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I imagine the aversion to complaining in both Aus and NZ is an inheritance from the British part of our heritage. Australian English is also quite low in modality and I am forever trying to coach my partner that it can be better to say that you could do something rather than you should do something.
The Catholic Protestant divide was alive and well until after WW2. Religion has become such a non issue, in the main, that I realised that my daughter had been dating her now husband for several months and I had not thought to enquire about his religious background.
I imagine the aversion to complaining in both Aus and NZ is an inheritance from the British part of our heritage. Australian English is also quite low in modality and I am forever trying to coach my partner that it can be better to say that you could do something rather than you should do something.
The Catholic Protestant divide was alive and well until after WW2. Religion has become such a non issue, in the main, that I realised that my daughter had been dating her now husband for several months and I had not thought to enquire about his religious background.
always thought the british were viewed as complainers by australians and kiwis ?
only brought up the religous bigotry thing as a backround detail to one experience i had but that had nothing to do with how the kiwi company owner himself reacted , the other experiences of aversion to complaints had nothing to do with anything like that , i know full well religous differences are non issues in both australia and new zealand , ive relatives in several states of australia , not one of them is religous , neither am i though was raised catholic .
anyway , new zealand is great for the most part but you sometimes wonder is it a cultural faux pas to directly complain about anything ?
I don't agree -I know that foreigners often say that, but I think that it's just that the threshold for complaint is higher - from my perspective, some foreigners are too ready to complain, about things that can't be fixed, or are really just differences in taste, opinion etc.
I myself don't complain much at all, but certainly don't hesitate if I feel there is a serious complaint. Landlords and mechanics the world over, will generally be defensive -it's part of business.
im a landlord myself on a few properties both residential and commercial and work in property , i take complaints very seriously and not personally , il evict swiftly if someone is a crank complainer however like in my water heater is noisy or my apartment is damp ( dont dry clothes on the radiator or keep the windows closed 24 - 7 )
im a landlord myself on a few properties both residential and commercial and work in property , i take complaints very seriously and not personally , il evict swiftly if someone is a crank complainer however like in my water heater is noisy or my apartment is damp ( dont dry clothes on the radiator or keep the windows closed 24 - 7 )
Evict swiftly? Are there no laws in NZ/Ireland then providing protection of tenancy from feudal landlords and otherwise then? We rent out properties in Europe and demands for' improvements', are far from unknown. There is an obligation on our part to attend to such matters, although not all requests obviously are deemed necessary. Eviction would certainly be illegal and to reclaim property is a process in itself.
always thought the british were viewed as complainers by australians and kiwis ?
only brought up the religous bigotry thing as a backround detail to one experience i had but that had nothing to do with how the kiwi company owner himself reacted , the other experiences of aversion to complaints had nothing to do with anything like that , i know full well religous differences are non issues in both australia and new zealand , ive relatives in several states of australia , not one of them is religous , neither am i though was raised catholic .
anyway , new zealand is great for the most part but you sometimes wonder is it a cultural faux pas to directly complain about anything ?
The British generally are regarded as complainers by Australians, rightly or wrongly.
Aussies don't tend to complain a lot, although I will say I noted that my time in WA it was much more prevalent about seemingly minor or trivial things, and the boss/es took it pretty seriously without looking at the big picture, and seemed obsessed with maintaining face and not having upset or "talking about you" clients.
Whether that is the British influence or not, I don't know.
Probably my only real criticism of my time over there, you'd think they'd be more relaxed and not so serious and uptight. (maybe they knew I was an Easterner too?)
Sydney certainly is not like that, and most of regional NSW, to the point of apathy in some regions.
I imagine the aversion to complaining in both Aus and NZ is an inheritance from the British part of our heritage. Australian English is also quite low in modality and I am forever trying to coach my partner that it can be better to say that you could do something rather than you should do something.
The Catholic Protestant divide was alive and well until after WW2. Religion has become such a non issue, in the main, that I realised that my daughter had been dating her now husband for several months and I had not thought to enquire about his religious background.
There are 2 components that people seem to be evaluating.
Whether a certain group or region complain more than others, and whether a certain place or region do anything about the complaints they receive.
They are 2 different things.
Sydney would be fairly low key as far as complaining goes, and depending on the type of service, slightly more likely to act on a complaint than a regional area would imo.
One of the the things I've noticed with those who complain a lot (particularly foreigners)and, also make the comment that kiwis don't complain enough, is that the complaining often seems to come with undue anger -an example would be the English guy opposite my last place, who got very upset about people turning around in our driveways, as we were at the end of a road. He had several major confrontations with people turning around, threatened to put axes through windows, talked about buying road spikes, tried to get a petition going, annoyed council, put up three signs.
When he was on a rant, the old "kiwis don't complain" routine would come out -I always knew I could get a reaction with the "you need to chill out, man" routine. Maybe an extreme example, but I think frequent complainers, are often angry or cynical people.
I won't go into the letters in the wrong mailbox saga.
I think people who complain about every little thing are very unhappy and cynical people. Nothing is ever good enough. They are very draining to be around and I have met quite a number in my time. My philosophy is no point in complaining unless it's something that is very egregious or you can do something about. Complaining for the sake of complaining is annoying and just wastes energy. I haven't been to NZ but if that is how the philosophy is there, I can certainly agree. In Australia, the only complaining I can remember is when I was talking on a payphone in Cairns and a guy starts yelling at me to get off the phone because I was calling back to Canada and my call was lasting a while... I felt a little unnerved but took it in stride and moved on.
I don't agree. I think targeted complaining is very necessary, opposed to just ranting. If I have been delivered a service that I paid for, on completion finding it unsatisfactory, I will definitely complain and take any possible steps to rectify. Not always possible to get desired result but the offender will be aware.
some might say those who dismiss all complaints as evidence of grumbling malcontents are themselves people with low standards who are too arrogant to take on board criticism .
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