Cultural diversity - blessing or curse?

Working in a "multicultural environment" means being confronted, on a daily basis, with slightly different ways of doing things. One of the most obvious in my case is how my French colleagues will come in to shake hands in the morning. I quite like this habit, but not enough to start doing it myself (I tried, but I could see that - like swearing in a language that you do not fully master - people sense that something doesn't quite fit). Also, the meaning of shaking hands is shifting. It used to be seen as a way of showing good intentions (a derivative of the original meaning, namely to show you have no weapons), but nowadays, people only seem to see it as a very efficient way of spreading the flu virus.

Another important difference is the size of personal space. In Spain, a few centimeters between people in the supermarket line (or three or four meters between cars driving 130 km/h on the highway) is considered enough, if not ample; in the Netherlands, this invasion of your personal space is not only not acceptable, it is considered threatening. The first thing I think when someone gets this close is that they are trying to force me off the road/pick my pocket. My Dutch-grown instincts tell me to increase the distance, but of course often, there is nowhere to go. On the highway, I have learned to grit my teeth and "stand my ground"; in a supermarket line I have bumped into several people (which luckily is no big deal in Spain either) in an attempt to restore the balance. This reaction is in fact so automatic you can use it identify Northern Europeans who have not yet learnt this lessons at standing receptions: they will be the ones receding all across the room with a polite smile, while the person advancing will be from a culture where it is considered rude to remain so distant ... Of course, you might reach the wrong conclusion if you are observing two people of opposite gender, but the subject of "women are from Venus, men are from Mars" type differences is so vast I will have to save it for another blog entry.

And then there are differences that are related to personality. Many of my colleagues, for example, use first names much more than I do. To me, a first name is something relatively personal, almost intimate. I don't mind when people use it in passing, but when it is obviously used to try to manipulate me into doing something makes me wish I belonged to one of those cultures where the first name is seen as something quite special, to be shared only with friends. (Mental note to myself: if I ever lead a revolution, salespeople who insert my first name into every second sentence should be the first against the metaphorical wall).

So what is my hidden agenda here, you might ask. Nothing much: just a small critical note to counterbalance those among us who insist that we should celebrate diversity. Diversity is all very fine and well, but all these relatively minor problems can also pile up and sometimes make me wish I only had personal and gender differences to deal with ...