Hey everyone, Dana here! - And Stefan.
I made a video before "Living in Germany Made Me A Rude American" and now I'm back at it again.
Yes and this time I have proof for you. Proof for you.
She has become a really rude American when we go to America.
Yeah. We went back to Colorado in October of last year, and Stefan noticed it and pointed it
out to me. That I was being a super rude American. - Super rude American.
And even our American friend who was with us at the time - She noticed it. - she noticed it too.
So what happened? What did I do? - I have two stories for you.
Let's start with the first one. - Okay. It's in a grocery store.
You were really rude in a grocery store. But I think we need a little backstory.
In American grocery stores, or in general when you're in the public, - In the U.S. - in
the U.S., and there's a smaller walkway or you might walk by someone less than a meter,
you say excuse me.
I made a video about that.
That like, yeah, you go like, "oh sorry" or "excuse me."
You excuse yourself the whole time.
So basically in the grocery store every time you go through an aisle and there's another
person there and you walk past this person, even if there's enough space, you say "oh excuse me!"
Especially if you're going to go between the person
and what they're looking at on the aisle. - Exactly. - And in Germany you don't do that. - That doesn't happen.
No. - Even though the aisles are much smaller in Germany, you just walk.
You basically, the less interaction with people, the better.
So what happened?
When we were in Colorado, maybe you have seen the vlogs from Colorado last year?
I ran a half marathon.
We picked up our friend from the airport and we went to grocery store.
I was very hungry. - You were very hungry. You were in the I'm hungry mode.
I'm hungry mode and I've gotten used to how it's kind of done in Germany mode. - Exactly.
So we walk into the grocery store, and I see out of the corner of my eye, an older lady
coming with her grocery cart in the direction of us.
But right in front of us were... - Fruit! Pineapples and watermelon, you know. And I saw it.
Like, I walked in the door and I was hungry and my eyes focused on the pineapples and the
watermelon, and I was like, there's my target.
And Dana kept walking straight. Just quick pace, walking straight.
Pineapples.- And it's not like the lady
was directly, like, 10 centimeters away from you or anything. - No.
She was a good two meters away from you.
But me and our friend, we stopped.
But you kept walking. - I just, I wanted those pineapples! - Just kept walking.
The lady then, we wanted to let her go past us. - But I... - Exactly and the
lady then stopped and looked really bewildered at Dana.
Of course, you didn't notice. - I didn't know, I didn't see. I was pineapples.
And she said, "Oh excuse me."
She apologized to Dana for being in her way.
Because Dana just ran right through.
She apologized to me? - Yes, she apologized to you. - Oh wow.
And was really like, really confused.
Why did this young lady not stop for me? Why, what just happened?
It was so rude. - Did I do something wrong? - It was so rude of me.
I did notice her throughout the store, I saw her a few more times.
And she kind of looked and then like stopped.
And kind of went in the other direction.
And I was like I don't understand.
Why is this person, like, kind of avoiding me?
Because I was rude! - You were so rude. - I was so rude.
For you guys, if you're German or not American, this might sound like, what?
She was away. She didn't, Dana didn't ram into her or anything.
But yeah, in America - You look around. - you look around. Aware of your surroundings.
And especially if they're an old lady, if there's an old lady,
you let her walk by. You let her pass - Uh-huh. And I did not. - You did not.
You just, straight. - I went. - Food! I want food. - Pineapples! - I need this food.
I don't care if there's anyone around me.
It wasn't that I didn't care about the other people around me.
It's like, in German supermarkets you are just kind of in your own...
You're just going along, you're putting your food in your cart. You're doing your own thing.
I guess that's it. In German supermarkets you do your own thing. And that's what I was doing.
I was just doing my own thing.
We avoid each other.
So in German supermarkets you don't ram into people. - It's not bumper cars.
But we're not interacting with people.
If that was not proof enough for you that Dana has become a super rude American,
here is proof number two. - Oh no, yeah.
So, what happened?
The day before the half marathon there was an expo where me and our friend had to pick
up our starting numbers.
There was also an expo where you could buy some stuff. - There were some clothes.
Clothes and energy drinks, sports stuff that you need for running.
And I was not running, but I saw a hat that I liked - Exactly. - and I wanted to buy it.
You saw a hat because it was quite cold - It was cold yeah, it was cold.
You picked out the hat.
And there were, also typical American, 12 cash registers, and only one of them was cash.
All the other ones was credit card or debit card only. - Right, I had cash.
We had cash. - I wanted to pay with cash. - Paying with cash. - Yeah.
And the good German that you have become now, - The "German" that I have become, you know.
you saw that the hat was X amount of dollars.
You took a twenty dollar note out, - So I had the twenty bill and I had the hat.
Exactly. Twenty dollar note, hat. Went to the cash place, the cash register.
There was of course a person. - The cashier. - And now let's stop for a second.
When you see people, when you interact with people, in America, you made a video about
it, you say: "hi, how are you?"
"good morning, how are you?" "good afternoon, how are you?"
And especially at a place like this because this was an expo for a race.
Everyone was talking, everyone was... - Happy, talking. - There was music playing, it was really like... - Exactly.
So you would interact with the person first.
Do a little small talk before you conduct your business. - Right.
No, that's not what happened.
What happened was, Dana went up to the person at the cash register, handed him the hat and
the twenty dollar bill.
Because I knew that it was going to work for the price.
I'm efficient.
I'm efficient German.
Here's the hat, here's the money. - Hat, cash.
Without saying good morning, how are you, nothing.
I think I gave one of these, you know? - Yeah the...
That is often enough in Germany I would say.
He took the twenty dollar bill and he took the hat.
He looked at the twenty dollar bill, really confused.
Put it down on the counter because he, of course, didn't know how much the hat was costing.
I knew that I had given him the correct bill.
Exactly. He was really confused. He was like, why is this person not talking with me?
What did I do wrong? And what should I do with the twenty dollar bill, like?
That's the payment! - Yeah, he was so confused.
At that moment me and our friend, we had to intervene and we said, "Dana, you're not in Germany."
We like tried to save. "We're not in Germany anymore. You say hi, how are you and stuff." - Yeah.
So we tried to interact. And we, I think we saved... - You saved the interaction. - Exactly.
And he was then talking again. And we had chit-chat.
And yeah, then he rang up the hat and it was whatever, 15 or 18 dollars.
And he took the twenty dollar bill.
And he gave you the change and the hat. - Yeah. So you saved me. We saved you.
Because I think it's really rude from what I have seen
to give people directly the money. - Yeah. - Without them telling you how much it costs. - Yes.
In both cases I saw my goal. You know?
Whether it was the pineapple - Fruit or the hat, paying. - or that I wanted to pay.
You know, like, I saw what needed to be done and I went and did it.
Like, okay - Efficiently. - here's my hat. Here's my money.
That, that's the transaction. - Straight to the fruit. - Yes! It was a transaction.
Transaction. - It was a transaction for me.
Like okay, I need to buy this hat, that's the transaction.
Yeah, and you wanted it efficient as possible. - Yeah. Exactly.
A good German would have it efficient as possible.
No, really rude.
You have become a really rude American in America.
But... - Where's my shame hat? Like I need a shame hat or something. I really do feel ashamed.
Like, it is embarrassing what I did.
Yeah, but also you have become a really efficient German.
So here's your certificate as well. - Okay thank you.
So I have my American shame hat and my, like, German certificate. - Exactly.
But you adapted over time.
The longer we stay in America, you adapt.
You remember how to be a nice, not rude American.
And I think therein lies what we have, the differences.
When I go to America, I feel like a tourist.
Yeah, whereas I feel like I'm, you know, kind of "going home."
So I don't feel really like a tourist there. - Yeah and so you don't actively think about,
okay I'm back in America. I have to adapt my cultural norms. I have to adapt to be a little bit different.
I don't really think about, on a day-to-day basis that I've
changed in Germany. - Exactly. - I don't think about that.
I just go back to the U.S. and I keep being myself.
But the problem is, the myself who I am on a day-to-day basis here in Germany, it's not
using the social norms that are common in America. - Exactly. - Yeah.
And for me because I go with the mindset of, okay I'm a tourist here, I directly from
the first day, I try to switch my cultural norms and my behavior to adapt to the American lifestyle.
I think also when I come back from a longer stay in the U.S. to Germany, I think for the
first few days I might also be a little bit too much interacting.
A little bit at the grocery store too much saying "oh, excuse me, sorry, pardon me, coming through."
Again, with the symbolic hat of shame and the German - "Certificate."
you're a good German certificate, it should show everyone that what is in one country
maybe considered really rude, is not mandatory rude - Necessarily. - or necessarily rude
in other countries. You're a really efficient German.
I wouldn't consider anything what you did, and maybe also you're sitting there and, like,
that wasn't rude?
Yeah, I would not have considered it rude.
But in the U.S. those things are considered rude. - Exactly.
I think the point of the video is to really remember cultural differences are always there
and yeah. - Yeah, what's rude in one place might not be rude in the other.
Or what's polite in one place might not be polite in the other.
And sometimes if there's a foreigner interacting with you, maybe if they're "rude" or if you
think they're rude, maybe they're not actually rude to you.
Maybe they're just different cultural norms.
Maybe think about that.
So our question for you is: Do you consider these things rude?
And have you ever experienced it where you've traveled somewhere and due to cultural differences
you maybe kind of come across as rude?
Please let us know in the comments below.
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