The Quirks of the Viennese (or just general Austrian oddities)

On my very first day in Austria, I was immediately corrected when I greeted by saying, “Hallo” and instead I should say “Grüß Gott.” (Translated roughly as something like “God greets you”) This was the first quirky, strange thing that I had only encountered in Austria, though I’m told Bavaria is similar. I have noted other unique qualities that I’ve observed here, though I have not yet managed to distinguish if they are really just Austrian, perhaps they exist in other German-speaking cultures, or even if they are not so much Austrian as just Viennese. Sometimes it can be the case that such quirks only exist in Vienna and not really elsewhere in Austria.

The second thing I quickly became accustomed to is the tipping culture. Personally, after working as a part-time waitress for 3 years, I always tip because I know the difference it can make. I lived off my tips and saved my wages, and that partly funded my Master’s in Finland. However, when I first arrived here I didn’t know the tipping tradition and asked a local Austrian how it’s done. I’ve now learned that one should always tip in cafes, bars and restaurants, even if the only thing you order is a tea. I’ve noticed when others haven’t tipped that the waiter waits for it or simply scowls disapprovingly. 

 

Picture: A typical Viennese coffee house, likened to Titanic!

It initially confused me as to whether you should say how much you would like to pay or how much change you would like back. Unlike at home, where I’m used to leaving the tip on the table after paying, here you should specify how much you would like to pay as the waiter patiently stands there. The first time this happened to me, I panicked, not knowing what to do, how to calculate the 10% tip on top of the bill, then how to say this in German – it was too much at once, so I ended up not tipping at all and made a point of testing my quick maths and my German every time since then. Of course, it’s much easier if you can simply round the amount up to a lovely, round number and then you don’t have to think too much. I’m finding it a good excuse though to go out to a café or bar and practise! 

After spending a summer in Hungary and gaining some healthy weight, I can see how living in Austria could add a few kilos. It seems easy to develop a stable diet of tea and cake with the array of traditional coffee houses and speciality cakes on offer – who could resist! Traditional food is traditionally unhealthy, it seems. I have already tried the most famous cakes available – the Sachertorte (chocolate indulgence!), Linzertorte (a nutty, jammy concoction), Esterházytorte (currently my favourite one with a Hungarian influence), Mozart Torte (a marzipan dedication to the famous composer) and a new one Schoko-Himbeer Würfel (a heavenly chocolate, raspberry truffle.) Indulgence at its best, and that’s not even mentioning other traditional Austrian dishes such as Wiener Schnitzel and Würst. 

To wash these delicacies down, I’m going through a phase of drinking peppermint tea, which comes in a teapot-for-one (I love those!) in a fancy coffee house in Vienna – such as Landtmann, which, as Laura pointed out, feels like you’re on the Titanic!. Otherwise, I’m also appreciating the Hugo Spritzer, a refreshing mix of white wine with elderflower, mint and soda water; or Almdudler, the traditional Austrian soft drink, the only closest comparison of which I can think of might be a variation of Irn Bru.

Several other noticeable quirks include, using the word ‘Bub’, instead of ‘Junge’ for boy. Of course, I have been learning Hochdeutsch (regular High German) and not Österreichisches Deutsch (Austrian German) so I had to decipher the difference after hearing it several times. Moreover, the use of children’s scooters, or what I considered to be for children (I’m being proven wrong here), has extended to adult usage. Many adults are using scooters instead of walking or cycling. At first this seemed so strange and child-like to me but I can see the attraction – it does get you from A to B faster. I miss cycling like I did while living in Turku, but here I can't seem to muster the courage to weave between the traffic and trams. I like the idea of cycling on the Donauinsel in the spring/summer though.

When it comes to shopping, I think there are many oddities but I will mention only a couple. The first is when you cannot shop – Sundays. Consider everything closed on Sundays. Maybe that’s how it should be. It just always seems to be that I run out of things on Sundays and there’s always something I need on that day that just has to wait. Well, the other option is to cross the border to Hungary where everything is open on Sundays, just like at home. I remember, when I worked in a small shop in a shopping mall, that Sundays were the busiest 4 hours in the week (it was open 13-17.) I guess in Austria they have other priorities than business on this particular day of the week. Perhaps it has something to do with Catholicism being the dominant religion here. 

Regardless, when the shops are open, the Viennese seem to know how to shop. In my local supermarket I have found that if the queue has 3 or more people, the third or fourth person in the queue calls out to the cashier, “Zweite Kasse bitte!” and they immediately send a second cashier to open another counter. I couldn’t believe this works – at home I would never think to do that after having worked in a shop myself and knowing we were too short-staffed to send a second cashier. 

I don’t go clothes shopping much but recently I decided to search for a new pair of mittens as I tragically lost mine to a huge garbage disposal in Finland. I miss being a ‘mitten freak’ as people wearing mittens tend to look when they hold their arms a certain way to prevent the mittens from falling off. However, it seems they don’t believe in mittens in Austria. Plenty of regular pairs of gloves but not so many mitten options. I thought maybe the Swedish H&M might have some, but no such luck. So I extended my mitten mission to Helsinki last weekend – of course in Finland I had no problem finding plenty of mittens to choose from and in the end I got just the pair I was looking for – in H&M, in fact. 

Back in Austria, I had to embark upon another shopping mission, this time for indoor shoes. Everybody in the school changes their shoes when they go in, typically to a pair of sandals. But I mean the horrendous looking German sandals that seem sinful worn with socks. For them, that’s

Picture: My 'granny' shoes for indoors :)

fine, but I simply couldn’t bear wearing the same. I tried a pair and they are just not for me. As a result, I found myself with an indoor shoe dilemma that for a while I could avoid as it isn’t as necessary to change your shoes if it’s not rainy or snowy outside. However, now the rainy weather is here and it’s unavoidable. Luckily, I found a pair of what Donna calls ‘Granny shoes’ or ‘Granny slippers’ and that’s pretty much what they are but they are unbelievably comfortable and I personally think they don’t look as ridiculous as the sandals. 

Finally, the Viennese love their dogs! They take them everywhere, even on the U-Bahn, underground. This makes me miss Sandy more and it has crossed my mind a few times how wonderful it would be to have a dog here – it would beat living alone. But I know it wouldn’t be fair to the dog if I don’t have much time to really take care of it and I probably couldn’t afford it either. Nevertheless, it remains as a dreamy thought while I long for my Christmas holidays to give my dog a cuddle at home.