The document discusses personal hygiene practices and expectations in American culture. It notes that Americans consider body odor and breath to be private matters that are avoided discussing directly. Proper hygiene includes daily bathing, brushing teeth twice a day, using deodorant, and washing hair as needed. Makeup use and styles also vary among women. Visitors should observe American hygiene habits which can differ from their own culture.

1. American Culture
Masryna Nainggolan
Universitas Pamulang

2. PERSONAL HYGIENE

3. Personal Hygiene
 Americans consider the subjects of body and breath is
too sensitive for discussion. They will avoid telling other
people that they have an offensive breathe or body
smells.
 Americans will respond non verbally to what they
perceive as unpleasant smells. If they do not like this
situation, they will avert their faces, sit or stand further
away from the person than they normally would, and
draw the interaction to a close as quickly as possible so
they can move away.

4. Personal Hygiene: The Basic
 There are ideal hygiene habits or standard practices consider to
Americans
 People should bathe or shower at least once daily, using soap (contain
deodorant). Brush their teeth with toothpaste at least twice a day and
use arm deodorant to control perspiration odor. They should also wash
their hair as often as necessary to keep it from becoming oily. In
addition, using perfume, cologne, body splash or other scented
products will give themselves and other presumably find pleasant.
 Because of this needed, the industry of personal care products are
grown up.

5. Personal Hygiene: The Basic
 The ideal person does not use too much of scented product. Too much
means that the scent is discernible more than three or four feet away
from the person’s body.
 Most American women shave their legs and under their arms. A small
number of them choose not to shave at all. Many American women
also wear some makeup on their faces. Too much makeup is
considered to make a women look cheap (social acceptability).
 According to the general American conception, clothing like bodies,
should not emit unpleasant aromas. Clothing that has taken on a smell
of the wearer’s perspiration should be washed before it is worn again.

6. Personal Hygiene: Variations
 There are some other variations that American do in the term of
personal hygiene.
 Some women do not use make up or perfume because they are not
required for social acceptability, as long as the person is clean and
free of body odor.
 People who do not use deodorant or other products intended to make
them smell good.
 Some people fail to keep their body clean because of poverty, a wish
to show independence or to protest against the standard practices, and
conviction that natural smells are better than artificial ones

7. Other Issues Concerning Hygiene
 Many international visitors find the hygiene-related
notions and practices of Americans unnatural. They may
consider it unmanly for men to mask their natural odors
and unfeminine for women not to use a consider able of
makeup.
 Other people’s hygiene habits are deeply ingrained in
their own because what smells good or smells bad turn
out to be matters of personal and cultural experiences.
 Ideas and practicing related to the personal hygiene are
complex and perplexing and can produce significant
disharmony in intercultural relationship.

8. Suggestions for International
Visitors
 Take a note to the aroma of individuals and compare them with those
who you would expect to find in your own country.
 Choose and look at the array of personal care products and compare
them with those that you would find at home.
 Pay attention and think about the assumptions that underlie in
personal care product and the message they use to persuade potential
buyers.
 Ask Americans you meet how they decide what personal care products
to use.
 Particularly if your stay in the United States will be long and you expect
to be interacting with many Americans, ask yourself what changes in
your hygiene practices you might be willing to make in order to fit in

9. GETTING THINGS DONE IN
ORGANIZATION

10. Getting Things Done in
Organization
 Many international visitors bring misconceptions
to U.S American: women cannot hold responsible
positions in businesses and organization. Women
are inferior or subordinate or they cannot properly
be in positions of authority.
 In other hand, women of Americans do hold
responsible positions and they are increasing in
many organizations such as manager, executive,
adviser university, or professors, etc

11. Misconceptions
 There are such invalid assumptions that international
visitors give to U.S. organization:
 Many visitors come to U.S America organization only to
meet to the boss. They may resort to a wide array of
tactics to bypass the receptionist, the secretary and other
subordinate staff members in order to see the boss.
 Actually, American organizations are normally based on
the idea that people all levels are intelligent and can, in
fact should, make decisions appropriate to their position.

12. Misconceptions
 Employees are typically bound by written rules limiting their discretion.
Faced with a person who refuses to take no for an answer, they must
still persist in saying no. Meanwhile they become increasingly annoyed
and decreasingly likely to give any for assistance.
 In many countries, people get jobs by personal or political relationships
and main interest is in drawing they periodic pay than working. But
Americans are capable of carrying out their assigned responsibilities
and feel at least some obligation to do so.
 In many countries impersonal procedures in organizations do not work
or work very slowly. Fairness is ensured by treating people differently,
depending on the circumstance. But in America, they do procedural
approach. It means that by adhering as much as possible to standard
rules and procedures, so no one is discriminated against. Fairness is
ensured by treating people similarly.

13. Characteristic of U.S.
Organization
 Competence: applicants must have completed
certain educational or training program. Licensing
some examination or other types of certification
and have some kind of screening to obtain their
jobs are also required.
 Efficiency: a primary concern of most
organizations. Organization typically develop
performance management or scorecard systems
in order to ensure that everyone is working
efficiently and effectively.

14. Suggestions for dealing with U.S.
organizations
 Be courteous to all employees, even if they hold low-
level positions.
 Explain your request to the person who answers the
telephone or greets you at office, let the person decide
what procedure you must follow or what the person you
need to see and being gracious.
 Ask about something that you do not understand.
 Make a note and date and the names and telephone
numbers of people you deal with for further information

15. BEHAVIOR IN PUBLIC PLACES

16. Behavior in Public Places
 People’s behavior in public places, like their
behavior in anywhere else, is subject to cultural
influence.
 The American belief in equality and individuality
is reflected in the informal rules Americans follow
in public places. Aspect of their communicative
style are also evident when they are out in public.

17. Rules For Behavior In Public
Places
 Keep to the right
 Line up, and wait your turn
 First come, first served
 Don’t block the traffic
 Don’t block the view
 Be cautious about where you smoke

18. Keep to the right
 Americans always stay on the right side when
they are walking on the sidewalks, in hallways, or
on stairways, where ever groups of people are
going in two opposite directions.

19. Line up, and wait your turn
 Americans always line up to take service or
attention in public places. Wherever they are, the
latest person to arrive is expect to step to the end
of the line and patiently wait their turn. Because
of equality, in the sense of that no one has
privilege of going to the front of the line.
 It is also reflects their aversion to touching, which
is much less likely to happen in line than in
jostling crowd.

20. First come, first served
 Who arrives first gets attention first. Giving
priority to the elderly, the wealthy, or males do
not normally occur to equality-minded Americans.
They will give priority to people with an obvious
physical disability, in example: people in
wheelchairs or on crutches.

21. Don’t block the traffic
 Americans give priority to people who are moving
rather than to those who are stationary. A person
in a moving crowd (on a sidewalk, or a moving
walkway in airports) who wishes to stop or to go
more slowly than others is expected to move to
the side or otherwise to get out of the path of
those who are continuing to move. It is
considered inconsiderate to obstruct other people
progress.

22. Don’t block the view
 Itis also inconsiderate to obstruct other person’s
view when that person is watching public event, a
parade, an athletic contest, etc. People toward
the front of an audience or crowd are expected to
remain seated so that people behind them can
see.

23. Be cautious about where you
smoke
 Generally, Americans do not smoke in public places.
They will look like unpleasantly if there is someone light a
cigarette.
 Nonsmokers who are bothered by cigarette smoke often
ask or tell smokers to extinguish their cigarettes. People
who do smoke are likely to postpone having a cigarette
until they are in a situation where they can smoke without
polluting the air around nonsmokers.
 Smokers or visitors who want to smoke in particular room
or building can ask others (whether they are smoker or
not), if they can or can not smoke. It is polite to avoid
offending Americans.

24. Communication behavior
 Voicevolume
 Touching

25. Communication behavior: Voice
volume
 Americans are generally louder than German or
Malays but not as louder as Nigerians or
Brazilians. The volume at which people speak
when they are in public varies from the situation.
 International visitors have to note how loudly
others around them are talking and adjust
accordingly. Talking more softly than the people
nearby will cause no problems, but making more
noise than they do will draw attention or adverse
comment.

26. Communication behavior:
Touching
 Americans general aversion to touching and being
touched.
 When in a crowd (bus, train or other public conveyance),
they will simply avoid situations where extensive and
prolonged physical contact with strangers is inevitable.
They will also stop talking or will talk in very low voices.
 When in situation where physical contact is unavoidable,
they will typically to draw in their shoulders or arms to
minimize the amount of space they occupy. They will
tolerate contact on the outsides of their arms when their
arms are hanging straight down from their shoulders, but
contact with others body part makes them extremely
anxious.

27. Communication behavior:
Touching
 Incase where they bump into anther person or
otherwise to touch the person inadvertently,
Americans will quickly draw away and usually
apologize, and making clear that the touch was
accidental.

28. Suggestions for International
visitors
 Aside from noting the points mentioned above,
international visitors should spend time observing
Americans going about their daily routines.

29. Movie’s explanation related to the
presentation
 We take a sample movie “ The Rambo: First Blood” to view its related
appropriate to these discussion. How its related with behavior in public
places depend on Americans.
 We will give summary of the movie to preview the plot of the movie:
 John J. Rambo is a former United States Special Forces soldier who
fought in Vietnam and won the Congressional Medal of Honor, but his
time in Vietnam still haunts him. As he came to Hope, Washington to
visit a friend, he was guided out of town by the Sheriff William Teasel
who insults Rambo, but what Teasel does not know that his insult
angered Rambo to the point where Rambo became violent and was
arrested, as he was at the country jail being cleaned, he escapes and
goes on a rampage through the forest to try to escape from the sheriffs
who want to kill him. Then, as Rambo’s commanding officer, Colonel
Samuel Trautman tries to save both the Sheriff’s department and
Rambo before the situation gets out of hand.

30. The Related with public behavior
 If we pointing to the values of Americans, Equality is not
contained in. Equal means every body is same. They
have to be treated equally. John Rambo, a veteran is
abolished to live like other people. He is protested to get
a job, even a parking car. So it is break their values.
 In addition, when Rambo escaped by the police, they
serve him like an animal. They bullying and harassing
him. Again, it is break the equality. On the other hand,
Rambo destroys gas station with stolen truck. He also
destroys a sporting goods shop and a few other
businesses to protest or to show his individual freedom.

31. The related with Public Behavior
 How to behave in public places is usually contain a lot of
practices to do or to know. According to the movie “ The
Rambo”, we found there are some behavior practices
that it’s not appropriate to the standard practices in U.S.
 Personal hygiene is the most important things when you
want to out in public. As we know , John Rambo is a
veteran. His way to clothing is not required to those
standard practices. He is not take a bath, use dirty
clothes and also have a long-haired. Those make other
become offensive.