[jballanc]

Well, you're wrong about one thing: that's not just small businesses in Turkey. Even very large chain stores have the same level of hospitality. And it's not just stores. As an example, tomorrow is the start of Şeker Bayramı (literally translates as "Sugar Holiday" but is just what Turks call Eid al-Fitr, the end of Ramadan). The holiday lasts for 3 days. I received a text from Turkcell the other day stating that they were giving everyone unlimited texting during the holiday.

Edit: Also, of course the Turkish businessman is making back the cost of the tea. It would be foolish to think otherwise. The point is that (if you want to go all Econ 101 on it...) Turks tend to think in terms of straight profit, whereas Americans are much more obsessed with opportunity cost.

[smsm42]

Are you saying short-term discounts and freebies are unheard of in USA? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/02/national-donut-day-... https://www.facebook.com/events/353010928105586

There are many more examples of stuff regularly given out by companies for free, it's just two things I could remember immediately due to you mentioning "sugar holiday" :)

[jballanc]

Heh...you really do need to visit Turkey. Turkcell didn't advertise that they were giving everyone unlimited texts. There was no article in the national paper about Turkcell giving unlimited texts. They did it because it was proper, and hospitable. In short, Turkish hospitality is very different from the examples you gave.

Trust me, if you ever care to visit Ankara, tell me and I will show you Turkish hospitality.

(Or, as odd as it sounds, Anthony Bourdain's "No Reservations" episode on Istanbul does an amazingly good job of capturing the essence of modern Turkish culture...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ojatA-Xqhk)

[smsm42]

I have visited Turkey in the past briefly, and it was nice, though I did not notice any special hospitality not encountered in other places. Maybe I just wasn't lucky.

Unfortunately, since I'm Jewish I'm not sure it would be wise for me to visit Turkey again now, due to recent developments... it seems like the hospitality for me might be a bit limited now. http://www.radikal.com.tr/Radikal.aspx?aType=RadikalDetayV3&... http://jcpa.org/article/present-day-anti-semitism-in-turkey/

Maybe sometime in the future... Sorry for getting a bit off-topic here.

[jballanc]

Off topic indeed, but this year's Eurovision singer from Turkey was Jewish (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Can_Bonomo). Not to say there isn't anti-semitism, but I think it is much less in Turkey than you might think.