Uruguay vs. USA - a vast cultural difference

Imagine you call a flower shop out of the blue, you're not a regular customer: and tell them the following. "It's my friend's birthday tomorrow and I want to send her flowers. However, she's at her boyfriend's place and I don't know the address or the phone number there, or his exact name. If I ask her for the address it spoils the surprise. Would you mind calling her cellphone and getting the information to make the delivery?"

In the US the reaction would probably be suspicion. If you were known personally to the employee/owner of the shop AND the recipient was also personally known they'd probably go along with it. But for the average person, unknown on the phone wanting to make that most-potentially-fraudulent transaction -- the one by phone? An unscientific survey I took of friends and relatives all said - no way would that request fly.

Imagine the scenario is real though. It's your good friend's birthday and you need to send something, but those are the facts. Now, her boyfriend's name is Sebastien. In Uruguay this is as common a name as Mike or Mark. You don't know his last name because he's her boyfriend, you've not yet met him or really talked to him. Your friend is sick and staying at her boyfriend's house because its more comfortable there and more importantly she can work from his house since he has ADSL internet access.

So I'm chatting with her on MSN - I'm in Phoenix, she's in Montevideo. The topic of her birthday comes up and I'm thinking how the heck do I get her a gift? I have her exact apartment address. Her office would be easy to find through directories - but a boyfriend on unknown family name with a common first name somewhere in Montevideo? A tough order. I need at least a neighborhood to try to pull this off.

I casually ask, where does he live again?

Pocitos.

Ok, my attention is diverted from the chat and I'm on the phone with Tienda Inglesa in Montevideo making the request in the first paragraph. There was just the tiniest bit of push-back, "But sir, we need an address to do a delivery!" I responded "Yes I understand but if I directly ask her for the address she not only knows shes getting a delivery but who its from. If you ask without mentioning my name, just that there is a paid-for birthday gift to be delivered, the surprise will be better, right?" The lady on the phone agreed. We picked what exactly the gift was going to be. It took awhile, I was having trouble understanding her.

This was not because I have trouble with Spanish - I do well if it's the sole "stream" going through my mind. But I was chatting with my friend the whole time as if I was not on the phone buying her a gift. When I looked back on some of my responses to her written during the call I used spanish words in a lot of cases mixed in with english.

So the lady was very patient and explained again what the options were. I chose one of them. Had I been in Montevideo in a street market the bill would have been 10 or 15 times cheaper but hey, I wasn't there...

"How do you want to pay?"

"Visa"

"Documento tenes?" (Do you have an ID number)

She was a little surprised to hear me reading in American-accented spanish my Uruguayan Cedula number (unusual for a yanqui to have one), and then I gave her my US passport number. (If you live overseas for any length of time you WILL memorize your passport number.)

The card was run and approved, transaction with the store finished.

Back to the chat with my friend.

Your cellphone is going to ring, you better answer it and find out what they want.

She said, "Oh, it is ringing... just a sec"

And the store had made good on its promise to phone and locate the recipient of the gift.

Now THAT is great service.