A Vote for Malta: Most Rude.

Old Dec 15th, 2012, 07:35 AM
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A Vote for Malta: Most Rude.

As the title suggests I'm currently in Malta. For the last decade I've spent a substantial portion of my time traveling much of the world. I'm now coming to the end of a 4 month round the world trip and have been here for 8 days.

My most vivid memory of Malta will be the overt rudness of people wherever I've gone. This has been particularly true of men of a certain age - taxi and bus drivers without exception, a man on a bus who berated me because I wanted to sit in the empty seat next to him, a man in the street today who arrived at a corner as I did and knocked me aside. Such things have happened to me every day with such regularity that I've come to expect it and have not been disappointed.

The women tend to be surly rather than overtly rude. However one in the cafe adjacent to my hotel interrupted me to shout at me when she guessed wrong what I was about to ask her.

There have, of course, been exceptions but the balance has been so heavily toward rude that the occasions of kindness have been memorable. The staffs in 2 of the 4 places I've stayed have been exceptionally kind. Younger people in places of business have also tended to be more helpful. But sadly it doesn't make up for the daily abuse.

I've wondered what the reason for the behavior might be. Maybe tourist fatigue. But it's off season, there are few tourists and I've never noticed this sort of behavior in other heavily touristed areas. Maybe it's me, but if so then why have I not noticed before? Is there a cultural prejudice against women? But again, I've never experienced this in any other places.In some countries, China for instance, people seem to be less aware of others in public but it's never felt as overt as it does here.

Any thoughts or other contenders?
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Old Dec 15th, 2012, 07:39 AM
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I've never been to Malta and based on someone else telling me it was quite pleasant, I did some research and found an extremely long thread on TripAdvisor where the one thing everybody agreed about was that the people were unusually friendly and welcoming.

Which isn't to say that they're right and you're wrong, or that this must be your fault. But they were all in love with the place.
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Old Dec 15th, 2012, 08:55 AM
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All the Maltese I know are exceptionally gracious. Odd are you wearing anything surprisingly odd. Perhaps you could ask in your hotel?
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Old Dec 15th, 2012, 09:02 AM
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Have you through that "tourist fatigue" might better fit your situation rather than the Maltese you've encountered? 4 months on the road is a long time when traveling alone.
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Old Dec 15th, 2012, 09:53 AM
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Frankly, I'm sorry you have had such a bad experience and I am kinda amazed you've managed to hold on for eight days. How did you manage that?
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Old Dec 15th, 2012, 10:10 AM
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Perhaps it's the stress of the season for I spent 12 days on Malta and found the people very welcoming. Except for the bus drivers who are notorious both for rudeness and their terrible driving skills.

Sorry you're having a bad time of it. Jump ship and get yourself to Sicily!
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Old Dec 15th, 2012, 11:41 AM
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I'm wearing what I always wear, pretty conservative travel clothes. I'm not traveling alone but have been spending time here on my own. This trip isn't longer than usual and I just had 3 weeks complete rest on a container ship from Singapore.

I just got back to the hotel from a concert of baroque music, my favorite. And it occurred to me that maybe the problem is simply social, that I've been bumping, literally, into the wrong people since clearly there are very gracious people here as evidenced by the crowd at the concert.

I also think that there is an element among the older crowd, uneducated and very conservative, who likely believe that women have their place and that somehow I'm not conforming. The fact that younger people and the obviously educated don't seem to exhibit the behavior supports this theory in my mind.

But the sun has been shining for the last 2 days, warm and lovely. And it should last until we fly to Rome on Tuesday. There may be chauvinists in Italy but they tend to express it in a charming way.
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Old Dec 15th, 2012, 11:51 AM
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I have been 7 times to malta, and the kindness of the Maltese people was always a good reason to return to this beautiful country.
The staff at the hotels where i stayed was professionally trained and extremely friendly, so were people at Cafes and restaurants......
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Old Dec 15th, 2012, 02:12 PM
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Chalk it up to bad luck -- with one exception. The 10 days I spent, several years back, were pleasant, except for public transport. Bus drivers, in particular, were not interested in charm contests or even basic helpfulness. Taxi drivers, the few I encountered, seemed indifferent but did the job. Really, a visitor can only sample a tiny portion of the population.
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Old Dec 15th, 2012, 04:40 PM
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I noticed that you said until "we" fly to Rome. Has your traveling companion experienced the same "treatment" you have? We loved Malta and it's distressing when after such lovely travels, there's a bad experience and it really makes it noticeable. So bye to Malta and buon giorno Roma!
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Old Dec 15th, 2012, 09:14 PM
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Jan47ete, my travel companion is male and has not had the same treatment except for the bus drivers. He was with me, however, for the cab driver incident when I asked a question and the driver shouted at me. Neither of us could account for the extreme behavior.

Yes, indeed, buon giorno Roma.
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Old Dec 16th, 2012, 12:29 AM
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Dear Mme Perdu, are you perhaps expecting something of the locals? Or did you have one bad experience and perhaps this has given you a bad impression of everybody around? I've been to Malta many times and the reason that I keep going back is the kindness of a people that are loud and abrupt, but honest and kindhearted. Here's a link that really shows what Malta is like.

http://jurickphoto.blogspot.com/2012...oon-malta.html

Try changing your attitude first and then see how it goes.
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Old Dec 16th, 2012, 12:37 AM
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Mme Perdu,

it is indeed hard when you go somewhere with high hopes only to have them dashed by boorish behaviour. i do not subscribe to the theory that you have to change your attitude - you don't seem to have started out with one. Rather that you have simply been unlucky in your encounters with the natives. That is it a matter of luck is demonstrated by the fact that you met some much nicer people at the concert.

I suspect that the Maltese are very like people everywhere - some nice, some not. the longer you are in a place, the wider a selection you will meet.

and no-one ever said that the Romans were renouned for their friendliness!
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Old Dec 16th, 2012, 12:39 AM
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I have been going to Malta for over 30 years and I have found the Maltese people generally warm and welcoming, you get the odd exception as you do any where but I find if you treat people right they reciprocate
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Old Dec 16th, 2012, 12:51 AM
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I saw your article on the news and created an account here just to reply to you because i couldn't agree more. I'm maltese, 23yrs old and i have lived in malta my whole life, which is a lot more than most people who replied to you since they are mostly (if not all) tourists. You are absolutely correct about this country, it has the rudest people i have ever seen. There is also a very high level of ignorance (especially drivers) which doesn't help the situation at all because they won't even know that what they are doing or saying is so rude. Customer care is something rare and precious here. Also, there are quite a few businesses here that have few to no competitors and most of the employees in these businesses have a very negative mentality, they reason things out by saying, 'I can do or say whatever i want because my client has no other option.' However, malta is land to many patriots especially the older people, and they will deny anything a tourist will say about malta if it is negative. Unfortunately this highly defensive and rude mentality is what makes me hate this country and I will grasp the first opportunity to move to another country.

Ps. To those reading, if you are a tourist and you don't understand the maltese language, the chances are that even if your lucky to get good customer service, if you complain about anything you can be certain that they will whisper something to you in maltese which you would not like to hear and maltese swearing is probably as rude as any language can get. I have worked in a few tourist based businesses and i saw this happen on a daily basis in every job i had.
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Old Dec 16th, 2012, 12:57 AM
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And by the way,I forgot to mention that I'm a male just in case you think this is only common amongst women.
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Old Dec 16th, 2012, 01:08 AM
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It's very disturbing that you would write such an article and have the nerve to say that your most vivid memory of Malta will be the rudeness of people.
I am a Maltese/Australian living in Malta and hand on heart can say that Maltese people are genuinely helpful, kind, polite and friendly.
How dare you generalize and say that Maltese people are rude. We are a county of people who would give anything to help people and try our best to speak their language unlike other countries who insist on speaking their language even though they know English.
From most of the comments on such travelling forums tourists have nothing but kind words for the Maltese, maybe Malta is not the country for you!!! We surely do not need tourists coming to our country, expect to do and act as they like and then have the nerve to say that we are rude.
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Old Dec 16th, 2012, 01:44 AM
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Mme Perdu, I'm sorry to see everyone lambasting you over the review. I have been living in Malta for close to a year now and I understand and sympathise with your experience. What people don't particularly understand about this island is that it is an island of extremes from; the weather, which can be freezing in the winter but then reaches the sweltering heights in the summer thanks to the humidity. The humidity gets blamed a lot for the personalities and the hot blooded temper. Politics, which is either Red or Blue and breaks up families. British or Italian, when the footy is on...all hell breaks loose, but this is a historically complex phenomenon, which will carry on till the end of time for Malta.It's always one or the other there is no such thing as a middle ground in Malta.

I like to compare Malta to Marmite, you either Love it or Hate it! I was lucky to grow up loving the land and when I first moved here everything was wondrous and everyone kind and generous. However, after a while you see the a different side of the Maltese mentality. Once you thought 'what a dear little country' but it soon turns to a suffocating force to be reckoned with.

As a lone woman living here I do get the feeling that I'm an oddity and they are trying to work me out, to some I am a threat it seems. I have even had a number of my male Maltese friends 'banned' from seeing me because their girlfriends don't like me or feel threatened, which they really shouldn't be the case. It's just a clash, their whole objective in life it seems is to get married and have a house and babies, which is wonderful don't get me wrong but I wish to experience different things.

The young are sometimes as bad as the elderly, my mum came to visit me and as we were walking through Valletta. She turned to me and asked 'why do all the women's faces here look like a smacked arse?' I laughed but had to agree there is a sulky serious look. It comes with the territory but when you make one laugh and the 'face' breaks you have a friend for life. Not all are woman are like this but there is a high percentage that have perfected the look. I have tried it out to jest but Cornish eyes smile to easily.

On the subject of 'tourist fatigue', you are totally correct! I have never seen so many people is one place in my life, this summer was crazy and I work in the tourism field. Personally I think the Maltese do a wonderful job but sometimes it does get to much out here. I had an incident on the bus, I was going to work in Valletta but a Danish tour guide loaded a public bus with his tour leaving no room for myself or the working Maltese...another time I stopped a German couple from climbing on a bus because they pushed in front of an elderly Maltese lady and grabbed her to push past, now that is just not done! I helped the lady up after I had told them to get off. The lady saved me a seat next to her and with a smile and said 'thank you my dear, there are too many of them this year.' So you can understand when they get the hump.

The bus drivers take rudeness to a new level, one time when I showed him my Malta ID he said it wasn't me and the picture was that of a man. I couldn't believe it! I used to model, I'm not bad looking but if a driver can't see a picture ID then why is he allowed on the road? Another time my driver was arrested after having a fight with a customer...leaving the bus filled with passengers. Generally I always make it my mission to say hello and thank you and good evening when I get on or off and flash them a cheeky smile because they don't see it a lot. If you smile, they smile it is as simple as that. When working in Valletta my boss would send any Maltese with complaints or grumbles to me and said to use 'the English Charm.' This is because the Maltese easily get flared up by one another, if fact they are kinder and nicer to foreigners than their own.

I have come to the conclusion that you have good Malta days and bad Malta days. When its good, its the best feeling in the world...No wonder Calypso kept Odysseus so long on these islands, the most beautiful sunset allowing the limestone to glow in shades of pinks, golds and purples, smiling faces, pastizzi and a glass of wine over looking over the Grand harbour thinking about the illustrious history of the island.

When its bad, its hell and Hades is laughing at you...the buses never arriving, abuse from locals, racism, egoistic tendencies, 'the look', young Maltese wanting to take the George Cross of the flag and lambasting you with a indoctrinated history since the 1970's in an attempt to raise post-colonial guilt. When those days happen, I produce my stiff upper lip and press my chin up and smile. Always smile then take a Cisk or a glass of Marsovin.

Malta has given me so much but it has also taken a great deal away from me. I feel in love with the place through its faults. My grandmother was born here is the 40's although the the towns have increased and there are more high raise buildings, not a lot has changed in mentality.

The men sit out on the steps with their caged birds arguing the day out, drinking and smoking in the bars...the women washing their steps and hanging out the washing and yapping to one another from the balconies or over the goat gates then cooking for the family and the extended family. If you get the chance read Nicholas Monsarrat's book The Kappillan Of Malta it will explain everything better than I can about this rock of bells and smells.

Good Luck with Rome and always smile.
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Old Dec 16th, 2012, 01:49 AM
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I too am a Maltese national who has lived all my life in Malta. I am here to give my opinion on two of the posts. I will start with what xMaltese has written. Firstly the fact that this person has chosen to stay anonymous is proof enough that he is scared to be identified and associated or branded as being a young fool who really has no idea what he is taking about. Malta is by far no perfect place, but it is a tranquil be with great people all round and I say this from an overall general perspective. Maltese people are world renowned as being friendly and helpful and also who would go completely out of their way to help others. Proof of this can be seen from the generosity of the Maltese people when it comes to charity with the annual fund raising events that take place. Yes malta is not a perfect place and it has its down falls, but people whispering behind tourists backs and allegation of most business being monopolies is just a load of hogwash. My message to xMaltese is that ultimately if you do not like where you live, you are very free to leave and enjoy the grass on the other side.
In response the author of this blog, my response is that you have either come across to people as extremely arrogant and rude which has caused an equal reaction back to you or you have been extremely unlucky
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Old Dec 16th, 2012, 03:23 AM
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Beligerant, ignorant, antisocial, rude, self centred and ill educated people, i accept there are many lovely people on the island but i'm afraid the majority are not nice at all.
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