Something I have experienced in the last 10 months has been people's interactions with each other and the way they differ from the American way I am used to. In the western world people are abrupt. They throw temper tantrums and fight for what they want, never for a second forgetting that they are the most important thing in the whole world and that everyone should bow down to them.
Moroccans, on the other hand, are much more passive. Cautious of new people and not generally looking at getting into a fight over a non-issue (excluding teenage boys who love to fight and bicker). They are "chill".
Today I got on the CTM bus to get my sister. As it turns out, it was 15dh cheaper than taking the taxi but about an hour longer. I decided to save my 15dh. When I got on the bus, no one was on. Then a huge German family got on and sat around me. Technically the busses have seat numbers and generally they are followed but today the bus was empty, so I sat where I wanted. By the time we got to Agadir (20km away) there was a whole bus full of people waiting to get on. This is when the drama started.
This family wanted to sit together so whenever Moroccans came over and requested one of the seats I just asked them if it was okay they sit somewhere else so the family could sit together. They had no problems.
Two minutes before we go to pull out these two French ladies get on the bus and find that their seats are taken by the family. Instead of asking nicely, they start throwing a temper tantrum. Yelling in French, grabbing bags and moving them, ect. They made so much commotion that the CTM employee got on and was trying to figure out what was going on. In the meantime one lady grabbed my backpack and threw it on the ground. I was not happy.
After these two older ladies finished yelling, I asked the CTM man if he would take my bag and put it under the bus so the yelling lady could sit down. He then told me (in Tashlheet so they didn't understand) that he was tired of tourists yelling and being angry for no reason. He also said he didn't want to go to France if the people were like the ladies there. I (along wiht the rest of the Moroccans) started laughing and this did not sit well with the women who threw my bag on the ground.
The issue was that since her and her friend got on the bus last they would have to sit apart when their printed tickets had seats next to each other. My opinion is that when you get on a full bus two minutes before its pulling out, you just deal with it.
After the CTM man got off the bus to move my bag, the lady started yelling at me in English about how I needed to move so that she and her friend could sit together. I said that I wanted this window seat and didn't want to move. She proceeded to huff and puff her way around the bus, making all the Moroccans uncomfortable until the German guy behind me started telling her to "sit down and shut up".
After watching two grown women throw temper tantrums on a full bus, I moved to a non-window seat up the way, next to a really nice french guy. The poor guy was so embarrassed they were French and he kept apologizing.
The CTM guy got back on, after getting his manager, and realized I had obliged and changed seats. He thanked me (in Tashlheet) and started telling me I was welcome on his busses anytime. I just told him that crazy people just like the ladies exist in America too.
He laughed and we pulled away.
The moral of this story is that two grown women, who threw temper tantrums, got what they wanted and managed to aggravate everyone else on the bus giving yet another bad impression of "pushy" and "loud" western tourists who come to Morocco and demand what they want with little regard to everyone else.
This was a time when I was pretty proud to have been an American/ Moroccan.
geeeez. Some people are so annoying!
ReplyDeleteI was at the Rams/Chiefs game on Sunday and something similar happened.... not only did it make me dislike KC fans but made me really not want to go to another NFL football game.
Some KC fans were sitting in front of us and they were either standing or sitting on top of their chair backs the whole time. I didn't really care, but apparently someone did bc a worker came over and told them they had to sit down. They started throwing a fit, yelling about how in KC you stand the whole game but that they guess that isn't how STL does it and bla bla bla. And then everytime someone else stood up they were like, 'Oh he can stand?!' and everytime they came back the the concessions/bathroom, they'd say, 'Oh hurry, better sit down.' It was just really uncomfortable listening to them the whole time. I hate when people can't just drop things. I wanted to tell them to just chill out.
I've seen Moroccan women have loud angry arguments on city-to-city buses and give the rest of the passengers a real show, and I've seen it nearly every time I've traveled there. Too bad I didn't understand the language to know what was going on, I could only guess bits & pieces and from the body language.
ReplyDeletefrench people have high temper like all mediterranenas , its not like americans .I used to live in pennsylvania and lyon in france there is a big difference of how people they are reacting, americans they always trying to keep their temper down but when they get angry its the hell come in .French , they get angry but just a minute after they start laughing they have up and down in a small laps of time.
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