Finally, I talked with the management this April and realized for the first time that last autumn some "hints" were dropped that there was going to be a rule-change about teacher's using the school's motor scooters. Here was a one-time hint (from late last October) from someone who I do not consider my overseer or my main contact at my workplace from late last October.
This man said, "You should get a [motor scooter] license."
In some countries, that sort of statement--"You should get a license."--might be considered a rather direct command, but not in many countries where I have traveled.
For example, in both the Caribbean and in Southeast Asia--not more than an hour flight from Taipei--I have rented scooters without showing anything but a U.S.A- or international driver's license." (Besides, I had also though--when the suggestion was made to get a license--that there is no place on this island where I live and work where I can obtain such a license!
Unless my school is offering to give me a few days off to go take a test on a neighboring island, "Why should I bother getting a license, i.e. as my boss had told me I could use the scooter whenever I want?")
All-in-all, I suppose, I just wasn't listening or wasn't able to put the cues together that higher-ups had changed the rules--but no one wanted to lose face or make me lose face by reneging on the original promise of my main advisor.
CONFUCIUS ON RELATIONSHIPS
Now, I know that the Taiwanese use a lot of indirect communication as well as keep a lot of secrets and opinions to themselves. However, I cannot forget that the concept of "face" controls relationships (guanxi).
Amy Liu notes that these precepts date back to the master--whom we in the West call Confucius. In Confucius' world view, relationships are bound by the concept of "group over the individual". Only friends are equal in any of these relationships.
All others--from family-relationships to work or school to relationships--involve pecking orders by age, by education, and by seniority. Saving the face of your superior and senior colleagues is important in this relationship. Likewise constructive criticism to either younger or older colleagues may mean loss of face--if done publicly (and even in some cases privately).
At my work, I may still feel like the new-guy-on-the-block but I arrived here with two master's degrees (which no one else at my school apparently has) and 25 years of teaching experience. This means that my colleagues--and even those over me--may defer their communication to me or through indirect comments by them or through others. They may also use indirect speech to relate a command--such as a rule-change about the school's motorcycles.
Welcome to East Asia folks!
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