Well, now I know why New York seemed so friendly to me.
It appears that, in the very same fact finding mission of the Readers’ Digest, Kuala Lumpur was the third bottom on the friendliness stakes.
I can relate to that. I’ve tried to get on the Kommuter going south from KL Sentral, and simply let train after train go without me, rather than push my way on. I’ve had my car breakdown in the fast lane and be ignored [except for the irate hooting] while I fixed it myself.
When I first came to KL it was a different story, though. Thirty-seven years ago, it was a lovely place as far as courtesy went….
The funny thing is that the perception hasn’t changed to keep up with the reality. People still think of themselves as courteous Asians, respectful of elders, having an Asian gentleness that you don’t see in the West… Yeah, tell me about it. You’ll still find that in smaller towns and villages, but in KL? Nope, we should learn it from New York.
And drivers’ attitude towards pedestrians. Now that would get you started I bet. New York and San Francisco drivers are among the best at stopping for pedestrians to cross the road, even when not at an ‘official’ crossing or ‘green man’ signal. Chicago not so good. Europe in general not as good as North America. Africa and South America I’m not sure. And Asia? It’s variable, but you know, survival of the biggest.
Smathi
i guess why they didn’t stop by to give a hand is because we’ve been experienced of crime. that’s about it. how to overcome it? i might say it takes time 😉
You are definitely right about malaysians being unfriendly. Last week I accidentally locked myself outside my house. Thinking that the key-making shop behind my house could help me, I asked the shopkeeper for his help to open my door lock. Unfortunately he looked at me as though I were wasting his time.He gave me a very ridiculous suggestion-‘Go and saw a tree and throw it to your door, for sure the door can be opened!’. I was very crossed and went to the other shop. There I also received the same cold response. At first the shopkeeper and his family showed some warmth towards me but when they learnt that I had accidentally put my wallet inside my house, they treated me as though i were a dirt and ignored me.One of them even told me that i was dishonest with them. he was doubtful towards my intention of asking them to open my house lock! I was so angry that I stormed out of the shop, leaving a remark that they were unreasonably cold people.I had gone to five more shops and they were all unwilling to offer their help. At last, I managed to get into my house with the help of one not so decent looking key-making shop through my father.When i told the helpful man of my previous unpleasant encounters, he told me that they were reluctant to help as they would receive only a little payment for the service.