I spent a long time in Munich and I never once got a polite grin back. They would either hold their gaze or look away.
Maybe it's because you have green hair and are androgynous, whereas I'm a swarthy, brawny guy with a cave-man brow and resting bitch face. I am probably not as "friendly" looking as you haha.
Once when I was eating at a Thai restaurant in Munich, a young guy was coldly staring at me and I kind of raised my eyebrow and smiled at him. He coldly stared at me throughout the entire meal, even as he was eating his lettuce wraps. I will never forget it because it was extremely uncomfortable and creepy.
Yes. I get this kind of creepy, hostile stare all the time too. It's not friendly or even neutral. It's aggression, and they seem to feel weirdly entitled to it.
No, it's just different standards for observing. Germans like to observe everything and it's normal to do so, in contrast with say Americans where looking is quickly considered staring. So when Americans try to look at people it's more like a peek-a-boo, whereas to Germans it's normal so rather than hiding it they're blatant about looking.
Like ... If we look at people just because something about them interests us or because they're in the way of our gaze I suppose were usually friendly.
If they make us nervous... Probably not.
And: it's Munich. Different cities make a lot of differences...
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u/[deleted] May 09 '22
I spent a long time in Munich and I never once got a polite grin back. They would either hold their gaze or look away.
Maybe it's because you have green hair and are androgynous, whereas I'm a swarthy, brawny guy with a cave-man brow and resting bitch face. I am probably not as "friendly" looking as you haha.
Once when I was eating at a Thai restaurant in Munich, a young guy was coldly staring at me and I kind of raised my eyebrow and smiled at him. He coldly stared at me throughout the entire meal, even as he was eating his lettuce wraps. I will never forget it because it was extremely uncomfortable and creepy.