It's ok, it's ok

One thing I’ve realized in my time in India is how much things in the US are set in stone and follow certain rules that everyone accepts. In India people tend to be much more fluid about things, and nothing is ever set in stone. For example, in the US, if a store lists the hours and days of the week it is open we just assume that it is open at those times. If a store says it provides a service we figure it means they provide it at that particular branch, not that you have to travel a half hour to a different outlet. In India, these types of things can work both for and against you.
Example: often here we walk into a restaurant and all the tables are full except for one that has a sign on it that says reserved. With a smile and the token “It’s ok, it’s ok” from the waiter, they remove the reserved sign and the table is ours. Us: Win, we get a table. Person with the reservation: Lose. It’s McDonalds for them.
Example 2: A friend of Aakash’s has been crashing on our couch while they finish “remodeling” his apartment, which was supposed to be finished in mid-January. They finally finished it, and last night he spent his first night there. This morning his landlady knocked on the door at 7 am and asked him to take all his stuff and leave, but she would be generous and give him his full deposit back. Still sleepy and in shock, he explained that he had to go to work, could he at least come back at night to move his stuff. She (and not so kindly apparently) said that no he had to have everything out by 8am. Our guess is she found someone willing to pay more and since he hadn’t signed a lease yet she gave him the boot. Luckily for him we’re all so thrilled about having someone around who isn’t an economics dork and isn’t working on our project that we welcome him with open arms. Although we obviously haven’t had him sign anything in case someone better comes along and we want to kick him out by the end of the hour.
Last example: Working in India provides an extra layer of fun because this idea of bending the rules applies to the workplace as well. We are partnering with a call center here (I mean you can’t come to India and not somehow work with a call center, can you?) and they called a meeting with us at their office at 10am on a Saturday. Now, while none of us were thrilled with this time and day, we dutifully reported to their office at 10 and, surprise surprise the place was deserted. We called their cells, but got no answer. Finally, we got through to them and they assured us they were on their way, almost there. At 12 noon they rolled up, two hours late to a meeting they had called. The best part was they got out of the car and said “No problem, don’t worry about it, it’s ok it’s ok”. We responded “Oh ok, great, well we’re glad you could make it thanks for coming, etc”. It took about 10 seconds for us to be like wait a minute, aren’t we the ones who should be telling them it’s no problem?
The real danger is that now I’ve gotten used to saying the magic words (It’s ok, It’s ok) and getting away with just about anything. There is a shortcut to our apartment through a private guarded property, but if we just tell the guard It’s ok enough he lets us through. When bargaining with someone I offer them half the selling price and tell them It’s ok It’s ok and sure enough it is. I can just see me walking into the GAP and offering them $20 for a pair of jeans and telling them over and over It’s ok, It’s ok. Something tells me GAP security guard might not agree with me…