From A to Z

When you arrive to your new country as an Expat, you feel like a guest and the host country is, well your host. It almost borders on dinner party formality and etiquette, the Expat being polite and almost subservient while the host country is telling you what to do, where to sit, what to eat, where to pee, where your dogs can pee, etc etc etc...

But then it happens, something goes awry and feel like complaining about it. As a guest though, complaining feels uncomfortable and you wonder if you really have the right to do it:

"Hey Guest In My Home, how were your beef tips?"

"Well, to be honest Switzerland, they were cold and didn't arrive on time which is strange because you are normally really good with the timing stuff. They made me very, very angry"

"Oh yeah? Well don't let the door hit you in the ass"

"Um, ok...your home is spotless though and I really love what you did with the..."

"OUT!"

So how do you earn the right to complain? It isn't that I lacked the intestinal fortitude to do so, it just required a few things to happen before I felt justified:

1. I became competent enough to complain in German.

2. I acknowledged that we too pay our share of Swiss taxes. Which by the way included a 50 page form asking you everything short of "what is your favorite song and why?"

3. Time cures almost everything, including Expat Self Esteem issues.

When I realized that I earned my right to complain, I marched into the office which held the people who did something poorly and/or wasted my time, and did just that. The representative who helped me immediately switched to English, which is par for the course, but I kept on speaking German sorta and complaining sorta. I had a huge cheshire cat grin while I was complaining, the woman likely thought I was insane, but she apologized with sincerity and took me seriously.

I am not suggesting that you HAVE to learn German to earn the right to complain, a 50 page Swiss tax form will do the trick, but you will earn some host country respect and likely get better results.

Happy Complaining!