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[elfinitty]

I don't know if there has been a thread like this one,but I want to share my recent experiences and hear about yours

So I had been on a trip in Europe,where I got to see several countries,it was really interesting for me since I hadn't really been out of Turkey before,if I don't count Northern Cyprus,which wasn't much different from here.

It was all good when I arrived in the Netherlands,can't deny I got surprised when I saw some stuff I wouldn't see on streets in Turkey,or I think not in many places

That wasn't a problem though,I just got surprised but the next day we had a trip in countryside.We were told that we were all going to have a lunch at the fish restaurant,which was bad news for me since I hate eating fish but I had to say yes since I didn't really have another option.So I and my sister shared a plate and my mom asked me if I liked the food,then she said:''Why don't you have sauces?'' I was like:''What sauce?They didn't bring any to our table.'' then she told me that I could go ask for it because it's included in our menu.There wasn't waiters around,so I had to go to the place to order food.They were 2 workers but one of them was gone inside I think,anyways the other girl was preparing a dish to someone else who was also waiting there.They told us not to interupt when people were talking to someone else.So I waited till she was done,over 5 minutes for just a plate of sauce.But then it was my turn,she didn't look at me and she got order from the other person.So she started preparing then I highened my voice and said:''Can I ask something?'' 'She replied:''No'' I made my voice even higher and talked in Turkish,she didn't have to understand this lol:''Hah if you were in Turkey,girl you would've been fired!'' And went back to my table,I turned to my parents and said:''Do they have a manager here?I need to talk to them.'' They asked me what happened and I explained but my dad was like''they told us that their culture is like that,it's not Turkey,be okay with it.'' and I replied:''I didnt interrupt her,it was MY turn and that plate was my right,and she could've said wait a second,but what is ''NO'' ?'' they still think I overreacted and I still think I was right,if I saw her manager there(she should thank God the manager wasn't there) I was actually going to complain about her.I don't care what country it is,if you have a client,you have to listen to them,they pay you.
However I saw that the service there is way slower than it is here,and people here tend to be nicer to tourists than the ones there.

Also,food prices in these countries were usually way higher than the ones in Turkey,which surpsrised me,but that's economic rather than cultural.

Ah,I should mention that I almost got hit by a bike in Belgium because I was standing on their ''bicycle way'' for taking pictures,I didn't pay attention to what was drawn on the ground and here we only have that path in beaches

These were my notable experiences so if you have experiences like these,I would like to hear them

[Jabberwocky]

I like Northern Cyprus. Lived in the south part for 4 years in total. And the north was like a holiday.

It always amazed me how anti female the southern half was. You could go into a shop and the waiter would only talk to the man.

I also found the toilets in Arabic states odd, worrying, unusable.

Sent using NCC-1701

[RyRy]

Elfie... great post but I must mention something that drives me NUTS. When you use a comma, put a space after it! PLEASE <3

Every holiday that I've on on the hospitality has been very very good. I have noticed a trend though and that is the richer countries tend to have a bit worse quallity in terms of their hospitality and I think that's because a loss here and there really doesn't make much of a difference.

The average wages are significantly higher in the Netherlands; however I know a lot of people who have been to the Netherlands apretty much always get some poor/rude customer service so it might be a national trait. (generalizing)

The last time I went to turkey the hospitality was insane, we found a nice little restaurant that had decent prices, amazingly friendly and fun staff, decent entertainment and the food tasted really good. I can even still remember the owners name Eugine, Hell they even invited us to come play football with them after the resturant closed, we were playing football at 1am. At the end of our two week Holiday he asked for our address and for two years afterwards he sent us Christmas cards. If we go back to Turkey we'll for sure be going back to the same area (Kudasasi) and going back to the restaurant (we have a picture to prove we have been there before lol)

The only two downsides I found with Turkey is the lack of deodorant use for people going on the little bus things (can't remember their name) and the creepy, overly friendly restaurants walking up to you and trying to persuade you into their restaurant. ANY restaurant that did that never got our custom, with the minor exception to one restaurant that had fast and good wifi (didn't even need to eat/drink at their restaurant they were allowing anyone to use their WiFi) but to be respectful we ate at their place while I was logged into our servers back in the UK doing some work.

The French can be quite rude and grumpy too however I've found that if you really try your hardest to ask/speak in French to them they appreciate the effort made and tend to be more willing to be nice, polite and helpful. It's always good to know how to say "Sorry", "I am English", "My French is bad/poor" and "I don't understand, sorry" because it can come in handy. Thankfully a lot of the French recognise you're English straight away and speak English to you which is a life saver. I appreciate that so much and am definitely more likely to buy something from them if they quickly speak English so I don't have to feel like such an idiot struggling to speak French.

[Jabberwocky]

The french particularly dislike being called "Cheese eating surrender monkeys" it was also a sign that Jabs should sober up a bit whilst on a booze cruise in Calais

[RyRy]

The french particularly dislike being called "Cheese eating surrender monkeys" it was also a sign that Jabs should sober up a bit whilst on a booze cruise in Calais

I dare someone to record themselves calling a Frenchie what Jabs said

[Jabberwocky]

don't tempt me on the next booze cruise I go on, it will all be your fault.

[What's Burning?]

How could a country with legal prostitution and marijuana be anything less than hospitable?

I think there are a couple of factors to Elfie and never having been to Holland I'll skip the cultural portion. I will just chime on on the one that I think is the biggest component. You'll always get better service if it's a privately owned and operated establishment where the owner actually works there as opposed to some type of franchise location where there might be a less than interested assistant manager working and it's no skin off their back one way or another.

[stonemonkey]

Been to Holland a couple of times, and some of the things in the OP reminded me of some things that happened. In the UK, restaurants and bars have to provide you with water if you ask for it, that doesn't seem to be the case in Holland as in most places we were just ignored us when we asked and on one occasion the waitress just laughed as she walked away.

As for the bikes and cycle lanes, seeing that they drive on the wrong side over there I'd looked the wrong way as I stepped onto the cycle lane and knocked some guy off his bike and sent him rolling along the ground. As I helped him up and he checked himself he looked at me, grinned and asked 'cocaine, extacy?'

[What's Burning?]

As I helped him up and he checked himself he looked at me, grinned and asked 'cocaine, extacy?'

Which one?

[LRW]

As I helped him up and he checked himself he looked at me, grinned and asked 'cocaine, extacy?'

Which one?

Mixture of both knowing Monkey.

[What's Burning?]

As I helped him up and he checked himself he looked at me, grinned and asked 'cocaine, extacy?'

Which one?

Mixture of both knowing Monkey.

Kids nowadays... marijuana and wine is for old fogies.

[stonemonkey]

Surprisingly neither. It was a question commonly heard coming out the shadows as you walk around amsterdam at night. I was just there for the legal stuff though.

[elfinitty]

How could a country with legal prostitution and marijuana be anything less than hospitable?

I think there are a couple of factors to Elfie and never having been to Holland I'll skip the cultural portion. I will just chime on on the one that I think is the biggest component. You'll always get better service if it's a privately owned and operated establishment where the owner actually works there as opposed to some type of franchise location where there might be a less than interested assistant manager working and it's no skin off their back one way or another.

That's true,it hadn't been an hour since we were in the Amsterdam city center,we saw those stuff as we were walking through a narrow street,I knew about it but wasn't expecting to see it that soon,and they had a prostitution museum lol

Well that's right,but I've been to places like that restaurant and I've never had a reaction like this

@RyRy: I sometimes do that, putting a space after comma, and sometimes I don't it's completely up to how I have been typing I agree with the generalization you made though, it could be why they behave like that.That's exactly what I'm talking about, since I'm used to seeing tourists being behaved warmly here, I expected the same in where I went to, but I guess it's not the same everywhere.However I really liked the Netherlands except the weather, especially traditional houses and how everything was in a great order.by the way I'm glad you liked it in Turkey although I have to agree with the deodorant thing sometimes,but I think this could be a problem in other Southern Europe countries as well,idk

@Jabberwocky:I didn't know the anti-female thing about the southern part wow that's strange

@stonemonkey:well,they know it at the first sight then

[Jabberwocky]

Prostitution Museum... how has that evolved since the beginning of time? maybe what was traded or bartered might of changed... I wanna go and look now.