David the Boss

As mostly everyone knows by now, I came to Hong Kong as a Logistics Manager, and 4 months later I became the boss of the office (General Manager). While I was the Logistics Manager, everyone (co-workers and vendors) treated me very nicely, always helping me with whatever was needed, whether it was translating Chinese into English, carrying my luggage during trips to China, making sure I was safe, and on and on - I kind of felt like they were babying me. Also the door was always held open for me so I could walk through first. I was kind of uncomfortable with all of this treatment, as I just wanted to be treated like everyone else - I didn't want to be treated in a special manner just because I was an expat.

Once I became the General Manager of the office, things changed. Now I was being treated even better than before - every decision that had to be made was my decision, and people made sure that they always held the door for me and let me walk through first, even if I insisted that they go first. When at a restaurant I was always asked for what my choice of food was, when before the food was just ordered and I ate whatever was there. I became increasingly aware that no matter how hard I tried to be treated just like everyone else, it was nearly impossible - everyone was treating me extremely well.

Now I'm not complaining about this - I'm just making a cultural observation here. In the USA you wouldn't catch me dead carrying my boss's briefcase (he didn't have one, but if he did I wouldn't hold it for him). Here in Hong Kong, where hierarchy is very important, it's very common for the subordinates to carry the boss's briefcase when traveling.

And now it's gotten to the point where I expect to go first in everything - first to walk through doors, first to get on elevators and escalators, first to start eating, and so on. And I now do these things anyways because they're expected from me (cuz I'm the boss), and I'm sick of trying to tell my co-workers to go first. So I've just accepted this position, even though I don't quite feel so comfortable with it.

I know I shouldn't be complaining about being treated well, but the problem is that now I expect it, so I may unwittingly do something that might be considered rude (i.e. walking in front of someone when in line, etc.), but it's only because it's how I've now been conditioned to act. Does this make sense to anyone or have I lost it?