A friend relayed a story to me that had me howling with laughter. I was literally crying I was laughing so hard. The story starkly pointed out the differences between Western and Eastern culture, and why you need to have a thick skin over here.
My Aussie friend, we'll call her A, was visiting the Guangzhou office with another (Aussie) colleague, B, and caught up with a local colleague, Y. A & Y hadn't caught up in person in 2-3 years, but they had worked together on a number of projects and initiatives over a 5-6 year period and so were quite excited to see each other.
Our GZ colleague, Y, exclaimed "you look so good, A! You were so fat but now you are skinny! What happened?".
A was flabbergasted and tried to conceal her shock with an incredulous laugh. At *most* she had been a small size 12, whereas now she was a size 8-10. Hardly fat. On the small side for a Westerner, really. A sort of laughed and said "Oh, thanks, Y! You look great, too!"
B was intrigued, though. "Really? How fat was A?", she asked Y
"Hmmm probably as fat as you, B. But - she is skinny now so maybe you can do what A did? How did you get so skinny, A?"
B is now red-faced, and probably wishing she'd kept her mouth shut.
A, trying to get a reaction, told Y "I had a really tragic thing happen in my life and I was too upset to eat and that is how I got so skinny".
Not missing a beat, Y said "Oh well, you look great now"
It reminded me that in country of 1+ billion people, you can't be too sensitive. Occasionally, people will be direct and feelings might be hurt, but you can't take it personally. They just don't have the time or the inclination to pussy-foot around and pump up your tyres. You were fat, now you're skinny - good for you. Next topic!
A timely cultural reminder I'm thankful for. Not to mention the belly laugh I had as A relayed the tale to me. Thanks A xo
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