Am American first time travelled to the Netherlands. He went to a restaurant for dinner and ordered a beer.
Waitress gave a bottle of beer.
“Can you open the bottle for me?” He to her when she turned around to leave.
“Can’t you open your own beer?” She shouted it back.
He thinks Dutch are too direct and somewhat not polite.
She thinks people should be independent and do things they can on their own.
A Chinese learns the story, she thinks Dutch is somewhat rude and has bad service in the restaurant.
No one is wrong in their opinions. Without understanding the context, the culture, things got lost in the interpretation.
You heard that culture eats strategy for breakfast.
Know the culture is the key to understand a situation.
WE-FIVE 