Scenario: When Monica Arrived in Nepal for Her Peace Corps

Essay

Scenario: When Monica arrived in Nepal for her Peace Corps assignment, she realized she had forgotten the medication she takes for her painful migraine headaches. Luckily, she was able to get a new prescription sent to a local pharmacy. Unfortunately, when she went to pick up the medication on a weekday afternoon, the pharmacy was closed and no hours were posted on the window. Frustrated, she went to a café next door complaining, "They don't know anything about customer service-he doesn't even keep regular business hours!" A short time later, the pharmacist greeted her with the filled prescription-the server at the café had phoned him at home and he rushed over to get her the medication.
Question: How does what you learned about individualist/collectivist cultures and time orientation inform your understanding of this scenario? Was ethnocentrism or discrimination a factor? What does intergroup contact theory suggest might be the outcome, for Monica, of this intercultural exchange?