Aha, now it makes full sense (reg your first reply). i can now join the dots
True true..At the end of the day, though, I don't think shop assistants are paid to give customers lessons on good manners, you know. While in principle I agree with you and it is so true, I still think that acting like a school principal and humiliate somebody in front of others is not in that person's job description. When OP did offer a greeting, in Geneva very understandable international code. I know it takes a tiny effort to say bonjour, I enjoy saying it anytime I can, but how professional was that person's behavior? And would his boss agree? You represent a company, you know... Being multilingual and open to foreigners is probably that company's policy, I doubt that a shop assistant who works around with I only say Bonjour in French written on his forhead scores high points, plus, they have him there to assist in English. If you really want to give people crap every now and then, you chose, ehm, a different job
no of course not, and in general shop clerks are ruder here that I could have ever hoped to be so that brings up my earlier remark.. when dealing with the human beast it is best to offer a warm greeting in order to "set the lay of the land"
some poor bloke on minimum wage ... it doesn't take much to set him off so why aggravate YOURSELF further for the sake of a "bonjour"
its simple, they deserve a SACK! Whatever level whatever company period.
ps: you need gratitude not attitude in doing your day job!
Veering slightly off topic... my husband and I went for a Chinese meal on a Sunday evening at Stadelhofen, very friendly service (I insisted on trying to speak in German and they insisted on replying in English!) but they started cleaning up at around 9:30pm before we had finished our meal. We were not the only people left in the restaurant and it was only due to close at 11pm, but it really ruined our meal having the vacuum cleaner blaring away for the last 20 mins we were there, and unfortunately meant we chose not to tip when we left. It was almost comedic how the employee doing the cleaning took great pains to not vacuum closer than a 1.5m radius around us - about as effective as 'smoking areas' on aeroplanes used to be!
but the reality?.. while I don't know IKEA policy I am willing to bet , based on my own experiences, that your official complaint went into the official circular file shortly after you left.
do you know David Brent personally ?
I had a similar incident, in Starbux GE, when the serving lady overheard me saying bonjour and started talking really loudly, in front of all the customers Can't you at least say hello, isn't that a normal thing, HERE she stressed (as opposed to over THERE where you are from)...She peeved me so much, I had to respond, but just shows, that these rituals really are uber important here. At the end her colleagues laughed at her for her being so eager beaver, and I got it off my system. But it does get on my nerves, I had couple of same lowest paid jobs, so no sympathy. No matter what cash one works for, don't vent on your customers...
I ended up in the hospital Saturday. Even there in the ER I was shocked by the rudeness.
I then showed that I wasnt gonna take it and let her have it. She then accused me of being drunk (i wasnt (8 beers or so in the course f 9 hours))
I was extremely rude to her back to a point of yelling to eachother and serious namecalling in 3 languages haha and feel good about it also, they replaced her with one that was very apathetic and helped me the way I expect to be treated in the hospital. I wrote a formal complaint but I am sure that will go straight into the bin also.....
Ok.....I tried to restrain myself but....If I had a patient when I worked in ER, who after 8 beers kept yelling, he would lay flat strapped to the bed and calmly dozing off...
I also noticed locals get crap from sales people, too, and more than before decide not to take it. When people worry about not performing to your expectations here, you will be scolded, too. Just to understand some of the situations..
Ok let me get this right....a chinese restaurant run by german speaking chinese (atleast the chef must be chinese) trying to behave like Swiss? hang on....
Good furniture sales people work for up market furniture sellers. IKEA gets the one the others don't want. I've been in a number of situations where IKEA salespeople acted wholly unprofessionally. When I was a student, my GF and I got shouted at once (this was in Germany mind you) for running up an escalator that was going the other way. The escalator was going real slow and there was nobody coming the other way so we really weren't getting in anybody's way. Eventually the manager came out and rather than telling the jobsworth to f*** off, he joined in the shouting telling us that we shouldn't do that. I bet these people eat bile for breakfast.
8 beers in 8-9 hours is not to much id say (I run a bar so im not sitting around) Id like to see that happening to strap me to the bed with 2 broken ribs and being bitch at like it is nobodies business. My buddy who took me was also stunned and let her have it also....a lawsuit would be quick to follow and not just a complaint.
The Swiss simply suck at service, no matter where you are (more so in the Frech part). They are rude and thats the norm for them in my opinion. Id does make for a nice story when you do get good service (which I have gotten on certain occasions)
I don't see why she would ignore you. I can sort of understand how she feels (if she's anything like me). I am very competent in French. I spoke French to some health insurance guy and, obviously hearing that my accent isn't native, he asked me what language I speak, so I told him. At this point, he starts speaking English to me, when I'm perfectly capable of conversing in French (and, dare I say it... my French was better than his English). Swiss people I've spoken to have interpreted this as him trying to make me feel comfortable, but I took it as him showing off or not thinking my French was up to it. Maybe Ms. Rodriguez thought you were insulting her level of German? Just a possibility. I'm not justifying her reaction to you though, that's uncalled for.
I don't agree with people saying "if you work in a crappy job, expect crappy customers", the whole "put up or shut up" thing. Sometimes you don't have a choice. Last year in the UK, I was doing my MA in translation while simultaneously working in a garden centre café. I got so much crap because I was "just a café worker". It shouldn't matter what people do (and therefore the MA is completely irrelevant, I was just using it to point out that sometimes you don't have a choice what job you do), they deserve respect. I got so annoyed at people not replying to my hello, like I wasn't worthy of human interaction or something. However, I put up with it. People can be bastards. Unfortunately, it's part of working in customer service and if I can put up with it, so can everyone else. I don't mind a customer service assistant being rude of it's warranted, but otherwise no.
I think the key point is that respect should come from both parties. I've been on the receiving end of disrespect from customers and from customer service assistants. It isn't necessary and it's sort of depressing.
While the above posters are right and a greeting in French from your side is preferable, even when you do speak/attempt to speak French, don't expect the customer service to be much better. There is good customer service to be found, but it is quite rare in my experience.
good customer service is definitely here but seems it is restricted to luxury stores (like anywhere in world). I've was browsing top end watches last week and they pampered me with catalogues, cards, even ~5% discounts (which was surprising!). Ofcourse, I didnt buy, :P
I don't think it's anything to do with manual workers or low salary, and maybe everything to do with coming accross like you can't be arsed to communicate in the local language.
You (we) are in a foreign country so at least saying sorry for not speaking French in English would help (Castro's quote even better). Everyone is entitled to a bad day maybe it was his, maybe he was actually busy and referred you to someone else for a valid reason, but your complaint will probably go nowhere and maybe you confirmed the guys 1st impression of you as 'another ignorant foreigner'.... Not that I'm implying you are, but many expats seem to forget that not every Swiss person does speak, or is confident in speaking English.
This post says a little more about your attitude though, if someone isn't fawning over you, the service is bad right.
That's not just here. In the USA I often talk to Mexicans who prefer to talk to me in bad English than to speak Spanish, even when I address them in Spanish. Maybe there is some sort of social stigma attached to language? Or maybe my Spanish is just that awful?
