It is very seldom that I write about my frustrations. Seldom do I write about negative stuff I encounter in this lovely city. Believe me, the people here can be as cold as a noh mask even if they are at the information desk, the cashier or government service.
If there is an award I can give for being the most friendly government agency, that would go to the MA 10 (Kindergarten Amt) led by Ms. Hetz and her very willing group. I always go there with confidence because I know that they’d be welcoming everyone with a smile. I get subsidies for Kindergarten care and after school care from them before and they’re always helpful to let me know what should be done.
They’d be followed by the office just below, I forgot what they’re called exactly but they do the registration for those who should serve the military or civil service. Hubby did his civil service requirement 3 years back and the people in the registry were so nice. There’s just one who won’t smile nor look at you when she speaks but she was helpful too.
The best award for most friendly cashiers would be those at the Penny Markt near our place. They are always greeting you with genuine smiles, a joke or two and sometimes really a good conversation (if you bought a lot). Plus the fact that they have the lowet prices among groceries here, buying is always a pleasure.
On the contrary, if there is a frown award to give to those who are not so friendly, I have a long list…For now I may have forgotten some so let me rethink. Ahhh…the woman at the Wohnbeihilfe (housing benefit) office! You know there’s often a long line of applicants there, so you get a number then you get called accordingly. Imagine after waiting for like an hour you came into the office and the person inside doesn’t even greet you nor offer for you to sit down then talk to you without bothering to look at your eyes…yeah, that’s how bad. You’d easily think that person must be racist. Well, I at least do since many of those who apply for benefits are naturalized citizens.
Another bad experience I remember was at McDonald’s Johanesgasse. This branch has a lot of pinoy crew, hubby at one point worked there too. One time, I came in queue to who I thought was Chinese…and friendly. Turns out she’s a snob. Never had eye contact, no greeting, no thank yous…I learned later on that she was Vietnamese because I saw her photo on hubby’s phone with the name Nguyen…(that’s a very common Vietnamese surname no?) My annoyance to that person didn’t stop there because we met her once after we watched a movie. She was so friendly with the hubby and talked with him for like 15 minutes without bothering to say hello to me and the kids….more, she was with his boyfriend who she didn’t introduce to hubby at all. I actually left at about 3 minutes seeing them there too engaged in a conversation and brought the kids farther from them. Hubby came looking for us later on lol.
Well, I thought maybe for her it must not be their culture to go greet a person’s wife or family or it may not even ben their custom introducing their boyfriends but it still gets on my nerves. I wonder why such people work where there are lots of people.
For me people who does not know how to smile shouldn’t be doing jobs that require contact with people. I always regard, government service, customer service representative work and the likes are for those who know how to deal with people regardless of their color, language, height, eye color and even smell. 🙂
