Cyprus-Forum.com

[kalahari]

A typical Cypriot shop keeper…

You want to buy a football. She has none, so she tries to sell you a medicine ball.

You want to buy a bedroom rug. She has none, so she tries to sell you a rug that fits around the base of a toilet.

You want to buy scissors. He has none, so he tries to sell you garden shears.

… and here is a genuine case of misunderstanding…

You want to buy some dog clippers. He tries to sell you dog obedience clickers.

What makes me smile, is that when you refuse their suggestion of the alternative they're offering you, they switch off and walk away as if you can't be helped!

Gotta love 'em!

[DINOS SKALIOTIS]

Pantheman and DINOS :

You've both captured the essence of Cypriots, especially males, for me.

The two of you, exemplify what I think is the most captivating property of the Cypriot male, in that you are both observant and not afraid to have opinions and state them.

Too many other cultures seem to have men that delegate that responsibility solely to the female.

Can Cypriots be too critical of their fellow compatriots though, with all this introspection?

i must admit i do find cypriots very critical!

Do you think that comes as a heritage from the three great philosophers that argued we should trust criticism, rather than praise more, if we are to improve?

I must say constant striving for perfection, as improving as it might be, can drive those around us crazy. Makes them want to quash us rather than join in.

maybe, but i can see that it sometimes makes others think we are arrogant perhaps, even though we dont mean to be

[DINOS SKALIOTIS]

A typical Cypriot shop keeper…

You want to buy a football. She has none, so she tries to sell you a medicine ball.

You want to buy a bedroom rug. She has none, so she tries to sell you a rug that fits around the base of a toilet.

You want to buy scissors. He has none, so he tries to sell you garden shears.

… and here is a genuine case of misunderstanding…

You want to buy some dog clippers. He tries to sell you dog obedience clickers.

What makes me smile, is that when you refuse their suggestion of the alternative they're offering you, they switch off and walk away as if you can't be helped!

Gotta love 'em!

or even better than that i like the shop staff that cant be bothered with you at all! they sometimes even cant be bothered to speak to you! back in the summer i phoned a blinds and curtain shop in larnaca about getting measured to fit blinds in the whole house, now this is a nice big profitable job for someone, the girl answers the phone and says the boss is in nicosia and cant help you! so i said well doesnt he have a mobile phone so i can speak to him? she says " he is in nicosia he cant help you" so i said so you cant help, you cant book an appointment for him to come and help, and there is no-one else, so what are you there for exactly? just to fill an empty seat? does his mobile phone not work in nicosia or something! anyway in the end i just used someone else, but this is my experience of cypriot shop staff

[kalahari]

Dinos,

I am in marketing – it's what I do. I came to Cyprus hoping to sell my wares to the local populace – top quality UK marketing expertise at Cypriot prices. I had low expectations, but not low enough! I have only been here six months, but have thrown the towel in already. Cypriots do not understand the need for or purpose of marketing. They think it is an amusing diversion and rather fey. Which brings me onto the Cypriot guide to marketing and sales:

1) Look! It is me! And here is my name!

2) This is my photograph. I am dressed in a nice suit and my moustache was trimmed this morning.

3) Look! This is my desk! It is very large.

4) I have a computer. I know how to click the mouse, and I do this to show I am thinking very carefully.

5) I have the air conditioning on very low. I am important.

6) I have many pens.

7) Sit. Please sit.

Do I know your uncle?

9) You are interested in a cooker? Then I can sell you a house.

10) You don't want my house? You are an idiot.

[kafenes]

A typical Cypriot shop keeper…

You want to buy a football. She has none, so she tries to sell you a medicine ball.

You want to buy a bedroom rug. She has none, so she tries to sell you a rug that fits around the base of a toilet.

You want to buy scissors. He has none, so he tries to sell you garden shears.

… and here is a genuine case of misunderstanding…

You want to buy some dog clippers. He tries to sell you dog obedience clickers.

What makes me smile, is that when you refuse their suggestion of the alternative they're offering you, they switch off and walk away as if you can't be helped!

Gotta love 'em!

You want to buy toilet paper, he has none so he tries to sell you sand paper.

[Sega]

It's a whole different mentality in Cyprus. In the UK generally it is considered impolite to show off about yourself, even if you put yourself down people always lift your spirits up.

Not that I am complaining, when you put yourself down in Cyprus what you find that happens (but not always) is that people stamp on you (sorry to put it that way), it reminds of of playground bullying CRUSH THE WEAK!

Showing-off is part of culture in Cyprus, if you don't show off your nobody in many people's eyes. It's also a defense from people trying to crush you emotionally. I never show off because I cannot be bothered playing the game, even though I do have a lot to show for it just does not interest me. Somebody who shows off that they have a pound often only has 80c.

True Story
My relative went to the UK to get a degree, but then failed miserably. She eventually came back to Cyprus claiming that she holds an English qualification and because of this statement people feel as if she is a successful person (she still might be but not in education). It's all fabricated lies. But this is a wheel that goes around, if she did not lie then people would criticize her and badmouth her to everybody. Out in the real-world I would not say anything like this.

In terms of criticising I must agree. They seem to get the part of the story that suites them and then they use it against the victim. Normally what you find is the person criticising often criticises about something that has nothing to do with him/her but has something to do with improving his/her social status or settling an emotion of jealousy they might hold. We need to remember that people criticize everywhere mostly for the same reason.

What I do find is that men are not over-critical. It's the women (sorry to all women out there) that look at (leptomeria) specifics about people. If a man was to be over-critical about somebody then they somewhat resembles a woman (or as my brother likes to call them "a b*tch"). These females or males acquire certain non-beneficial key facts about yourself and exaggerate them to the public.

Because people are like this many lie or hide the truth. Look at my relative for instance, she needed to lie in order to keep people from spreading negative rumours.

It's all about what sounds better. Classic questions that woman ask is "where do you work?" and "what car do you drive?" It's all materialistic b*llshit if you ask me. It's all about showing off on the end of the day. Which do you think the women would prefer:

1. A bin man making 2K a month
2. A doctor making 1K a month?.

It's all about what sounds better and what they can use to show off to their peers. To some degree you might say they overlook the emotional attachment to their one-to-be and only look at the materialistic attachment. To be frank this is not really worth much. In the most part males understand how they work and eventually take advantage of such women. This however is not the case with all women.

[phoenix]

Dinos,

I am in marketing – it's what I do. I came to Cyprus hoping to sell my wares to the local populace – top quality UK marketing expertise at Cypriot prices. I had low expectations, but not low enough! I have only been here six months, but have thrown the towel in already. Cypriots do not understand the need for or purpose of marketing. They think it is an amusing diversion and rather fey. Which brings me onto the Cypriot guide to marketing and sales:

1) Look! It is me! And here is my name!

2) This is my photograph. I am dressed in a nice suit and my moustache was trimmed this morning.

3) Look! This is my desk! It is very large.

4) I have a computer. I know how to click the mouse, and I do this to show I am thinking very carefully.

5) I have the air conditioning on very low. I am important.

6) I have many pens.

7) Sit. Please sit.

Do I know your uncle?

9) You are interested in a cooker? Then I can sell you a house.

10) You don't want my house? You are an idiot.

This had me laughing out loud so I guess it rings true

The problem with selling marketing in Cyprus is that I think Cypriots see themselves as a "Jack-of-all-Trades" and they probably think it's something that they can do themselves . . . and better.

After all, it's all about showing off what you've got, isn't it?

[boomerang]

Is there a characteristic that most defines Cypriots?

Jeeves and Wooster capture the quintessential, bumbling English Gentry and stolid Working Classes.

Kazantzakis revealed the madness of mainland Greeks with his Zorba.

T_C described something I posted as sounding " .... like a typical Cypriot male" and utu/Expatkiwi never fail to remind me there is "... a perceived stereotypical GC loudmouth female".

So what qualities, peccadilloes, peculiarities, oddballs typify the Cypriot for you?

Personally, I love that attitude shown when things are being shared out, and some crazy Cypriot is bound to say "Everyone else got the cheese and tomatoes and I got left with the lettuce!"

Cypriot mentality equates to island mentality...

I visited Taiwan many times and the taiwanese, are like the cypriots...To be honest the mentality is not that far apart...A big difference between mainland China and Taiwan...

[kalahari]

I think you're right about the jack of all trades – but I think there's an underlying malaise here too.

Cypriots would rather spend time looking back at the past than looking forward at future possibilities. It's why they are so good at sitting and eating and telling you what went wrong – and so poor at planning.

Examples: IKEA. Roads leading into IKEA. DOH!

Heritage school. Access to school. DOH!

Houses. Water. DOH!

Rain. Drains. DOH!

Europe. New laws which Cyprus must conform to by March 2008. DOH!

[DINOS SKALIOTIS]

Dinos,

I am in marketing – it's what I do. I came to Cyprus hoping to sell my wares to the local populace – top quality UK marketing expertise at Cypriot prices. I had low expectations, but not low enough! I have only been here six months, but have thrown the towel in already. Cypriots do not understand the need for or purpose of marketing. They think it is an amusing diversion and rather fey. Which brings me onto the Cypriot guide to marketing and sales:

1) Look! It is me! And here is my name!

2) This is my photograph. I am dressed in a nice suit and my moustache was trimmed this morning.

3) Look! This is my desk! It is very large.

4) I have a computer. I know how to click the mouse, and I do this to show I am thinking very carefully.

5) I have the air conditioning on very low. I am important.

6) I have many pens.

7) Sit. Please sit.

Do I know your uncle?

9) You are interested in a cooker? Then I can sell you a house.

10) You don't want my house? You are an idiot.

you have to set your sights very low in cyprus! sub-terranian in fact and if they get wind of the fact(which they will as soon as you open your mouth) that you are an english cypriot forget about it, they will not support you in fact they will try their best to boycott and destroy your bussiness! sad but true! they would rather give their money to arabs english, turks, just about anyone but us! i also speak from bitter experience