What is that Latin American custom that bothers you even though everyone defends it as something "normal"?

how loud we are🫠 i notice hispanics can be so loud and not even realize it. they'll be having a conversation on the phone or right next to each other and be yelling as if it's normal. i grew up around it so i got used to it but there's moments where i'm like omg please quiet the f*** down🫶

Agree with the punctuality thing, my dads family is Mexican (so is he) and they are all late to everything, contrast with my mom's family who is Asian everyone is punctual

As a Colombian, the acceptance of violence. Many times it’s treated as the only solution.  Also a lot of victim blaming. One of my most hated sayings is “dio papaya” and blaming the person that got hurt/robbed/etc. 

Smashing the birthday person's face into the cake. I just can't 😭

The machismo. It’s prevalent

I lived in Ecuador for six months as an American. There were a lot of terrible things (mostly related to my job), but one thing that drove me crazy was just the refusal to face anything negative. “Man I just had a shit day at work.” “Ah, don’t talk about it, just drink!” Or “I’m really feeling depressed about blahblah” “don’t be depressed, have another drink!” It was like a constant refusal to face any reality, and just constantly sweeping it under the rug. It felt especially frustrating with an abusive boss, antagonistic coworkers, walking to work getting chased by stray dogs every day, helping my (American) roommate deal with the legal system because she had been attacked and almost kidnapped by an Ecuadorian mafia guy… and it was just “nah don’t worry about it, let’s party.”

Noise pollution. Little to no respect for anyone. What's the point of c**** ass fireworks even on Christmas Eve?

For me, the lack of personal space. I’m an American that spent 2 years living in Argentina and Colombia, and oh my GOD I swear I could feel people’s breath move my hair in the line at a store.

I was recently at a conference in Peru. The conference was specifically organized by a Peruvian meeting planner to ensure that it would adhere to those timing customs (later start that a conference in the US would have, for example). Folks were still late. This was a big deal conference with some seriously high-level presenters and speakers, not a casual meet-up, and I was truly surprised at how many participants came in an hour late. I wouldn't say it bothered me, because it didn't impact me, but it was noticeable.

Piercing babies’ ears. I know it’s a cultural thing in a lot of different cultures but to me it says from birth what matters most for a girl is how she looks, even to the point of putting an infant through pain for it.

The belief that mental health issues don't exist. Or kissing children on the mouth.

That would drive me crazy. I do my best to be on time for everything.

"ahorita"

I worked with a Guatemalan site at one point in my career as a project manager. Some (not all) of the team members were perpetually late. I spoke to them about it privately, emphasizing that for the sake of everybody’s time they needed to be prompt for the meetings. When it did not improve, I locked the door at the beginning of a meeting. I waited until five after the start, and then I locked the door. There was knocking, and there was pounding, and there was pleading. I continued with meeting as it normally would; I assigned a lot of work to the absentee members. Then I opened the door at the end of the meeting and invited them all in for another discussion. They were not late to the next meeting, unless they had preemptively informed me that something else had come up. In a business scenario, I hate lack of punctuality. In a private scenario, I have left restaurants when my friend was more than 15 minutes late. I can’t stand it.

As an ADHDer, I occasionally consider moving to Latin America just to adapt to this. I hate being on time for any job tbh. Lol

Never being on time & being loud af all the time

The funniest part is when someone shows up an hour late and then gets mad that you're not ready because you assumed they'd be even later than that.

I'm not from Latin America, but I often see people joking about kids getting spanked with kitchen utensils or flip-flops in Latin America (and South-East Asia, for that matter). If this joke is based on reality, then I guess that would be it for me. This would absolutely not fly if parents did that in my country, especially publicly and to a point it got kind of a meme. Kinda hope it's really just is a joke

Lateness, noise, litter, corruption and lawlessness etc all come back to the same thing - a lack of respect for others, an absence of “common good” and a lack of accountability - it doesn’t exist in many places in Latin America. It’s very difficult to overcome unless you can somehow get people to realise that caring for people other than immediate family makes everything better. Or you can do it the Bukele way and brutalise people into it, but that also comes with big downsides.

I worked at Peruvian restaurant for a Peruvian woman in the US, this post made me think of it (the food was incredible and her daughter I worked with was very nice ) The owner was constantly talking shit to everyone in Spanish thinking the customers don’t know what she is saying. I know a lot of cultures do this but being bilingual in this situation made it very apparent, most of the women would do it but not all. The men who worked there were all very chill and kind. This is not what I would say cultural just her being c**** but she would make me clean the restaurant with dirty napkins she would save ( they were large durable paper napkins a step below cloth). I remember she wanted me to clean the floor of the patio with dirty napkins instead of the mop we had and just water no cleaner. It didn’t look perfectly clean of course then yells at me saying my mom never taught me to clean. For me when I was too poor for chemicals we would at least use distilled vinegar. Also not cultural just an issue with this place she only hired good looking women as servers and was trying stack the place like a Peruvian hooters. She would leave the seco stew outside to cool off by the door only 5feet from the dumpster, I don’t eat meat but I certainly would steer clear of that. This one is just funny but every time we got a white person who had been to Peru we would get asked if we had guinea pig then they would have to talk about how they went to Peru and had it. I seriously miss the food and don’t have the food in my area. I still make ají sauce and saltado de verdura and the lo mein noodles when I miss it.

In the days of yore when a guest arrived, their entrance meant something. Show up early and no one sees you arrive, show up later and you have an audience. It's really not a big deal for social events, because everyone expects folks to show up an hour late.  Back then, when folks got together, guests would put on their very best, and hosts would put out their very best food & drink. In some areas that were predominantly AG, there simply wasn't a lot of money. So those parties were moments where the perception of success sometimes came down to the shoes people wore, or the cleanliness of dress. Do things right, and you made yourself look good, while you made everyone feel good about being there. That the tradition of showing up a little late to make an entrance has seeped into the business world is frustrating for management, or those that don't share the tradition. Totally understand that, since punctuality means effective time management, and accordingly no wasted money.

If this is including caribbean people I hate both the lack of care about mental health and the accepted and high volume of violence against women.

I dont speak Spanish, but i have heard folks shaming my mom and dad for not teaching me English while living in canada. Like, wtf i have a learning disability rhey should be happy i can function in society well enough to travel!

It's not just Latin Americans, bro. I think it's a character trait that crosses ALL kinds of ethnicities.

The one that bothers me is feeding people even when they aren't hungry. According to my dad; who was from Mexico, said that it's rude to turn down food when it's offered. It's one of the reasons why I stopped going with him to his friend's house.

I have also heard a stereotype of Mexicans being late. is it a stereotype across all latin americans?

Piercing a baby’s ears. It’s so cruel

Family is nosy about everyone's business and always provide unsolicited opinions. I find that very annoying, I am a person that likes to keep to myself. I am Mexican.

You talk about cultural lateness as if it was meant to be a slight. In Ireland arriving late for a social function was not just culturally acceptable it was actually expected. If you turned up at the advertised time for a party you would find the hosts in a state of undress still making last minute preparations. People from other cultures sometimes interpreted this as laziness or sloppiness but I believe it was indicative of a very sophisticated relationship with time. There were layers of social custom involved in knowing which events it was acceptable to be late to and exactly how long after the appointed time you should wait before arriving. Sadly a lot of this nuance has faded away in the face of modernity and the pervasive influence of technology.

Being late isn’t Latin, it’s just pure disrespect. It doesn’t matter what ethnicity one is. Being late disrespects everyone.

I think that being late thing is a brown people thing. Ive seen this complaint with African/black culture, Asian culture, and Latin American culture. As a black person I hate it too when people are on time

This isn't a latinamerican thing, dude, don't lump us all together in the same way gringos do, it's cringe.

I neve waiting a presents for everybody But everybody have my presents every Christmas I’m real No fakes