After some intense eye contact and shy small talk, I once asked a Swiss-german man out for coffee. He shrugged and slowly backtracked on his footsteps, all the while maintaining eye contact. As if I were an animal about to pounce.
I took this for a clumsy no.
I later recounted the story to a Swiss-german friend of mine, there was a silence when I finished telling my tale. I said: ‘get it? I got rejected in the most awkward way’ to which he answered ‘I think that was a yes’.
It was a cultural misunderstanding.
I have told the story many times since then. Sticking to my original version:
I once asked out a Swiss-german man
and he
shrugged.