There are a ton of cultural differences here at Selina considering the fact there are people from over 20 different countries... One cultural difference I found difficult was their perception of time
In most Spanish speaking countries they see time as negotiable and adaptable. In contrast, many individualistic countries such as the United States and most of Europe see time as rigid and non-negotiable. My boss told me that I had to be to work at 9:00am, therefore, I would arrive around 8:45am like most peoples from the United States. Every single day my boss would show up at around 10:15am, and I would sit there waiting with no tasks to do... At first I was kind of offended, but then realized that I needed to adapt to their perception of time. Thus, I started arriving around 9:30-9:45am.
I am going to also share a cultural conflict I faced. Nonverbal cues, such as gestures, eye contact and facial expressions do not always translate into other cultures the way we see them in our country.
So my boss is super goofy and always cracking jokes, but this one time when he said something to me that was sarcastic, I smacked my lips saying something along the lines
"Haha come on now, really funny!". His eyes grew big and he and the other Panamanian exchanged looks in disbelief. It was obvious that he was severely offended by the noise I made.
Thanks to the communication courses I took at my university, I caught this body language and asked what was wrong. He explained to me that the noise I just made is taken as extremely vulgar and rude in Central America. It is perceived as a profanity and only uneducated people do it.
I apologized to him and told him that we were experiencing a cultural conflict. I continued to share with him what it means in the U.S to intensify a funny statement, we shared a laugh, came to a mutual understanding and everything was back to normal again.
