I´ve often said that Mexico doesn´t seem very foreign to me when people talk about cultural differences and culture shock as part of the experience of moving here. Having grown up in the American Southwest is part of the reason, but the bigger reason is that some places really are different from the U.S., or Canada. Read some observations of unique things I saw in China, for an example, if you think you might find it entertaining....
I suppose if I was speaking of cultural similaries or, more specifically, of behaviors I found the majority of Mexicans to manifest, I´d have to put impatience right near the top. There may be a class of Mexicans that fit the stereotype of stolid patience, but you don´t find it among those rich enough to own a car, or who shop in the supermarkets. In these, the level of impatience may surpass that of their northern neighbors, in my experience.
Sounds like you've not mingled much with the Yucatec Mayans then, V. Patience to such a degree that I'd like to pull my hair right out of my head. With some notable exceptions, of course. My best example being during a campaign of a Presidente Municipal, where they'd driven in truckloads of folks from outlying comisarias and promised free tortas. I was one of the unfortunates who had to pass the tortas out after the power had been pulled by the incumbent and his people. Little old ladies were lunging at me and grabbing tortas out of my hands!
I gotta agree with gabacha. I've always thought that Mexicans (at least the Yucatecans I hang out with) have way too much patience. Nobody ever calls attention to anything negative, so nothing ever gets done/fixed. Everything just goes on in the most illogical and inefficient way possible, while everyone sits around quietly for hours on end. I realize they're perfectly happy with their way of handling things, but it still drives me up the wall. It's hard to keep my mouth shut some days.
Then there's that unwritten rule that if you drive a car worth more than 300,000 pesos you can barge into the front of any cue you want, and the patiently waiting Yucatecan types will continue to patiently wait without saying a word... There's been many time when I say something like "Hey there's a cue, I'm not waiting here for fun pendejo" and then everyone looks at me like I'm the bad one - boggles my mind :icon_lol:
Cutting in line, or barging to the front of what appears to be a waiting group of people is hard to deal with. I'm glad you've got the courage to say something. The mentality of someone who simply goes ahead of everyone else, as I see it, is the same as that of a thief- no respect for what is rightfully another's, if the thief happens to want it. It can be bad here, but I saw more of this in Russia: it was just as you said about those with expensive cars, those who had one of any of several symbols of wealth did not feel it necessary to wait turns for anything.
