Hi everybody,
went to town today with my girlfriend Bea to buy some "Adventskranz", since Christmas is coming :-)
Being a native German Bea didn't have any problem to get the shop assistant to do exactly as she wished, no matter how odd or untraditional the wishes were.When it was my turn to voice my wishes, this charming shop assistant listened and responded: "Oh dear, that is not the way how we do it in Germany. In Germany we will do it with a red ribbon, not a checked red-and-white ribbon..."
I am not implying that the Germans are unpolite or things like that. Similar things happened to me in other countries as well. I find it difficult not minding people labelling my thoughts according to my origin, or non-German orgin in that case :-)
Do you have similar experience? I would very much appreciate you sharing your thoughts on this with me.
Thanks,
Fanling
P.S.: I did get the Adventskranz done exactly the way I like in the end, because I am at least as stubborn :-)
Oh, that is not the way how we do it in Germany
That's too funny! In a similar, but different scenario, I once went with a friend from Munich to a Bavarian-themed restaurant in Madison, WI. His surprise at the ways things were done cracked me up. He just kept saying things like: "That's not how we drink our beer! Why is there so much foam...and a lemon??" "What music is that? That's not right!"
Maybe the shop assistant thought she was being helpful by trying to convince you, as a foreigner, about how it "should" be done. But like you, sometimes I really want things done a certain way. So I would have found this a little frustrating, too. 
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www.munichami.blogspot.com
Indeed, that's too funny - I had a similar experince with the foam thing as well Interesting though, my Northern German friends are a bit annoyed because all the so-called German things you get abroad are more or less from Southern Germany, like Lederhose or Schweinshaxe. In that sense, there is nothing like the German way, isn't it?
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