Originally Posted by
detroitsgwenivere
At the risk of sounding like I might be "justifying" unprofessional behavior [[:rolleyes:), I often wonder if some people encountering folks of another culture perceive their tone or accord as something else entirely. Like someone who is busy, seeming needlessly abrupt. Or a person who speaks in a loud voice being mistaken as angry. Being a person who grew up in a suburban community, and then spending the greater part of my life amongst urban folks, I do see a difference in the way people communicate with each other in these different cultures. Some say that perception is truth, but after spending so much time here, I do feel confident that I can usually tell the difference between someone who just sounds like they're being aggressive, and someone who really is just a year-round *sshole.