Goofs because you didn't know local customs

amother

Tue, May 09 2023, 10:44 am

This thread is a "story-telling" thread for anyone who interacted with a different community and got messed up because of unfamiliarity with local customs. Storytelling only. For complaining, ranting, venting or revenging, start your own thread.

We were invited to a simcha in another part of the country. There was to be a kiddush after shul and a dinner elsewhere motzei shabbos. We assumed that our hosts would serve shabbos lunch for OOT guests, so we didn't eat much at the kiddush. By the time we found out that the kiddush was lunch and no additional afternoon meal was planned, it was too late.

Another time, we were impressed that the response card for a simcha had a place to check off your choice of main course, beef or salmon. We all love salmon so that's what we checked off. As we were getting ready to go, the people we were staying at told us quietly that the catering is not kosher. In that community, which had been originally Orthodox but now had only a handful of Orthodox members, a choice of meat or fish was understood to mean that the catering is not kosher, and anyone who "keeps kosher" will choose the fish. (We ate enough grapes to fill a barge and drank enough seltzer to float it.)