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| Ok, I think a bit of explanation is needed here. Traditional Switzerland, as you can still witness it in the countryside, is very considerate and polite and expects that from others too. Reality is that they've been long outnumbered, a lot of impolite youngsters, a large percentage of them South(Eastern) Europeans, ignore any of these unwritten rules and that gets copied by mostly city boys, Swiss as well as foreign. Not so long ago a train was a much more sociable place where you would say "Grüezi, isch da no frei?" (Hi, is this seat taken?) und "Adée, e schöne Tag" (Goodbye, have a nice day) when leaving the compartment. And you'd often strike up a conversation, therefore those, mostly elderly, people consider it impolite to just walk in, plug in your earphones and start listening to loud music. Many Swiss haven't digested yet that they live in a cosmopolitan, modern country where their social rules are rapidly getting outdated, and turn bitter towards foreigners. Once you get to know them however, many of these folks will turn out to extremely courteous, they just prefer old-fashioned travellers and visitors to the country who adapt to their ways, which aren't even the ways of most Swiss anymore. It's the classic conflict between the countryside and the city, Swiss traditionalists and urban individualism. It can extremely easily be witnessed when travelling somewhere outside Lucerne for example on a local train, not in rush-hour. You'll have older folks more than happy to strike up a conversation with you in their broken English. And then compare that to an S-Bahn in Zürich with its ellbow-culture.
I grew up in the countryside of Lucerne where you would greet everyone you meet on your way, stranger or not, with a "Grüezi" but now live in Zürich city and like it here despite the arrogance. I've gotten slightly off-topic but this is just to give you a rough context of these unwritten rules.
Some Swiss just ignore or frown at inconsiderate behaviour, nobody tells off a youngster in Zürich when he's listening to very loud music, but elsewhere some people tell them off when they think it's appropriate. | |
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Not off topic at all, a very well put point regarding the contradictions and conflicts that exist in a country that, culturally, is changing rapidly. When I am in Uri I see this on a daily basis, and whilst times have to change I feel a bit sorry for the older generation that still cling on to old courtesies and customs.