Europeans are Rude and No Manners

[Skipper Tim]

I agree completely with what you are saying. I said that if a person is "continually being particularly offensive" repeatedly after politely being told,(which I omitted) then its time to report them to the Officer in charge of the particular department. I have never done that on over 30 cruises, but I have seen it done, and it worked very well, the person wasn't too happy being told, but did comply.

 

Ah yes, but where does fault lie: with the person causing offence or with the person taking offence? Or a little of both?

 

Other culture's queuing habits are particularly likely to annoy many Brits. However, what is often interpreted as "pushing in" conversely can interpreted by the 'offender' and the 'offended' not showing sufficient interest in the object or service being queued for. These are differences in cultural behaviours and should be interpreted as such.

 

Then there is the old offence to the British associated primarily with Germans at hotels across the Med of reserving sun beds before they are needed. I read with some amusement that many German holidaymakers find Russians rude because they take their sun beds to their rooms overnight to ensure they have them the following day.

 

One should feel comfortable with one's own well-mannerred behaviour but the height of good manners is making others feel comfortable, even when they behave differently.

[pmacher61]

Ah yes, but where does fault lie: with the person causing offence or with the person taking offence? Or a little of both?

 

Other culture's queuing habits are particularly likely to annoy many Brits. However, what is often interpreted as "pushing in" conversely can interpreted by the 'offender' and the 'offended' not showing sufficient interest in the object or service being queued for. These are differences in cultural behaviours and should be interpreted as such.

 

Then there is the old offence to the British associated primarily with Germans at hotels across the Med of reserving sun beds before they are needed. I read with some amusement that many German holidaymakers find Russians rude because they take their sun beds to their rooms overnight to ensure they have them the following day.

 

One should feel comfortable with one's own well-mannerred behaviour but the height of good manners is making others feel comfortable, even when they behave differently.

 

By definition the fault lies with the offender.

There is a difference between a simple cultural distinction and bad manners. Moreover, when one boards a cruise ship, one agrees to obey the captain´s commands and the ship´s policy of conduct. Accordingly, no amount of cultural custom can legitimize saving deck chairs. It is bad manners pure and simple because it violates the ship´s policy to which one has agreed to abide .

As for pushing in line, even a dog knows the difference when it is accidentally stepped upon and when it is kicked. There are limits to thinking its´s okay to push someone out of the way. I find it hard to believe that any culture´s customs sanction actually pushing in line or ignoring a line aboard a ship. In the unlikely event that were to be true, it would nevertheless be inappropriate because it is not the custom tolerated on a ship.

Bad behavior can not be excused by claiming it is unique to one culture because aboard a ship the uniqueness has to be suspended in favor of the published policy of conduct interpreted by the commander of the vessel. The height of good manners is not to simply make others feel comfortable when they do something differently, if what they do differently, exceeds the bounds of the applicable rules of conduct. There are limits to cultural relativism. Likewise, on board a ship it´s not okay to practice homophobia or misogyny just because one can do it at home.

Edited January 4, 2015 by pmacher61