Told off for yawning without covering my mouth

I was travelling home on an Sbahn with my family one evening this week. I was talking the whole time in English with them. I then yawned without covering my mouth. Some guy then had the cheek to tell me in German to put my hand over my mouth when I yawn - I was gobsmacked!!! And then some other female passenger then turned to him and said "haben Sie Recht!" ("you're right")!!! Now I have been brought up to cover my mouth when I yawn anyway but I was a little drunk and knackered.

I said to him "what has it to do with you?" to which he replied "it has to do with me because you are in an open place"!! I could not believe my ears! I think he was a little shocked when I understood what he said and replied in German...

I could believe it maybe if he was my school teacher or my father, but he was just some fucking nobody on a train with nothing better to do with his time than poke his nose into the affairs of others...

I was fucking fuming! Try that in the North-East of England and you'd probably get your lights punched out LOL

Anyone else had such strange experiences in Munich/Germany? Is this a typical trait of Germany/Munich people or is he just a one-off weird nosey sod?

Just cover your mouth the next time.

Well I guess pretty much in every mediterrenean country he would have had his ass kicked for such behavior.

I think there are psychos everywhere. I would have made fun of him if I was you. You should have asked him why such a member of the royal family was travelling with the simple people of the land? His majesty should have taken his private jet to work.

Or ask him:
You want to see seafood? Open your mouth and show him all the ingredients. If that is not effective, pretend to eat your buggers. Then say out loud, "mmmmm, that's delicious"

He's a weird nosey sod and it's a typical trait in Bavaria, at least. There's definitely an element of 've must teech zees foreigners how to behave. Zey are in Germany now.' with most of them, but generally they'll be anal with anyone. Just punch his lights out next time

I was in a curry house last night and some "lady" was emptying her nostrils incessantly into a handkerchief with loud snotty sounds - it was disgusting. But this seems acceptable behaviour here. So next time just get your handkerchief out and make loud snotty noises.

One time I was walking down a very wide sidewalk on the left side, so I could look in the shop windows as I passed. There were no other people around. Then some man walked by me and yelled at me for walking on the "wrong" side of the sidewalk. They like to do such things in Bayern.

One covers one's gob when yawning and it doesn't matter whether you're drunk or sober. What a fine example you are to your poor family. The children will grow up to be pikeys.
Signed
Disgusted
Neuperlach Sued

I think it's more odd that someone would "punch your lights out" where ever in England for telling you to learn some basic manners.

One covers one's gob when sneezing, not yawning. It's not like you're ejecting germs everywhere with a yawn.

It has nothing to do with manners, i'm sure he has plenty of manners, and the Bavarian twat should mind his own bloody business...or he might just get his lights punched out one night

Usually only a person that is in a position to tell another person what to do would do so... It is not appropriate for a complete stranger to do so having never even spoke a word to me previously... And if someone poked their nose into someone else's business in the NE of England, they would probably have their lights punched out, alarming as it may be :-) They are a bit rough up north... all like Biffa Bacon! :-)

I probably would have still been pissed off and shocked but may not have minded so much if he had spoken quietly to me instead of trying to make a scene in front of everyone... He also said something about English and Germany, so I assume it was a little bit of a superiority complex thing trying to teach us foreigners the right way of doing things...

What other smart remarks would other TT members use in retaliation if it happened to them?

That I would understand, if I was spreading germs which directly affected him... :-}

Oh but HS don't you know that you are infecting him, by just yawning, you are spreading your highly dangerous "Scheiße Ausländer" germs...god forbid

Sorry for being a rude pikey.

I know what you all people mean. I live in Rostock, which is a pretty nasty town and the people in here is the same, just curious mo"§$% that dont have any other thing to do in life. If a guy tries to show manners like the Prince William in L.A. He will get ass kicked faster than the war in Irak, next time knockout that nazi down.

Hey, i think that's a bit uncalled for, you can't just go around calling people nazis, rascism really is not cool.

This would be my response to the nosey twat.

Dilligaf.

Ask them to explain why you shouldn´t do it. Worst that could happen is that you learn something. Best that could happen is that you can debate about the logic behind his statement.
ie.."spreads germs? Why don´t you cover your mouth when you talk?" etc
Take care,
space

HS, maybe he tought your teeth were not very nice.

Many of us like Germany because it's clean and people are respectful. Now if occasionally people come up and tell us off it's a small price to pay. My blood has boiled a few times because of it, particularly the old biddy who told me off as the kids were fighting , but it's better than the complete lack of respect in the UK.

It is impolite not to cover your mouth while yawning, other than your dentist or doctor nobody is particularly interested in seeing down your throat just cover up next time!

When I was in school our crazy french teacher Sr. Brigid told us that we should cover our mouths when we yawn in case something flying through the air should fly into our open mouths and kill us...like in the story of the hound of Cuchulann...so it's for your own safety really...

On the one hand, the guy told you something you apparently didn't know but should have, therefore saving your entire family from the horrible fate of gaping mouth yawning, and you from looking like a clod in polite company at your next business meeting. On the other hand, if I were tired and yawning and some uptight busybody told me to cover up my mouth I would have coughed on him and then said "Oh! excuse me. My arms are paralysed. You should probably go very very far away from me in case it happens again-- uh oh-- I thinkCOFF COFFF HACK!!!--"

I always thought it was rude not to cover your mouth when you yawn.

And the nose blowing in restaurants, at the table is my biggest peeve about living here.

This grinds on my nerves too, but I would never go over to the blower and say you're being rude. People have to be responsible for their own behavior because if you go around correcting things people do that annoy you most likely it will not change the behavior and it will just make you a miserable soul. It's not worth it.

I agree totally, these things are trivial to what you have to face back home in the Uk, don't I know it! I prefer the staring, bogey picking/eating, people having a pop every now and then than in your face rudeness and agression!

I can't imagine this happening on the bahn in Berlin, but I complained to my hausverwaltung about my teenage neighbour who blew his nose extremely loudly on his (hinterhof, everything echoes) balcony early in the morning or late at night. I complained to them because I wouldn't know how to knock on someone's door and say 'excuse me can you stop blowing your nose so loudly please'. Yawning can be rude as well, I guess but it's less likely to disturb people who aren't staring at you like a moron on public transport, unless you are doing it in their face. By the way, I beleive the correct response is not 'what's it got to do with you,' but 'fick dich ins knie du altes arschloch'.

Maybe he had OCD? Otherwise, total jerk.

Not quite in comparison, but seems to happen all too often with the 'respectful' germans, but just today I was cut infront of at the pharmacy by a very rude and obviously pompous elderly lady. I let it go because she was elderly, which is the excuse I always tell myself in order to calm down, but she clearly saw me there, the line was VERY distinct with no room for misunderstanding, and she just stepped right infront of me to get to the cashier next, and never looked back. It was apparently her spot/turn, and I should have known that.

what are the locals' manners like in the workplace? (I work at home).