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Paul Vécsei
Senior editor for special editorial projects
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The Viennese creative director and author Rafael Bettschart called his book “Wiener Blut” an “ode to unfriendliness”. We have already reported on his collection of stories with the much-watched “Wiener Grant”. Mainly stunning experiences with Viennese waiters in coffee houses in the federal capital were the focus of the first report. The compilation of the author’s anecdotes (born 1989), in which the proverbial “Golden Heart of Vienna” really came into its own, is to be continued today due to the lively audience.
Logically, the following quote from Artur Schnitzler can be found at the beginning of the volume “Wiener Blut” from the Kampenwand publishing house: “That is the secret of the old Viennese café: the waiter is forgetful, the cashier is ugly, the walls are gray, the lighting is bad: lots of things that I find beautiful.”
So into the hodgepodge of Bettscharts observed unfriendliness in Vienna’s coffee temples. First example: “Waiter, please have a small, alcohol-free shandy please”, ordered a German guest. The dismayed local waiter then realized the proverbial Viennese “vaccinated”: “Oiso, I never heard that ana a beer in a Sotz offends three moi.”
Viennese coffeehouse waiters do not seem to have naturally leased courtesy. However, you may not necessarily be too familiar with the friendliness of others. The following experience of Bettscharts about the praise of a guest could not be explained otherwise. German tourist: “Great, that was excellent, man”, a German guest was enthusiastic about the service of a café in Vienna. The completely irritated waiter with the real Golden Vienna Heart only knew the following charming answer: “Schleich di, Oaschkreula, Hinicha!”
Another indecisive guest once annoyed the waiter with apparently pointless questions. He repeatedly changed his order. The waiter seemed trying to be friendly. After another change, the waiter put a toy car in front of the guest’s nose. “You have something to play with, “he says to the perplexed guest.” So that you are distracted and come up with crazy ideas! “The author Bettschart has compiled his experiences on 190 pages To familiarize critical expats in the federal capital with difficulties in mentality with the mechanisms of “Viennese humiliation”, because only those who know it, according to Bettschart, know that some gruff statements are “not mean at all, but almost lovingly”.
Visitors to Vienna must first learn to decipher and understand this love. One last practical example should help with this today: Recently in the coffee house – “Mr. Oba, bring S’ma to aundan coffee. Then the waiter reassuringly: “Well, the next one is a net better!”
We now want to add our readers to the collection of anecdotes “Viennese Blood – An Ode to Unfriendliness” by Rafael Bettschart: Write us your experiences with the “Golden Vienna Heart” at [email protected]
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