Switzerland has many rules (both written and not) about what is an acceptable and expected behaviour in all areas of life – including making and receiving calls.
Nothing is haphazard or random in Switzerland, and getting familiar with all the cultural nuances is essential for anyone coming from abroad.
One sign that a foreigner is well integrated in Switzerland is knowing how to behave in all kinds of situations – from greeting people to drinking wine.
Making and receiving phone calls is no exception.
You won’t have them at ‘hello’
Let’s start with receiving calls.
If you recognise the caller ID and it is someone you know well, you can answer the phone informally, with the greeting of your choice.
However, if it comes from a number you don’t know, the proper way to answer is not to say (in the local language) ‘Who the hell are you’ but to introduce yourself first.
In other words, you don’t just say ‘hello’ and wait for the caller to say something.
The proper way is to answer the call with your first and last name and then wait for the person to identify themselves before stating why they are calling you.
If you want to soften this a bit (but without completely eschewing the social norms), you could state your last name and proffer a greeting.
In Swiss-German it could be ‘Brown, grüezi’, in French, ‘Smith, bonjour’, and in Italian, ‘Jones, buongiorno’.
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What is the proper way for you to call someone?
Again, if you are calling a person you know, you can greet them any way you want.
But if you are contacting someone you don’t know – say a business or someone in an official capacity – you don’t begin by spilling out what the purpose of your call is.
Instead, you start by an introduction and a greeting – ‘James Brown, grüezi’, ‘John Smith, bonjour,’ Robert Jones, buongiono).
Usually, the person on the line will greet you in return and pause, which is your sign to continue stating your business.
Never, ever, start by simply saying “I am calling for such a such reason,” without identifying yourself first.
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Are you allowed to hang up on a caller?
It depends.
If it is someone contacting you in an official capacity or for a legitimate reason, ending the call abruptly – even if the conversation is not going well – is not a good idea.
You should always try to end with a modicum of politeness.
It is, however, totally acceptable, and even highly recommended, to hang up on scammers trying to get you to divulge your personal information.
It is also ok to hang up on a call that starts with heavy breathing.
In both these cases, the aforementioned modicum of politeness is neither required nor recommended.
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Why are Swiss so hung up on proper manners?
Social etiquette, which includes a wide variety of ‘rules’ ranging from proper greetings to punctuality – with many points in between – is a very important part of Swiss mentality and culture.
How strictly (or not) it is followed varies among generations, with younger people being more flexible in this regard than the older age group.
It also depends, as almost everything in Switzerland does, on the canton or, more precisely, the linguistic region.
German-speakers are known to be more rigid in this respect than residents of Ticino, with the French-language regions falling in between.
READ ALSO: The dos and don’ts of Swiss social etiquette
