Local variations --- You are right to point out the importance of cultural variations with regard to politeness and minimising imposition, Mamta. Even within the same country, different communities behave according to their own regional (professional or gender) norms.

On the small island where I live in the very North of the UK, Southerners are considered brash and arrogant know-it-alls.

With regard to gender, a woman will often be considered overbearing and aggressive when she behaves much as an average man would.

Source author: Biljana Scott biscott@diplomacy.edu