On the way back from the local park today, we met and chatted with some new neighbours (Spanish / English couple) who live downstairs from us.
It seems they are now at the receiving end of passive-aggressive tactics from the "Bünzli" neighbours who gave us problems until I read them the riot act - see post here .
The latest note they got was about having set the language on the washing machine to English and not resetting to German - about which there is no rule in any hausordning or laundry room rules.
We just told the new neighbours to stand their ground and not to let these peasants wear them down - but wonder if I should try to do something more about it.
I think if the language was already in German, then they should have put it back to German. As simple as that. And I think it is what you should have told them to do, to avoid argument with the rest of the neighbors who are in their right to complain about it.
Not resetting it to German may not have been the most clever idea to begin with. However, referring to the lack of any rule in the Hausordnung or laundry room rules makes you a strong contestant for the 'Bünzli Neighbour' title.
The 'language setting' complaint is the latest in a series, as mentioned by OP. Also, if the machine does not default to a specific language, we have a bit of a chicken and egg problem with the 'initial' language
If it wasn't for the fact that these neighbours think they own the place and simply pick on whoever they perceive to be a bit unsure of themselves I would go along with your point.
The same woman tried it on with us when we first moved in - see link in the OP. She tried to make out that my then 3 year old son saying "bye bye Daddy" on the corridor a couple of times as I left for work at 8am was somehow a breach of house regulations. It isn't.
It has everything to do with being mean to the newbies.
Cheers,
Nick
I hope not. At least work provides a refuge from these plebs.
Cheers,
Nick
Great idea! We have stacks of source material for the plotline!
They don't have a right to complain about it... Are their hands broken or something? They can't just change it back? This is not a crisis that requires hand-wringing, teeth-gnashing, and note writing! Yes, its annoying, but if this is considered social misconduct by these people, they truly are sheltered people...
It could just be that these people don't like foreigners...
Just to put it in context, the language button complaint is just one thing in a long line of other passive aggressive behaviour. The same neighbours continually stick A4 notes up in the main entrance lobby complaining about some trivial nonsense or other. Other families in our building are entirely pleasant and civilised.
The washing machine itself has one button with the word "Sprache" written on it. Pressing it moves the setting moves you along to the next language in the possible options of English, German, French or Italian. We are talking mountains and molehills here.
I should add that the teenage daughter of said neighbours thinks she should be on the next X-factor so we have to endure her dreadful attempts at piano playing and singing. The same people also insist on using their own washing machine at all hours - sometimes after 10pm and on Sundays - which reverberates through the building.
There probably isn't a lot we can do apart from moving out - which will be on the cards anyway at some stage. However the EF provides the perfect place to have a rant about it!
As for calling these neighbours "peasants" I feel there is a little too much emphasis in Switzerland by the size of your wallet!!!!
As for the machine... Please... If they had a sick child, or a terminal illness they wouldn't be so bloody niggly... RiDicKuLous..... and why are they using the communal machine if they have one themselves?! Stick that on a note and post it on their face!!!!
Funny you should say that. They left a note up complaining about people making noise after 10pm on the garden seating area. Underneath it, somebody wrote - in what looks like an older person's handwriting style so I reckon the nice elderly lady upstairs - that it is just as unneighbourly to stick anonymous notes in the entrance lobby.
FWIW the complaint about garden noise - which was no doubt directed at the new couple - is total bull. The bedrooms are on the opposite side of the building from the balcony / garden areas. In any case the new couple are quiet as mice.
Not in German speaking Switzerland, no we haven't.
I agree that there are bigger problems in life in general and in a building in particular than the washing machine's default language, but when you change something for your convenience in a common area, it is polite to set it back - even in Switzerland, a country most of you agree to qualify as rude (or at least so do a couple of threads here say).
Setting it back to English in London would also be the thing to do. In France, there wouldn't be a language setting in the first place... this little adventure ironically give the French right. A shame, really.
I use the word peasant not as an indication of wealth but as an indication of behaviour and attitude. Some of the nicest people I know have no more than two pennies to rub together. Conversely there are billionaires who are little more than plebs.