I just got back from Germany and I think I committed a faux pas while there!

I walked into a bookstore and was looking for English books, so I walked up to the cashier, and asked her politely where the English books were. She had a customer who was just signing her credit card receipt and I thought it was okay to quickly ask the clerk a simple question and expected her to simply point at the direction of the English department. They were not even talking and the customer was just going to grab her receipt and bag and leave.

What I got was basically equivalent to a slap in the face! the clerk gave me a dirty look and told me to wait for my turn, while the customer turned red in the face and looked ready to shoot me!

I've never faced a similar situation in the US before. Am I living under a rock? What gives??

Who knows?

Maybe what you said sounded like a rude word in German. Maybe the assistant was meditating while she was working and you interrupted her while she was attuning herself. Maybe the customer was Turkish and what you said sounded like a rude word in Turkish. Maybe both of them hated foreigners. Maybe neither of them understood English.

Let it go and move on.

Well, you did interrupt. IMHO It is an no no even here in the USA. But, it certainly isn't worth worrying about.

The both appeared to be local Germans. I know I have to let it go but I might as well learn from it.

Apparently, when a customer is being helped in Germany, that is considered their own sacred time until they leave- no ifs ands or buts!

>>Apparently, when a customer is being helped in Germany, that is considered their own sacred time until they leave- no ifs ands or buts!<<<

And in most other parts of the world....

I agree - you were rude and interrupted. Would it have hurt to wait a couple of moments?

Almost anywhere in the world your behaviour would be considered at best pushy and at worst extremely rude.

Yeah, you aren't supposed to interrupt, even if it is just a simple question. You also didn't say whether you asked your question in German or in English? If you want to ask something in English, it is considered good manners to first ask in German, or Italian, or French, etc. "Excuse me, do you speak English", then when they say yes, then you can ask them your question in English.

Imagine you are a cashier at Macys and while you were taking care of a customer, some random woman walks up and blurts out in German, "Wo kann ich die Kinder Spielzeug finden"? You would find this abrupt and rude.

Would this be rude in the USA? Not at the WalMart locally. I find it amusing that in this scenerio the asking of a question is considered at best pushy, but try shopping at a sale rack in a department store in Munich and you will need padding and may get knocked down. And that may be the standard world wide, but I don't know.

I find it quite amusing that in other threads people warn others about situations when someone else got really close when they handled cash or credit cards. And assume that it was some trick to divert their attention to get to the money or cards. Just when it's the other way around, the other people are supposed to "know" that one does not try something fishy...

Certainly in France this would have been considered rude - when someone is dealing with a customer, it's that customer's time. Only when the first transaction is over does the sales person deal with the second customer. Sometimes this can be irritating, especially if you just have a simple question,but I find now when I go back to Toronto that I can quite annoyed if someone interrupts during 'my' time with the sales person.

I think this would be rude in the US or anywhere else in the world. If the customer ahead of you was going to be finished in a few seconds you should have waited. And you entirely skipped over the hello, good morning/afternoon part of politeness or the apology for interrupting.

I would interrupt if it appeared that the customer ahead would be taking a long time and I couldn't find what I was looking for by myself. But I would first ask if I could interrupt and ask a question.

If you've never faced a situation like this in the US it's because no one would have showed their annoyance.

Hi chillout,

In Germany, the transaction isn't finished when the customer pays; usually the customer and salesperson will continue to exchange polite conversation for a good minute to five minutes afterward, exchange a handshake, etc. It's not uncommon for the salesagent to walk the customer to the door of the shop while chatting.

So, yes, you did interrupt their conversation --

s

I also agree with several of the posters, in Europe I've found that when you are being served it is your time. I too am from the US but I believe we are sometimes a bit impatient, I know I can be. I've learned many lessons, some well deserved, some not but that's all part of 'soaking up the culture'. Just consider this one of those lessons and don't beat yourself up.
Susan

Remenber the basics?

"Everybody who's cutting in line will be shot".
"Wait for your turn, if you want to live"
"Idling in the center lane of the autobahn deserves the death penalty"
"Don't jaywalk, a driver may legally kill you"

It's all easy and straightforward

logos, you forgot one:

Don't leave any space in front of you or someone else will fill it.

This is typical German shopgirl behavior and you should have waited your turn.

huh, I really can't think of any place in a US bookstore that anyone would get so bent out of shape over someone asking where something was when the customer was just signing their bill and no one was even talking.

I would hope one said "excuse me" first, of course, but I still dont' think this is so obviously rude in most places. I think it's irritating because it can waste a lot of time iof you have to wait to ask a simple question, but what I hate more is when the clerk isn't dealing wiht a customer but doing something only they know at their desk (some kind of paperwork or who knows what) and they don't even look up and acknowledge you as a customer standing there wanting to ask a question. They do that a lot in the US in many stores where I shop, I think it's very rude as it can go on for minutes without them acknowledging you--they usually never do.

Interesting responses! I think the US is quite forgiving when it comes to such incidents than other cultures.

I was once in a bakery in Nice and I wanted to buy a pastry at the far end of the counter, so I just stood there. However, one of the employees graciously told me to stand in the line at the other side of the bakery if I wanted to be buy anything from the bakery. Everyone was happy, I stood in line, and that was that!

I just had a hard time understanding why the German ladies were extremely offended and acted as if I intentionally tried to publicly humiliate them or something. Which brings up another point about Europe: the notoriously critical French are much more forgiving with faux pas than Germans are, IMHO, even though I usually read about people anxiously trying to figure out how to behave in France.

But then, you can almost be sure that the shopgirl in Munich wasn't German. They're from all of Europe (actually from all over the planet . If you want German shopgirls you need to go to smaller towns. Quite understandably, it's also considered extremely rude to watch someone entering his/her PIN number.

well her accent made it clear she was a native bavarian, an overly feisty one. And no one was entering a pin code- the customer was signing her receipt and left three seconds later. The funny thing is that I did not even need to repeat my question! once the customer left, she pointed at the corner and said that English books were right there. Really? she couldn't even point her finger a few seconds ago?