I spoke to someone who had recently moved from Ireland and was charmingly lamenting the changes. Even waiting for the bus could be a bewildering event. He didn't realize you had to flag down the bus in order to get it to stop, and a bus roared by, while clearly seeing him standing there. Eventually another waiting passenger explained that this stop serviced 4 different routes and if the didn't flag the bus down (by waving clearly) then the bus driver just assumed he was waiting for a different bus and drove on by.
I do a lot of tarot readings for people who have just moved to New York. I often talk about managing expectations. We know how things worked back home, and sometimes those expectations just bite us when we move somewhere new, especially somewhere as big as New York. The first six months can definitely feel overwhelming at times.
It's up to us, the new person, to see that we have moved and this different place might have good reason for doing things differently. Or they just might have different customs, no good reason, but everyone else does it that way, so you may have to be the one who adapts. Or you can bring your better coffee and people come to your café and soon you've changed the local culture. Either way, there's often no malice, just different expectations/customs and as long as you keep that in mind, it's easier to deal with.
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