104. Boy, what can I get you?

I was at an open air clothing market and I was looking around at some shoes that one man had for sale.  After he finished talking to another customer he said to me, “Boy, what would you like?” in Romanian.  At first I was a little annoyed.  I thought to myself, I am 24 years old… why are you calling me a boy?

But after some discussions with my tutor and more observations I see that calling someone, ‘boy’ is not an insult in Romanian.  Plus, I do not think I get ‘man’ status until I am married.  Yes, the salesman could have been more formal, but at the same time he was not insulting me.

I also need to remember that the customer service aspect of sales in Moldova is different than I am use to.  You can see the difference between large chain/foreign sales companies and local companies.  When entering the store of a foreign clothing store chain you hear a ‘hello’ and ‘can I help you?’ and also a ‘have a good day’ when you leave.  When in the local chains or the open air market sometimes you are ignored unless you ask a question or buy something.