Some of the sidewalks in Sosua are not much better.

I've accepted my "Dominican Sheen" but I do not think I will ever be truly nonchalant about being moist all the time so I prefer a few degrees of separation between me and the bloke next to me in line. Especially kids who can't seem to not bump into me or touch me. I just turn around and say "Tengo herpes", they back up.

What really gets me is the propensity for Dominicans to step right in front of you to get something off a shelf or get closer to the head of a line without so much as an apologetic glance. I have never heard anyone say "excuse me" here.

While we are whining about the obvious, what's up with the concept of not turning off the volume on your phone when on a bus and texting fast and furiously? I was in SD earlier this week and this girl in front of me on the bus obviously hired someone to spend 4 hours texting her every 30 seconds to pass the time, bing...bing...bing...bing... Thoughts of famous serial killers danced in my head the whole time.
 

caribmike

Gold
Jul 9, 2009
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"Don't know if I worded the title correctly but why do Dominicans stand close to you in line? When I'm at the bank, paying a bill, darned anywhere there is a line people seem to be inches from you. "

Now I feel better. Thought I'm the only one bothered by it. Almost thought I am a sociopath... :D
 

Cdn_Gringo

Gold
Apr 29, 2014
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I wouldn't write off the sociopath idea completely, the jury is still out in your case :)

But you are certainly not the only one to have noticed or feel ill at ease by all the closeness.
 

Jaime809

Bronze
Aug 23, 2012
1,152
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36
It's not strictly a foreign thing; people in the US do it, presumably to move things along faster. I purposefully back into them by about a half-step. By the 3rd time, they usually don't get quite so close.

There was this one time in New Orleans where I was walking along and stopped at a red light. This douchebag behind me doesn't quite walk up, but he puts his fingernail in my back. So I back into him purposefully again, and he stops. At the next light, he does it again. I mention to my friend that this guy's sticking his finger in my back is about to get it broken. Shockingly, he makes a beeline around and in front of me as soon as he can. Luckily for him the light changed about that point.
 

PJT

Silver
Jan 8, 2002
3,562
298
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Mindset

It is a behavior that is indicative of a poor country. The mindset of the behavior is those up front closest to the material or source of benefit or just to be heard, get served. When a politician is throwing foodstuffs and trinkets off the back of a truck those unfortunate to be in the back of the mass get nothing. Thus, to be up front pressing up against those in front of you gets you closer to what you want so you won't lose out. This conscious or unconscious behavior over time has become part of everyday life when a queue is formed. If you have ever observed what happens at a gathering of any type when there is a buffet and the food is announced as ready there is a mad dash to get to the head of the line. There is little or no courtesy. The firstest and fastest get the mostest.

Regards,

PJT
 
Jul 28, 2014
1,718
0
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Don't know if I worded the title correctly but why do Dominicans stand close to you in line? When I'm at the bank, paying a bill, darned anywhere there is a line people seem to be inches from you.

The other day in the super market a guy put his items on the area to get scanned, but stood close to me, I was about to pay, but turned around and said back up you are too close. He didn't speak english but got the message and backed up.


Hard to pickpocket you from 5 feet away...
 

Meemselle

Just A Few Words
Oct 27, 2014
2,842
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It's cultural. There's a different value placed on community. When Americans go to parks in the summer to make picnics-BBQs, we seek out the spot furthest away from everybody else. Dominicans will set up their rigs right on the sidewalks in Central Park, or right next to the parking lot.

In the US, we place huge value on privacy and space and distance from our neighbors. Many communities have 2-acre zoning. Dominicans live in each other's pockets and value the proximity of neighbors, family, etc.

It makes me insane when they're practically crawling up my back on line at Playero, the bank, etc. I'm constantly taking a step up or to the side to give myself a cushion of physical privacy. I'm from New York, and with 8 million people, we somehow manage never to touch in the subway or on line anywhere; there is always a zone of personal space that's never violated.

It definitely takes some getting used to, and I'm not sure I'll ever be comfortable with it, but it's one of those things you deal with when you re-locate to a different country.
 

NALs

Economist by Profession
Jan 20, 2003
13,370
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It is a behavior that is indicative of a poor country. The mindset of the behavior is those up front closest to the material or source of benefit or just to be heard, get served. When a politician is throwing foodstuffs and trinkets off the back of a truck those unfortunate to be in the back of the mass get nothing. Thus, to be up front pressing up against those in front of you gets you closer to what you want so you won't lose out. This conscious or unconscious behavior over time has become part of everyday life when a queue is formed. If you have ever observed what happens at a gathering of any type when there is a buffet and the food is announced as ready there is a mad dash to get to the head of the line. There is little or no courtesy. The firstest and fastest get the mostest.

Regards,

PJT
[video=youtube;9XfVl6_R7_k]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XfVl6_R7_k[/video]

Reminder of how much poorer Japan is compared to the DR. No wonder they are so skinny.
 

bob saunders

Platinum
Jan 1, 2002
32,504
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Manners are a learned and enforced behavior. When a parent and school teaches and enforces good manners and polite behavior it becomes a habit and is usually passed on to the next generation. Some parents ensure their children greet properly and wait to go up the stairs, help little children...etc. Others make you realize why their children are so rude.
I don't find the bank lines here in Jarabacoa that close, certainly not enough to bother me. The culture here is a touchy-feely culture. I avoid crowds, regardless of the country. The DR is far from the worse at crowding a person's personal space.