Exactly this.
Though I never managed to get it across to a certain German speaker that when in Italy, if the mail doesn't come, you don't go to the post office and bang on the counter. You go to the post office and tell them you are a poor student, you are not getting the mail, and your mother back home is getting very distressed. They will then fall over themselves to deal with the problem because they all have mothers.
The answer to all problems of this kind is cultural sensitivity. Unfortunately some people consider it's for wimps.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
