Village life in Andalucia

Brits in this part of the world are known as Los “Por Favors” (pleaders)on account of our excessive politeness.

For example:

British person receiving the bill in a restaurant.

Brit person: “gracias”

Bemused waiter: “De nada” (dont mention it)

British person then hands money over to waiter

Brit person: “gracias”

Apalled waiter: “De nada – no pasa nada”

Lesson – You are handing over the money. He is glad to receive it. You don’t have to thank him.
If you must ingratiate yourself, do it with a bit of hauteur.  The correct expression is “Muy buen” (very good).
Say Muy buen when the waiter takes your order,

Say it when you get your food,

Say it having perused the bill and at any point when you are tempted to say “please”or “thank you”.

Spaniards rarely use “please” and “thank you” words though they are actually much more polite than we are. So are Norwegians actually – they don’t even have words for please and thank you. We on the other hand are hypocrites, so it doesn’t matter what we say because we don’t really mean it. A Spanish waiter is both appalled by and despises such English toadying because he knows that ingratiation demeans one’s honour . . .