An expat in Spain has warned Britons about one common habit that’s considered “very rude” at certain times and one that could spark a rather angry response from locals.
Spain is the most popular European country for British expats, with over 350,000 citizens officially registered as living there, according to Immigration Advice Service, although it is estimated up to a million Brits are living in the country.
Louisa Dubickas, who moved from Scotland to Madrid, took to YouTube to share an important tip for British expats living in Spain.
She said: “Do not call anyone between 2pm and 5pm. Spanish people will normally eat between 2pm and 3pm, and then between 3pm and 5pm, sometimes they have a siesta.”
A siesta is a short nap taken in the early afternoon, often after the midday meal.
Louisa continued: “And if they don’t have a nap, they have their resting time. So after they finish eating at 3pm, they might spend two hours lying on the sofa, watching TV or reading a book.
“And it’s considered very rude to phone someone or try and make plans or try and do anything between these eating and resting hours.”
To fit in with the locals, it is advisable to reserve your correspondence for before 2pm or after 5pm. But Louisa made a distinction between calling for business and calling for pleasure.
She said: “Obviously, Spanish people have their normal working hours between 9am and 8pm during the week, so if you need to phone a large company you can do that during those hours because people will be working.
“But on a personal level, if you were going to phone a friend or phone someone on the weekend, don’t ever phone between the hours of 2pm and 5pm.”
Louisa confessed that she did not know this unwritten rule when she first relocated and made some phone calls during the frowned-upon time.
“The response I got was not great,” the expat said.
“I mean, people will pick up the phone and talk to you, but you can tell that they’re thinking, ‘What is this person doing phoning me at this time?'”