The Spanish 'way of being' is hugely different from the British or the American one. One small scene illustrates the point.

Imagine that you are standing at the counter of a bar in, say, the old town of Ronda. Two working men enter the bar, and one shouts at the barman. "Oiga! Una cerveza", literally, "Here, give me a beer". The barman doesn't bat an eyelid and a beer is thumped down on the bar: not a 'please' nor a 'thank you' from either party. You might think that the two men are about to come to blows: why else would they be shouting at each other when standing just one foot apart? It gradually dawns on you from the smiles and laughter that this is simply a lively discussion and that daggers will not be drawn. Meanwhile, just behind the two men, an unwatched TV screams at full volume. You are both irritated and deafened. So you pluck up courage and ask the barman if he could just turn it down 'un poquito'. "Of course, amigo", he replies, and turns it off, clearly bemused because he had not even noticed that it was switched on.

The whole scene shows that you can't judge Spain by your own cultural yardsticks. So in hotels, bars and restaurants be quick to pardon what might at first seem a brash or an abrupt way of being. The Spanish are nearly always both kind and gracious, just not in the manner of the junior manager at the Dorchester!