Intercultural Conflicts can be quite complex at times but sometimes it just boils down on how sensitive are you to the other cultural group. Many times, it can be either something complex like how Americans think cleaning the van which is not used is pointless while Japanese think cleaning the van regardless used or not is a duty (as given in our readings). Sometimes it can be really simple like different practices and a lack of attention to detail from either party.
The following intercultural issue is not a conflict, but is more of a misunderstanding. Once, my sister was working late with a colleague. Being concerned about her friend's welfare, she offered food to help ease the hunger of her colleague. Her colleague was a muslim, as such, was forbidden to have pork. My sister, in all earnest, had taken notice that her colleague was a muslim and was well aware of her colleague's sacrament against eating pork. However, as my sister offered biscuits from "Arnot's Baked not Fried", it contained bacon bits. She was unaware of the make up of the biscuits and offered them to her colleague.
My sister's colleague had studied the package and politely rejected without mentioning why. My sister was puzzled but did not pursue the matter. It was only after when she reached home, as she was looking at the food packaging, she noticed that the biscuits had contained bacon bits. She then realised her error and apologised the next day.
Though the short situation that happened here did not involve any heated flare ups or much emotion, we could see my sister's colleague's polite disagreement as well as my sister's puzzlement in response to her rejection. When I look back at the entire incident, and play myself in the shoes of my sister's colleague, I believe I would act in the same way and politely reject my sister's kind offer as well. I do believe that my sister's kind intentions were known, but they were unable to be fully appreciated by my sister's colleague.
In the shoes of my sister, I think i would also be able to understand her surprise. Surely her good intentions were not expected to meet with rejection from her colleague. I believe when my sister realised what she did wrongly, she would have felt bad and I believe she apologised to her colleague the next day.
She did share this incident with me and my brother. My brother had the same views as me as we laughed the incident off. Though it may seem as a silly joke for now, I guess if the same thing had happened again, I believe we will not be laughing. To be sensitive to others, especially those from a differing cultural group, is key for harmony and working together in this globalised world.
