I thought for a second there you were talking about me parading around in an Austrian Olympic Team jacket.

Personally, I pumped it for all it was worth.

But then again I have no shame.

Absolutely!!! In French, I always aim to use the gender-ignorance-face-saving plural "les" wherever possible. As a consequence, I tend to gain weight whenever I eat out, but the feeling of assimilation makes it all worth it.

Not so easy in German because of the accursed case complications.

Anyway, back on topic, if you, too, want to feel assimilated, then simply nod while accepting the discount, or even look vaguely unaware that you're getting one. After all, it's un-Swiss to pay less than you have to, if you kind of see what I mean.

The appropriate reaction would be

Might use it but I usually stick to one language for a given sentence

Anyway, that answers another one of life's wee mysteries: ""Whatever happened to the National Coal Board?"

Absolutely, the first impressions always count and 9 out of 10 they judge the book by its cover. Some say, they judge the people by their shoes which btw I agree with this stereotype as well. My grandfather would say the same. You can tell a lot about a man's character by way he dresses, if there are creases on his clothes and his hair style and so on and so forth...

In my first job interview, I would always wanna look smart, same would have applied to the first date. Also your inlaws expect you to look neat but if the look cannot save you, then the acumen and smooth talk should be able to make up for

But if I would make them happy to serve me something (as mistakenly recognized employee of certain institution) let it be...

Sorry, didn't read the whole thread and what was the topic all about and assumed it was some kind of classical dressing habits thread

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Man, my mom was brought up in a devout Catholic home. She has that whole "Catholic guilt" thing going on and passed it onto my siblings and I. I feel guilty for feeling guilty so nope, I would not pretend to be an employee to get the discount.

You're sitting in a cafe, having smugly only paid 9.80 CHF for an espresso instead of 10 when in runs someone who, while dragging you towards the nearest tram, explains that the driver has fallen ill and you need to continue the route.

Why would you wear an Austrian Olympic Team jacket, Natasha? Is someone in your family an Austrian Olympic Skier? That would be cool. You should tell us!

this is hilarious. thanks for sharing.

Put a nice black piece of gaffer tape over the logo maybe people will get a clue. You could always continue telling people "nai nai! ich nicht arbeit in ein orange jacke! ich bin ein Buchhalter(insert any other random job you can think of)"

I can't help but laugh because of what's happening to you as this has happened to me a number of time. In America as a side job I did some verification in some big stores like Best buy, having customers come up to you thinking you work there because you have a blue shirt ( it does also make sense as you are manipulating products and taking notes). In stores even sometimes while I'm out shopping I get people asking me questions, maybe I have a face for retail

Sorry don't do guilty anymore. Used to but it got me into trouble so I kicked that emotion into the long grass.

There is a vote on November 28th. As far as I understand it you as a foreigner could be deported to Muotathal when you accept the discount.

in standard-German it would be "Meine Jacke kommt aus dem Brockihaus" (Dative) and in dialect it would be "Mini Jacke chunnt us ämm Brockihus"

And I always thought it only happens to meScheisse

Really? Is Brockihaus even a word in High German? News to me. I had always thought it was Brockenhaus. (and that itself was only used in Switzerland).

People take me for a Swiss so many times, hahaha, I am going to tell them each I am not...? You can go into absurd extremes if you think like this.

But I do get your dilemma. I think I would have accepted to not embarrass them, while I would also explain, already having the cup in my hands that I don't really deserve it but tell them how happy they made me, they are so very kind and sweet (to not feel like I took something undeserved, tricking them). Most likely the lady knew you are not a SBB person, people do nice acts of random kindness, here especially...

My very moral and very nice friend who would never ever do anything unethical told me once, she has never cared for showing her PhD title to anyone, in fact nobody knows. But, she was able to take a 1st class trip as a doc, having the air carrier assume she is a medical doc. She flew 3 planes that trip, over 20 hours, so she enjoyed her 1st class but felt very very evil for it.

Bless your mom. That's funny, we grew up commie and we had a similar mindset. Not really a guilt, but one must obey the moral code, or die...It gets impractical at times, but it's a good guidance..

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Ahhhhhhhh that was you ! sorry my profane language, but I needed to go to the bathroom real bad

I still use my old identy card from my previous company for getting a big discount when going to AlpaMare

If you plan some holidays in Spain, avoid taking the jacket with you.
You might be asked for special service

More importantly than the resultant ethical and moral dilemmas, I went straight to the poll to find the "Sad Tw@t who wears corporate clothing of a business (s)he doesn't even work for" button....but it appears to have been overused and deleted.....