Maybe I’m too Danish
Nov 25th, 2007 by Peter
Last Friday C went shopping with her friend. The day before, she asked me to prepare dinner which I gladly do. I rarely have a chance to keep my cooking skills up since “Danish dishes are too expensive, too fattening and has too much meat” (Quote my wife). So normally the missus cooks, while I help out washing up later.
The same morning I asked C when she expected to be home. Round 18.00 she said.
So after a really stressful day and a way too long day at the office I rushed to a supermarket to buy the needed groceries. Then back home to start preparing. Marinated some pork chops, whipped up some salad, and finally made some oven potatoes plus roots ready for the oven. Knowing C, I decided to send her a sms just to make sure before I started heating up the goods at 17.15 o’clock. The answer was still 18.00. So I tossed the pork chops on the pan and started warming the potatoes.
Half way through the deal, C called and told me they would be late. Not sure why, but my guess was that too many shops were still not explored. The busses run all the time, so that’s not it. Sloppiness and not a care in the world.
Would this happen if C were Danish? Pretty sure it wouldn’t.
I am normally never late myself and most other Danes either. Especially not when the set time is for dinner. Here its considered rude to keep people hanging with ready food. I know it’s a bit different in C’s home city, but not sure it’s generally a Chinese thing.
Anyway, it gave me some extra time to sit here and bitch. Hrmf!
Yours
Peter – An angry housewife
Ps.: No, I can’t do without her anyway. Just as you thought.
And I thought we Germans were known to be always on time. :D
Anyway, from my (limited) experience, it is not such a big deal for Chinese when the food is ready before the guests arrive. Since they always have at least one more dish on the table than people sitting around it, it is often impossible to have all dishes ready at the same time, so some are kept warm, some are warmed-up again alter and some are served lukewarm (at best), and nobody complains. (This might be just the people I know though). From this perspective, keeping you hanging with the food is probably not too rude, if this consoles you a bit. ;)
Nah… I know, I may have been caught on a bad day too. C’s not that bad in this regard, but sometimes the Chinese gene sets in and that collide with my Danish gene.
I have just always been a bitch about sticking to deals. When someone shows up 20 mins too late without a proper excuse, I find it selfish and a waste of my time. And that I take personal :-)