In the short story My Grandmother Washes Her Feet in the Sink of the Bathroom at Sears, Mohja Khaf describes the process of a Muslim woman preparing herself for the prayer wudu, which she prays five times a day, in the bathroom of a Sears retail store. As the story progresses, we see Americans in the store are angered that she is putting her feet in the sink of the bathroom as a means of cleansing them. My question is this, what is the true, fundamental reason the Americans become so irritated with the grandmothers actions? Khaf writes, “a contamination of American Standards by something foreign and unhygienic” (Khaf, 1). Although it may seem gross to put your feet in a pubic bathroom sink, is it truly unhygienic? Is it any different than putting your hands that have touched the germs of hundreds of surfaces within a given day in the sink? Not to mention the grandmother also stated,”We wash our feet five times a day, my grandmother declares hotly in Arabic. My feet are cleaner than their sink. Worried about their sink, are they? I should worry about my feet!” (Khaf, 2). It is also safe to assume the Americans in the store rattled by this aren’t even going to touch the sink, use the sink, or even let alone, use the bathroom at all. No, the Americans are infuriated purely because a woman of foreign decent is practicing a religion not of their own in a place where they are. Although I don’t believe we can presume these Americans as racists or Muslim haters, we can say that they don’t view these actions as “normal” and therefore they are made uncomfortable by them. However, to the Arabic grandma she is doing nothing wrong and her actions are normal to her. After all, she prayers like this five times a day everyday. This leads me to my final statement that what is normal to one person, may not be normal to the other. Especially in a day and age were globalization and cultural diversity is bigger than ever, we must be more open to change and respect others perspectives.