We don't smile, we laugh

I've been here in CZ for almost a year and it seems like I've been living in a parallel universe all along when they say Czechs are rude, just because they don't smile all the time? and they don't make conversation? who does that? I personally am very reserved, so to me not only is this normal and expected but also very much appreciated. :D When addressing them they are kind and helpful, and there's always the occasional grumpy mean, tired cashier or anyone as there would be anywhere in the world, wouldn't there. If anything they have a rather sad semblance, which breaks my heart, but knowing the history, could you blame them? Also if your city yearly was run over, by millions of drunken obnoxious tourists 24/7 365 days wouldn't you be angry most of the time.

I am smiling alot… inside.

as a Czech guy (born one year before the revolution), this is what I expect from a waiter or waitress: be polite (especially not to sound like I'm annoying them, maybe I also had a shitty day and I just want to have a nice evening...), not to fuck up my order, bring it in one piece, ask me if I want another beer or coke or whatever when I'm finishing the previous one... and that's it I guess :) (and of course I'll tip them if they were alright :) ) no need to chat with me or smile at me with an dishonest smile, just bring me what I want without a sour face and we're OK :D

Není důvod se neupřímně usmívat na každého koho potkáte, úsměv je věc sympatii. Češi jsou velice zdvořilí národ a máme rádi slušné chování a upřímnost, americké keep smiling vždy vypadá jako přetvářka a falešnost, takovému člověku češi od pohledu nedůvěřují.

Hi Lenny, you really properly described the czech national character. But on the other hand, do you know any other culture, where if someone enters any building with other people, he / she will say "Dobrý den"? And when he / she leaves, says "Na shledanou"? Or another typically czech thing - you eat something and anyone, who is well behaved, will say "Dobrou chuť". Or if you visit someone's house or the someone visits your house, the shoes / boots come off and they ask for or bring their own slippers? :-) I smile, if I have a reason for smile. If I feel sad, or I feel any other negative emotion, let's display it on my face, why not? That fake american smile, that makes me upset, really upset. And the last observation - if anyone, who comes from spanish or english speaking country ask you "How are you / Como está?" he / she doesn't want the true answer. By that question, it starts some sort of game, when you ask and the reply is "Good, and you?" and the reply goes "Good as well, thank you for asking." Meanwhile the Czech would genuinely answer that question, e.g. "I feel tired, I couldn't sleep the whole night, because baby of my neighbours cried the whole night..." or "I feel very good, we just have moved and our house looks like military camp, but we are happy..." etc.

This as a Czech made me cry. I know our history but it's just so sad. Betrayal. Opression. It leaves a mark on a nation. I still think that displaying your true feelings is better than toxic American positivity. They don't want to hear and think about the bad things. That bugs me so much. I hate it. I don't hate smiling and laughing. I smile and laugh all the time, but I am not wasting it on someone that doesn't make me happy or someone I have no connection to.

wow!! this is so interesting to hear! I had no idea about Czech background. thank you so much for sharing!!

I agree with 99%. But "its better to stay silent than to say something silly" is true. Same with smiling. You need to reason to smile. Only crazy person smile without reason. I personaly prefer not-fake smiling. Its normal to never come back to restaurant, where waitresses behive rude. Maybe if you have google profile, you can write review about them. But you have power of choice to not go there again.

I'm Czech and I worked in one cafe in Sydney, Australia. One day one regular customer of arabic background had an emotional breakdown complaining that I never smiled. I told him that's just who I am and few days later he apologised to me for his meltdown.

Precious and intelligent lady, thanks for your love and understanding for us Czech people. I think if all humans were like you trying to understand other nations there would be no wars. :)

You seem to be a very nice person and I can see you put a lot of enthusiasm into your videos. This channel deserves thousands of subscribers :)

Thank you for bringing up Czech history!!! Everything is tied to it. Please do it more if you can. I really enjoyed this video.

Hey, nice video. I'd like to point out, that every nation has some pros and cons, for instance, I enjoy working with colleagues from Netherlands - their work ethics is very high while they still keep their hillarious sense of humor. When it comes to hospitality in CZ, being polite and respectful is expressed in slightly different way you would expect - tone of voice, choice of words, keeping the distance while still being available, in case of a waiter. If you want people smile, tell a little joke, "establish contact" and they will smile and behave differently. I can tell easily if people are honest and "being themselves" or pretending their emotions. Pretending is not valued here, fake smile is outright suspicious. I understand very well though, for a foreign person these nuances will be superhard to grasp.

In 10 minutes you have explained Czech political issues that would take me many days to connect all the dots from resources that are usually written by the "victors". I have highly respect to Czech people, people who are very family oriented, people who value their traditions and are proud of their culture, people who have Zelenka, Smetana, Forman and others - comparing to country and it's people who are unfortunately lost in translation, plagued by identity policies and ironically without true national identity and where I am currently living. Regards from "Canadian" on paper and Serbian in heart.

A big THANK YOU for mentioning that Prague is not the Czech Republic! Many people think that when they visit Prague they know the whole republic. Love your videos, keep it up! :)

You're very right! For example: I am a shy person, but when I open up I'm very friendly. I like to talk with people from diferente places, because I want to know more about their culture.

Yes, you're right. Thank you for this video :) Also I think that Czechs don't smile because why should we do a fake smile? The smile should be from the heart. And about the history and Munich Agreement - I think that countries that betrayed us forgot it like it didn't happen. And still sometimes it looks like the Western Europe countries do not take us as equal. It's so sad.

I have to say, I admire your understanding of Czech history and culture :) And as a Czech person I also sometimes suffer when I see grumpy people almost everywhere, but most of the time it took only a few nice words and Czech people are really friendly and open 😉

Beautifully beautifully done! It brought tears to my eyes. I am going to send this video to all my friends who never have been to the Czech Republic. Thank you!

There are so many vlogs on this subject and frankly I never experienced any rudness that is always described. In fact I was prepared for a lack of service etc. because of my research (such as these Vlogs). Greatest vacation of my life. My wife and I are actually thinking of leaving the US to retire to Prague or somewhere close by.

What a great perspective!!! I'm Czech and young and I could never understand the attitude of older people until I saw your video. Very well for put, thank you for it!

Hello Jenny, I'm also Dutch and I went to the Czech Republic for the first time in 2016. At first I had a bit of a culture shock. I was afraid I did something wrong or that I displeased people. Luckily, I went with my half Slovak boyfriend who speaks Dutch and Slovak. As soon as he addresses people in Slovak, I saw their faces kind of light up. They understand Slovak but also hear a foreign accent. I noticed that the Czechs are not unfriendly, they're reserved. When we visited family of my boyfriend it became clear the Czechs are warm and friendly but really first have to got to know you. Back in the Netherlands, that same year, we spoke about it and I came more or less to the same conclusion as you. I don't mind the Czechs being reserved. They're good people.

I just found your channel! Such a great video with a lovely history lesson. I’m considering moving to Czech Republic and your video was helpful. Thank you!

Thank you so much for this Lenny, it's clarified so many things for me about my experiences since moving to Prague from the UK. Really helpful to hear this. What a great video, I'd love to hear more about your take and experience of Czechs and Czech Republic! 🙂

The more I continued the more I realised that this video really is going to save the Czechs from themselves. After all these years...

Goeden Dag Meisje! I do love dutch nation because of your History and great mentality. I'm happy that I found your Channel. Your language sounds me really cool and I am speaking Swedish and slowly learning dutch. I was also a bus driver And I drove my bus Across West Europe And Scandinavia. I do love Northwestern Part of Europe because I feel there as there is My true home. You got a new Subscriber. Have a nice day. Tot ziens!

Thank you very much for sharing all your videos about the Czech republic!!!! I'm Czech and I'm amazed how much you know and understand czech mentality and influence of history on us :-) almost made me feel like you are half Czech :-)

Interesting. So good to understand better! Thank you!

History matters, the same in my country of origin as well (suburb part). Thank you for sharing Lenny. Have a nice day ahead to you :)

I love your energy! Keep up the good work :)

We Czech don't smile too much. But we have the best humor in the world. That was said by Michael Palin from the Monty Pythnon. Irony, sarcasm, black humor. I really love it. We don't exaggerate. With emotions, words. We don't use much pathos. For us it seems to be fake. The speech which is mooving for Americans, for us is a disgusting theather. We are not a drama queen. So we don't believe the others if they act (for us) disproportionately. The fact is some of us don't have too much positive thinking. It's bad. Bad it's about our experience. Not only historic experience of the country. But our own privite experience. For example, the most of the time in school was hell for me. It was only about to survive to the other day. The only chance to do it was to become invisible. It forms my way of thinking enormously.

Hello. The fact that the Czechs do not speak much German and English is also greatly influenced by the fact that until 1990 only Russian was taught in schools. He did not start learning English and German in schools until 1990. In addition, the teachers who started teaching English and German in 1990 also did not speak these languages well and knew only a little more than their students. So at first the quality of teaching was also very poor. Therefore, even today, few people over the age of 45 can speak these languages. That's why I'm not surprised that in 1995, when Lenny was in the park, no one wanted to communicate. Sorry I am also one of those who do not speak much English and helped me with this google translator. :-)

Hi dear Lenny ! Very interesting video . Thanks for sharing your opinion ! I wish you a wonderful week , Michael

Video is very informative, Thanks

You're wonderful 😊, thanks for explaining this to me, I was confused 🤔

It's a national sport - to complain of everything, maybe that's the reason of the Czech "rudeness". But take them out of their mood, distract them, talk to them, make a joke and everything will change.

In 1995 there was not many people speaking German on English :-) Most people had learned Russian in schools back then.

I love you. I laugh and cry at the same time. Love my country. You are spot on xxx

Dobrý den Lenko, držím palce s Vaším kanálem. Moc pěkné. Váš Honest Dad

Wow, lady, you have my appreciation and respect.. You are very receptive and open-mind. You have estimated it very well. You really understand the local mentality and I fully agree with you on the points why Czechs do not smile and why in the past they refused to talk to foreigners. There were provocations in the previous regime. STB agents pretended to be from the west and being honest could cost people their lives. On the other hand, there were people who supported the previous regime and with its fall lost all privileges as a result.

Your video is very well explained and educative.I’m currently working at Dubai as a food and beverage supervisor and I’m moving to szech shortly.I found your video helpful

Good work and smile from you.Nice job and respect to little understanding :)

haha I wish I would have watched this before talking about it in my podcast :D because I said the same thing but you give all the background info why, so thanks. I'm living in Jihlava and it's very apparent here, anytime I get a real smile I give a great tip to hopefully encourage it in the future. Glad I stumbled across your page. Much love.

Really informative. Thankyou

I commented on your videos before, and again , thank you for having such a love for my country. Living in the USA for years, I know exactly about “overboard “ acting....one thing about our hospitality you might not experience....if you are invited to someone’s home, we make you feel home by offering refreshments....coffee, soda, juice or perhaps an alcoholic beverage such as very Czech national drink called Slivovice....also food such as so called chlebicky and babovka, which is very prettily decorated small slices white bread and pound cake......truly, we love to feed our guests and make them welcome....I miss that here in the USA soooo much....

It was said very well of Czech history and attitude. I think you catch it the right way well done. Sometime westerns just need to understand the sense of it. Thanks for the nice video.

As a Czech teenager myself I agree that our country has been through a lot . I also don't think that Czech 's are rude , stiff or cold .We are friendly and nice and more open to people we know.Sure some Czech people are rude and mean but that doesn't give you the right to judge us right away . Just because you don't see us smiling or laughing doesn't mean we don't at all. Get to know us first. I am proud to be Czech . Děkuji.

Hi Lenny, I fell in love with your videos .😊 You know so much about our culture and history. In addition, your knowledge is not smattering, but deep. I also practice my English on interesting topics that you discuss.By the way, I would be interested in your evaluation of purely typical Czech kitchen. Could you please record one extra part about it? Could you taste the food live and be somewhere in a Czech restaurant and not just at home in the bedroom?I hope I don't bother you with my request and I am not found immodest.😊Continue with your nice vlogs I'm looking forward to the next one.👍💕

I´m a czech woman and it sounds so good for me... Thank you so much for your video and that you know so much about our history...

Goodness, that was a lovely explanation.

Your presentation was the BEST I EVER HEARD.! -but than you are Dutch so it is EXPLAINE WHY IS THE BEST. I am not Check I am Hungarian but GENUINLY WHOLEHEARTEDLY LOVE AND RESPECT THEM. I been in Prague and my first contact was in a shop for to buy cigarettes. It was a young girl who did picked up at once my genuine honest open love for them... SHE SMILED AT ME AT ONCE. YOU CAN NOT FOOL AN EASTERN EUROPEAN right for the fact of all the things the west done to them and still. Once they can feel the clean love and respect and appreciation for their honesty of true and real love they will smile in the way it tells YES you belong or WE ARE THE SAME. GOD BLESS YOU FOR THIS VIDEO ! I AGREE WITH YOU A LOT.

I've been wondering about this for a long time. Your theory sounds very interesting and to be honest - right.

Thank you 👍 I understand 👍👍

I am pretty rude person, when stranger approaches me, I definitely dont look friendly. But after question on me, I always help, exceptionally when its foreigner, I become super-friendly. Just dont judge book from cover. We have shells on ourself, you must find way to break it. I am 34, so not talking about young generation. Also its completely normal, and I prefer it, to see waitress max 15seconds during 45min lunch, otherwise its annoying. And last ALSO: I really like watching ramseys kitchen nightmares and it look completely normal to waitress asks if you like the food. it doesnt happen here and I would be super insulted, its food I paid, its commodity you just sold me, not your concern anymore. on the other side, I never called waitress and picked on food thats cold etc, never.

Since I have worked as a waitress (and I am from Czech Republic), we are not rude, we just need to get the work done and not chat with everybody all the time. Yes, we can talk to our customers when we and they want to and we enjoy it, but we don't feel the need to do it 24/7. And from my experience, lot of young people working in cafes have lot of problems which make them not friendly as much. But I feel like we are polite and for example say hello and goodbye all the time, even if people can't hear us. We are not rude, we just dont fake our emotions and are honest. But thank you for great video.

Well said, I agree with you!

Interesting video, I watched with much attention 👌👌✨

I never even thought Czech waiters were rude btw. They chat with me very often and make jokes. I think the ones in Prague can be even nicer than American waitresses (I only went to Florida tho), because the American waitresses seemed pushed to always talk to us and always ask a million questions and the conversation was very superficial. I guess Czechs like to be left alone and enjoy their meal. We can call the waiter by making eye contact instead of being bothered every 2 minutes.

Thank you!!

You´re so lovely, God bless you! ❤️

Thank you, for understanding the Munich pact. It is SUCH a major thing for us, yet, any nation who played the role in it would just dismiss it, ignore it, not teach about it, etc. Because it DID NOT AFFECT THEM. I can't even understand how well you just described us in the words of "Czech national self-esteem is not that strong" and the contrast to our "being still very proud of" us being once the centre of Europe. That's it, really.

Díky (thank you) ❤️

I am Slovak , we ,like Czech people ,smile , but we smile when we have a reason to smile , or we want to show an affection to someone we like / love.A smile means “I like you” , “ I am happy to see you “ , “ I feel good in your company “. And we are cautious ,the history taught us not to trust strangers . On the other hand , once we get to know you , we are very friendly and hispitable . We will invite you to our homes and we will offer food and drinks , guest are even welcome to spend the night in case they had too much to drink ;) . I had oportunity to travel a lot in my life , seen different countries and met many people , the smiling americans or west europeans didn’t invite me to their house . Their friendliness is fake. If a Czech or Slovak person smiles at you then he genuinly likes you , we are not fake , we are real .

Great video, thanks for short Czech history expl. . Very true. Even we find annoying lack of politness and the quality of service.

If you ask American how is he, he always tells you how great things are (even if it's not true). If you ask a Czech, he always starts complaining how everything sucks (even if it's not true)😁. And we don't smile at people, we laugh at them😁. But seriously, we are nice. Also the scars on our identity don't come only from others, but from ourselves - under Communist regime it was best to not speak up in front of strangers. A lot of people were snitches who could very easily ruin your life.

Wat leuk dat u hier een video over heeft gemaakt, ik ben zelf half Nederlands en van moederskant Tsjechisch dus grappig dat u zelf Nederlandse bent :) Leuke video!

Brilliant!

Hello Lenny. I must absolutely agree with all what you said. I am Czech but I spend lots of the time around EU especialy in The Netherlads. When I speak at pubs with locals they say the same. Probably I will do the same channel from the opposite site to describe beautiful Dutch mentality and nice places around NL. Thank you. :)

hi Lenny - this is me - Johnny the local guy.. to be very raw honest - in the very turistic places (restaurants and bars) had worked and in many still has benn working the worst human trash possible - its very bad to say but its true. The rood and angry cheetres and rubbers... Many famous pre-revolution and few post-revolution movies has been shoot about it. Many tourists, good tips, excelent possibilities to cheet and steel the tourists - very known worl wide are the city centre taxi drivers asking extra-extra-extra high prices without tickets.. All this has been generation problem - things has changed/has been changing. (The youngest generation is 16yrs plus in fast foods is amazing) You could see inrestaurants and pubs the difference in a non touristic areas where is the real competition about the customer - it focus on good service, really big screen TV(s) in pubs, good visible huge beer tank(s), really good food. In touristic areas the staff is very bad its known - it has - including above all - 2 main reasons: - the tourists come evryday - just once and then they return back into heir countries.. - the behaving of the tourist in Prague has been really incredible - far-far behing the good manners!!! ----- especially the gipsy-nations like Italians, Spanish - their incerdible sreaming and terrible behavoir is far-far-far behind the biggest tolerance ever... its simply a total trash!!! (and not speaking any english word, no money, non-civilised. I am just wondering how Italians can even be part of E.U.??? such a xxxxx craetures, GOSH!) another trash is the (young) British - its visible at the firs sight - the only differnce is that they dont scream in general, they have enough money and they are ready to spend them and they - comparing to the south europeans speak some lenguage that is mix of ... wtf.. lets say norwegian and english but its stil a total trash.. So this is two basic reasons why the staff in restorants CANT even be friendly - when they are in touch with such a trash on daily basis... The same behavior and same cultral walue gests are welcome - Austrians, germans, Benelux, Dutch, Scandinavian, Central European .. its normal guests Russians - tolerated - they have a huge money and they are ready to spent them.. Americans - tolerated - they have money and they are ready to spent them - no metter its totally ANOYING to hear that all american is "the best in universe" - nometter ITS NOT and evrybody know it - ecept them.. of course.. Japaneese, Korean - very quiet guest, very polite - they have money they are ready to spent CHINEESE - new wave od tourists , their amout doble evry year, 4 direct flight connections from mama Prague - to China - they a bit village behaivoir and vilage minded - but THEY SPENT A LOT OF MONEY! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The othe think why the Czechs didnt smile was that the country had been in economic trasition, low wages (1/3), but prices same or even higher like in western europe. Question - why the supermarket cash desk worker in Lidl, Penny, Globus, Albert etc. gets for the same job equivalet of 1000 EUR or less brutto (withot taxes) and the workers in GErmany Austria, Holland get 3X higher salary - when the prices of the food, services, appliances, electronics and HOUSING are the same, price of internet and mobile phone services are doule.. SAME JOB FOR THE SAME COMPANIES, SAME COSTS OF LIVING - SALARY ON THE LEVEL 30-35%. HOW CAN THE PEOPLE SMILE????????

Thank you for your love of Czech country! Because it also is my home.. It is nice. You are nice.

So interesting!!!

Lenny, thank you so much for sharing this! I cannot agree more, after living in Prague for 8 years and also worked in the hospitality industry here. In my latest video, I have covered similar topic :) New Subscriber here from Prague :)

We’re the happiest country! We see everyvone smile! I am czech and you’re American or idk... you DONT KNOW HOW IS IT GOING IN CZECH

Oh come on with the sensitivity and hurt feelings caution! We are no sugarbabies to need trigger warnings. :D That Dutch straightforwardness you are mentioning and I have experienced actually convenes me pretty much. Makes things much easier.

I love theese English videos about Czech republic😊

Also we don't get too excited or hyped about anything. It means we don't go well with any ideology. We simply don't care.

Interesting, but the Turkish Cypriots of now Northern Cyprus suffered a terrible murderous conflict back in 1974 which was 48 years a go and their not rude and ice cold, infact their very loving, with great hospitality and welcoming.

we smile when we want....shoul be some result to smile..))) we like live that way

Thank you.

We are reserved to strangers and may even get hostile if the strangers are rude or disrespectful like being loud in public. But once you "pass the test" and you get to see Czechs in private, you experience our hospitality and great sense of humor (sometimes very black humor). We are very down to earth. Czechs don't do small talk, it is considered superficial and waste of time (regrettably). You are right by linking this to the history. PLS do not take us for the "Russians" or the "eastern Europeans". We get very offended and we can get very upset. We are proud of our own history and cultural heritage.

My boyfriend is dutch, and I love my country czechia a lot. But I wish we adapt some things from dutch people, they are great nation too. Very polite, nice and friendly. But as far as I know - dutch can be very direct, no sugar-coating. Be prepared for that!

"Charles was great but then his sons came and fucked up and the crisis began" I feel like a lot of successions could be described just like that. It had me cracking up.

All bloggers doing videos on why they dislike Prague, are so careful trying not to hurt Czechs' feelings. Well... I think it's sugarcoating:) there's no reason to be THAT rude as they are, regardless of history really. You can be a proud nation, but WHY to be rude? It's not an excuse. There are countries with more horrible history and people still smile. Greece is so poor, but people are so nice, for example. But I love that u go into history, interesting info anyway!

About the part of oppresion and betrayal, there were also genocides of Lidice and Ležáky, which only harden the overall stereotype of foreigner as an mercilless animal who will butcher us all, we often say "Host do domu, klacek do ruky" which can be understanded not trusting anyone coming to your house.

I found Czechs to be very similar to Germans which was weird because whenever I was in another country ppl were so friendly and in the CZR they were just like us xD

I don't agree that Czechs "need to learn" to smile more. Obviously it's a trait the whole nation shares, part of the Czech mentality and culture. Just because other nations (not all of them!) smile more, doesn't mean that Czechs have to change to be just like the others, especially if they're happy that way. If they're living abroad, they should try to conform to the local culture, but in their own country they are allowed to do as they please. Each nation has their own quirks, being reserved in public is one of the Czech ones. No one asks Americans to stop their 'fake smiles', or the Dutch to be less straightforward, so why should Czechs work on becoming more smiley? Every country has something the foreigners don't like. When traveling abroad, culture shock is to be expected - but the traveler should realize (and be prepared for) that in a foreign country people will behave... foreign. 😁 If every country in the world was the same, there would be no need to travel.

I lived 3 years in the Netherlands and I cannot say that the service level in horeca was overly friendly. I live in Ireland now but again, I get served but no smiling or friendly chitchat. I think many mainly western Europeans compare eastern European destinations to southern Europe but the truth is that smiling doesn't not come naturally to northern Europeans whether East or West.

Hello, I was touched by your interpretation of our history. You see, i also got similar experience like you, Getting lost with my father in Wiena 1992 And asking for a direction to the train station a policeman! He didint tell as anything And waved as away like rubish. Another reason for dislike foreiners Back than.

To tell u the truth back in 2012 I went to this czech christmas party with my parents & everytime I said hi or hello to them they just give me mean face, turn away from me, walk away from me & also waved me off, which it hurts me so hard I could never forget that.

There was tipping during socialism. Tipping in restaurants, car services, for tradesmen... but it wasn't considered something special (reward for good job), it was just polite to leave a tip.

If you don't mind i want some details,

As a Mexican I didn’t knew anything of Chequia until I watched an anime called Monster, what an interesting nation 🫶

I have been living here for a year but I am surprised that more older people are nice to me than people of my own generation. People who see me on a daily basis for a year and yet never try to approach me or try speaking to me when I try to discuss stuff regarding simple matters that involve both the Czech student and me eg projects. At first, it seemed to be regarding the fact that they are shy etc but I mean there is a limit after 12 months you got to be familiar to a person that you see practically every day. About Czech hospitality it is terrible, a waiter can even insult you, talk about rare moments of racism, but then there are some who are super nice but then I learn they are not Czechs. So at this moment, I am just waiting to be done with my study period here and leave, it is sad, I came with hopes of learning with them and making colleagues.

Czechosovakia was GIVEN to Stalin's and Beria's Russian at 1945 Jalta Conference and was Russian colony for 44 years. It has made us Czechs and Moravians quite unhappy. Czech Kingdom = Czechia has never ever had any colony !!!

Is nice to see somebody can use brain to see history influence and why things happen.

I watch Filipino czech family and i notice his wife relatives they dont smile , now i understand.

True.

"Lets put a smile on that face"

You are up to something with your train of thoughts! But looking at other nations going through even more miserable load experiences I wonder if there is more to this story...