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*Talking about yourself

If you meet a Cambodians for the first time some of the questions that they are likely to ask you will surprise you beside asking about your name, nationality and work.
Those questions are:
1. How old are you ?
2. How much is your salary?
You guys might find these two questions strange or taboos that shouldn't have asked. However they are the very common questions for Cambodian. We Cambodian normally don't call each other just by name but always put the word (bong=older) or (pa-oun=younger) before the name. This is the reason we ask about your age. For asking about salary, we just want to compare our salary, however nowadays more and more Cambodians seemed to take this question seriously as we are being influenced by the western culture. People now will not happy to tell you about their salary.

*Visiting a friend
If you are invited to a Cambodian home you should take off your shoes before entering the house. Cambodians may greet you by bowing slightly with their hands placed together in a prayer-like position in front of the face at approximately chin height. You should respond in like manner. Cambodians will show respect for older, or more senior people by trying to keep their head at a lower level when passing by or talking to them. This is obviously tricky if granny happens to be sitting down, but an obvious attempt to bend forward or stoop a little is sufficient to demonstrate some cultural sensitivity. When seated, you should avoid pointing your feet at anyone; the common western way of sitting on a chair with legs crossed and stretched out in front appears ill-mannered to Cambodians.

*Note for those who already learned or knew these before, please just take them for granted.

yeah the salary question is dressed up most often by barang as "what do you do?"

this is far more frequent with Americans than anyone else.

the attempt to categorize and stereotype is seen as a little objectionable among those of the wannabe elite.

but it is not offensive among obvious working men, one to another.

it can often be a search for a common interest.

whatever the answer to that question for sure they will bitch about their boss very quickly- especially if self employed!

in my childhood, you normally called the elders mr or mrs, miss, sir, ma'am. and if you didn't- you were certain to be told about it very quickly.

respect was enforced by Dad's belt in those times.

he rarely needed to use it.

times have changed now.

I don't recall being asked how much I earn very often at all, and I would only give a very vague answer lest I upset someone who earns less.

if its not the police, you don't have to answer any questions.

salary q is about who pays for the beer perhaps.

potty wrote:if its not the police, you don't have to answer any questions.

Haha you actually have full rights not to answer. No one is going to force you to answer.

but will they be pissed and never ever forgive that rejection and suspect something must be wrong with you and search from now on in your past present and future, in order to find that dark secret ?

are you female potty?

just dawned on me.

how could i be so blind.........................

billy occam

Yeah I had to explain to some young guys working in a guest house that it is extremely rude to ask (older) western women their age. And also not to ask the guests how much money they earn.
I just explained that in western culture these are taboo questions for strangers and this is why they are not good conversation-starters - at least wait until they've had time for a beer or you've talked awhile.

No big deal, but something you should know if you are dealing with western customers.

i think so. OTOH, since they are working at foreigners setting, they should have known well about the culture of the west. However to solved this problem they should have explained to thier guests in order to find out if they are happy for them to ask.