Tuesday, January 15, 2008
a culture shock tidbit
Below is my comment on something Allison posted in her blog:
Allison wrote: '...in the past couple days there have been a few instances when I have been waiting at a counter to either order food, ask a question, or pay for an item and I have felt totally lost in the non-order of the situation.... I was frustrated by the time someone finally acknowledged me and had the audacity to ask, "Uhh, do you need something?" (no, I just hang out here for kicks.).......A "bitte schön" would have been nice, but instead, nothing.......I just started talking, uncomfortable but not sure what else to do.'
I quoted all of that because those tidbits are *exactly* what I've been experiencing lately but haven't been able to put into words. THANK YOU, Allison!!!!! It's not that I'm demanding service....but it would be nice if the cashiers and whozits paid at least as much attention to me, the customer, as they do to each other!
Gah!
Helloooooo, culture shock, indeed. ;o)
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3 comments:
wow I'm not in this alone?! ;) indeed it's nice to know.
another thing I didn't post but is along this line is dealing with service in restaurants. my friend onawa commented on my post about how stupid it is to be expected to tip even when the service is slow or the waiter is rude, and it's true, I'm not that fond of the manditory tipping either. but it doesn't stop there for me. what gets me is the general "don't bother the waitress" attitude I feel when I'm out to eat with others. even just asking for water without ice seems like a tall order-! this climaxes with the "splitting of the bill" issue--I don't know how it is for you, but when i've been out to eat people seem scared to ask for a split bill (and I won't even get into the confusion of when to ask for seperate bills due to the complete unpredictability of when they actually bring the bill) which results in many minutes of extreme headaches and confusion for those with the lovely job of calculating who owes what. and why can't we just ask the waitress for seperate bills? we're paying her to SERVE us, aren't we?
anyway, done my rant now. Maybe I should blog about this too, I hadn't realized my passion for this subject until I wrote this to you! (ha!) See ya--
Hi.
This really sounds new to me...
Isn't it always Americans feeling weird about asking German waitresses for a class of water/coke WITH ice or whatsoever "weird" and "typical American"?
Mmmh, it's interesting to hear that this whole subject is changing now ;-)
Let me know more about this ...
Allison: Well, I haven't had that particular experience since we've been back....my frustration in restaurants usually relates to the wait staff's apparent refusal to leave *us* alone to enjoy our meal in peace without hearing an "everything okay?" every two minutes. ;o)
Ja-9: No, you're right about the drink and ice thing in Germany! What I was ranting about in my post is more the trouble I have with cashiers in stores and at gas stations. Sometimes, they are so inattentive, it's like I'm not even there! But, of course, I might also have an overblown sense of self-importance when it comes to these things. ;o)
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