Is this a culture difference, or is it just me?
If you drop something, do you have to pick it up immediately?
It's summer, it's hot, and there's no air conditioning, so all the windows are open. This means it's windy sometimes, which means papers get blown around sometimes. If I'm explaining something to class and a paper I don't need right that second flies off my desk, I'll let it sit on the floor until I've finished what I'm saying and I can pick it up at my leisure. Or if I drop the piece of chalk I'm writing with and it rolls away, I'll grab another one of the fifty-billion pieces lying around and use that instead. But inevitably, within seconds of something hitting the floor, the other teacher or a student or someone will jump up to pick it up for me, or at least point and say "ochita!" Yeah, I know it fell, but sitting on the floor an extra fifteen seconds isn't going to hurt it!
Or last night at the grocery store, I was fumbling for change in my wallet when a ten-yen coin fell and landed by my foot. I noted its position and continued searching for the correct change, planning to pay the cashier as soon as possible and then pick up the the fallen coin while she was doing the cash-register thing. Then she started to come around from behind the register to pick it up for me. Geez lady, that's nice and all, but I can pick it up by myself. You keep doing that register thing and I'll do that pay-you-as-quickly-as-I-can thing, and we'll both keep the check-out line moving, ok?
So, is needing to pick up fallen items omg-right-this-minute a Japanese thing? Or is it an everyone-thing, and I'm just weird for not caring so much about letting things sit for a bit?
It's summer, it's hot, and there's no air conditioning, so all the windows are open. This means it's windy sometimes, which means papers get blown around sometimes. If I'm explaining something to class and a paper I don't need right that second flies off my desk, I'll let it sit on the floor until I've finished what I'm saying and I can pick it up at my leisure. Or if I drop the piece of chalk I'm writing with and it rolls away, I'll grab another one of the fifty-billion pieces lying around and use that instead. But inevitably, within seconds of something hitting the floor, the other teacher or a student or someone will jump up to pick it up for me, or at least point and say "ochita!" Yeah, I know it fell, but sitting on the floor an extra fifteen seconds isn't going to hurt it!
Or last night at the grocery store, I was fumbling for change in my wallet when a ten-yen coin fell and landed by my foot. I noted its position and continued searching for the correct change, planning to pay the cashier as soon as possible and then pick up the the fallen coin while she was doing the cash-register thing. Then she started to come around from behind the register to pick it up for me. Geez lady, that's nice and all, but I can pick it up by myself. You keep doing that register thing and I'll do that pay-you-as-quickly-as-I-can thing, and we'll both keep the check-out line moving, ok?
So, is needing to pick up fallen items omg-right-this-minute a Japanese thing? Or is it an everyone-thing, and I'm just weird for not caring so much about letting things sit for a bit?