Americans VS Malaysians

I have always wanted to write about this but I kept procrastinating until recently when one of my friends actually asked me about how are we different compare to the Americans. What I am about to write is just based solely on my own observation and therefore it will not hit a 100% accuracy and the sample size used was pretty small (just the people around my University when I was studying in the US).

Conversation: Americans tend to elaborate one point to the fullest, to ensure they don’t miss anything about it while Malaysians will only mention about key points, less on elaboration.

E.g. When a person is being asked “how are you/what have you been up to”:
Americans: I am doing great! I have been to …, oh scenery was so beautiful … (elaborate, keep going on and on and on).
Malaysians: I am okay lah, went to Genting yesterday, how are you ah?

Personal thought: I feel that Americans are proud of what they have been up to while the Malaysians are shy/shame to tell what they have been up to.

Working in a team:
American: individualistic
Malaysian: collectivism

E.g. When a person is assigned a single task:
Americans will perform the task in their own way. They tend to work independently. If they don’t understand the nature of the work, they will search the answer themselves (for instance, through googling or by asking professor/manager).
Malaysians will tend to clarify everything, asking for guidance in search for the answer. They will always ask their team mates on the methods of pursuing the answer if they don’t already know how.

When phone is ringing:
Americans tend to ignore and let it go to voicemail. They will reply later if they need to.
Malaysians tend to answer the call despite they are in a meeting, dating etc.

When making an appointment or setting a time for an event:
Americans train/bus will depart at stated time with no delay. When the event is supposed to start at 8:00pm, it will really start on time (e.g. VIP starts walking into the hall etc). To simply put, Americans respect the time of others very well.
Malaysians are always late for meeting, date etc. When there is an event stating the time would start at 8:00pm, the VIP will only walk in an hour or two later. Malaysians tend to accept this “being late” mindset.

When we have absolutely nothing to do:
Americans: read or workout or watch TV.
Malaysians: call friends to see if they are free to hangout or watch TV/drama.

When we open the door in front of us and pass through:
Americans: will hold the door behind them and make sure the person behind them pass through it.
Malaysians: just walk through and pretend there is no one behind.

p.s. don’t get me wrong, Malaysians are very nice people. Just that they are not trained to be like that or lack of awareness on this issue.