My Father is Swiss and he is 75, I am 51(but look 40) and I am just warming to him now! Seriously though, i have lived in Switzerland on and off since I was 11 and did find the Swiss cold and lacking social skills that I was used to in the UK. End of the day they have a different mentallity as do people from lots of other countries too.
I know lots of nice warm friendly Swiss and do not have such a problem now. You live in their country so show some respect or leave, simple innit, einfach
Some of you are hilarious. I did not mention anywhere that I am miserable in Switzerland or that some other country is better to live in. I have a very nice, happy and comfortable life here but that does not mean I have to act more Swiss than Herr Meier my cat hunting buddy. I leave that to you new red pass holders who are trying desperately to act Swiss. So please don't be projecting your life issues on me tsk tsk
I was giving Swiss marks out of 10 for their social skills and unfortunately they get a big F. Many of you probably feel same deep inside but are keeping it all bottled up or too occupied playing "I am more Swiss than the Swiss" spiel. Even my good Swiss friends with international exposure say that Swiss are stiff and cold. Obviously that does not mean that each one of them is but all stereotypes have some factual basis.
I have to go out now and shoot some stray farm cats. Meow meow pussy here we come. I will be licking the cat bones with my Frau Anliker later on.
M240 - glad to see you are making friends here But you obviously live in the wrong part of Switzerland. Have you experienced life elsewhere than your current cold patch?
Agreed, it's very funny seeing the knee-jerk reactions of forum posters when someone dares to criticize Switzerland or the Swiss. If you want to say Switzerland is great and how much you love it then fine, no-one will bat an eyelid because that fits in with the fluffy crowd. But if you want to say the Swiss are cold or anything similarly negative, then you get called a "troll" and groaned at.
I love Switzerland to bits but like all places it's not perfect, and the locals certainly do have their quirks and are definitely not the warmest people with the most ready laugh or smile in this world, there are enough threads on the subject for it to be more than random coincidence. The OP has been here 20 years , I think he is probably better qualified than the vast majority of us to give his thoughts on the place, and I respect his opinion even if I don't personally agree with all of the sentiments. Karl and Olygirl, veterans of 20 years plus themselves who have seen the real nitty gritty of daily Swiss life in a way most of us haven't, also agree with him... so I think that makes it not so easy to dismiss.
I think peoples outrage is more to do with the way he presented it, rather with than the truth of what he said.
Are you trying hard to be American too? Relax and live a bit instead of being a rigid square cardboard box all the time. Coming here must have been heaven for you. In UK you must have stood out like a sore thumb
As for sense of humour, don't make me laugh! Don't you have a Swiss flag to hoist or something on Sunday?
Richdog and Karl are on the money. I absolutely love this place and have smashing Swiss mates but like any other place there are many negatives here too.
For me the positives outweigh the negatives hence I have made this place my permanent home but unlike AbFab and his lynch mob crew I don't ignore the negative points and pretend that they don't exist.
Great, but if positives outweigh the negatives- why join EF just to be negative Unless, unless - maybe you've been here before in another guise? Perhaps? You do seem familiar, somehow! There are quite a few 'new' members recently who sound so familiar to members 'from the past' - and with all guns blazing. At least one has come back with his former name and persona, well done DB