I’ve been back for less than a week, but already experienced the culture difference. Besides the fact that people are much more dressed up here than in LA, there are a few things that bothered me a bit in the past few days.
1) restaurant bills. In LA, you ask the waiters for bills, spend a few minutes calculating the tip (the easiest way is to double the tax,) put cash on the table or leave the credit card bill with you signature on it, and you walk away just like that. It’s that simple. Nobody would doubt if you did sign the bill or leave the exact amount of cash. Last Sunday I had dinner with my friend here and left the cash with the bill on the table, so ready to leave. Then my friend took all the money and the bill, walking to the cashier to pay. I totally forgot that the system here is different from LA.
2) paper towel and soap in the toilet. I’m the kind of person with a messy bedroom but has public sanitary phobia syndrome. Almost every public restroom in LA offers free soap and paper towel, which is a great fit for me and I’m so used to happily wash my hands with soap and wipe them thoroughly with paper towel. I totally forgot that’s not the case in Taiwan. Here, free soap? Sometimes. Paper towel? Well, please use the hand dryer. Sometimes they don’t even have a hand dryer.
3) signatures on credit card. To me, this is always a mystery. Salesmen in US never check the signature on the back of your credit card when you sign the bill. They wipe your card, give it back to you, you sign, they take it without giving it a look, ask “is it okay with your receipt in the bag?”, and give you your shopping bag with a smile (except Abercrombie and Fitch guys. They don’t bother giving you a look). So I always scribble on the bill. It never looks the same as my signature on the card. The truth is nobody cares and it saves time. So last Wednesday when I signed my card bill in Watson's (a beauty product store in Taiwan,) I suddenly remember that I’m in Taiwan and the sales people here do care about your signature. But gosh, I don’t remember what my signature is on my card! And the sales person held it in her hand, which means I can’t cheat to take a look at it. So it’s my Chinese name only? Or Chinese name plus English one? I’m glad that I guessed it right finally.
1) restaurant bills. In LA, you ask the waiters for bills, spend a few minutes calculating the tip (the easiest way is to double the tax,) put cash on the table or leave the credit card bill with you signature on it, and you walk away just like that. It’s that simple. Nobody would doubt if you did sign the bill or leave the exact amount of cash. Last Sunday I had dinner with my friend here and left the cash with the bill on the table, so ready to leave. Then my friend took all the money and the bill, walking to the cashier to pay. I totally forgot that the system here is different from LA.
2) paper towel and soap in the toilet. I’m the kind of person with a messy bedroom but has public sanitary phobia syndrome. Almost every public restroom in LA offers free soap and paper towel, which is a great fit for me and I’m so used to happily wash my hands with soap and wipe them thoroughly with paper towel. I totally forgot that’s not the case in Taiwan. Here, free soap? Sometimes. Paper towel? Well, please use the hand dryer. Sometimes they don’t even have a hand dryer.
3) signatures on credit card. To me, this is always a mystery. Salesmen in US never check the signature on the back of your credit card when you sign the bill. They wipe your card, give it back to you, you sign, they take it without giving it a look, ask “is it okay with your receipt in the bag?”, and give you your shopping bag with a smile (except Abercrombie and Fitch guys. They don’t bother giving you a look). So I always scribble on the bill. It never looks the same as my signature on the card. The truth is nobody cares and it saves time. So last Wednesday when I signed my card bill in Watson's (a beauty product store in Taiwan,) I suddenly remember that I’m in Taiwan and the sales people here do care about your signature. But gosh, I don’t remember what my signature is on my card! And the sales person held it in her hand, which means I can’t cheat to take a look at it. So it’s my Chinese name only? Or Chinese name plus English one? I’m glad that I guessed it right finally.
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