Ugly Canadians...I hope

So, later that night, I'm back at the bar hanging out, and I hear a crash and see some commotion. Apparently a customer has caused a waitress to break a glass by hitting her serving tray. No big deal, I think, stuff like that happens all the time.

Well, evidently there was something that I missed because 30 minutes later, the girl that caused the breakage comes up to the bar and demands a gin and tonic (she could have been American or Canadian--as the only distinguishing part of her accent was that it was North American English). Apparently, the waitress refused to serve her (which makes me think that it was more than just an accident, or that this customer had done more than just broken some glass), so she came up to the bar, thinking she would get better service.

The bartenders immediately defer to the manager, who shakes his head and says "no." The girl gets irate and says, "no, I am spending a ton of cash here, and I want my freaking gin and tonic." At this point, all the bar staff and nearly all the wait staff are just standing there, staring at her with blank looks on their faces. The manager explains--she has already broken a couple of glasses, and has apparently been disrespectful to his waitstaff, so, no more for her. She then yells, "you know what? this is bad business. FUCK YOU!" and then storms off.

The manager just shakes his head, his staff have a look of shock on their faces. In SE Asia, the concept of saving face is extremely important--nobody wants to be embarrassed, shamed, or publicly disrespected--and the easiest way to lose face, and burn bridges with the locals observing your behavior, is by losing your cool and getting into a loud verbal argument and otherwise flipping out. While in the west, we might empathize with the person depending on the situation, in the east, you are always supposed to keep smiling while trying to work through the issue at hand, trying to find the best possible solution for both parties.

Admittedly, I'm biased when it comes to this particular scenario --I had prior encounters with both persons involved. I had gotten to know the manager over the course of several nights, and he was a good guy--he wasn't out to get tourists or purposely enrage his customers, and he seemed to be well liked by his staff. I had seen the girl several times--we had stayed at the same hostel in Hanoi, and I had also seen her out and about in Hoi An--she struck me as someone who, to put it politely, liked to have a good time--I don't think I ever saw her without a drink in her hand.

But she screwed herself over when she flipped out and became ultra-demanding. Besides, no matter where you are, you are never going to win an argument when you start throwing around insults. Fortunately, in the several nights I was there, that was the only incident of rude and ugly tourist behavior that I saw.