this post was submitted on 25 Feb 2024
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Imagine interacting with strangers beyond "did the bus I need already stop here?".
Signed, the Netherlands.
Thats what the digital displays are for. only reason to talk to someone is to bitch about a certain bus always being late, which they then agree with and the conversation ends.
you don't do a puppet show and encourage everyone to sing along?
This thread is now officially part of the yuropean continent.
Must be a lonely country
I can't imagine interacting with strangers at all under any circumstances (as long as it's on a bus).
Signed, Sweden
I would've thought the bus world be displaying the sorry I'm full sign when there's a passenger on board in those parts of Europe 😜
It's so inconsiderate to interact with strangers in an environment they cannot escape.
Greetings from Norway
I assume the Finns are not even commenting here as that would be too much interaction
You can't escape outside? That's like the least restrictive place ever.
Hey, that's not fair. We have a plethora of "ushekta"s to employ in various transit-related scenarios:
We live in a society after all
You use words for I need to get off here, please allow me to exit my seat?? Barbaric. A good rustling of your belongings, maybe a shift in the position your sitting and, if all fails, judgemental but thankful eye contact should be absolutely sufficient. Maybe MAYBE paired with a mumbled excuse me.
Verbal communication is naturally a last resort if your fellow passenger does not pick up on your non-verbal cues.
This naturally also comes with the responsibility of not accidentally showing non-verbal cues and making someone think you need to get off and as such leave their seat.
Ah yes, the dread all too sudden move in the seat. In such a case the only reasonable thing is to get up and stand for the rest of the ride. Worst case you might just have to walk home. The damage is already done.
I remember crying all the way to the next stop as a kid because I was too awkward to let my seat neighbour know that I needed to get up to press the stop button. In defence of the bus and its inhabitants everyone was very supportive. Good times!
Point 2 and 3 are valid points (btw I love the phonetic spelling of ursäkta)
I can’t imagine interacting with strangers.
Signed, me.
Hello there.
general kenobi
This always blows my mind as an American. Considering how our country is... How are we so much more friendly and talkative than the rest of you people?
You mean annoying?
Not bothering strangers with inane conversation is more friendly to me. Forcing strangers into conversations is rude. But I live in Vancouver, we have similar transit culture to Europe.
I read some study about it a few years back… in summary, americans are doing the fake friendliness thing where they ask everyone and their mother how they are doing, if they want to grab coffee sometime, and so on while actually meaning nothing of it. Meanwhile Europeans don’t do that. They are only really friendly to people they are familiar with, and immediately sceptical of the American kind of fake friendliness. Basically, we wouldn’t ask someone how they do unless we are actually interested in that.
Peaches vs Coconuts.
Another interesting thing I once read is that there are apparently subconscious cultural norms for things like eye contact.
Many Americans visiting Europe report that they often feel stared at, which is caused by a minuscule difference in how long it is appropriate to meet someone's gaze, for example when walking in public and looking at a stranger. Apparently Americans look somewhere else a fraction of a second earlier, and this tiny difference makes them feel stared at.
We can be friendly and talkative, but not at a bus stop.
Well yeah, of course I mean I'm not saying you aren't in general. But with strangers like that, how Americans can be. I'm constantly having random conversations with strangers and it completely blows my foreign friend's minds when I talk about stuff like that.
I run a B&B around the Himalayan range and see a lot of foreign tourists. Most Europeans people seem to be much more reserved especially the Finnish, a few are notable exceptions like the Germans & English.
Pretty sure you're winning an award for most interesting job on Lemmy.