To add to the offence, she scowls at me when as a true English gent I politely wish her a good evening.
Cheers,
Nick
And today's nomination goes to the rather sour faced woman sitting opposite me on the tram as I type. As I made my way to a vacant seat, me laden with backpack and laptop, she decides to move from the seat she was already at and swerve in front of me to sit down - preventing me from taking the seat.
Nick, are you living in a parallel Basel to me? I've encountered very little rudeness here
Maybe she is psycic and knows that you are calling her a Swissie? ;-)
And I saw an old Swiss man kick a baby's pram and swear. Why? Because the woman (of course an Ausländer) kept to her path and halted, hoping that the man would weave around her, instead of her moving the big pram to the other side. Very normal thinking, but apparently the man didn't think so. Rude it was and that's what he is!
Sorry, but "swissie" makes me f'ing cringe.
Do you have any idea how excruciatingly stupid & patronising it sounds?
I'm sure it's not just me either?
I don't care but then I'm no Swissie either. ;-) But seriously, people can call me whatever they want. I don't understand why people take these things so personal. In many languages, incl Swiss German btw, it is perfectly normal to make diminutive of basically everything. Hey, in Spain the call people Gordita :-)
Excuse me? When I am p.o. at them, I can call them anything under the sun. And it's usually a whole lot worse than "Swissies."
Agreed. Swiss folk refer to each in all sorts of ways. Zug folk (our Swiss -Zug friends told us this) refer to the Zürich car number plate ZH as Zu Wenig Hirn which is rather funny.
I don't get why so many here on the Forum get so upset by so little.
Only when you are carrying some extra pounds....
So that's what they've been calling you in your youth?
In my youth they called me "Papito" and they keep calling me that now... "Papi" sometimes
If by "them" you are refering to the Swiss population in general, I am struggling to understand what could cause you to be "p.o" at 8 million people.
And the Aargau number plates AG = Achtung Gefahr!!
Yesterday, returning from work, the bus was pretty full except for one seat beside a grumpy-looking lady and her packet of pasta. I kid you not! Her pack of
tortellini was taking up a whole seat!!!
Of course, I asked her if the seat was free (except for the pasta) and she reluctantly moved it.
I ask you?! what's next?
Yes, but it's still not enough.
I would like to nominate the man who walked directly into me this morning, even after I had moved to the side to let him pass. Now I have yet another bruise along my left side.
Nah, not the Swiss population as a whole. Just the individuals or groups that deserve Nick's "Rude Swissie Award" ...
I guess I need to use simpler language when posting here.
People can be rude anywhere, regardless of where they are from. People can be grumpy and horrible in any country, just because we happen to live here appears to give us the right to condemn the Swiss for things which can happen anywhere. It's easy to say "oh at home this would never happen" - but can you prove it?
A while ago we were at the HB, having queued ages for a ticket machine, we were quickly checking what zone we needed when a guy slid in beside us and without saying a word pressed his destination button and started putting coins while grinning at us. Shocked, we said nothing and just watched him while he put in small coin after small coin until finally, after what seem like an age, I let out a very ungracious and unlady like "for f*** sake" pressed the cancle button and all his little coins flew out of the machine. He was still moaning at us and picking up coins when we walked away with our tickets. I forget where we were going but my husband laughed all the way there.
Yes, it is not something exclusive to the "Britties". Any immigrant complains the same about the locals. I've heard people immigrants in England, complaining about the "Britties" in the same way they complain here about the "Swissies"
Agree, but we are not living anywhere else but here.. and this is about life as you find it on a daily basis while we travel, work and pay tax and live as citizens. I could tell you stories about rude Irish folk especially in the midlands where my sister lives but then this is a forum about life in Switzerland and about our experiences living here. This is not personally against the Swiss but against people you meet who are rude full stop and they could be any nationality.