Argentine was sooo mean to me! Is this normal?

[jago25_98]

Judging from your spelling of 'generalize' I'm guessing you are in North America. I've had no experience with the Argentinian embassy there however the one in London is staffed by some incredibly rude women who make a rather large issue of stating that "It is not their fault" whilst clearly screwing things up over-and-over again.

I'm with a group of around 10 people who all went through that embassy to get their visas, all at different times, and we all share a consistent sentiment about how unprofessional, rude and plainly inept they are were.

That said, our experience at the embassy in no way reflects the behaviour of most Argentinian people we've met. Generally people are friendly, intelligent, polite and of good humour. Like anywhere you get rotten apples but it's no more or less the case than in any other country.

There is a culture of Argentina which you will notice as you have in your prior countries, but it is not rude and abrasive as the embassy would suggest.

Perhaps there are loads of stresses working at an Argentinian embassy!?

I hope this helps and I'm sure others will share their experience of administration over here.

Interesting. I wonder if we can get rid of them. What is their name?

 

[frank.mia.88]

[FONT=&quot]I have visited Argentina/Buenos Aires in several occasions for work and pleasure from 1998 through 2009 (about 18 times) and had the pleasure to travel to Calafate, Mendoza, Mar del Plata, El Tigre, etc., etc., and even though I found certain rude people, I must say that in general my experience has been that I found the argentines to be friendly, warm and even affectionate. I have lived in 5 different countries in my life and can say that the unpleasant incident you had at the embassy is not much different to other incidents that I have had at embassies or simply on the daily life…..but, do not fear going to Argentina, they are very nice people.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Warm regards, [/FONT]

 

[robwerwe]

I'm from London (famous for cold people) and I find the people here cold and unfriendly.
Having said that, not everyone is the same here. There some really places were you find friendly and kind people.

 

[robwerwe]

Don't expect the warmest, most polite people in the world here in Buenos Aires. You will not see that here. Don't have high expectations either. Just come here, enjoy your time, ignore the idiots and go back!

Good luck with your visa process.

Yep, thats good advice. I heard such amazing things before I came here and the city is a BIG disappointment.

I've learnt to enjoy the things here but I won't be too sad when I leave.

Mira lo positivo

 

[earlyretirement]

I have been down here for about ten months. I grew up being bilingual due to one parent being from Venezuela. After visiting Venezuela several times and growing up with that cultre, I was in total shock coming to Buenos Aires. I expected a warm, friendly, sounds weird to say, but Latino culture. That's not what I found in Capital.

First I will point out that there is a HUGE difference between Porteños and the rest of the Argentinos. In my option the majority of Porteños are rude, apathetic, unkind, etc. to outsiders. Within their family, friends, lovers, they are different. .

Definitely employees at governmental agencies in Argentina totally are HORRIBLE, inefficient, many times rude and just un knowledgable about most things.

Customer service in most stores sucks. I mean really bad. Even when you're buying a 15,000 peso TV or some other major item the employees mostly are indifferent and just horrible. Of course there are a few exceptions but the vast majority of store employees are horrible.

I didn't have problems with people being rude to me at all. That being said, I don't find Porteños to be a particularly warm group of people. I've traveled all over South America and you will find the people of pretty much most other countries to be genuinely warm and friendly. "Warm and friendly" aren't how I'd describe the vast majority of Porteños.

I also have many friends and acquaintances from other Latin countries in South America that live and work in Buenos Aires and they all agree about how cold Porteños are compared to other countries in South America. Even just going outside of Buenos Aires you will find the people to be much warmer and friendlier than the locals.

It's much easier once you make a core group of friends and from those friends you easily meet other friends.

 

[Lulu-Kyoko]

I've traveled all over South America and you will find the people of pretty much most other countries to be genuinely warm and friendly. "Warm and friendly" aren't how I'd describe the vast majority of Porteños.

I also have many friends and acquaintances from other Latin countries in South America that live and work in Buenos Aires and they all agree about how cold Porteños are compared to other countries in South America. Even just going outside of Buenos Aires you will find the people to be much warmer and friendlier than the locals.

I wonder if this is a big city issue? I don't find the people in New York or Paris or London or Tokyo, etc., to be that friendly either.

 

[Monoexp]

I am supposed to come to Argentina for work in about 1 month.

I called the work visa woman at the Argentine embassy to ask her some questions and she was SO mean, impatient, and downright hostile and rude on the phone! She kept cutting me off on my questions and yelling "Next!" She also did some other extraordinarily rude things on the phone. I am kind of in a state of shock.

I have lived in other countries where outsiders view the locals as rude (Israel being one of them), but I have never experienced anything like this.

At this point I am second-guessing my decision to come to Argentina. I have never met an Argentine, she is actually the first one I have ever spoken with and I was treated in such a disrespectful manner.

Is this kind of behavior normal in Argentina? I understand that "everyone is different, you cannot generalize a country," my opinion differs slightly. During my time living in 5 different countries, I did notice that there were national trends and general attitudes and ways of doing things in each country.

I really want to hear from you guys, particularly people from the US/English speaking nations: have you noticed that Argentines are more rude than people in your country? Is it normal to be treated this way?

Thank you

Yep, here in the State of Buenos Aires, Im argentine, and people is rude in BsAs, generally speaking, at work, traffic, stadiums, street. The perfect word is: IMPOLITE. On the other hand, argentinians are sociable and solidaries, but the crowed in general is rude. In other States (provincias) they are not rude, they are nicer.

 

[sts7049]

nice to know your opinion 11 years after the fact

 

[Monoexp]

nice to know your opinion 11 years after the fact

haha, your welcome, Argentina continues the same way, hehe

 

[Lanick]

My Argentine wife who is also an EU citizen; swears to God that she’ll never ever going to set foot in the US after the way she was treated at the airport in the US. You’re lucky to be able to get someone on the phone. Before making a judgement you should ask people on the other side dealing with US immigration/consulate. This doesn’t make American people bad though. Maybe it was a bad day for that person. Never had any bad experiences either at the Arg embassy or at the migraciones in BsAs. Argentines are lovely people so are the Americans. You will enjoy it there.