This week I've been through a quintessential brazilian situation when I required a constructor to come to my place in order to comission a service.
He behaved really arrogantly since his arrival at my door, and I know it had to do with the way I was dressed. I was doing house chores and not worried about my looks.
My house has also been very messy these days, because I'm in the middle of a renovation, and he made it very clear his disapproval of my lack of neatness. He simply regreted spending his time coming here, and showed it by not paying attention to the conversation. While I was explaining the job, he was chatting on his cell. In Brazil, many people believe you can't afford sofisticated things unless you show off.
I took him to my bedroom, and that's where he made the most offensive of the comments: 'What is this room? The maid's?"
It's offensive because we have this maid culture in here. In the past, many maids lived with the families they worked for - likeness with slavery is not a mere coincidence - and there was a 'maid's bedroom' in the house, usually tiny and with no windows, located close to the kitchen and the laundry room.