Do most Germans need to be arrogant asses when answering questions ?

[simple_homer]

I have visited German owned or managed businesses in Colombia, Mexico , Cuba, USA, Thailand, China, Philippines , Caymans, and the Bahamas, and most of my experiences have not been good. As a traveler it is normal to ask questions about the hotel, restaurant, or the city, but many Germans just do not seem to be able to be polite in answering questions.

I can recall pleasant encounters with dozens of different nationalities in many different countries.

I have not visited Germany yet, and maybe they are lovely people in their own country, but the ones that I have met outside Germany just seem to be arrogant asses.

As an example, I was in a German restaurant in China for lunch today. The restaurant is famous for it’s buffet, and I wanted to give it a try. I noticed a second buffet set up outside the restaurant. I asked the German manager about it and he told me “private party, go back inside”. When I hesitated he said “private party, fuck off”.

[Celyn]

@simple_homer

… I asked the German manager about it and he told me “private party, go back inside”. When I hesitated he said “private party, fuck off”.

Well, that **does **seem completely unheard-of rude, but is there any more to the story than this?

Is it really only German people who are so troublesome in all your travels?

[njtt]

You mentioned the war, didn’t you.

[Celyn]

Surely the Trojan War, at least.

[astro]

The Seven Personality Traits of a German

[simple_homer]

@Celyn

Well, that **does **seem completely unheard-of rude, but is there any more to the story than this?

Is it really only German people who are so troublesome in all your travels?

Nope. I asked the question and then walked away.

Of course there have been other nationalities that have not been polite, but today’s experience just reminded me that I cannot recall any polite experiences with Germans.

[Der_Trihs]

@simple_homer

Do most Germans need to be arrogant asses when answering questions ?

No. Now, I command silence.

Whoops, sorry, my German ancestry kicked in there for a moment.

[Celyn]

@simple_homer

Nope. I asked the question and then walked away.

Of course there have been other nationalities that have not been polite, but today’s experience just reminded me that I cannot recall any polite experiences with Germans.

OK, fair enough, your experience. But I generally don’t think of German people as being especially rude and uncivil. In Germany I did not find them so at all.

But, to be fair, I have not spent a lot of time visiting German restaurants in China and a wonderful lot of other places. N.B. I am not being snarky: I respect and envy your experiences and your travels.

Anyway, I thought it was more the SDMB thing to castigate the French for being rude. (Only joke)

[Celyn]

Oh yeah, and the U.K. for being rude, bad service, and bad food.

[simple_homer]

@Celyn

OK, fair enough, your experience. But I generally don’t think of German people as being especially rude and uncivil. In Germany I did not find them so at all.

But, to be fair, I have not spent a lot of time visiting German restaurants in China and a wonderful lot of other places. N.B. I am not being snarky: I respect and envy your experiences and your travels.

Anyway, I thought it was more the SDMB thing to castigate the French for being rude. (Only joke)

Thanks.

I have never been to France, but I have met many charming French people outside of France

[drewtwo99]

French people are rude too. And smelly.

Americans are dumb and rude.

Brits are rude and have bad teeth.

At least the Germans are sexy when they are rude.

[WalterBrazil]

Hmmm. Ok, this chap sounds like he may indeed have a hair trigger personality (Said German man), but we have to take on board that we don’t know what happened/how many times he has to respond on this a day/his perception of the interaction…

I live in London UK and we have every accent known to man in many places: work/social etc. so I think I have a good level of experience to postulate a theory.

One could postulate that Germanic/Slavic accents when used to pronounce English DO seem to elicit a negative response from other folk watching how interactions pan out.

I have a soft Irish accent and have worked variously with German/Afrikaans/Dutch accented colleagues. More recently with migration patterns, Eastern European folk.

I have noted that, when people don’t actually know the nationality of a given colleague and don’t have a finely enough tuned ear to distinguish between the various accents that my (very polite) colleagues with accents that are more ‘clipped’ get complaints for being rude. I can often say exceptionally harsh things (not out of malice but because they need to be said) and people think Im utterly charming. My colleagues may say something comparatively less controversial and get complaints for being abrupt and rude.

Essentially the prosodic features of speech appear to be read on a profoundly subtle level which overrides the actual subject matter or words. Throw in the right accent with an ‘acceptable’ cadence and you can get away with a lot more than a more monotone or regulated cadence.

Somewhere underneath the process you have to wonder if history and media presentation leaves a taint of ‘Germanic = nasty’ ‘Irish = trustworthy’, ie a subtle but powerful nationality bias…

If I approach a person expecting a negative interaction, I know it alters my approach and will show in my body language, general openness and the features and content of my speech. I’ve pre-programmed the interaction to be less positive without meaning to. So, similarly, if anyone approaches an interaction and hears an accent that they make a subtle judgement upon then the same phenomenon is possibly going to occur…

We take cues from all sorts of information and speech patterns are a basic cue. If you then draw further upon a culturally biased expectation that you’re going to have a less positive interaction then you’ll feed that dynamic and find negativity or create it where it was not there to begin with.

I’m not saying that was the actual case in the experience of the contributor who commenced the thread but it’s worth a thought…

[Napier]

I work with dozens of Germans and have spent weeks in Bavaria and, iirc, have yet to be treated rudely.

[MichaelEmouse]

“Do most Germans need to be arrogant asses when answering questions ?”

NEIN!

They want to.

We have to give them credit for having gotten better though. They used to be a little harsh.

[msmith537]

Oh you’re GERMAN! I’m sorry. I thought there was something wrong with you.

[Slithy_Tove]

I was a bank teller in Honolulu, which was a spectrum of the earth’s nations; all jet-lagged, disappointed and fleeced.

Germans weren’t rude, just bursque. Nothing personal, they just didn’t see the need to lubricate the transaction with pleasantry: clear instructions should suffice. Perhaps an engineering culture’s adherence to close tolerances.

Rude? Treating those serving them with open contempt? Taking the extra effort to make it personal? Californians, in an easy, relaxed way. The French as practitioners of an ancient tradition. New Yorkers not at all: they let you know that they could be rude, but it’s their art form, so they were no more liable to use it on you than a Japanese would be to fold origami cranes there at the teller’s window.

[Loach]

We would go to a German buffet near Fort Knox for the food and the rude behavior. Maybe abrupt is a better term.

“I’ll have a Becks.”
“Becks is shit beer I will bring you Warstiner.”

I also loved the signs posted such as “noisy children will not be tolerated!” Great place.

I spent two years in Germany and found them very nice. Maybe when they [del]invade[/del] visit other countries they are different.

[Slithy_Tove]

ETA: that black socks & sandals thing? Now that defies human understanding.

[Smeghead]

I’m impressed that the OP has had the time and opportunity to meet “most” of the Germans in the world. That shows great dedication.

[simple_homer]

@Smeghead

I’m impressed that the OP has had the time and opportunity to meet “most” of the Germans in the world. That shows great dedication.

Give me a few more years, and I will meet all of them