Cultural dissonance is often subtle, and our Cagliese hosts
are ever gracious with my redundant ignorance. The purchasing protocol at Starbucks in America is
significantly dissonant with the caffes in Italia. A transaction at Mimi’s
Caffe on the piazza in Cagli illustrates this sufficiently. Standing at the chest-high bar, I waited
briefly for my turn; when she turned her focus on me, I ordered, “vorrei expresso, perfavore;” I held
out my five euro as a clear intent to pay immediately. In the States, I don’t
know that this offering would be refused for a moment, but Mimi went about her
preparations, ignoring my obvious faux pas. She set the saucer on the bar with
a sugar packet and a napkin followed by the lilliputian cup half-filled with
the dark coffee drink. I downed it and the time now seemed right. Again, I held
out the euro bill. This time she took it; I opened my hand to receive the
change and that dissonance descended on the transaction again as she set the
change on the counter, bypassing my hand.
Another
incident later that day is still puzzling to me. Returning to town from a walk,
an elderly man shuffled close to the buildings coming toward me. My interest
piqued to take a photo of a Cagliese citizen, I approached him with my camera
in hand. He never gave permission, but he stopped and stood up as straight as
he seemed able, all the time engaging my eyes and maintaining a frown on his
face. I finished the impromptu session within seconds and thanked him. He did
not speak, He did not move, but he did keep eye contact. I turned back after a
few seconds and he was still watching me.
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