After we had arrived at the airport in Frankfurt /Hahn
and checked in, the boys in our group were going to a café which we thought was
self-service. We had been sitting at a table for one minute, looking at the drinks
list and munching some of our biscuits. At this moment the waitress came and
said: “Hello there! Go away! Don’t sit down without ordering!” We were
surprised and we didn´t say anything. Our teachers, who sat at a table next to
ours and had already ordered something, turned around and told the waitress in a
friendly way that we were one group and on the way to an international meeting
about manners, so might she not express admonitions in a more polite way? The
waitress was very sorry and couldn’t apologize enough. She told us that she was
so unfriendly because many young people came to the café, just sat down but
didn´t order so they blocked the seats for other people who wanted to.
Therefore, she had been told by her boss to ask those people to leave. We
understood her situation and thanked our teachers for their help. Finally, we
ordered something and everything was all right.
It just shows you that often you just have to know the
background of someone’s impolite behaviour in order to reestablish friendly
relations!
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