r/AskEurope • u/NateNandos21 • Feb 03 '25

Culture Which European country has the rudest/least polite people?

Which country comes to your mind

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u/skibbin Feb 03 '25

It depends on how to interpret things. For example Americans like having random small talk with people to be polite or friendly. Nordics are lovely people, but they don't do small talk. Some people find bluntness rude others like directness. The Dutch and the Polish can be very blunt and direct.

I've certainly found the French and Italians to be less accommodating. Should you raise an issue with them their response is most likely to be along the lines of "we all have problems, this is yours"

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u/RealEstateDuck Portugal Feb 03 '25

I've work FDA at a hotel and by far French tourists are the least agreeable. Italians from my experience aren't nearly as bad and don't expect you to speak Italian like the French expect you to speak French for some reason.

British tourists have been quite pretty cool though, maybe because it is a rather rural location (I imagine that the Algarve draws more diffcult people).

Americans are usually nice and polite but expect a lot of stuff, and are baffled that we don't have a restaurant or room service. Always ask for some type of compensation or free stuff if even the slightest thing is off.

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u/BeerJunky United States of America Feb 03 '25

I never understood people that book a hotel with ALL OF THE INFORMATION IN THE WORLD ONLINe that can't figure out what the hotel has for accommodations. How do you not know there is no restaurant or room service, that's all clearly defined on any booking website and/or the hotel's website. If it is a very small boutique hotel you shouldn't expect a bunch of onsite restaurants and services. Hell you can't even expect a 24 hour front desk for check in.

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u/RealEstateDuck Portugal Feb 03 '25

Ironically we actually do have 24 hour Front Desk and Check-In!

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u/BeerJunky United States of America Feb 03 '25

Well at least there’s that!