Mr Grumpy

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Do you see what I did there ? - I took the name of a popular cookery reality TV programme and cleverly used a play on words - with recourse to a pun - to make it into the title of my recent blog ?..... No...?

Ok, I'll move swiftly on...

After six years plus in Spain there is still so much I love about this country, and the things that I like are significantly more in number than the things that I don't – otherwise I dare say I would move back to the UK, however, like many expats that doesn't seem to stop me whingeing about things.

Like so many other expats I fall into the trap of having a moan about this and that without stopping to appreciate the many benefits of living over here in this beautiful country.

When I think about it, the only real things here that wind me up are usually related to people's attitude to work and the concept of customer service in general – check my previous blogs and you'll see. It's just that sometimes I get the feeling that people as consumers just don't count here in Spain, and very few people, be them the workers or business owners themselves, actually care if you vote with your feet and take your business elsewhere.

...But that's just one, very small aspect of (my interpretation of) life here in Spain and it shouldn't be able to wind me up as much as it does and influence or spoil my overall experience of being here.

The Spanish themselves barely seem to notice when they receive appauling service, and take it with a nonchalant shrug of the shoulders without letting the issue ruin their day. ( I think the fact that Telefonica are still in business proves my point ).

So is my inability to let poor service was over me because I am from a Customer Service background in the UK, and therefore look at things too critically ? Or is it because I, like many other expats are too 'British' in our outlook – overly critisising things 'because we can' ? Maybe it's the fact that nobody cares anymore ?

Either way, I am determined from his point onwards to try and keep things in perspective and remember why I chose to live in this beautiful country. I will not blow a gasket the next time the barman at my local brings me my complementary bowl of peanuts with 'shell on' instead of 'shell off'.