General Etiquette > Family and Children

Rude Americans

(1/4) > >>

orsuela:
I am new to this forum, but have enjoyed the website for quite awhile.  My story has to do with the behaviour of one particular man.
My husband was offered a job in a different country.  We took it, and were excited with the new offer.  We had four children and I was expecting number 5.  Once we arrived in the said country (after flight cancelations, rental car and hotel reservation mess ups) we were exhausted and obviously stressed.  We were to stay in a hotel while our possessions arrived.  The hotel that was booked through the company's travel agent was a not a very good "family hotel."  If I would have been aware of this, I would have tried to change the reservations before leaving the U.S.  But we were just grateful that we had a bed and shower available.  The next morning, my husband went to enroll our children in a school, and left me with our youngest to work out the details of fixing the rental vehicle and hotel arrangements with the corporation headquarters in the States.  I needed internet access to do this, and because our possessions were enroute, I had to use the hotel area computer room.  This room was available to all guests.  The previous night when I went to use this room, a young girl was in there checking her email or something.  I didn't pay attention, I just mention this to show that it was normal to see young children in there.  Well, on this particular morning, I brought my one-year-old child with me.  I could NOT leave him in the hotel room, and being in another country--was not willing to entrust him to a babysitter I did not know.  This child is exceptionally quiet, and rarely talks.  Which is completely unusual for children (I should know, the other four sure aren't like him!)  So I felt sure he wouldn't be a problem in this public room.  Before going into the room, I bought him a snack (it was also common to see people eating in this room) so that he would be kept busy.  We entered the computer room and there was a man (I will point out that he was an American, like me) seated at the other computer desk.  I sat at the open computer, and noticed immediately it was not functioning properly.  I called the front desk and asked (in the native language) for help and just sat quietly waiting for them to come and help.  My son was beside me, and did not even make one sound.  I opened the snack bag and allowed him to take a snack and we just waited.  It was about 2 minutes later that the man stood up, came over to our desk and literally screamed at me "Well @&*#^#!  I hope you're happy!  You've forced me out!  Go ahead!  Use this *(&^%V terminal!"  He was screaming and bouncing up and down with anger.  I can not imagine what it was that bothered him so much, except the noise from opening the bag of snacks.  Neither my son nor I even peeped.  Then when he did leave, I went to that terminal, determined to finish quickly so the hotel staff would not see me crying.  On the screen was a porn site!!!!!  Now I can understand if I had rudely brought screaming, fighting children into the room while he was conducting bussiness online.  But to scream at a stranger for calling the front desk for help, and opening a bag because I interrupted his porn time, is complete rudeness!  I can only hope he is NOT a frequent global traveler, and that foreigners are not subjected to this person's amazing personality.  With sick people like this it's no wonder Americans are considered to be rude!!

Lisbeth:
Welcome to the forum!

I think the man was very rude to curse and blame you for his problems no matter what your nationalities were.

kingsrings:
Having traveled overseas as well, I can vouch that other nationalities can be just as rude. It's not at all a matter of nationality but of the person themselves. For instance, on a flight to Japan we had a Canadian woman get rip-roaring drunk and make a total big loud, obnoxious idiot of herself for the whole entire flight and also in the airport terminal and on the way out of the airport. It was very embarrassing to those of us Westerners who know how to behave, but my point is, it could of been anybody from any nationality acting that way.

Chartreuse:
I kind of think the jerk to nice person ratio is kind of standard worldwide.  No one nationality or culture got more than another, despite all the stuff we hear otherwise.  Of course, it's the same thing when we meet rude teenagers or bratty kids.  Nobody remembers the nice ones, it's just the bad examples that get remembered.

Of course that being said, I certainly wouldn't want to be lumped in with that guy, either.  Ew.  There are some things that just should be done in the privacy of one's room.

sammycat:
Regardless of his (or your) nationality, that man was just crazy!  Rude doesn't even begin to cover it.  I think he was just so mad at being unable to view his porn that he took it out on the nearest target which unfortunately happened to be you and your son.  I hope you reported him to the hotel management.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page