C4.55 Aspects of British Culture

Some aspects of British culture

British culture: I took my essay to the teacher, asked if it met the requirements, and wanted some revision suggestions. He read it carefully, said it was excellent with no issues at all, smiled, and handed it back. In the end, when grades came out, he gave me a fail 🥺

(I was so angry I could explode, but I still pretended to be friendly and went to ask for his guidance on rewriting every week—because he had the final say on the grade no matter what 😭)

I sold something online. After discussing with the buyer, I thought he was a really nice, friendly British person, so I waived a few pounds of shipping fees for him. The buyer thanked me repeatedly, said he was very grateful, and praised me for being kind. In the end, the buyer left a negative review 🥺

(If I had known he was like this, I would never have waived the shipping fee 😭)

I was chatting with a foreign classmate—the atmosphere was great. We talked for over two hours, laughing and chatting. I told him about some Chinese festivals, and he thought they were interesting and asked me to share more. I went to buy coffee halfway through, and when I came back, I heard him chatting enthusiastically with another foreigner and exclaiming, "That was so boring just now" 🥺

(I was shocked. I had to pretend I forgot to get sugar and went back to the self-service counter 😭)

I applied for a part-time job. During the interview, the foreigner praised my performance, said I was excellent, and complimented me on various things, telling me to go home and wait for news. When I got home, I received a rejection letter 🥺

(I felt like I had stepped into the wrong dimension. It was the first time I received a rejection letter that started with "You’re great" 😭)

When I applied for a new student ID at school the second time, I got excited and told the teacher I had two student IDs. The teacher looked surprised, said he was curious and wanted to see my first one, sincerely promising to give it back—he just wanted to take a look. So I showed it to him, and he quickly snapped it in half, threw it in the trash can, then smiled and said to me, "Now you only have one student ID" 🥺

(I almost got up to confront him, but I held back in the end. I’ve been more low-key ever since. Thinking about it now, I still feel a bit resentful. The teacher did this in front of everyone—I could have complained and defended my rights after all, that student ID cost over ten pounds 😭)

British culture is like this: they are superficially friendly to you, speak gently and politely, full of praise and compliments, but their inner thoughts and actions are not the same 🥺