A Different Way of Thinking

I had a pretty amusing conversation today on the way to work with one of the doctors I work with. He and I started talking about cars and he asked me what kind of car I drove in the U.S. I told him that I drove a Honda and that my family currently has it and are paying the insurance fees. He explained how there is such a huge difference between our country's enforcing of the whole insurance business compared to here. He said when there is an accident here, you automatically assume the person that hit you does not have any insurance and there's no reason to get mad...that's just the way it is. He and I then went on to talk about return policies for business and the idea of customer service. I explained to him how Costco will pretty much take anything back even without a receipt and if you've used it for a great deal of time. I said, "For example, if you buy a new big screen TV and after 6 months, it stops working, you bring it back to the store and they will replace it with a new one." He looked at me in disbelief and said, "That would never happen here in India. If you got 6 months out of it, that was it's life. Forgot a replacement, you'll be lucky to walk out of the shop with a repair phone number." The store owners expect that once you buy something, they are done with you and have no obligation to help you when it breaks. He said, "You buy something and hope for good karma!" We had a good laugh as he said, "Costco may be a reason to think about changing my career and moving to the US!"

I then proceeded to tell him how I had bought a phone adapter back in February and then 3 weeks later it stopped working. I told him that I tried to take it back to the store and they looked at me like I was crazy. Now it all makes sense...there are no such thing as returns. He laughed so hard as he imagined the store owners looking at me like, "Yeah, you had it for 3 weeks. That's pretty good. Guess you need to buy a new one." I insisted on getting a replacement and looking back, I can see how "American" of me that was. It was very likely that I took the store owner's own personal adapter as he pulled one out of the wall and said to me, "Because you are a foreigner I will give you a new one." It definitely wasn't new and didn't look a thing like the original one I bought. I feel badly now as I realize I probably stole his own working adapter! My doctor friend really laughed at this story. You live and learn huh?

One other funny part of our conversation was when I was explaining about doing taxes and how I do my own because they are simple but others in the U.S. use a tax company and pay a fee. I mentioned that if I have any questions, I can call my uncle for some free advice because he's an accountant. The doctor laughed at the word free. He said, "You are happy because he would offer you free advice? Of course. He must. He's your uncle. Here in India, I could call my sister's husband's dad's friend's uncle in the middle of the night and he has to help me. There is no question. It doesn't have to be my actual uncle. But if he knows something, he must tell me." I laughed as I explained this was not really possible in America. Talk about individualistic vs. community living! It was such an interesting conversation that I had to share :)