trac, how much do you earn?

absolutely nothing. for the last 18 months i was a male housewife throughout what turned out to be a way to long immigratoin process in canada and couldn't legally work, and before it got done - two weeks ago - my wife throw me out [of the country] with nothing. not even 2.75CAD for the bus to reach the airport. i had to go manchild mode and ask my mother to help with the tickets. now i am starting here from scretch. the only financial advice i can give is how to minimize expanses.

how about you?

Don't be so rude. You're kind of bitter.... See why it's just best not discussed? No, maybe you won't....

- - -


Next on my list, sniffing in public -and I can let a delicate sniff to avoid a drip pass, but the whole suck-it-back-up-for-later-chewing-purposes, for fuck's sake go to the bathroom and get rid of that gloop. in private. ugh.

Ohhh, harsh! When my ex (Yank) and I split, he left the country too. I was PISSED. I had put a lot of time and money into getting him resident status and he was only 8 months away. He wouldnt stay until that time came.

Money wise he was ok, he didnt earn for 3 years and I supported him, when it came time for him to bolt off home to mummy, he had just started earning - so he cashed in all this earnings and took that with him.

Havent had a cent from him since :)

I have no problems talking about money, but I wont bring the topic up first.

To be fair, from what Trace says discussing wages and stuff isn't considered rude in Israel. And he is communicating in a second language. Some of the subtleties of what specifically can be said about money before it becomes rude may not be apparent.

to be fair, I'm demonstrating how what's rude for one is not necessarily rude for another and vice versa.

ur doing it well

That sounds like a really terrible situation traceur. I hope you get back on your feet quickly.

I don't know if these people are just plainly not polite or it's simply not rude for Vietnamese people to:

1. Ask for your age.
2. Ask for you weight and/or call you fat. Sometimes you'd get a bonus with a description. example: Lola, your face is as round as a full moon!
3. Ask how much you make....yeah, seriously. Then that person will comment how rich or poor you are. :neutral:
4. Ask how much your blouse, purse, shoes, whatever you have that that person is interested in knowing the price. Then he/she will say how rich you are if it's a costly piece of item. Well, costly or not is relative. And no, he/she isn't really interested in buying the inquired item. They just want to know how much you put out for your stuffs. :rolleyes:

Is it okay for Americans to ask if a person is married or not or in a relationship or not? Just wondering because Vietnamese people will straight out ask this too.

By the way, Traceur, sorry about your situation, man. I hope things will get better for you soon.

thanks people, monster - good job.

all the rules above pretty much apply to israel..

however something i noticed in canada & the US - no concept of.. "firgoon"... best defined as the social requirement to give compliments all around whenever there's a good reason.

so basically yes you can ask nearly anything, but you also need to say nice things when there is something nice to say, and not doing so is considered very rude & anti-social. in canada & the US it felt like the norm.

so when we do talk about finances, if someone tells you their heroic story of how they got their credit card company to giveup some of what accumilated from hidden interest rates, and you don't give a pet on the back, your an asshole.

same situation in the UK and i guess the guy whose telling the story is the asshole.

Yeah, we don't typically like for people other than ourselves to be successful with finances.

bingo. rude to ask and rude to divulge because you're generally trying to point out how much better off you are /or how much worse off you are (and it's not your fault) and they should feel sorry for you. You would never start a discussion about it if you expected people to be pretty much the same as yourself.

see the view here is that its information. ofcourse its ego related, but what you are showing off is the same thing you are showing off by sharing maintanance techniques and recipies.

...people that call me "Babe" when Im assisting them at work.

But you are a babe...

I've seen your frowny look. I'd respect you. :D

Re: pointing. Someone else must believe that also. Employees at Trader Joe's and ALDI's (same company) are not allowed to point in order to tell you where something is. If they can't describe it, they walk you there.

It's fairly common for people over here to say something like, 'I'm lost, can you point me in the right direction'. Not many men ever do, but it happens once in a while.

I think pointing to show someone where something is in order to help them out is one thing. Pointing and laughing at someone who's just fallen over is another. That's what I'd call rude.

eta: I do love shows like funniest home videos with all those people falling over and stuff, but they're putting it out there, so obviously they must think it's funny too. I do also laugh sometimes when the kids stack it or even other people, but I never point. ;) That would be rude. lol

apearently not answering IMs straight away might bad manners.

i always thought there's a mutual understanding that people are doing stuff and will go on and off the conversation organically. but now i am finding that this is cause for complaint...

I think that's a whole new thread right there. Internet Manners. lol

I know if I'm talking to someone in IM and they just stop answering in the middle of the convo I get a bit annoyed and wonder why they couldn't at least say they had to go or something.

The only thing I liken it to is when you're at a party and you're talking to one person, but then someone comes over and totally interrupts the convo and you're not really part of the new one so you go somewhere else.

Wait, what, where?

omg I thought at first you meant ME. I was like "now what'd I do...yeah, sounds like me though." :lol:

Instant messages, you mean? I hope?

Sorry, sometimes people call me IM. I like to be called 'infi' for short. ;)

Nope. Instant Message. :)

How many times do I have to tell you, it's not all about you!?? ;)

Since when? :lol:

Does it count that I laugh at myself quite often? As I said, I'm a goof. ;)

I reckon if you can't laugh at yourself when you do something stupid, you really don't have a right to laugh at others when they do the same. ;)

well in real life some talks are the sort of ones you might sit down with or face each other and some are the ones your going to still want to walk around and do your think while you talk...

with IMs you have a history log - interuptions don't make you loose the conversation or where you are in it. so the only question is what the conversation demands.

emotional things can be more immidate and need the attention, but sometimes, aspecialy with intelectual conversations or when its practical matters that aren't immidate, having it casual increases the time people will think about their response. and some conversations are just naturally casual...

Only if both parties agree whether it's emotional or intellectual.

When I worked at ASDA (owned by Walmart) we had to walk customers to what they wanted. It's possible this was something to do with pointing. It was a pain in the arse, because the last section people walked through before they got to the tills was my section. And the thing they couldn't find was generally in the far corner of the LARGE store (eggs mostly - right against the back wall far left). We had targets on getting out stock and time away from your section was time wasted. Oh the pressure of retail!

Pointing AT someone, I get is rude. Pointing out someone (when asked who they are for a legitimate reason) I will do with one finger and a cocked hand. When giving directions I will commit my whole arm, right down to the tip of the extended finger. Like a statue. It gives people confidence in the directions ;)

I feel I am now closer to the mystery of pointing being rude.

In this country we point with our noses.

I'm with Sundae. I don't point to people, but I may point to directions. I've been reading through these posts and unlike Sundae, I am no closer to the mystery of pointing being rude. Pointing in space to show direction is rude? That I still don't understand why. However, I understand that Americans find using the finger to point for any reasons is rude. I will definitely keep that in mind from now on.

Nah, I need pointing. Left,right, east, west mean nothing to me.

They don't need to walk me to my item. I didn't ask them for a date, ffs, I just want to know where they keep the Mr Bubble. :lol:

You could always do the politician hand instead, using the hand/arm gesture of pointing but curling the index finger down so only the knuckle is actually pointing in the direction you mean.

...or the Colombian lip point.