Hi my lovely readers!
Today’s blogging prompt:
What do people incorrectly assume about you?
Made me think. I don’t really have people telling me “Oh, I thought you would do xyz” or something along the lines of “I assumed you would be xyz” But during my 13 years living in the UK it often came up (at the beginning) that people think I’m rude.
And let me tell you I was shocked by this 😦 I wouldn’t think of myself at all as rude and certainly my friends and my family don’t think that. But often people I worked with the first few years I worked here did and for a simple reason.
Because of my culture, traditions and simply where I grew up.
You see I’m German and we are very direct. We don’t waste time with all these (nonsense) introductions of “Hello, how are you?” which is the norm here in the UK, US and a lot of other English speaking countries.
I mean why would I ask if I actually don’t want to know? It’s a pointless question for us to ask strangers that we hardly know. Plus, if I would be truthful and tell you I had a rubbish day you wouldn’t want to hear about it, it would make you uncomfortable.
But here in the UK this is part of their culture, how they interact with people and I had to learn this the hard way by people telling me I’m rude.
There is much to learn about the different traditions of countries, how we interact with each other, what language we’re using and much more that all makes us different and we should be open minded and not judge straight away how we perceive a person.
We should always get to know a person before making any judgements and this is true for anyone, no matter where they come from and who they are.
Travelling helps to get a better understanding and a glimpse into the lives of other nations.
I have learned my lesson and opened up more and more to the British way of life. I have adopted a lot of practices, but I also think a lot of them aren’t making much sense to me. I kept an open mind and for the past 8+ years I have never heard anyone telling me that I’m rude.
theworldofcruiseandtravel.com 
I think it’s terrible that anyone should think you rude because as you say different cultures handle social niceties so differently. I’ve travelled a lot too and it does help to put things into perspective by coming into contact with people from all over the world and it’s so important to respect other nation’s customs.
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Thanks Marion. 🙂 I can sort of understand where people come from, but as we are becoming a more global society it would be nice to understand other cultures, traditions and as you put it niceties. You don’t have to approve of them or agree with everything, but just understanding is a good step forward. Plus, I didn’t know I was perceived as being rude, because no one told me initially. It was my manger who later explained as part of my quarterly review 😅
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meh i wouldnt worry about it. Most of it is all so fake anyway!
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I think I was upset back then because the people that thought so didn’t tell me directly and I was a lot younger, but oh well. That’s life I guess. It wouldn’t bother me anymore. I grew a thick skin. 🙂
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I agree that we should get to know people before we judge. I know you, so I’m allowed to say that you’re a terribly rude person… 😉 (I kid, I kid. xx)
People often assume I’m rude too as when I first meet new people I’m very shy, which often gets mistaken for standoffish-ness. It’s not that I don’t WANT to talk to people, I just never know what to say and find it incredibly uncomfortable.
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First impressions definitely aren’t always telling the truth about a person.
It’s really hard when you’re a shy person as it can for sure be interpreted in may different ways. Yes, you’re rude for sure, just like me 😜
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Hmmm, you should not worry so much…if you know yourself how you are in your heart, then don’t worry. I don’t even know what people assume about me….and I don’t care at all.. Do you think that they care at all about how I feel about them? I believe in equal relationships so… they don’t care and I don’t care. I have a few close people, relatives and friends, for whom I pray and who are important but the rest…does not really matter. I don’t need to be loved by everyone; I love myself, I respect myself and that is pretty good for me.
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