My Kenyan colleague always asks about my weekend for ten minutes before we discuss the project, and I want to be respectful but I can feel my stress levels rising as our meeting time shrinks.
More people experience this than they realize.
Different cultural values around connection versus efficiency create internal tension between politeness and anxiety.
“Where Are You with Monochronic vs. polychronic cultures?”
If this sounds familiar, the Library can help you find the bigger picture.