Apparently I am perceived as rude by my Austrian co-workers sometimes. Oops!
In an earlier post that I wrote right when I came to Vienna, “Greetings in Vienna” I mention how you cannot over-greet an Austrian. You say hello and good-bye what seems like a million times.
Apparently I forgot my own observations. I had a meeting scheduled with my boss this morning. I walked into his office, sat down, and got started talking to get to the heart of the meeting right away. He looked at me a bit funny and I asked if everything was okay. He said, in quite straight-forward Austrian style, “You know what I don’t like that you do? Sometimes you don’t take a moment to just chat. You also don’t sign off on your emails. It’s abrupt. But it’s okay, I know that you are a nice person anyway.”
I paused for a bit. I had to give the guy credit. He was right. My head is so clouded with work that I forget to say a quick, “How are you” before starting a meeting. Another Austrian co-worker had commented as well that I didn’t sign off on my emails all the time.
So back to lesson one when I first got here. You can’t greet an Austrian enough.
LOL – You are a rude American! You can’t help it you were raised by your country this way. I would write more but I am too busy being abrupt.
Britta, I wish you would send a Twitter update whenever you update your blog.
MM
I think this is working now
Ahahahaha
Don’t feel bad. I’m often told the same thing here in Australia.
Hehe that is funny. I get e-mails from England at work and they mostly use “Thanks” where I would use Liebe Grüße. I never know what to write mzself when I answer, it feels terrible rude to only sign my name and off it is. Different countries, different rules
Always fun to read how “foreigners” experience Austria (I am one too, in a way), thanks for a nice blog
Thanks for reading my blog Mimie
i find it interesting that austrians and germans even end their text messages with “LG” and their names, as if they were writing a letter
nice blog!
I have to say, as an American, I’m really depressed by the decline in manners in the USA. I’ve worked with people that walk into the office in the morning, sit down at their desk (which is right next to mine) and don’t even say “Good Morning”. So rude! Your boss is 100% right. Greeting people before engaging them is fundamental to good manners.