When a German sales manager makes a business tour of countries in the Middle East he is unaware of local customs and is disappointed when reality collides with his expectations. For example, when the German arrives for an appointment with an Arab official he is sometimes kept waiting for an hour or more. But he notices that Arab visitors are always shown straight into the official’s office.

Rightly or wrongly, the sales manager assumes that he is kept waiting because of the gross discourtesy of Arab officials. Eventually he becomes so angry and frustrated at what he sees as discourteous and discriminatory treatment that he cancels the rest of his tour and returns to Germany.

What the manager failed to realize was that the true cause of the behaviour lay beyond the individual official and was rooted in Arab culture. The Arab visitors who arrived without notice were members of the official’s extended family, and they dropped in to discuss such matters as a dispute with a neighbour or some other pressing issue. To refuse to see a cousin or a grandfather who turned up without notice would be a violation of a prime social rule in Arab society.