1 JQ - 3 months ago
My son and I wanted to buy a bottle of water. Upon entering, the person behind the counter said "bitte schön." I thought he was talking to someone else and thus kept walking ahead looking for the cooler. The person told me that I could not just pass right by him after he had addressed me. I apologized and told him that I did not know that "bitte schön" could be used as a greeting. He asked me where I was from, using the "Du" form. I told him that I was taking my business somewhere else. As we exited this establishment, he yelled "good luck in a different country." "I wanted to tell this man so many things," said my teenage son, who speaks German, and understood much more than I did.