Living in a Hospitality Culture — Is It Hospitality or Obligation?

Is it hospitality or obligation? It can be a fine line between the two acts. Hospitality is serving others because you want to treat guests warmly.

Obligation is providing a gesture because you feel you need to.

Hospitality in the States

In some cultures, hospitality is a demonstrated high value. You see examples of this in the southern United States (also called the Pineapple States). “Real Southerners” who were born and raised in these southeast states like North or South Carolina, will offer strangers hospitable gestures out of this value of southern kindness and manners.

Expect something like an offer of a sandwich or a conversation with long-winded questions attached. This is similar to life in a “small town” in the US where everyone knows everyone else and their daily business. But in the south, it doesn’t have to be a small town. It could be a larger town like the Raleigh, NC metro area that has over a half million inhabitants.

The opposite to this kind hospitality, would be rudeness, not being a good neighbor, or giving strangers the time of day. It could be as simple as not smiling or being friendly to others, regardless of their status. New Yorkers have gotten a bad rap for this. I’d add my two cents, that busy city…