05 September 2005

Dutch Manners I

One of the functions of this blog is to document the experience of living in Amsterdam.

So far I have been (unsucessfully) attacked at knife point, I've been verbally abused many many times, I've been assaulted by a dutch man and I have been pushed off the pavement. I've been shortchanged and given 'the run around'. I've been refused service. I've been subjected to racial vilification and discripmination and sexually harassed.

Dutch manners do not exist. And to illustrate the point, I will commence to blog every incident.

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On the plane.

Last night around midnight arriving in amsterdam after flight delays. Planeload of rude dutch. The usual scrum to exit the plane at landing is intensified. I'm stood in the aisle queuing to exit. Its very crowded.

There's a couple to my left, still in their seats and he (near the window) is pushing over his wife (on the aisle) trying to get his luggage out. He tries to push her into the queuing passagers, but its all tall dutch men. Too big. I'm a petite five foot (150cm) and he targets me as where he is going to push in. When I come alongside, he starts pushing her onto me and I have nowhere to go.
She is going to push me off my feet and I am disabled and unsteady, and its going to cause damage if I fall.

I say, in English, politely but firmly, "wait".

His response was, in english, "c*nt".

So I respond, the equivalent, in dutch, and exited the plane.

The look on her face was priceless. You can't use normal manners here, you will literally get walked on.



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