It’s a beautiful city but holy fuck are the Dutch rude MFers. I’ve been there several times and every time I visit the locals are just fucking terrible. The last time I was there I swore I’d never return.

And I want to be clear here, my wife and I are not novice travelers decked out in USA gear head to toe walking around smoking weed on the streets and acting like loudmouth ignorant assholes. We’re experienced respectful travelers who genuinely want to experience new cultures. I lived in Europe for three years and have been to at least 17 countries, and the only place I’ve had problems with rude locals was Amsterdam.

That's interesting, I went for a week a couple months ago and everyone was super nice to me.

Did you stay in the super touristy red light district the entire trip? My first couple trips I stayed there and had no issues, but my wife and I are not 20 anymore and like to get out of the touristy areas to see how the locals live, and that’s where we experienced rude assholes. The Dutch who work inside the red light district depend on tourist money so being nice is a prerequisite.

I don't think so since it was like a neighborhood with a school nearby. According to the map it was called Westelijke Eilanden. We did go to the city center and red light district a couple times though.

Different experiences I guess.

And look, I’m not saying everyone we encountered was rude, I’m saying the only time I’ve experienced extreme rudeness multiple times in my many many travels was in the Netherlands.

Would you say it was worse then a big city in the US?

The Dutch see American politeness as phoney. They are direct amongst each other.

But they are smart and see the commercial value in not pissing off tourists. So whatever happened to you was unusual, I'm guessing.

The states are definitely rough, but it’s different in our home country. We understand our culture and its expectations and can easily navigate it. Not so much in foreign countries.

My wife and I were walking on the sidewalk (in Amsterdam) a couple blocks from our hotel and two men came from behind us and just started yelling at us in Dutch. Like full on cussing us out. We had no idea who these guys were. Had never seen them before. We were not in a restricted area or on private property, this was the fucking sidewalk fully on public land in the city. We had no idea what they were saying, and that adds a level of scariness to it that I wouldn’t necessarily experience in the states.

Immediately following that altercation we entered a cafe where we received probably the rudest service I’ve ever seen. So rude the guy made me want to pour the drink on the counter to spite his rude ass, and I say that as someone who spent a decade in the food and beverage industry waiting tables and bartending. I’m sympathetic to service workers and always treat everyone with respect. So it was definitely on his end.

That was just one afternoon. The next day brought two more unwarranted incidents of rudeness.