Renzatic on 2/6/2017 at 19:12
Quote Posted by bjack
Now what would be super stupid would be to load up on $200 of groceries and then haggle at the checkout. ;)
Oh, that'd be an offense worthy of immediate execution.
I don't really mind hagglers so much, provided they do it before the price has been set. It's the people who want to argue with you about the price after the job is done that irk me the most.
bjack on 2/6/2017 at 19:47
That is very true, on the point about haggling after the work is done. As a service provider myself, I take steps to not allow that to occur. Doesn’t always work.
Oh, and if you are in a store and the checkout lane says 10 items or less (it should be 10 items or fewer), and you have 12 items and there is no one else around... OK, go for it. But if you have 100 items, a screaming baby, and all the other lines are 3 deep in customers, DO NOT use the 10 items or less line. This happened to me 3 days ago. Lucky for me, a nice checkout lady pulled me out of the 4 deep line, opened up a closed lane, and checked me out with my 2 items. So a bad situation that I was tolerating became a situation of kindness directed to me. That made me smile. :)
nickie on 2/6/2017 at 20:15
I wouldn't count it as haggling as such but, depending on what company it is (notably Wickes and PC World in this instance) you can persuade them that a hefty discount is an excellent idea. Strangely enough, depending on their current sales target, they can agree with you.
faetal on 3/6/2017 at 16:47
In the UK - respect queues. If people are standing in a line, you join that line. Doesn't even matter if you have no business there - join the line. Then, when you get to the front, simply apologise for being in the wrong line and continue with your day.
Pyrian on 4/6/2017 at 03:10
I heard from some marines that on a long voyage they started a line, then when other marines joined the line, asked them to hold their place and left. It took a few dozen men about an hour before they started asking what they were in line for and nobody knew.
Kolya on 5/6/2017 at 13:19
I once read that smiling at another man in Russia might be considered "gay" and worthy of a punch in the face. Such a fun attitude!
In Germany you mostly just get puzzled looks. You can see them racing their minds. Do I know that guy?! Should I greet him? Sometimes though you get a smile back. Completely worth it. :)
Also I'm not sure if the art of complaining (about the weather, your friends, them up there) is a specific German thing, but I think we perfected it, as usual.
Renzatic on 5/6/2017 at 17:19
I dunno if that has as much to do with good old fashioned German efficiency as it does the fact that German is a language that naturally lends itself to arguing and complaining.
"Das bier ist gut, ja?"
"NEIN! DAS BIER IST SCHLECHT!"
Kolya on 5/6/2017 at 17:44
:D That's actually one of the few things I never hear anyone complain about.
Briareos H on 5/6/2017 at 17:45
Any German beer that isn't Kölsch is schlecht. j/k
I would argue that us frogs ain't too bad at complaining all the time as well.
Starker on 5/6/2017 at 17:50
Oh, I got one. Sarcasm in Japan -- don't bother. Japanese people are much more likely to take anything you say just at face value, especially if they haven't lived in the west.
Also, might be a good idea to hold back on jokes in general until you know what's considered funny in the culture and what's not.
