Adapting to American Behaviour

The second assignment in our Intercultural Communications class was to write an essay about our observations within 'American culture'. We had to read an article by Robert Kohls about 'American Values' and write an essay agreeing with his chosen 13 values (with examples) or disagree and give new values. For your reading pleasure I have posted it here, although I've made some alterations due to confidentiality of my other cast members :)

* If you are strongly patriotic you may not want to read this - or maybe you will. These are observations I have made about the general population around the 'Disney Area' here in Florida. I do not believe these opinions of every state in the USA nor do I believe these opinions of every individual American within each of said states - don't be hatin' *

Give specific examples of American behaviors that you yourself have observed during the time that you have lived and worked at Disney.

After reading Robert Kohl’s “The Values Americans Live By” article I have created a list of the 10 American Behaviours/Values that I have witnessed or disagree with, during my first 2 months enrolled in the Disney International Program here in Orlando, Florida.

American’s need to focus more on change, always maintain a sense of time, still have a great lack of equality, constantly need privacy, a misunderstood sense of ‘self-help control,’ s strong sense of competition, have an appearance of informality, a strong sense of directness, value practicality & they are indeed very materialistic.

American society still needs to focus on change; specifically the outward appearance and personas of its citizens. Since arrival I have gotten many negative looks when seen with ‘non-afro-Caribbean’ students. Everywhere you go ‘black is black and white is white unfortunately with many afro-Caribbean citizen staying together (at work or personally.) If you are not seen with ‘your sisters’ then you are cast an outsider - and then do you need to be changed.

Many of them still don’t dress very ‘respectively’ for the twenty-first century either. While I was out for dinner with some friends we seen a group of young afro-Caribbean women dressed out in public in a very popular middle-class restaurant looking like ‘they were on their way to the red light district’ so to speak. It is sad to find that in this day and age many still view afro-Caribbean people as lower in status and have to demean themselves to slang and derogatory language and un-classy occupations.

            American’s do have a very strong sense of time. They are always busy or in a rush (even if there is nothing to rush to) and they always have to stick to a schedule.  One of my closest coworkers always needs to follow our scheduling shift track sheet perfectly ‘to a T’ until she can begin to slow down and relax and enjoy work. The track sheets themselves are a good example of how precise American’s follow scheduling and deadlines.

            American’s pride themselves on ‘equality’ but in following my first example of lack of change, they only have specific equality for their own race. Yes they have gotten better at accepting and welcoming other cultures but not as far as other countries. Our Social Security office guard was very prejudice against Italians and French culture. When we went to our SIN card appointment he spent the entire morning discussing his dislike for the arrogant culture and antics of those countries citizens (all after bluntly stating we weren’t supposed to talk during our appointment time.)

            I agree American’s are a very private culture. Phones are always no more than an inch away and password protected. Doors are always closed and locked. Even though all 5 of my American roommates claim to be very friendly, welcoming and approachable they all close their bedroom doors and get anxiously perturbed if the doors are left opened. This might be because Americans try to give the persona of being busy and self-preserved so it would be disheartening to see into such a chaotic or cluttered lifestyle ‘behind closed doors.’

            Many American’s are seen as cocky or conceited because of their strong sense of self. They believe that recognition is always needed and don’t want to complete or help with a task if no recognition or reward will be offered in return. They are individual players that don’t like to share the spotlight with many others. Many of our character performers think and act this way. Not realizing that everyone performers, costuming or cosmetology help to contribute to a show.

            American’s are very competitive. Coworkers compete for the supervisor’s attention. Women compete to win affection from men. Friends compete to dominate the conversation or plan the day’s activities. All these are examples of how competitive Americans can be. I work with some coworkers that like to be right so much that they will interrupt your conversations just to tell you what you already know (in order to smugly listen to their own voice.)

            It is true that many American’s can be perceived negatively due to informality. I work with very many blunt and straightforward cast and performers that have a racial and crude sense of humor. It is sometimes hard to just shrug it off, laugh nervously and carry on with your work. Many of them do give one-word answers or greetings and seem very unwelcoming (until you smile or wave at them and they open up positively.)

            I do agree that many American’s are very direct with their dialogue. Sometimes again to the point of perceived negativity. Many of my coworkers are perceived as bossy or arrogant because of the direct way that they speak or give requests.

            American’s do value practicality. They do not like to waste time and energy on things that won’t give them any benefit in return. Many of my coworkers will not give rides home to ICPs without asking for a shift exchange or favor in return first.

            Finally, Americans are very materialistic. There are specific bus routes scheduled to take you to shopping malls and trolley routes taking you between both shopping outlets. Every American walking by you has a cellphone or other kind of electronic mobile device. Even character performers become partial to a specific kind of costume item or clothing piece that they claim for their own whenever they perform.

Please feel free to leave any comments, agreeing or disagreeing with my observations, Kohl's observations or share any experiences of your own.