Best tip you ever received about social etiquette with the Swiss?
 

May have been covered before but I couldn't find it.

Mine was 'always look a Swiss person in the eyes when you make cheers'.

Come to think of it, it's perfectly logical - you're either drinking to their health or wishing them 'Happy Birthday' or congratulating them maybe for some other milestone or happy event.

i.e. 'Don't look at the glass'.

Re: Best tip you ever received about social etiquette with the Swiss?
 

Learn their names upon first introduction, and be sure to use them when you say goodbye.

The best way to handle that, of course, is to let someone else do the round of handshaking just before you and keep an ear cocked for the names they use. ;)

Re: Best tip you ever received about social etiquette with the Swiss?
 

And if you don't look in their eyes you'll have bad sex for the next 7 years, that's what I was told. :eek:

Re: Best tip you ever received about social etiquette with the Swiss?
 

I was under the impression that the 7 years of bad sex only apply when you cheers and you don't immediately drink from the glass after that

Re: Best tip you ever received about social etiquette with the Swiss?
 

yeah. my reply is always that it wouldn't make a difference for me :D

Re: Best tip you ever received about social etiquette with the Swiss?
 

Damn. Who did I not make eye contact with back in 1998 then? Geez...
Um... Moving right along...

I've learned that making first introductions garners some respect, and showing some old-fashioned chivalry will also get you far (e.g. holding doors, helping to carry up groceries, etc)

Re: Best tip you ever received about social etiquette with the Swiss?
 

True, that is why I had to take up golf :)

Re: Best tip you ever received about social etiquette with the Swiss?
 

When you are eating with a group where there is a clear host or leader do not start to eat before they do & wait for them to make the first toast "anstossen"

Re: Best tip you ever received about social etiquette with the Swiss?
 

........Which would have been my second post (especially when it's the Gemeindepräsident) - you're absolutely spot on.

Re: Best tip you ever received about social etiquette with the Swiss?
 

Think before you speak, not while speaking.
That will open the doors to and in Germany too.

Re: Best tip you ever received about social etiquette with the Swiss?
 

Sorry to butt in again - massive props to Dougal's Breakfast,

The Swiss love it at the end of a telephone call - especially if you've never ever met the person before (keep a writing pad handy).

Re: Best tip you ever received about social etiquette with the Swiss?
 

That takes too long... When someone asks me a question it takes a good 5 minutes of mental preparation before I can answer, and then they wonder if I've mentally checked out, which by then I have because I forgot what the question was.

Swiss also seem to love it if you depart by wishing them a "nice day" or a "nice weekend" or a "good appetite". And if you don't, then their horns and fangs pop out and their eyes go all neon red and they growl and hiss at you for being so rude.

Re: Best tip you ever received about social etiquette with the Swiss?
 

1. Show up on time, neither before nor after but ON TIME, especially in the Swiss German part. In the Suisse Romandie its ok to be fashionably late by about 15 mins.
2. If you are invited to someone's you only know formally, don't stay beyond three hours.
3. Dont call anyone after 2100hrs. If its your friend this can be extended to 2200hrs.

Re: Best tip you ever received about social etiquette with the Swiss?
 

I've also been advised don't call before 9am (especially on weekends)

Re: Best tip you ever received about social etiquette with the Swiss?
 

Offer your hand when greeting or saying goodbye (not shaking hands, just clasping hands - NEVER try the "Heavy sincere handgrip as this classes you as a Bully).

Take a packet of SWISS biscuits if invited for daytime coffee at their home.

REMEMBER their names (as stated above).... this is VERY important!

Re: Best tip you ever received about social etiquette with the Swiss?
 

Yes, in the light how things work here, that's quite true too.

Re: Best tip you ever received about social etiquette with the Swiss?
 

Oh yes .... and never telephone between the lunch time of 12noon and 12.45 (the last 15 mins is okay because they have finished eating - usually)

Re: Best tip you ever received about social etiquette with the Swiss?
 

And never forget to respectfully address them with a "Gruezi Frau und Herr Sternimann" (replace name as appropriate :msnnerd:) while passing by with a nod of the head on every long walk or hike you'll ever take, ad vitae eternum... and then some

Re: Best tip you ever received about social etiquette with the Swiss?
 

I enjoy the company of a realy realy old lady here in my village ... a "living legend" type ... one of the "Stam" of the community.

She amuses me no end...!

Sometimes I encounter her on my walks. And she greets every person, no matter how young, how strange, how "Auslanderisch" with a "Grüetzi".

I commented to her how the young no longer seem to automatically greet one these days.

She said "It is VERY important to keep up the tradition! They must learn that it is the correct thing to do!"

She also stops to inspect all the roadworks going on - enquiring of the workmen what they are doing, how long they will be taking, and reminding them to clean up after they are finished.....:D

Oh ...she also stops to inspect the water brunners - and if there is something in there, she grabs the nearest passing teenager and tells them to take it out .. and tell their friends to NOT drop their rubbish in the water!

I love the old girl - she is an absolute classic!

Re: Best tip you ever received about social etiquette with the Swiss?
 

Sure if you are NOT among the last to leave you can always place the "und en Schöne no" and if you are among the last you can place "Guät Nacht" and of course in both cases a "bis zum nächschte Mal" always is nice ;)