I live in Saudi Arabia and this experience occurred while collecting my son from daycare yesterday.

I knocked on the door and stood back to wait. The door opened a sliver and I was greeted rudely. “Yes?”
“I’m here to pick up Olivero,” I said.
The door closed to a crack and I could hear muttering in Arabic.  The door then opened a sliver again. “What?” The voice from behind the door said.

I was shocked and taken aback by the rudeness. Firstly, stop communicating with me through an as-good-as-closed door and secondly, I’m a person; politeness, please. These are the people I leave my son with, to support his growth into a responsible, polite conscientious human being. Have I made a good choice coming here?

“Olivero!” I called through the door, louder this time.
“One minute,” came the muffled response and the door was once again closed.
A moment later, the door opened and my son walked through, delighted to see me.

Reflecting on the experience while driving home, I kept coming back to this question.

What are typically social, cultural and global differences that may be exacerbated through the use of technology for communication and collaboration?

Communicating through a closed door is the same as communicating through technology. You can’t necessarily see the person with whom you are communicating, sometimes you cannot hear them and most importantly, sometimes your shared language is not necessarily spoken at the same level. Communication is a full-body experience, you hear the word choices, pauses and connect that with what you; see, including gestures, smile, eyes, stance; and feel what is said or not, what is emphasised with gestures, pauses or smiles. This lack of full-body experience can exacerbate poor word choice, or pauses in unnecessary places and mutterings.

Yet, reflecting on my experience, I know the lady I was communicating with is still learning English. It is her second language, as such, her word choices are limited – “What?” – and she may often seek help – muttering from behind the door -.

It’s not fair for me to condemn her. Her only fault is she doesn’t speak my language the way I expect.