Where did you meet the rudest people?
In Israel and Ukraine.
Before I even landed in Tel Aviv, an Israeli who was with me on the plane told me: “There are two words, you don’t use here, “thank you” and “please”.
It’s almost the same in Ukraine. Nobody is more unfriendly than a shopkeeper in Kyiv at nine o’clock in the morning. You say “hello” to them and they do not even react.
Friendliness is totally overrated.
If you’re too friendly or have a smile on your face for no obvious reasons, they may think that you are a mentally challenged person.
To be honest, I like it. It’s certainly more honest than the fake smiles you get all the time in the rest of Europe. It also saves a lot of time. Instead of thanking people for every little sh*t, you can simply ignore them.
Needless to say, I adapted perfectly.