Insane Swiss banging on your car windows for you to stop your idling engine.
This has happened to several of my colleagues and now me so I had to post as I did not see any info on the forum. I ran into Migros to grab a few things we needed and left my Range Rover running in an open air parking lot. My wife asked me to leave the car on as it is hot and we have a one month old baby who was asleep in the back seat. I was standing in line to pay when my wife calls me completely upset about people banging on the car and threatening her. I ran outside and asked a Migros employee to help me. He looked at me like I was crazy.
A guy sees me running and approaches me yelling in french. I yell at him in English asking him if he is the one frightening my wife and baby. He starts yelling at me about polluting. As if this is a reason to threaten others safety. We get into it a bit and I tell him to mind his business etc. He calls me f'ing foreigner etc. I respond that I have a B permit and have rights to be there and he has no rights to threaten us etc. The amount of taxes I pay are surely more than this guy earns. We almost get into a fight as he acts like he is going to hit me. I laugh at him and stand my ground and I tell him I am calling the police. My wife wants to leave as the baby is crying and she is upset. He threatens to call the police and takes my plate number. Great, now if he files a complaint I will know who to file a far more serious one against. He follows me with his little old (polluting more than my new diesel car) vw for a bit before he turns off.
My wife said this started as a woman began violently banging on the windows and trying to get into the car. She was in the back seat trying to calm the baby. The woman gets the guy who tries to open the doors as well and is yelling etc. This is seriously over a car idling.
This has happened to a few of my other colleagues one who was bringing his new born daughter home from the hospital and he was waiting for about 2 minutes as it was cold outside with the heater on. He also got into a somewhat more physical altercation and the police could care less.
I do not know what to do about these anti polluter wackos. Nobody wants pollution but I have rights and will defend myself. This guy backed down to me but if I had not shown up he was acting like he was going to break the window.
Anybody know if pepper spray or some other personal defense is legal here? I am from Texas and have a house in south Florida where guns are very much legal and my wife would have been in her right to shoot those people (seriously doubt we would have a gun in the car). We lived in NYC for a many years and are not unused to confrontation but this is a bit shocking.
For Jekyll: As this incident proves, intelligence does not occur naturally in Switzerland; and thereby, needs to be imported from other countries. But not to worry, Geneva doesn't have much to offer talented individuals; so many of us will not stay. We will take our Swiss earnings and invest them in worthwhile countries with welcoming citizens.
Your arrogance is outstanding. You drive around in an SUV, boast about your earning prowess, talk about shooting people in broad daylight and then have the gall to insult the intelligence of the Swiss nation.
Well... US people don't care about the environment! That's a known fact! So... your behaviour is typical! Oh and.. your baby will not die because the aircon isn't running for a few minutes! Believe me: i'm a survivor!
In Switzerland (my country), it is NOT allowed by law to run the engine of a car without moving it!
What you said is another issue, as he is from NYC, haven't you noticed?
Now, I just have one question, if there is a stipulation or law issue that you shouldn't do so? I know people suppose to think for enviromental, and try the best to think or contribute protecting our enviromental, but should swiss people just threw stuff to the window? I mean they had a baby in the car.
I don't know about Geneva, but I've seen signs in several parking lots in Bern asking drivers not to leave engines idling - near store entrances, and there is one intersection at least that asks drivers to turn off their engines if they're stuck in traffic. If it's a hot day, and the air isn't moving, it can be very oppressive to have to breathe in someone's exhaust, especially from a rather large car.
To the OP - it's an unfortunate situation. I am a US citizen too. I don't believe that pounding on your windows albeit rudely would be sufficent grounds to shoot someone - at least not where I'm from. As for the rest, Castro said it better than I could have.
Hope you find a better place to throw your money around, though.
Just as we shouldn't make generalizations about Swiss intelligence, neither should we make generalizations about people from the US and the environment.
I think is the last paragraph that folks are having a problem with. You'll find people here in Switzerland have a very different view of arming themselves a private citizens as opposed to the way things are in the USA.