But I said a pair!! Not three!!!

Being Dutch you're probably around 8 feet tall, which makes this approach the correct one for you.
I carry a spiky, oily folding bicycle everywhere I go. Glad to report that a couple of teeny Swiss girls who barged into me getting onto the train shoulders first got their white bommer jackets nicely oiled. They didn't notice until they had sat down, and then they turned the air blue.

Cheers

Jim

loosely related to http://www.englishforum.ch/complaint...alking-zh.html so have a read of that one too

So the lack of Swiss spatial awareness isn't a new observation, as this necro thread shows....but why, upon being gently and politely asked to move to one side (as Vreni and Barbara renew acquaintence from Jassen in the middle of a busy shopping street on Saturday afternoon causing those behind to stop or swerve).....why do they giggle and gurgle like getting in everybody's way is the funniest thing that ever happened to them????

Because, this is about as 'naughty' as the Swiss get. just kidding

I think it’s a swiss phenomenon too. The swiss are bad at navigating in most situations and seem to be unaware of people in their vicinity; this manifests itself in the way OP mentioned, they tailgate on the road, dart in front of you in the train station, they crowd onto trains/trams/busses, they stand 4cm away from you to examine the cheese in the supermarket, they stand behind you in line to pay for things so closely you turn around and youre nose to nose.

Germans don’t do this. Neither do the French. Or the Dutch. Or the Brits. Or the irish.

I don’t put a value judgement on it (because saying something like “these peasants are 3 generations removed from cow pasture how can we expect them to’ve become civilized urbanites” would be impolite and probably untrue), and just do my best to accept it and carry on my day.

agree with that.... also "rude" is not a useful way to think about it... things are just different here (also "swiss" is a bit of a broad brush to use ;-))

I love the workers at Coop and Migros who shove you out of the way because they have to stock the shelf.

But can you say for sure that that is 100% a "Swiss" spatial awareness problem..?

I don't know about your local Migros/Coop but, judging by the multitude of languages passing back and forth among the supermarket staff, there's not a lot of "Swiss language" mixed in with it.

Help - someone's raised a Raincookie blast from the past thread back into the future.

Where's my DeLorean DMC-12?

Time for my rant or2:

My first class today is postponed, so I decide to knock out my grocery shop is morning. I go to SihlCity (Coop), unlock my shopping cart, and begin working my way up and down the aisles. First I encounter a woman who walks away from her cart, letting it drift diagonally down the aisle. It comes to a stop both diagonally and in the center of the aisle. Meanwhile, she is oblivious. Fine. I nudge the shopping cart off to one side so I can get by. Annoying, but now it's off my chest.

Then, icing on my cake, as I'm waiting to check out, a different lady in front of me leaves her shopping cart in the narrow lane, so that nobody can get by her. I'm not worried; surely she'll move after she pays. Nope. She begins slowly and meticulously (she really had a system going) bagging her groceries, leaving her cart in the way. I normally bag my groceries as they're being scanned, so I can pay and catch my train, but now I can't. At this point all my groceries are scanned, and I've paid... AND SHE'S STILL BLOCKING ME IN... Finally, she leaves, I cram my stuff and run on to barely make my train...

GRR

how come rain cookie was banned?

I know it's no biggie... but be careful not to drive your self nuts by getting wound up (GRR) everytime someone get's in your way...take a DEEP breath, give LOTS of space... and push the shit out of the way with a little "scusi" if need be ;-)

... or you could move to Ticino (assuming the town you move to is not full of tourists) or somehwere else ;-)

Just ask "may I" and push the cart out of your way. It just takes five seconds compared to the ten minutes you waist by writing a post.

Oh, I had no problem moving the cart. The 10 minutes was to get it off my chest...

As I said, much ado about nothing

I've got a hilarious vision of you lying on the floor at Coop pinned under a supermarket trolley

Erm...the frustration, not the cart...

Also, Swiss shopping cart drivers are better than the obnoxious snowbirds in Florida. They all have a "respect your elders" mentality, whether they deserve it or not. If you're in their way, they're just as likely to clip your heels with the front of their cart as they are to actually ask you to move.