Living in Austria can be a rewarding experience – stunning landscapes, rich history, and excellent public services. However, for many immigrants, one aspect of life here can be particularly challenging: dealing with Austrians perceived as unfriendly or cold. 

It’s hard to find an immigrant who has never had a bad encounter with a grumpy Austrian—be it a nosy neighbour, a rude waiter, or a random stranger on the street. And even though there are impolite people all over the world, Austria, and particularly Vienna, has been known for its unfriendliness, even ranking first as the ‘least friendly city in the world for foreigners’.

I can understand that feeling. Since I moved here in 2016, there have been countless instances that made me question my decision to live in Austria. Don’t get me wrong: I love living in Vienna, and some of the best people I’ve ever met are lovely Austrians who did their best to make me feel at home from the beginning.

But I’m also very privileged: I came to live with a partner who already had a great network of Austrian friends and family who quickly “adopted” me.

Also, I look like I could be a “typical” Austrian. Unlike some of my black friends, I have never been mistreated because of what I look like. The mistreatment usually starts when random people believe I am doing something wrong, and it gets worse once they realise – as soon as I open my mouth – that I am not from here. 

READ ALSO: The main complaints foreigners have about life in Austria and how to solve them

What do we mean when we say angry Austrians?

Living in Austria can sometimes be stressful. It sometimes feels like the locals are watching you, waiting for you to make a mistake (or what they perceive as a mistake) so they can scold you. I have seen people staring at me, like angry watchful owls, when it looked like I wasn’t going to clean after my dog, or I was going to jaywalk, or if I was being loud on my phone before boarding a tram. 

Once, my dog spent a long time sniffing by a bush in a street next to where we lived. When he started his walk again, I heard a window open just behind me, and a man asked, “Aren’t you going to pick that up?”. 

It took me a second to realise that this person had been spying on us, waited for my dog to be “finished”, and then came to argue because I (allegedly) didn’t clean up after my dog (who was just sniffing around). He would be angry like that with anyone, including other Austrians, but things got worse once he realised by my accent that I was a foreigner. He started shouting at me, saying that it was because of “people like you” that Vienna was getting “worse and worse.”

My friends have been told to “go back home” for talking in a foreign language on their phones, people have been scolded for walking too slow on the sidewalk or for seemingly not giving way to someone walking towards them.

There are countless other examples, from people shouting at me because they said I was walking through private property (I wasn’t; some people here like to make up rules of their own) to numerous passive-aggressive notes I’ve seen left around town (“it must be nice to be so blind that you think this is good parking” or noise complaints printed out and glued in the common areas of an apartment block).

Of course, some of it has to do with the Viennese dry sense of humour, and I eventually found myself laughing at some of the notes I’d read. But a lot of it is just pettiness, xenophobia, and, quite frankly, a lack of something real to complain about—as Vienna tops unfriendliness rankings, it also tops quality of life ones. I’ve often joked that these people should spend some time in Brazil to get some perspective and really appreciate Vienna and all the people who live there. 

Maybe then they’d stop complaining about the small things.

Speaking of Vienna, it’s also worth pointing out that not all experiences in Austria are the same. Rural Austrians are often seen as more welcoming, though I know some foreigners have felt more xenophobia in these areas than in larger cities.

READ ALSO: The downsides of Vienna you should be aware of before moving there

These all may seem like small instances. And they are. It takes a special type of hatred to make such a big deal and go from peaceful to full shouting at a stranger for such small things. 

Also, as I mentioned, I’m privileged. Other people have experienced random physical violence only because of their skin colour or the way they dress. 

Still, those are examples of the small types of occurrences that can happen on a monthly or weekly basis here – more often the more you’re out and about.

So, what can you do about this?

There are a couple of very popular pieces of advice people hear whenever they complain about meetings with angry Austrians in the wild.

Some people will say things like “it’s their country, you need to adapt”.

I personally find that impossible and ridiculous. My Austrian friends are embarrassed whenever I mention cases like that.

It’s not “their” country – it also belongs to nice Austrians and to anyone who lives here. There is no excuse for xenophobic behaviour, nor do we need to be quiet when faced with discrimination and anger just because it’s not “our” country. 

Another common piece of advice is to “meet them at their level.”

Many people suggest that the only way to deal with angry, shouting Austrians is to learn German and shout back. I could never do that. I don’t want to go down that path, and I don’t want to feel that anger.

I have done two things that have worked. They are based on the same premise: much like sharks, angry Austrians don’t work well when stunned.  So, I’ve noticed that surprising them works well.

Before I learned German, I’d just calmly reply to them in Portuguese, my native language. English doesn’t really work, though, because most Austrians understand it. But Portuguese sounds extremely foreign. It quietens them into a confused state and gives you time to just walk away in peace. It’s a great temporary solution.

But the best one, I hate to say (because it’s hard, and it takes time and investment), is learning German so that you can stand your ground. Not by shouting, but – as cheesy as it sounds – by killing them with kindness.

After I learned the language, I surprised them by being extremely nice and polite. It really shocked and stunned them into silence. For example, after another row with an angry Austrian who (wrongly) accused me of letting my dog pee on his wall, I simply said, “I am going to leave now because you are not being very nice”.

It sounds ridiculous, but he immediately stopped, shocked, like someone presented with the world’s most complex mathematical equation. Or like he couldn’t possibly understand what “being nice” had to do with anything on the planet. It was fun – and funny.

You may never get them to understand your point, and I’ve tried calmly explaining things to them, to no success. 

But speaking at least a bit of German will allow you to call them out on their unkindness, and even if they never change, it does give them something to think of and lets you leave that situation feeling much better than if you had gotten angry as well or just let yourself be humiliated.

A little bit of German will also allow you to apologise if that’s the case – we sometimes make mistakes, especially when we first get here and are not used to some of the local rules and regulations. I’ve found that an “I didn’t know, thank you for telling me, I’ll fix this straight away” also works quite well with some more level-headed, angry Austrians.

Have you ever had experiences like this in Austria? And how do you handle them? Let us know in the comments below.