Why are so many English people so cold and reserved?

[Seventell]

Im English myself. But i havent lived In England for a long time.

Ive had a nice career and ive lived and worked all over Europe. I most recently, was living in Italy.

My female boss in italy was so nice.

The first day that i was there, she asked me what i liked to do, i said that i liked to go to art classes. She told me about all the art museums in the area.

She looked up art classes for me to go to.
She also used to bring in little cakes for me every day. She said things like "if you ever need help with anything, ask me" my other colleagues were all really nice to me aswell. They would invite me out for dinners, and they were all so kind.

Ive just moved back to England two weeks ago. Im just shocked! My boss here is so cold. But not just cold. He seems really emotionally stunted, like he is barely able to have a conversation.
My other colleagues are like that aswell. They are really cold.
Ive also gone out to groups and ive seen that english people are much colder in these groups, then people are in other countries that ive lived in

Its just made me think - what has happened to english people. A lot of them seem so emotionally stunted and emotionally damaged.

Do you always assess the character of an entire nation based on your experience if a single workplace in each?

Your next thread should be entitled "Why do newly returned expats engage in lazy sterotyping?"

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Absolutely.

A few years ago I was sitting on a packed commuter train in London, very upset, crying silently. The gentleman next to me handed me a tissue without even catching my eye, just a silent gesture of kindness.
I walk a lot, and I know the city pretty well, so I often find myself asking lost-looking tourists if they need help, and it's nice to be useful, but I don't wander up to strangers and just start a chat for no reason.
I think 'British Reserve' is about not imposing your company on others who might not want it, or might have better things to do. It doesn't mean that we don't offer to help when we think it might be required though.

People often say Australians are friendly but that we are also a cliquey culture and hard to make real friends here. Same is said of Denmark and Scandinavia about making friends & the English have a stiff upper lip & now I read the Irish paint on friendliness. Also just reading on another site that in Bali, foreigners when it comes to neighbourly disputes are viewed as beneath Indonesians and Balinese. Not that different to Australia where locals have priority when lining up for surf waves & in country towns there is great pride over if you have lived there longer - it is joked that you’re not a proper local of certain towns if you haven’t lived there 40 years.

I think most cultures, groups & sub cultures have a set of unspoken rules & an element of cliwuiness or requirement to fit in.

If the OP, who has now gone quiet, wants to talk about rudeness, let's talk about queuing. We are programmed to be patient and wait to be served. Other countries are more abrupt about this, which we might interpret as rudeness.

Well ive just driven down the M6 and i concluded people in th uk are bastards