A SPECTRUM OF GERMANNNESS

Background Info

Beer / Bier is very important here in Germany. I don't think that's a secret in any way, shape, or form. And not just the substance itself, but the culture of beer is also very important.

Cultural Commentary

Naturally, peer pressure exists, so when one person gets a beer, that usually means everyone else is taking part in the next round as well. Though it is a thing of peer pressure, doesn't mean people aren't able to bow out and stop or skip a round. It doesn't happen often, but just like seeing an oasis in the desert, it is possible to see a German actually decline a beer. It is an extremely rare thing, but trust me, it's out there...

My Experience

Of late, I've definitely been drinking less, less beer at least. In the few times I've been around others, I've received no pushback or sarcasm for skipping a beer or a round. Granted, those have all been low-key situations, and no pressure like at a sports game or some kind of festival. But no sweat here. In fact, I can say that I will definitely do it again sometime in the future.

Background Info

Aldi is a popular grocery store chain, but this info involves any retail store, as all/most retail stores require customers to bag their own items.

Cultural Commentary

You receive a new, tangible understanding of stress when you're sitting at the end of the register, your things are loading up as the cashier shovels them through the scanner in record pace, and you're just getting your grocery bags up to re-assemble your newly-bought wares as the Oma (grandma) behind you stares aggressively at you as she pushes her two items down the belt.

No joke, this shit is stressful. So, in the instance where you get behind on your bagging responsibilities, you start getting the stink eye from everyone in the line behind you. It sucks, it's intimidating, and it's just a situation of compounding stress.

My Experience

I've had my share of times getting behind the belt, as they say (they don't it, it just sounds good). BUT, I've recently evolved in my grocery shopping habits. To be honest, I also have non-German grocery shopping habits, as in I grocery shopping about once every two weeks rather than every other day, so I usually get a lot of stuff.

To save me the hassle of that stress with mounds of groceries (compounded on the need to structurally soundly pack the bags), I just throw everything back in the shopping cart and am able to nicely, slowly, and orderly pack my grocery bags once I get to my car. Now that's what I call cheating the system.

Background Info

There's a saying in German for escalators - "Rechts stehen, links gehen" which means "Stand on the right, walk on the left". This applies directly to escalators, but also to other forms of transportation where the faster party is supposed to be on the left (for example, it's illegal to pass on the right on the Autobahn). So, in an escalator setting, people that stand still on the steps stand on the right side, and people that walk up the steps walk on the left side.

Cultural Commentary

To be honest, back in the times where I participated in the public transport system here, it pissed me off how many people lived their lives in such a fairy world. Though it socially frowned upon to do so, lots of people don't pay attention to the unwritten rule and stand on the left. Amazing how many people are the only ones that exist in their world.

My Experience

And when people do stand on the left, it pisses me off, because I'm one that doesn't like to let the slow motion of an escalator dictate my speed in life. Even though the stairs themselves are moving, I'm all about maintaining control of my life, and that includes the speed at which I go up or down the stairs.

Background Info

Bike lanes are not a foreign concept to most westerners. But, especially for Americans, treating bike lanes only as bike lanes IS a foreign concept to Americans. In Germany, things are a little more stringent and strict. If you're a bicyclist, stay in the bike lane. If you're not, GTFO.

Cherry-picked for sure, but here's an example of America's attention towards bike lanes.

In Germany though, I've got a feeling that overall bicycle education and handling is a part of the plethora of things parents and society are required to teach kids over here. Granted, bike riding is a much more integrated part into your average German/European's lives, so knowing how to not be an idiot around them makes a big difference.

Cultural Commentary

Not much to say here, I don't think. German's are just taught at an early age to actually follow the signs regarding bikes. I'm a fan of it, as usually it means that bikes are where bikes are supposed to be. My only pet peeve with all of that is on average, German bicyclists are fucking slow.

Here, there are also many shades of bike lanes. Some are the kind I recognized, thick white lane lines on the street. Some are separate paths near the street. But there's also a flavor that throws newbies for a loop, the different colored pavers/bricks on the sidewalk. This kind is just integrated into the sidewalk and can be easy to lose track of or recognize (for both pedestrians and bicyclists).

All that said, if you're new in Germany and walking around, pay attention to where you're walking, as it could come back to bite you if you're in the wrong lane.

My Experience

As much as it annoys me when people are walking in the bike lane, I have yes done it myself a time or two. Sometimes you space out, sometimes you don't realize there's a bike lane there. And when that comes up you get agressively told you're in the wrong by the many bike klingels/bells that ring your ears clarifying your mistake.

Background Info

Germans love their (3 kinds of) beer. A lot. German's also work, but those two things are not allowed to be mixed. To my knowledge, in any of the places I've worked here in Germany, alcohol is strictly forbidden.

Cultural Commentary

Yes, beer is verboten at work, and yes Germany is big on beer, but weirdly enough I've yet to experience a clear mix of beer and work. My comparison here is grabbing beers with coworkers after work. I've yet to really experience that here.

Granted, everything I say regarding this year has been extremely influenced by COVID, so it's likely my experience this go'round is not the standard experience, per se. Also, my workplace makes that a little difficult. We're not anywhere close to a town or dorf or any kind of civilization and most all of the people that work there (including my team) live anywhere within a 30-50 mile radius. So those conditions aren't ripe for post-work beers.

My boss has mentioned it to me a couple of times though, but even in his experience, happy hour with your coworkers is a seemingly foreign concept here. Honestly, lacking that kind of camaraderie has been quite the bummer.

My Experience

As with anything, rules are meant to be broken. Despite beer being VERBOTEN at work, I've had the opportunity to enjoy one real and one non-alcoholic beer (two separate occasions) at work over here. Those are the only details you get. But, that does not meet the proscribed 2-beer norm as mentioned above. Hence the "No".

Background Info

Preeeeeeeeeeeeety self-explanatory here.

Cultural Commentary

Here, it doesn't mean a damn thing who you are, who you know, or where you work. If you walk into a room and it's the morning time, it's like you are socially required to say good morning. Can't say how many times some random person has walked by, I have no fucking clue who it is, but I get a cheery good morning from them.

Strangely, this isn't just localized to good mornings, but with any kind of greeting. Good morning is just the most prominent under this vein of thought.

My Experience

Maybe I'm just not the cheery kind, or maybe I just find it weird, or maybe I find it a little overkill to expend that kind of energy on absolutely everyone I cross paths with in the morning. But that is the actual expectation. When you show up you say good morning. To everyone.

As a specific example of this, I'm on really good terms with one of my coworkers named Paul. We always give each other the stink-eye in jest, but spirits are high when we're in contact. Well one day, I walked into the office in the morning on my headphones tuning into a meeting. I just kinda blazed through and got to my desk as I was on a call. Well, later in the day, Paul gave me a real stink-eye and stink-face, and I asked him why. Slightly in jest, but I think a good amount of seriousness, he called me the "Arrogant American" because I didn't tell him good morning.

Background Info

Fairly dissimilar to most workplaces in the US, most German workplaces have a Kantine (cafeteria) somewhere in the building. Even for smaller workplaces in a big office building, the building usually has a place that all tenants (and sometimes the public) can eat at. Therefore, it's extremely common for teams (usually your direct coworkers, sometimes people from other teams) to yell "MAHLZEIT" and then head out to get lunch together.

I think for this reason, and for this reason alone, the HQ buildings of DTNA in Portland both have cafeterias.

Cultural Commentary

So this feeds into a couple other points on this list, and is a little long winded. So I'll try and make it brief:

• Work hours are tracked from clock-in to clock-out, even for salaried employees
• Within that clock-in and clock-out time, subtractions are made (in my building's case) for a 15-minute break and a 40-minute lunch
• Because of this, lunch time is time OFF THE CLOCK
• During lunch however, I have yet to sit with a coworker that has talked about anything other than work (unless I change the conversation)
• That being the case, I have no qualms sitting alone for lunch to actually get a break from work

My Experience

Fuck That!!! Why would I talk about work when I'm not on the clock? There are so many other things to chat about, either that or let me charge my lunch time. So stupid.

Kinda got off track there, but yeah, I sit alone for lunch fairly often. Because of COVID, the chairs are super spread out, so even going to the cafeteria with a coworker I can barely hear someone from across the table aka room. So I'm fine sitting with myself, eating and then going back to work. I guess that is one thing keeping me from going full-German.

Background Info

This one's a bit hard to explain. You know how I mentioned the fervence of greeting everyone with good morning in the morning? Well, in every German's internal clocks, once the clock strikes 10:30, that 'good morning' changes to 'Mahlzeit', and changes to a mix of other things as soon as 14:00 hits.

Literally translated, Mahlzeit means meal time.

Cultural Commentary

I think this utterance is even more prevalent, fervent, and present than Guten Morgen. And no joke, this is a socially acceptable (and expected) behavior that spans a roughly 3.5 hour window.

My Experience

My interaction with this weird and unique phenomenon goes all the way back to my internship in Hamburg. I'd always bring lunch, and around lunch time I'd head to the small break room, plop down on my own (see above), and start eating. Not everyone there took lunch at the same time as me, but anyone who'd go up or down the hall would always pop their head in and always say the same thing, "Mahlzeit".

It honestly confused the hell out of me. Mahlzeit. Meal time. Yes, I knew I was eating, literally all of my five senses were involved in the process. Not only that, but that's why I had a sandwich in my hands. Was there really a need to remind me of this? It seemed so patently obvious that verbalizing the realization was extreme overkill. I never understood this.

Until I talked to my then-boss, after I briefly inquired about it. Only then did I learn that this was a custom that made no sense to me.

And ever since then, it has only grown in its prevalence in my daily life here. Then, I only experienced it right at the exact time I was eating. Now, it's a half-day long phenomenon. I don't know how this weird tradition came to be, how it seems to make sense in the minds of Germans, or how I can get away from it (I can't. It's everywhere.), but it's here, and I have to get used to it.

Thankfully, for most non-Germans, and the laid-back Germans, it's a thing to laugh about and make fun of. But for everyone else, I don't think they know how unique and (imo) strange this habit is.

Background Info

Here, maybe an hour might not be the right bar to set. But essentially it boils down to you did not use the full extent of your allotted lunch time. For example, our office has a 40 minute lunch break built into our time clock. So for me, this would boil down to me taking anything less than a 40 minute break for lunch.

Cultural Commentary

Not sure how to speculate on this one. Maybe to two points. Following by the rules - if you're given a 40 minute break to eat your lunch, you use the 40 minute break to eat your lunch. The second point, well, again, I'm not really sure how to divulge on this other than it's just peer pressure and the social pressure to follow the herd.

My Experience

Weirdly enough, I usually take a quicker lunch break. For multiple reasons. But the main one is, why waste time sitting around if I'm done eating when I can go back to work and get something done? Kinda stupid to hold to a set time every day when you're guaranteed to have a different lunch experience every day with a little variety to change the timing and situation up. Go with the flow. Not that hard to do for me.

Background Info

There's a little nuance to throw into this one. Staying late can be a bit subjective due to how working contracts are set up. Every worker/employee/whatever has an hour amount that is tied to their contract dictating how many hours they're expected to work per week. For example, I have a 40-hour contract, a lot of my coworkers have 35-hour contracts, but some can even be as low as 20- or 30-hour contracts. All depends on the person/contract/role.

So if you work your standard daily hours (for me it's 8, for my coworkers it's 7), and then work a little bit over that amount, then no sweat.

However... In Germany there is also a federal law that says you are not legally allowed to work more than 10 hours in a day. So, if you work more than 10 hours in a day, that's where the whole legality of it all dissolves.

Cultural Commentary

In the experience from my group at work though, to be honest, no one gives a shit about those rules. Going above your daily hours just means more vacation. And going above the 10 hour limit, just means you don't clock out and fudge your hours on the time system to make it show that you didn't work over 10 hours. The law is there, people just work their way around it and are pretty unashamed about it.

My Experience

I've done both. The working over 8 hours a day is a huge plus in the long run (sucks in the short because it's more of life wasted towards work), because that means I get just that much more vacation!!! In a real non-COVID world it'd be amazing. So I've been wracking up hours and saving for this summer HOPING I'll get the chance to travel and get the FUCK out of here.

And yeah, on the 10 hour part, I've done that too.

Background Info

None needed.

Cultural Commentary

Well, Germans are stereotypically classified as a timely bunch. That holds true in some areas of life and doesn't hold water in others. When it comes to work though, things are usually pretty punctual, at least in terms of start times. If someone sets a meeting for a certain time, you're expected to be there ready to go at or before that time. I've got the assumption this is held to a higher standard at some business compared to others, but my impression is that this is a pretty common understanding and rule that people hold to.

My Experience

When it comes to meeting start times, this is pretty true. Usually people are there at (and in my experience actually a hair after) the time of a meeting start.

Whether things hold to the designated end time of a meeting though, that's a whole other fucking world. I could go long on this one, but German's like to talk and discuss and go into detail. With that, if someone has a set amount of time alotted to their point, that is usually just a formality and that doesn't hold any weight in anything. My heavy impression on this aspect is a little biased based off of one monthly experience, but I digress...

Background Info

This one does not fully make sense, as it (in my experience) is a bit of a mash-up of two different concepts. That, or my experience here is very non-typical. Either way, I'll break it down according to my understanding:

• Stammtisch - this is essentially a meeting group of individuals that meet up regularly (weekly, monthly, whatever) at your local brewery, shoot the breeze, drink beer, and eat whatever hefty delicious cuisine the place is serving up. Due to the consistency of the meeting, these groups usually have their tables reserved well in advance (likely due to decades of consistently being there, same time, same place).
  The reason I break this aspect out of the overall assertion is that Stammtisches (again, my experience) are derived from non-work groups. Sport clubs, activity groups, essentially groups of people (not based off of a work environment) that do things together will establish a Stammtisch. So rather than coworkers, it's your buddies and friends that you do ____ with after work or on the weekends.
• Happy Hour Culture - this is what I'll refer to as the concept of going out to drinks with your coworkers. Could be a regular deal, could not. But this is what I'll break out as it's specifically work-focused or work-related, compared to a Stammtisch, which is not.

From that, I consider there to be two categories, one work-related (Happy Hour) and one not-work-related (Stammtisch).

Cultural Commentary

Stammtisches appear from my exposure to be a very common part of life here in Germany, or even jusy a common part of a German's life. But in comparison, at least in my work experience in Germany, there is no such thing as a Happy-Hour Culture here. My experiences could very well be outliers (though if they are, then I don't think by much), because I've always either work far away from bars and civilization and such, or worked with people no where near my age or life-stage (right now I check both of those boxes :-( ....).

But, and my boss has commented on this a couple of times, Happy-Hour Culture or a regular post-work beer does not appear to be a common thing here among coworkers and colleagues.

My Experience

When it comes to Stammtisches, I've been to a Stammtisch for the local Mountain Biking group, one for German expats when I was in Portland, and maybe one or two others. It's a good time for people to meet, shoot the breeze, and connect on whatever was the topic/core of that group's Stammtisch.

As for a semblance of a Happy Hour culture here in Germany, I have yet to see anything like that, which is a bummer. My work location probably plays a big role here, being isolated from any kind of restaurants or breweries or anything, along with all of my colleagues living in a very spread out proximity to work, so that doesn't provide a good opportunity to grab beers after work.

My boss has tried to get our team to meet up after work for a drink, but it's only happened once, and it was planned a good month in advance, and even then it was only four of us. Not a popular concept.

Expanding upon this, I'm reminded of a very fitting hypothesis that my amazing buddy Zack shared with me at some point. It goes something along these lines...

If you can't have a beer with your coworkers, then they might not be good coworkers.

I say that to provide a distinction. Just because my team/coworkers don't go out for drinks, really ever, does not mean that they wouldn't be fun to have a drink with. Beer culture is part of life itself over here, and all the folks I work around live up to that, as far as I've seen or experienced.

The difference here I think is the difference of where I'm at in life compared to everyone I work around. Clarified:

• Me - 30, single, no kids, non-home owner, foreigner
• My Coworkers (generalized) - mid-30s-60s, married/partnered, kids, home owner, local

All that to say, I'm in a different life stage compared to most of my coworkers. Which is kind of a bummer, but that's how it is.

Background Info

For those that don't know, German's have a literal law on the books called the Reinheitsgebot. This restricts/requires that anything that be sold as beer that has been brewed in Germany be made with only water, barley, and hops (and later added to that list, correct me if I'm wrong Ryan, yeast). Germans are very proud of this law and their pride of this law manifests itself into the importance of German beer in the German culture.

Cultural Commentary

The Rheinheitsgebot has, in my opinion, implanted a sense of entitlement and superiority for German's and their German beer and essentially normalized an acceptance of a lack of innovation when it comes to evolution of the craft. The concept that beer could possibly be brewed with other items other than the strict limit of water, barley, hops, and yeast, is a foreign concept to them. Since it's inception in Bavaria in 1516 it's grown in implementation throughout the country and been held to pretty religiously.

My Experience

As you might tell, I've got a serious bone to pick with German beer, and I'm not shy about it. There is NO/little variety here. Pilsners, Lagers, Wheats, and Black beers. Other than the wheat beers, they nearly all taste the same. Maybe that's due to my taste bud's, but I don't consider there to be much of any variety. Yes, every dorf has THEIR brewery. Woohoo. Doesn't help that Dorf 1 has a special pilsner that Dorf 2 somehow produces damn nearly the exact same thing just with a different name. This is a very poor comparison, but it kinda feels like beer inbreeding. You gotta mix up the population (brewing ingredients) to keep it good.

In comparison, I could walk into nearly any bar or brewery in Portland and have to choose between a Lager, Pale Ale, IPA, Stout, Sour, Cider, Porter, Tripel, and who knows what else. Variety. Variety in taste, ingredients, color, intended flavor. Goddamn I miss that.

Again, I've shared this view point a few times and I can't remember a time where a German conceded, or seriously acknowledged my point. For the whale's majority over here, German beer is best beer and there's no questioning that. Not even considering it worth contemplation or thought. And, in my opinion, that strong belief comes with either some pretty thick blinders, some very specific (not necessarily bland, but just very concentrated just on certain tastes) taste buds, some incredible cultural blind pride, or a mix of all of the above.

The crux of this point was simply saying "American beer is good". I took this further than that, simply because I've got a bone to pick with German beer pretentiousness, and the fact that even if you say that, you'll likely get some quip back about how German beer is better. That's my biased view.

Background Info

Pretty clear. You agree to go do something or attend something, then decide not to.

Cultural Commentary

Not sure if I have anything German-specific to point out here. This seems like a general-enough thing.

My Experience

I think I've been on the staying-home end of this a time or two. I can be social, but sometimes I just don't want to do anything or get a less-than-energetic feeling regarding what I'm about to go do. I feel like that's pretty universally human, right?

I have been on the ghosted end of this a time or two. And yeah, it's not cool. Biggest example happened last Fall. I elected to host my fantasy football league over to watch the early NFL games on a Sunday night. About 6 people RSVP'd so I made sure to have enough beer and snacks at the house to be a good host and have a good time. Sunday night comes - not a single one shows up...

Background Info

Football (soccer) is the most popular sport here in Germany. I think by a landslide.

Cultural Commentary

I don't have enough exposure to this here to really provide some thoughtful commentary. I did some looking up on Wikipedia (apparently football/soccer is more universally known as Association Football?), and it appears the earliest form of soccer (known) occurred in China. The game then was called "cuju" literally "kick ball". But in terms of Europe, the most prevalent or presumed origin of the sport stems from England.

My Experience

Don't have much in terms of soccer origin discussions with Germans, so my experience here is pretty limited to just watching soccer either in a stadium, a bar, or on the couch.

Background Info

German bread is a staple of the culinary culture over here, similar to beer. There has actually been a push to enshrine German Bread in the UNESCO registry as an Intangible Cultural Heritage.

Cultural Commentary

Talking to people about bread, this pride is pretty evident. Bakeries are on nearly every corner here, all grocery stores seem to have a separate bakery also attached to it, and those bakeries are working full force every day to make sure everyone has their specific type of bread at the ready.

My Experience

To be honest, I'm not the biggest fan of your typical German breads. For me, they're too dense, dry, and brittle. Other types of breads, however, I find delicious. Laugenbrot, which is essentially if pretzel dough was used for bread rolls and loafs, is absolutely delicious. Some of the bread rolls that are so popular are ok, but for the most part the crust is to crumby and brittle for me.

Fear not though, dear reader, for I have also found a loaf type that I like. It's at the REWE near mean, and I don't know what distinguishes it from its dense and dry counterparts, but the Winzerbrot loaf that I stumbled upon turned out to be pretty good. Moist, a little airy but not too much, and sturdy enough for sammiches. A good quality bread, finally.

Background Info

I don't know how true this is, but butter is a very, if not the most common, cooking ingredient over here. That, and it's common to find that as the most common spreading ingredient in German bakeries or at a typical German breakfast.

Cultural Commentary

Because I perceive that as the most common, and I see it pretty much everywhere, I think that's the reason for the heavy weight put on butter. For instance, in bakeries, a common item to see is your standard beer pretzel, but cut in half and with butter spread on each half, then smashed back together. It's called, you guessed it, a butter prezel.

My Experience

My difficulties with butter when I have the chance to spread it, is that it's usually still frozen or brick-like, so I don't have any easy chance of spreading it. Sometimes I'm able to skillfully skim off a layer for my use, but sometimes it comes out as a glob and there's not much I can do with it til it melts. I have not, however, slapped a 1cm thick layer of butter on anything and then directly consumed it. That just sounds too gluttonous and unhealthy.

Background Info

German is home to Das Auto. I work for the company that stems from the guy who invented the automobile - Karl Benz. So to say that Germans are proud of their cars and motor vehicles, and by extension, how they are driven, is an understatement.

The sentiment that manual transmissions are a more raw, in-tune, or original way to drive a car I think is a pretty common sentiment or opinion, however, and not specific to Germany.

Cultural Commentary

Mercedes, Porsche, Volkswagen, BMW, all German auto manufacturers. As with most things in life, the car is a point of pride about Germans. A bit extrapolated, but that's why people go fucking apeshit as soon as someone mentions putting speed limits on all the unlimited sections of the Autobahn.

Well, as mentioned above, the point that driving a stick shift is the 'only true' way to drive is also a fairly commonly held opinion here in Germany too. The weird thing is though, almost all new cars are NOT sold as a stick shift. So, for example, all the people at Daimler that get a leased car through work are not driving stick shifts, because Mercedes doesn't make any cars with a manual transmission any more. Unless maybe some special AMG model, but your standard cars aren't offered with a stick shift anymore. So slowly, although this sentiment is still prevalent and popular, auto manufacturers by force are starting to make it harder and harder to drive a manual transmission car.

My Experience

In my adult life, I have only ever owned a stick shift. Mostly be happenstance, but I'm pretty damn happy about it. It's definitely more fun to drive a stick, as it's a more engaging and interactive experience. I'm also one who likes control in the things I do, and this is perfectly inline with that - I control when the car goes into what gear.

My (now former) 2000 Ford Focus, Marvin, was a sturdy little stick shift. He was powerful enough to get me all over the place and was fun to drive. Unfortunately though, he was recently donated, as nothing worked anymore - wouldn't turn over, wouldn't start, animals living in it, sad to see my trusty buddy go. But once I got over to Germany I had to pick up a car and was able to find Rupert, my 2014 Volkwagen Golf wagon who also has a stick shift. Thankfully it's worked out for me that I've always owned manual transmissions, but who knows when that might change.

As a brief aside, I'll throw out a very controversial opinion of mine. I'm all for actually putting a limit on the Autobahn here. Dear god I love being able to drive where the only limiting factor to my speed is my car and the other traffic. It is unbelievably exhilarating and amazing!!! I do it whenever I'm driving a pool car. But in all honesty, it's a pretty dangerous thing. Having someone go 220kmh next to someone going 140kmh next to semi trucks that are going 90kmh is a hectic situation. That much delta is a HUGE variation in kinetic energy.

Thankfully, German drivers are way better trained and way more competent than US drivers. So for the most part things don't always end up poorly in the limitless speed zones. But, since they exist, people will utilize them to try and go balls-out, and they do. Despite it being unbeliveably fun and exhilarating, it's always just a matter of time until someone lapses in judgement for a quarter of a second and that 250kmh comes to 0kmh sooner than expected...

Background Info

In Germany, shopping carts aren't immediately available to just anyone who wants them. Rather, all shopping carts (or most, essentially at any retail chain) are locked together in the shopping cart areas. And they're not locked together so that no one can use them, but locked together sequentially, and that lock is able to be undone if a token (usually a 0.50€ or 1€ coin) is inserted into the slot to release them.

Therefore, whenever you're going grocery shopping, you need to have a coin or token that fits in that slot handy in order to have access to a shopping cart.

Cultural Commentary

Every German seems to know that this is the case whenever go shopping. It helps that Germany is still almost completely a cash-based society. So for most people, it's not that hard to pull out your coin purse, shuffle around for a 0.50€ or 1€ coin and stick it in the slot. Pretty handy when you are pretty much guaranteed to have the necessary item already on your person.

My Experience

For those of us that aren't used to Germany and aren't stuck with a cash-only worldview, sometimes this can be a challenge to always have a coin on hand. I've forgotten one plenty of times and have had to then just rely on the bags I've brought with to schlep all my stuff around.

Thankfully, thanks to Hornbach the local hardware store, I've stumbled upon the perfect answer to this problem. At some point early on in the Corona pandemic, as we were still able to do things in life, Hornbach was handing out little tokens that are the exactly correct size to fit in these little coin slots! So I snagged a couple of them and have them handy in the right spots. One is always situated in the little tray in my car next to the parking brake in Rupert! That way, any time I'm going grocery shopping, all I need to do is snag my little token and I'm golden! Weird cultural norm thwarted! MWAHAHAHAHA!!!

Background Info

As mentioned before, bread is a very popular and dearly-held thing here in Germany. Most people go to their local bakery to buy their bread. But, groceries still have a bakery (most of them, at least). As with bakeries in grocery stores in the states (as far as I remember), there are little bread slicing machines near the bakery so you can slice up your full loaf all in one fell swoop. Pretty handy thing.

Cultural Commentary

Because bread is a holy thing here, by natural extension, anything that has to do with bread is then holy as well. Well, I have never used a bread-slicing machine at my local grocery store over here. But here's how I think it would go down if you were to find yourself in the unfortunate situation of having clogged it up.

You go to the counter and acquire your treasured loaf of wheat and German pride and unfortunately the counter doesn't have the option to stick it into a slicing machine behind the counter. So you are relegated to complete this task on your own. Undaunted and ready to receive the precisely same width of slices through this wonder of technology, you waddle over there and get to work.

The place to put the bread is fairly clear, so you stick your loaf in and hope it's in the precisely correct orientation and has the right heritage ("I'll be damned if I've got a loaf of something Schwäbian in there...", thinks the Badener), and with your thumbs very tightly squeezed, you press the green button, click ok, sign the required release form, sign the form you need to fax to the headquarters (signing includes Current City, Date, and Signature), and then press the green button. The machine starts to hum.

And then it doesn't anymore. Leck mich fett... You were worried about this, but here we go. You open up the bread entry container and out of the corner of your eye you see an Oma just reaching over the counter for her loaf of bread and your eyes meet. That supreme disdain only a German Oma can portray is evident as she immediately recognizes you are what is standing in the way between her and a freshly, pristinely sliced loaf of bread. Sweat can not restrain itself once you realize the impending evil-eye coming your way.

No time to be chaotic, you tackle the problem like a good German - slowly, methodically, and fully verified in your investigation before you take any action. But nothing looks to be askew. All the diagrams on the machine match exactly with what you did. The logic of the situation seems off, and you don't know what to do. Unfortunately, by this time, Oma is right next to you, visibly irritated, on the verge of continuing her passive-aggressive disdain for your idiocy. Tension and stress builds.

The lady behind the bakery counter sees you and immediately scurries away. You can't blame her for not wanting to be a part of this blood bath, but damn you could use some help right now.

Re-reading the required procedure step-by-step to run this blöd machine for the eight time, you notice a verb preposition, that you assumed was one thing, is in fact not that thing. Thanks to the weird way that you don't get the full information of a sentence until the period, you went too fast through it all the first time and missed a crucial piece of information.

Oma is ready to ram you with her shopping cart by this time, but you know what you need to do. Jammed loaf of bread in hand, you re-orient it 20degrees around the Z-Axis, pat it three times, press it lightly into the feed, and poof, it works. Scurrying to GTFO of there as fast as possible, you lose all sense of Germanness and throw all the slices into the bag and get the heck out of dodge before the Oma's passive-aggressiveness morphs to angry muttering...

My Experience

As I said, I have never used a bread-slicing machine here in Germany. That's mostly because I'm normally not the biggest fan of your typical german bread types, and just opt to stay secure and content in my own world of 'shitty' (a german's description) American-style sliced bread. They can go fuck themselves with their judgement though, because that American-style bread actually has some strength to it so I can make an actual sandwich and not have the shitty German-style bread just fall apart trying to pick the damn thing up. Functional my ass...

Background Info

In most cultures, standing in line is a pretty prevalent social norm. At the grocery store, you line up at the check out counter or at the bakery. In a train station, you line up to get tickets or to board the train. Most people I know know of this concept, and hold to it pretty well.

Cultural Commentary

In Germany, the CONCEPT of standing in line is known. However the PRACTICE has been purposefully thrown out the door because no one here actually gives a fuck about other people when it comes to getting to whatever that line leads to.

It is seriously a wonder to me how the country and its people that are known for order, efficiency, and process (all of which are stereotypes that are in this day and age not even close to accurate anymore...) suddenly lose all sense of humanity and civility as soon as they have to wait for something.

I've honestly got no idea how this mentality and lack of civility has come to be prevlant with the presence of a line or a queue. This does not jive with a lot of behaviors you can observe from German's on the street, such as when someone doesn't follow simple societal rules (eating/talking too loud on the subway, walking on the bike lane, crossing the street on a red light), that perpetrator gets nothing but stink eye and condemnation from everyone that is witness.

But when it comes to waiting in line, either some kind of exception has been made for this behavior, or people's mentalities just go full caveman as soon as they have to wait.

My Experience

It honestly blows my mind how people become so rude and uncivilized as soon as a line pops up. Maybe it just pisses me off so much because I appreciate order, and it pisses me the fuck off when people try to cut me or not recognize my position in a line, for example. But somehow people just assume it's no-holds-barred as soon as a queue materializes.

Background Info

Germany is all about processes. Namely, processes with many steps, most of which that aren't clear, and are full of (in a modern era) lots of complications. Pair that with the fact that Germany is still not a digital country, and most processes usually include their fair share of paper forms that must be filled out to get through with any process.

Cultural Commentary

Whether it be for something government-related, something work-related, or something else, paperwork and forms are a basic part of life in Germany. Case in point through an apparently common German idiom:

Von der Wiege bis zur Wahre, Formulare, Formulare!
From the scale to the gurney, Forms, Forms!

Another one I've heard, it's more of a retort than a saying, but to the effect of, "Oh yeah, there's a form required in order to fill out that form". Forms are engrained into society here.

My Experience

Bad. Forms everywhere. Most of the times they come out of nowhere and you only learn about them when the person supposed to help you throws you a shitty look and says they can't help you because you forgot to fill out one specific form that is NOWHERE else to be found. Bureaucracy is king here and forms are it's sword of death. Not only that, but because Germany is still stuck in the age of faxes and actual paper, most of the time a simple form you could complete online is not possible not only because the potential to fill it out online or on a computer doesn't exist, but also because it is only accepted in physical form. Digitalization is a figment of imagination here.

In typing all this up, I unfortunately can't think of a specific example. Either because it was minor, or because I was so blinded with rage by the circumstance that I did my best to forget about it. Those instances have come up more often than not when dealing with the official processes, especially regarding my drivers license.

Background Info

Even before Corona Times, airing out the office space, or really any room or building, was an integral and expected procedure that should be performed regularly. Why is this? Well it is extremely rare to find a building here that has air conditioning. Not sure if the lack of A/C led to the regular practice of airing buildings and rooms out, but either way, airing out spaces is a common thing to do here. Also, what's wrong with a little fresh air? :-)

Cultural Commentary

Well, with the uptick of Corona virus, the fact that Germany has not invested in the energy-hog we in the rest of the western world love known as A/C, and the fact that airing buildings out seems to be engrained in people's heads, it's still quite a thing here. Not sure if there's anything more 'culturally' to say about it.

My Experience

I've got a bit of a love-hate with this. I'll start with the hate. My desk at work sits right next to a door that is used quite often with people coming in and out to get access to our test trucks and generally come and go. Well, the shitty thing about that door is that there's no badge reader at the door, so people will chock it open so they can come and go with ease.

We're slowly getting out of winter, and although it's cold out, that didn't stop people from propping open the door. Because of that, and my proximity to it, I always had a pretty steady stream of cold air blowing my way, and since cold air sinks, it went straight for my legs and my cold sweaty feet. That led to nothing but discomfort that even a stand heater and make-shift wall to block off the air and seal in my cubicle didn't quite help. Probably would be ok if it weren't for my damn shitty feet.

Now the love part, that's something we're slowly rolling back into. Warm temperatures mean throw those windows open and let that fresh breeze blow on through. At home, I'm all about it. I'll close the shutters during the day on the south side to prevent the blazing sun from turning my place into a total sauna, but the north-side windows are open constantly. No joke, I think my three windows on the north side were open to some degree (either tilted or fully open - the lovliness of German windows) for a good at least three months. Gloriously refreshing.

Background Info

The German language is a little special and deviates in a number of ways from my mother tongue. One of those ways are forms of address. In English, we have one form of address - you. It's both formal and informal and the most direct way of addressing someone.

Well, in German there's a split - both an official/formal way (Sie), and a familiar/informal way (Du). This also leads to a difference in conjugation (-t vs. -st) and change in particle (Ihr vs. dein). It's so engrained, that there are separate and specific verbs to describe these veins of speech (duzen - to DU someone; siezen - to SIE someone).

The reason being for this (as I've learned and experienced it) is a sign of respect. You use the Sie form as a sign of respect to elders, authorities, and people above you in hierarchy. It's both a means of clarifying where the two ends of a converstation fit on the totem pole, and exuding respect or lack of familiarity at the same time.

No worries if that's all just text, just know that this impacts sentence structure and word choice quite a bit. And for someone that does not grow up learning a language with such a characteristic, it is quite tricky.

The closest comparison I can think of to English would be using a Mr./Mrs. title compared to a first name. You know when you address someone for a long time as Mr./Mrs. So-and-so, and then they say, "Aw, you can address me by FirstName." In the Mr./Mrs. stage you're comparably in the 'Sie' stage, and the FirstName stage is the 'Du' stage. Not a direct comparison, but it's as close as we can get in the English language.

Cultural Commentary

This difference is especially present in a work environment. As a rule, you use the Sie (formal) form to superiors and new colleagues or contacts, where as with your close colleagues, teammates, and friends, you use Du (informal). For those that you Sie, there usually comes a point where one member or the other will broach the subject and be like "Hey, let's Du, sound good?". But some people, honestly most typically older Germans or less-open people (imo), will firmly hold by their being addressed with Sie.

This honestly plays a pretty big role in most communication form. For ads and such, there's a slow trend that you can see the general public being addressed with the Du/dein or Ihr/euer (which is like you all, like Ustedes in Spanish) forms, instead of the Sie/Ihr formal address forms. This is usually by newer, more progressive, or more relaxed/open-minded groups.

For example, all of my bank forms that come in the mail (yep, they're still so stone age that they don't have a paperless option, despite being a very 'eco-conscious' culture), I'm addressed with the Sie/Ihr form.

I haven't read much legal text over here (THANK GOD), but I'm pretty sure either the Sie/Ihr formal form is used as a legal address of the general public or people, or it's done a bit differently where instead of using a direct you address it's formulated to say one, but even then that's a little weird and honestly a bit sexist because of the following comparison:

Example - ENGLISH - You can not do that
Example - ENGLISH - One cannot do that
Example - GERMAN - Man darf das nicht machen (literally, Man can not do that)

So that goes into a different topic, but all in all, language is a bit more intricate and engrained into various parts of life than what I'm used to.

My Experience

Utilization
For me, this duzen and siezen shift (it's honestly a switch in the brain and a mentality shift for me) is doable, but a little tiring and requires a good bit of effort. I'd say that my German proficiency was developed in a non-work, informal environment. Because of that, my primary experience is with the informal/familiar form. Getting so comfortable with the familiar form for my addresses, verb conjugations, particles, and overall sentence structure has come with practice. But, when you practice just one thing so often and don't utilize the other nearly as often, naturally, the other is a little weaker.

Because of that, when I'm in a situation where I should be Sie'ing someone, I have to think a little harder on what all needs to be modified, adjusted, changed, and conjugated to switch over to that form. I much appreiciate it when I'm able to utilize it in an email so I can be sure to double check it and go a little slower without issue to get everything correct. When I have to verbally address people with Sie though, that's when it gets a little tougher. It's not impossible. I know I'm not great at it, but I know I can do it moderately well without making a total ass of myself.

Means of Respect
Now the other aspect is the form of address as a vehicle of showing respect or familiarity to someone. To be honest, I take issue with this aspect. This could be due to my background in believing that respect is never given - it must be earned. It could be that I think respect is more clearly shown in a plethora of other ways, such as tone of voice, body language, interaction, intrisic understanding of respect and how you handle yourself, and any other number of things related to the interaction at hand. It could be due to my stubbornness in not wanting to do what is expected of me. It could be because I'm better at 'Du'ing people. But for me, I think utilizing the Sie form as a firm and required method of showing respect to someone is old-fashioned, a bit out-dated, and in some cases, downright undeserved.

As I said before, I think respect should be earned and never just straight-up given. Just because someone has a higher rank than me, does not mean they have earned or are due my respect. That doesn't mean that people start out with me getting zero respect and have to earn every bit, but that there is a base level of respect I (try to) give to everyone, and the ones that deserve more show that they're worth giving it to.

To the more prescient point though, that respect can be shown in any number of other ways, this I think is something that may be not necessarily present in people's minds here. This could be totally bogus and my observational skills are complete bogus - very much in the realm of possibilty. But I get the feeling that simply using the formal form of address could give people the feeling that they've provided enough respect through that method and that they can be dicks elsewhere. Again, this may be a very un-founded feeling, or maybe just an extrapolation of a feeling.

For me, the requirement or status of having to 'Sie' someone leaves an impression of dislike or distate. Kinda like you're always keeping someone at arms-length. This fits to a few German stereotypes, but for me, that's not how I live life. Granted, there are some people that I don't necessarily see myself getting close with or interacting with a ton to be best friends, but my opinion is, I can still treat them with a familiar tone. They're humans, I'm human, we're all in this together.

Foreigner Card
I'll give you an example of something I'm going through. So my department head (E3, level) has been extremely cordial and friendly with me since I've got here. When he's in our building, he's sure to stop by and have a little small talk, which I appreciate. I don't know how we got there (likely a previous mind-slip or laziness from me), but we've always interacted on a 'Du' level.

For most of my colleagues in my same department, this is NOT the same experience. Nearly all of them still "Sie" with our E3, and pretty consistently to a person. Similar level as me, but they have a more formal form of address with the same person. And this is a singular example, but appartenly our E3 holds to this form of formal/official address pretty strictly.

There was a rotational colleague in our department, and I can't remember how it came up, but she always 'Sie'd with our E3. This one time though, as she explained, she either slipped up or assumed a change in status and 'Du'd the E3 instead of using 'Sie'. Well, this was shut down VERY quickly with a (not a direct quotation), "Sie, please". If this ever happens, it's essentially both a slap in the face and a firm reprimand. Not a good feeling.

Background Info

This is surprisingly a different title to the 'Du' vs. 'Sie' topic. But by Title (or more accurately, Honorifics), things like Doctor, Professor, etc. in addition to the Mr./Mrs. in a person's address are very important when addressing people.

As an example, let's take the address of the lovely Mutti Merkel, Angela Merkel into account. So, she is a woman (Frau), a recipient of a Doctorate Degree (Doktor, no -in because idk), and a chancellor (Kanzlerin, -in because it's a female modification of the word). With all that combined, her title would then be:

Frau Doktor Kanzlerin Merkel

That's a fairly tame example. More tame and more common is to interact with doctors as (example, my dentist) "Herr Doktor Weiland".

Cultural Commentary

Depending on which circles you hob-nob with, it's not necessarily a given that someone has multiple titles. And depending on the person, some people are more protective and expectant of the correct utilization of their titles than others.

My Experience

I know of a couple people at work that have their doctorate, so they're Herr/Frau Doktor... But this kinda goes back to the Du/Sie thing, where this address is usually said in formal contexts, and not in everyday speech. For instance, if my colleague Rupert Mueller has his doctorate, I wouldn't call him Mr. Dr. Rupert. Rather, if it was a formal context (first meeting, Sie status, etc.), it'd be Mr. Dr. Mueller (Herr Doktor Mueller) or just Rupert.

Apparently, if I were in Austria, I could be addresses as "Herr Magister Ingenieur Tilson". Dope to know I've got a little clout in front of my name. But I would never use that. Seems way too damn pretentious to me.

Background Info

In Germany, public transportation is a much more common thing that in the US or in some other countries. In that public transportation, there are also some baseline rules and regulations for participating in that transportation. Those rules are usually no eating, no drinking (other than water), no playing loud music, and no disorderly conduct.

Cultural Commentary

Germans are generally known for being a reserved bunch, and that is usually pretty evident with people's conduct on the train or the bus. Quiet, reserved, and orderly.

When everyone is pretty quiet and 'well-behaved' (couldn't think of a better word), it's very blatant when someone steps out of that orderly march and is causing a raucous on the bus/train. As Germans are also a stereotypically judgemental bunch, this disturbance of the force is usually met with cold glares, staring eyes, and severe disdain.

My Experience

I consider myself to be one that is predominantly not trying to stand out in public. A perfect example of this is not trying to make a stir in public including transport. So when I'm on the train or a bus or whatever, I try to keep to myself, keep my area clean, throw on headphones when I'm listening to something, and generally not try to disturb the public peace.

With others though, then it depends on the group. But quite predominantly, I'm all for keeping the quiet status and getting frustrated (like a good German) with those that come in with their shitty music blasting off their speakerphone or just don't know how to speak in a respectful level. I guess you could say I fit in kinda well on this regard.

Background Info

German cities, big and small, are every now and then graced with some streets that are not paved with asphalt, but rather with cobblestones or bumpy brick work. Not too sure on the background with this, but I'll assume that it's because that was the road surface that was present many decades ago, so in keeping with the older style of architecture and a remembrance to times past, the stonework has been preserved or preferred over more modern roadway surfaces.

Cultural Commentary

Not sure what to put here, but my assumption is that many people are in favor of this type of roadway potentially for a few reasons:

• Cobblestones are the roadways of eras past, or the roadway was traditionally always cobblestone. So, if that's the way it was, why change it?
• Cobblestones aren't the best for cars. If that's the case, maybe it'll then be a hindrance to vehicle traffic, so let's give it a go

I'm sure there is much more nuance and thought and culture behind this, but that's what I've got.

My Experience

To be honest, I have no experience with such conversations. I'd imagine this could be a hot topic for some and a non-issue for others, but that'll probably depend on the person. I don't bump elbows in city-planning circles, or with many people that are avid that centuries-old roadway construction be revived, so as I said, I don't have much to contribute to this point. Sorry.

Background Info

By most measures, Germany is both a very energy-conscious country, and a space-conscious country. For those reasons (predominantly the energy one), it's fairly uncommon for your standard German household to own a dryer. Washers are usually commonplace, but a dryer is usually not present due to energy consumption.

Instead, clothes and washed items are usually hang-dried. For those lucky enough to have a garden, there's usually a contraption to hang garmets. For those with a balcony (like me), there might be some combination of ropes or wires strung across the balcony as an option to hang wet clothes. Or for those with no outdoor space, drying is usually accomplished with some kind of drying rack inside.

Cultural Commentary

To my knowledge, Germans are pretty fervent on this point. In a lot of ways, they stand on the correct side of the argument - dryers consume a ton of energy. Using heat to remove water from cloth is not an efficient process, and dryers do that as their main purpose. Because of this, I have the impression that a dryer is not even a thought for people when setting up a house or apartment. It's not that there aren't dryers available to buy here, it's just not necessarily a thought people have.

My Experience

As an example of setup and thought, my apartment in the bathroom has water hookups for a washer, but no infrastructure for a potential dryer. Granted, the location of said hookups is wonky and would essentially take up half the floor space, and so if I wanted a dryer I'd not only lose half or more of the floor space, but also some air space. Dryers weren't considered in the layout of my current apartment, and I think that can be said for most living spaces.

As for me personally though, and especially here, I don't like washing my clothes if I don't have access to a dryer. I'm lucky that there's a great laundromat just a block away (really kinda similar to the laundromats I used in Portland) that has an array of washers and industrial dryers to use. Thankfully too, as it's a decent spot and not far away, as it has driers. Boom. I still wish I could do laundry at home and not have to pack it all up just to get it done, but thankfully I've got a decent place to be able to get it done.

My reason is not based on power-consumption. I know I'm in the wrong there. But rather, I use a dryer based on the end-result of the whole process.

Germany's water is filled with a shit-ton of calcium. A metric shit-ton, if my knowledge serves me right. Because of this, when you wash, there's still a bunch of water, and thereby a bunch of calcium in your clothes. Then, if you let your clothes hang-dry, everything becomes a little stiff. The softness is gone and never an adjective able to describe hang-dried clothes in Germany. As far as I know, this is because of the high amounts of calcium in Germany's water.

Therefore, so that my clothes feel like clothes and not scouring pads, I choose to dry my clothes not by wonderful fresh air, but by the industrial heat provided by a power-consuming dryer. And I am perfectly fine with that decision.

Background Info

This one requires a little clarification. So in Germany, their relationship with kitchens is a little different than what I grew up with in the US (and different I think from most cultures). When you move into a place, it's usually assumed that you will also move in with your kitchen. Not just your pots and pans and plates and stuff. But also with your fridge, stove, microwave, dishwasher, and sometimes the full cabinetry as well. Then, when you move out, you also take that entirety of appliances and cupboards with you.

Because of this, there's a pretty big industry/importance placed on kitchen design. This isn't necessarily considered a homeowner kind of activity, but something really anyone might have to do. In most instances, if you need to buy a whole kitchen, you might as well do some kind of package deal or design, which is usually the result of the process.

Within those cookie-cutter kitchen designs, everything is usually uniformly facaded. So if you've got a dishwasher, it'll be blended into the cabinets with the same kind of paneling or design as the cupboards. Ovens and microwaves are usually visible. But this uniformity also holds true for refrigerators. To maintain a common look across the whole kitchen, the refrigerator is either embedded behind some kind of cabinet door, or the refrigerator door is modified to match the design of the cabinetry.

Cultural Commentary

I think this is a common thing due to the uniformity factor. If you're designing a kitchen, why not make it all look the same? No reason to have things stick out or look unique when it can all blend together. If that's the reason or background why this is so common for full kitchen sets, I cannot say. But, if you've got a built-in kitchen and it usually looks to be from a common design or set, and you can't find a clear culprit to be the fridge, then just start pulling knobs and handles, because that fridge is hidden behind one of those closed doors.

All this is not to say, however, that this is the only thing you may see in a kitchen. It's also very common for WGs (Wohngemeinschafts, aka shared apartments) to have a kind of hodge-podge kitchen setup. You have a small cupboard group around the sink with maybe a cabinet or two or an integrated dishwasher or oven. But if it's small, there's no room for a fridge or anything/much else. So the other kitchen appliances and needed cabinetry is put together in a piece-meal fashion. Not a bad thing, just to mean that it's not the full-design kitchen set that looks the same together and has the same theme.

My Experience

Speaking from my current situation, the singular design-set is the case. My kitchen has a singular design, white flat panel doors on the lower cabinets. The oven sticks out with a silver and black design, but every other section is covered with a white flat panel and a silver grab bar. There is no section that runs fully vertical, as you'd assume with a refridgerator, but a clear countertop that runs through the length of the kitchen and cabinets overhead. So, with that description (and this visual), where's the fridge?

Well, naturally, it's hidden behind one of the white panels! Just like the dishwasher. The fact that it's a mini-fridge to American tastes and sizes is a whole other issue, but which leads to the other aspect of the story as I've got a fridge that is not hidden behind some kind of paneling, but rather dares to show its full frame just bare and open for all to see! Bold, absolutely, but also the only choice, as there was no way I was going to pay for some kind of white paneling to match the rest of the kitchen design, and there was no way I was going to last as a feasting fiend with a tiny mini-fridge to survive off of. Had to make this happen, so it stands free as an example of the non-kitchen-set type of setup.

Background Info

Train transport is a common theme in Germany, and it can sometimes get chaotic. When there's a crowd of people waiting to get onto the next train, it is usually a mess of people pushing and shoving their way to get on first. Along the lines of the discussion that Germans aren't good with waiting in lines, this also applies to an orderly manner of getting on to and off of trains. Therefore, although it is common to see groups of people wait on either side of the train doors to allow those on the train a clear path to get off, there are usually some folks that take that clear path for the disembarkers as a parting of the Red Sea for them to skip past the people that were curteously waiting and get to that last open seat before other people even get the chance to board.

Cultural Commentary

I think the propensity for someone to be the line-cutter/seat-dasher rather than the next-to-the-door-waiter is less a cultural thing and more a personality thing. If someone is so self-centered and arrogant that they are ready to take advantage of those showing some courtesy and order in the embarking/disembarking process to skip the line in order to get to a seat quicker than everyone else while trying to elbow your way upstream in the process, I'd say it has more to do with what kind of a person they are than what the local culture has taught them.

BUT, I would not be surprised if this is a more common occurrence here due to the sentiments mentioned in the line-waiting section above. But I don't have any data to back this up, and I have a strong feeling this is common in places like New York with a big subway system and a plethora of mentalities and such. So, culuturally speaking, my presumption is that this behavior is a personality trait, but the likelihood of it happening here is high because of some cultural tendencies. My dissertation on this topic will soon be availble for analysis.

My Experience

I am definitely one of the ones that stands to the side. Not to be outdone by the crookedness of this non-queueing culture though, I try to find the spot right next to the door opening, so as soon as the crowd of people getting off is gone, I can jump in and rush to a spot. I try and get in quickly to get a good spot (especially if it's an IC or ICE train), but I try to do it how a civilized person would do so. That sounds all kinds of righteous and high-and-mighty, but I think I'm doing it in a respectable manner.

Background Info

I don't know when the impetus for this public opinion occurred, but nuclear energy has a very negative 'approval rating' or opinion in the public mind here in Germany. After a quick read on Wikipedia, the country is planning on ensuring all nuclear power plants in Germany are shut down or decommissioned by 2022. After the Fukushima disaster, eight of the then-operating reactors were shut down. So in all, the public mentality for nuclear energy is negative, with an impending plan to elminate all of the country's nuclear-based power-generation within the next couple of years.

In contrast, assumingly all forms of renewable energy generation have a very positive opinion in the German-public's eye. Wind is a huge industry in Germany, and so is solar. Renewables are a huge part of Germany's power generation portfolio, and year-over-year make up an increasingly larger share thereof.

Cultural Commentary

These (as with everything written on here...) are just my opinions, but I think the majority of the country threw their opinion on nuclear down the drain due to some accidents and disasters that have occurred. That said, this is a common occurrence across most countries or societies with civil nuclear energy generation. It's a very volatile word, let-alone technology, so as soon as something negative pops up, that negativity and news spreads quickly, and usually happens to reinforce any existing negative opinions. Again, this is not specific to Germany, but I think is also the case, for example, in the US..

My Experience

More like my opinions based on my research, but I do find nuclear energy to be a better method of power-generation than solar energy. It would take me a while to thoughtfully write out my thoughts, with sources and reference material, so what I'll say below is off the cuff. Please feel free to correct me on this if you see any errors or know better than me!

To my knowledge, nuclear has a higher power density compared to solar and is in fact the second-highest compared to the most common power generation sources. This, in essence, means that for a given area of land, nuclear energy is able to generate more power. In addition, nuclear power has the highest capacity factor of any power-generation source, whereas solar has one of the lowest capacity factors.

One argument that people use a lot is the risk of explosion, catastrophe, danger, death, etc. that arises due to nuclear energy. Yes, it is very clear and obvious that nuclear fuel and technology is much more dangerous than that of solar energy. A solar panel is not going to explode and provide toxic radiation to the local area that could linger for 1000s of years. But, the likelihood of catastrophe with nuclear plants is extremely low, and the propensity for nuclear energy to be the cause of death is also extremely low in today's day and age. This is pretty consistent throughout history, especially when compared to other power generation sources. Check out this video from Kurzgesagt that talks about this and lays out some good data and comparisons to highlight this.

All this to also say that I am nowhere near against solar energy. The sun provides an immense amount of energy to us Earthlings every day, and we should definitely try to harness that as best we can. But, in my opinion, a country's power-generation portfolio should be a mix of nuclear and renewable energy (wind, solar, geothermal, hydro, tidal) sources. Gas, coal, LNG, all that shit can go, but nuclear and the renewables should make up the portfolio to provide our world with efficient, clean, and steady sources of energy. Also, Nuclear and The Renewables could be a cool band name.

Background Info

For those that have experience with a dishwasher, usually there is a method to a dishwasher's design. A little cubby for the silverware or a really small tray on top, a big shelf on the bottom for big pots and pans and plates, then a small shelf on top for cups and bowls and long utensils and things. I've never talked to someone that works in the realm of dishwasher design, but that's my baseline assumption, and so far it has yet to be proven otherwise.

Cultural Commentary

This is another one that I will assume spans many cultures and countries, and is not specific to Germany. But was definitely suggested because of the orderliness and structure stereotype people have of Germans. When it comes to dishwashers and the manner with which people load them, I have yet to come across someone that doesn't have some kind of order or sense to how they load it.

Everyone has their method, specific to their upbringing, their experience with tetris, or the build of their dishwasher. But I have never seen someone just throw shit in there and see how it goes. And if I ever did run into someone that just put things wherever they felt, without having SOME semblance of a pattern, order, rhythm, or method to it, I don't know what I'd do.

My Experience

I, as you could presume, am one that loads a dishwasher in an orderly manner. Silverware go in the silverware tray/cubby/thing, but long utensils like spatulas and whathaveyou get laid down on the upper shelf. Plates stood up in the tines on the bottom shelf and then big bowls and pots fill the rest of the bottom shelf. Cups are lined on the outsides of the top shelf, and bowls down the spine of the top shelf.

I feel like you'd have to be some kind of sociopath to be able to just throw things in whereever in a dishwasher. Seriously, I can't even fathom it.

Background Info

Germany uses a slightly different toilet design compared to what is used in the US. For example a US toilet (typical) and a German toilet (typical). Because of the different design/geometry, it is preferred that men do not stand to take a piss because the trajectory will likely cause some spillage and collateral damage on the toilet and bathroom.

This is not to say that all toilets are this typical design. In fact, most modern buildings have different toilet design types. But I think the mentality is faily engrained in the culture that you should only sit if you are faced with an actual toilet, and if you want to stand to piss, you should really only do so with a urinal.

Cultural Commentary

This seems to be a pretty fair assessment, but naturally, as seen from the eyes of a foreigner. That said, I have no idea how to back this up or provide some supporting evidence.

My Experience

Again, depends on the toilet type. If I encounter a bathroom without a urinal, I usually check to see what kind of a toilet it is first. If it's the one with the plateau in the back, probably gonna sit because I don't want to make a mess. But again, totally depends on the bathroom.

Background Info

Germany has a pretty defined waste system and corresponding infrastructure. This (from my understanding) stems from the environmentally-conscious mentality of the German society. So, to ensure environmental consciousness isn't confined to a single aspect of life, it's also been expanded in waste management.

As a baseline for comparison, in the US (and not in all places), you have a category for garbage (pretty much everything), and then one for plastics or general recyclables (plastics, paper, metals, etc.).

In Germany though, things are a little more expanded. From my knowledge, here are the categories I know of:

• Paper
• Bio-/Food-waste
• Plastics
• General Garbage
• Pfand bottles and cans (get a couple cents per item) -- DO NOT just throw them out
• Bottles/Glass
• Brown glass
• Green glass
• White glass (not including flat glass)
• Bulk materials (here I have no idea how this works. Mostly just see this present via every now and then furniture and shit is just shoved next to the street)

Just as a point of comparison, things are fairly regimented and differentiated when it comes to waste management and recycling here in Germany.

Cultural Commentary

In my experience, Germans really take this very seriously. It's not that they'll just kinda slide with it or just use the systems (which can be completely different depending on what city/state you live in...), but really adhere to them. And if they catch you not following this structure, by golly they are gonna call you out for it.

My Experience

I feel that I've done a pretty damn good job at adhering to these rules. Here's my setup - my Packers garbage can is used for Paper, my big garbage can for the General Garbage, a loose plastic bag (the bag of which I reuse) for the plastics, and bio-degradable bags that I use for the food-/bio-waste that I keep in the fridge (I initially had this sitting in a bio-tub on the counter, but the prevalence of fruit flies drove me nuts).

Although I've got what I assume to be a pretty good system in place, I do screw up sometimes. Sometimes when I throw out paper towels (this was moreso the case when my big garbage can was full of wood shavings and used in the workshop), I'll throw them in with the bio-waste. But for the most part. I'm pretty sure I hold to this aspect of the culture fairly well.

Background Info

Part of the whole recycling system is the topic of Pfand (or for those in such US States with a similar system - Bottle Drop). For this setup, glass bottles can get you 0.08€ and aluminum cans can get you 0.25€. For the most part, bottle return locations are present at some grocery stores or at most drink markets (beer, liquor, wine, refreshments). In comparison to my knowledge of systems in Oregon, I don't know if there are separate buildings or establishments set up specifically for the purpose of bottle returns, but purely consolidated to stores.

Cultural Commentary

The topic of Pfand (bottle drop, getting cash for cans and bottles), is usually even more rigidely adhered to than the full recycling system. It's not like you're making a ton for going with this, but for how much people drink beer over here, it ain't nothing when you return a full case of beers, and as with most things I think people are brought up being taught to do this, so Pfand is a system that keep alive.

That's not to say that everyone here keeps track of their bottles and cans and is sure to depost them themselves to get their money back. That's definitely not the case. But, for people that are done with a can or a bottle and don't want to hang on to it, rather than throwing it in a garbage can, they'll set it outside of the garbage so an interested passerby can gather them up to collect the proceeds.

My Experience

For me, I do most of my shopping at a big-box kinda grocery store, (Kaufland, think of a wanna-be Fred Meyer), and at this Kaufland there's a drink market attached, which conveniently has a few bottle drop machines. That being the case, for those few times that I remember to do it, I'll bring my bottles with me when I go grocery shopping, return the bottles, get all my groceries, and always forget the coupon from the bottle return until after I start the payment process, which always angers the cashier because it requires restarting the payment step. Oh well. At least I get a benefit of it.

Though I participate actively in this system, there are some flaws. I don't know the truth behind this, but I've heard/believed that stores that have a bottle drop only allow the bottle drop for bottles/cans that are able to be purchased at that store. Either that or the ones at Kaufland are a little restricted. When this comes up and there's a bottle that doesn't get read in the machine or isn't accepted, I'll just throw it in the garbage. That is definitely not the right thing to do. But...

Background Info

Translations:

• [ENG] Chef - Koch [DE]
• [ENG] Boss - Chef [DE]

As evident by the word-similarities, when people say Chef, it means Boss. But for those not so strong with this language, people could be mistakenly put in the food mindset.

Cultural Commentary

Chef is commonly used to describe a superior, but it is not nearly the only one available. Team-Leiter (team leader) and Manager (manager) are two also-commonly used terms to describe the person that you work for.

As you can imagine though, a German would pretty much never experience this confusion. When they hear 'mein Chef', they're likely in a work mindset or will be in one soon, rather than having their thoughts directed to something related to gastronomy. But don't worry, that mind-meandering comes through the monotonous monologue that can be what some people refer to as presentations over here.

My Experience

I can't firmly say if I ever got tripped up with this translation similarity. But considering my constant desire for food, I'm pretty sure that I got confused a time or two during CBYX with this one.

Background Info

Along with a few of the previous topics related to labor-laws, a non-paid lunch period is legally required during your work day. I don't know the exact general law. But I'm pretty sure you are required to have a 40-min break after a set number of hours during your work day.

Cultural Commentary

I don't know the rules, but I'm really quite sure that my coworkers do. That, and the mentality is definitely a break-oriented culture. That to say, if the law mandates that you take a break, well, then let's take that required break.

Things are a little different, but mostly similar, when you compare a workshop to an office environment. For the workshop, the day looks as follows:

• 06:00 - Start of shift
• 08:30 - Start of Breakfast Break
• 08:45 - Back to Work
• 12:00 - Start of Lunch
• 12:40 - Back to Work
• 14:40 - End of Shift

I don't know how this all developed, but that's how it goes. Now, the SHITTY part, for us in the office, the company is too lazy to designate who is in the office or in the shop, so even us folks in the office get the times from 08:30-08:45 and 12:00-12:40 deducted from our time card as a break. Even if I take a 3 hour lunch, or no lunch at all, that time is subtracted.

Most of the older folks in the office are very consistent with utilizing every minute of this break. A lot of folks will go up to the canteen quickly and eat their fill, but waste no time in getting back to their desk to work sleep. Very analogous to the mandatory lunch time in Japan, people will take the extra time in their lunch break not allocated to food-related activites and allocate that to sleep-related activities.

My Experience

Now let me bitch about this setup for a bit. I come from a mentality that puts emphasis on working and results and just get shit done, not about setting pre-defined legally-required times to take breaks or eat lunch. For me, it annoys the shit out of me that A) my break times are dictated (purely in the form that that timeframe is deducted from my working hours each day), and B) the break/lunch times likely never actually reflect the actual times (specifc times, or time durations), that a break or lunch was taken.

I will clarify, that my mentality is likely going to lead to breaking the law (not taking a long enough break or long enough lunch after a certain elapsed time). But for me, I would MUCH rather have any non-paid time NOT take place on work grounds. If I'm not getting paid for my time, I'd rather be somewhere I actually want to be, not at my desk at work.

Because of that (and I think it really boils down to control...), it really pisses me off that although I would rather eat my Lunch at my own pace and get right back to work, or maybe even eat my lunch and work on my computer at the same time, ixnay on the athay. That don't fly.

To add on top of this, if there's a conversation at lunch, it all revolves around work!!! So for a period of time during the day where I'm not being paid and essentially legally required to take a break, that time in effect becomes a lunch meeting or discussion. Such bullshit.

Background Info

Another labor law includes the heavy restrictions of being allowed to work on Sunday. From Daimler, I have been told that you need to receive a director's (some level of a superior's) approval in order to be able to do this. But in general, as I understand it, working on Sunday is not allowed.

As an aside, the no work on Sunday thing also heavily involves truck traffic. From 00:00-22:00 on Sundays, trucks (outside of some excepted categories) are not allowed to drive. That aspect is kinda nice, as travel on Sundays on the Autobahn are a little more open and clear.

Cultural Commentary

As far as I know, people hold to this pretty rigidly. And to their defense, why the hell not? Not only is the weekend the weekend and ain't no company taking that time away from me, but Sunday's in Germany in general are a holy day (as seen with the experience of Corona, definitely too much so...).

Daimler is an old German company with a very old German menality, so that's not that surprising that this law is easy to hold to. But again, Sunday's are holy territory to begin with over here. Shops, services, pretty much everything closes down on Sundays. So working in general is not easy to do, and therefore not easy to get green-lighted even if you wanted to.

My Experience

I have never tried to, nor do I care to try to, work on Sundays over here. It's not like I'd get paid time and a half or something, and it would just waste hours of me-time during my weekend. I am not about that.

Background Info

As mentioned above, working contracts are set up a little differently here than what we're used to in the US. To my knowledge, every worker/employee/whatever has an hour amount that is tied to their contract dictating how many hours they're expected to work per week. For example, I have a 40-hour contract, a lot of my coworkers have 35-hour contracts, and they can vary.

So everyone has a standard level of daily hours that they should work to essentially keep the peace and ride the wave. For me, daily working hours are 8, for most of my coworkers it's 7. But, due to high work levels, it's rare that we always just get to our daily working hours and call it quits right on the dot. Instead, there's a different system that keeps track of any fluctuations in working hours.

Gleitzeit (Flex Time) is a system that keeps track of your hours and essentially tracks your plus and minus. So, say for example, that I work 9 hours a day for a whole week. That'd put me at 45 hours for the week, 5 more than my contractual limit. Thankfully, it's not that those extra 5 hours are just money in the company's pocket, but they get tracked in a time account where this extra time is owed back to me later in the form of time off. So when I have a positive balance in my Gleitzeit account, that means more time off!!!

Cultural Commentary

As I said before, Germans are (at least those I work around) are not a work-shy bunch. Everyone in my team is usually pushing the edge of how many hours can legally be worked in a day. So for the guys with a 7 hour contract, they're not really paying attention to that, but moreso to what is at hand that needs to get done. That's a mentality I am very familiar with.

My Experience

Probably not too surprising, but I'm often exceeding my threshold of 8 hours per day of work. On the one hand, it's kind of annoying, because that means there's more hours that I'm allocating to work rather than my personal life. Right now it kinda works out because, well, Corona. But on the other hand, for any hours or even minutes that I work above an average of 8 hours per day, that's vacation in the bank!

As a positive note, since the start of the year, I'm already at 60 hours of Gleitzeit in my account. Which is an extra week and a half of vacation. How dope is that!?! The dark side of this will be clarified in the next point.

Background Info

As mentioned above, working contracts are set up a little differently here than what we're used to in the US. To my knowledge, every worker/employee/whatever has an hour amount that is tied to their contract dictating how many hours they're expected to work per week. For example, I have a 40-hour contract, a lot of my coworkers have 35-hour contracts, and they can vary.

So everyone has a standard level of daily hours that they should work to essentially keep the peace and ride the wave. For me, daily working hours are 8, for most of my coworkers it's 7. But, due to high work levels, it's rare that we always just get to our daily working hours and call it quits right on the dot. Instead, there's a different system that keeps track of any fluctuations in working hours.

Gleitzeit (Flex Time) is a system that keeps track of your hours and essentially tracks your plus and minus. Contrary to the previous example, let's say that I work 7 hours a day for a whole week. That'd put me at 35 hours for the week, 5 LESS than my contractual limit. Unfortunately, that negative delta of 5 hours are not just forgotten out of the goodwill of the company (HAH!!!), but they get tracked in a time account where this loss of time is owed back to the company later in the form of more work. So when I have a negative balance in my Gleitzeit account, that means more work. :-( ...)

Cultural Commentary

As I said before, Germans are (at least those I work around) are not a work-shy bunch. Because of this, I don't know of ANYONE that has ever had a negative Gleitzeit Account. From a few people in the department, I've heard 160-200 hours is a pretty standard status to have of hours essentially ready to be used as vacation. Talking to one of my colleagues who used to work in the Passenger Car unit, he had some colleagues who had upwards of 900-1000 hours in their Gleitzeit account. Going from that to a negative stand would take some serious vacation time.

In regards to working fewer than 8 hours per day though, for most of my colleagues, that is essentially the status quo. All the guys on my team have 35-hour contracts. So 7 hours a day is essentially what is expected of them. That said, seeing guys work less than 8 hours a day is possible and honestly normal, but is rarely seen due to high workloads.

My Experience

For me, it's pretty rare to work less than 8 hours per day. I don't want to unnecessarily let my Gleitzeit account drop down for no reason. Taking a few hours on Friday afternoon off though isn't out of the question, so that's a good example of when such an instance could occur.

In terms of the Gleitzeit thing though, once Corona initially hit, I was down to -80 hours of work. It SUCKED. Because my contract was special and I was required to work through the whole pandemic, although ALL of my colleagues were getting paid to legally not be able to work, I had to somehow busy myself while perfectly new in the role and not having a single colleague available to get things done. This sucked, majorly. And it took my a good 6 months to dig myself out of that hole.

Background Info

Public transportation is very common here in Germany. So much so, that all classes of people surprisingly commonly take part. It's really quite refreshing and hopeful seeing kids going to school sit with executives going to work sitting with someone down on their luck sitting with the old grandma going to get her groceries. It's really quite a good societal potpurri.

But, when people are on public transport, if they're not looking at their phone or a book, they're likely looking around at the colorful mixture of people present in the train or bus and finding something to stare, gawk, or look at, all the while usually providing some kind of negative glance indicating some internal judgement taking place. This can be off-putting, but to be honest, such judgement is not isolated to transportation, but can really be found anywhere outside of your own home.

Cultural Commentary

Germans are a pretty damn judgemental bunch. Very subjective and non-sensitive opinion, but in my experience, it holds pretty true.

When it comes to something in public, where people don't have to directly interact but can still cast their shameful glares and such, that is prime judgement court right there. Therefore, when you find yourself in a train, honestly whether it's full or empty, there is almost guaranteed to be a good number of eyes finding something to criticize with their gaze and will maintain visual contact, usually with some sort of scowl or facial contortion included for good measure.

My Experience

I am no angel, and have definitely caught myself from time to time taking on this bad habit. It's' easy to do if you're unoccupied (aka not staring at your phone), and there's a wide array of personalities and situations to capture your eye. When I do this, I try to maintain a neutral face, and try not to linger on any one thing for too long. This definitely deviates from the local tendency, but I'd rather be somewhat normal and not adhere to the customs that come off as a judgemental onlooker.

But again, I am no angel. As my Mom will definitely confirm.

Background Info

Germans are, among many other characteristics, a very proud bunch. This isn't a bad thing, as it shows interest and satisfaction in a topic.

In German, to say you are proud of something, you literally saying that you have pride on something. It's a bit of a weird translation, but that's how it goes. For example, if you were to say, "I'm proud of my friend for finding a new job", you'd say "Ich bin stolz auf mein Kumpel, da er einen neuen Job gefunden hat" (I am proud on my friend, because he a new job found has).

Cultural Commentary

The reason I think this topic popped up on the list is because sometimes Germans take this a bit too far, especially when it comes to something related directly with Germany.

Something all my CBYX friends can confirm is that damn near any time something comes up, and there was someone, something, some time, some place, something that had a direct connection to Germany, that connection will be very clearly listed, made known, and made to be presented as the cornerstone for that topic.

If this was just a point of information, that it's known they are proud of the contribution that someone related to Germany contributed to a certain aspect or topic, great! All for that. But it more often than not comes across as that German-connection is the sole reason for any amount of success or reason for that topic to exist.

My Experience

The only blatant example I can think of off the top of my head is related to soccer. This has happened a couple of times, but at some point US soccer is brought up and how soccer is growing in popularity and quality in the US. A discussion could be had on this topic, but 9 times out of 10 the German in the discussion will pipe up and say that US Soccer is now only good because we had Juergen Klinsmann (former German coach) as coach of our national team.

Stupidly I can't think of a better example, but if you chat with any of my CBYX friends (especially Zack), this phenomenon can be easily confirmed through their experiences.

Background Info

Not sure about this one. Weather is a common topic in most cultures I've been exposed to, and in Germany it's also a common point of discussion. Germany is not a country that really accepts small talk, but weather appears to be a common exception to that rule.

Cultural Commentary

Again, not really sure what to say here, other than that weather is a common point of discussion.

My Experience

I don't feel like I've changed any habits or regularity of talking about the weather between my life in the US and my life in Germany. So for me, this isn't anything all too special or particular to Germany.

Background Info

Once the good weather shows up after a long winter, people are all about taking advantage of it as soon as possible. Usually this is done by flocking to any amount of green space within a hop, skip, and a jump's distance, with a big blanket, a grill, and a case of beer in tow to enjoy the sunlight and warm weather. There is no time to waste when nice weather comes.

Cultural Commentary

Not sure how this is super specific to Germany, but maybe because people really take advantage of this quickly and thoroughly. On really any beautiful, sunny day, green spaces in town are filled pretty quickly with people all over the place - so much so that it quickly becomes hard to find a place to sit.

This one comes up because I think people here are very opportunistic when it comes to good weather. You see the sun shine, you get outside and make something of it. Definitely a lot to learn from such a mentality.

My Experience

I am not always so johnny-on-the-spot with this one, as it more depends on what I've already got going on, or who I could be doing something with. If there's nice weather, you're sure as shit I'm going to try and take advantage of it. Just a matter of finding the right way to do so.

Some time in February or March this year, we had a very cold week of -5 - 0 C (23-32F) temperatures, followed up by a week of temps that felt like early-summer, 15-22C (60-72F). It was peeeeerrrrfect. And naturally, everyone came out of the woodwork to enjoy and take advantage of it. Can't blame 'em!

Background Info

There are a couple points to clarify on this one. For one, sparkling water is seemingly much more common than still water here. Most people drink exclusively sparkling water (bubbly water, water with gas), regardless of the situation. Additionally, when you go to a restaurant, for one, you don't get a glass of complementary water. Second, if you do ask for water, when the waiter/waitress hears 'water', they default immediately to sparkling water.

Cultural Commentary

I don't know how or why this type of water is more popular, but people fucking love it here. So much so that you can find it everywhere. Obviously you can find big bottles and cases of the stuff at the grocery store and drink markets and such. That's a given. But at work, we've got a number of water dispensers that also have a sparkling option. Then, for when people go home, there are devices that can bubbly-up singular bottles of water, and even some water bottles that can carbonate water on its own. This type of 'water' is pervasive and everywhere.

My Experience

My thoughts? Fuck that disgusting crap. I have never drank any kind of sparkling water and found it to have an ounce of refreshment in it, or any ability to quench my thirst. Blugh.

So, if I am in a situation and I have to ask for water, you bet your buttons I'm asking for water 'ohne Gas' (without gas) so I can actually enjoy that delicious H2O as it's meant to be enjoyed - pure and without any of that nasty carbonation.

What really, truly blows my mind on this debate, is that people drink that stuff when working out or exercising. Seriously?!? That is the last thing I could see myself wanting as 'refreshment' if I'm working up a sweat or working hard. No way.

Background Info

Going back up to the "Stolz Auf" item, a lot of those points feed into the background here. Germans are very proud about their country and whatever they can put a positive connection on. This mentality and mindset is heightened (maybe a little bias here), when comparing it to countries that are deemed not as advanced or evolved as Germany. Therefore, when a comparison to the US is brought up, the sentiment is usually negative, as the belief is normally that Germany is better.

Cultural Commentary

This could be moreso very entrenched in certain topics and is most likely not a blanket statement. But, for those topics where it is applicable, the staunch belief that the US can't be better than Germany is fairly prevalent.

My Experience

In my opinion, there are topics where the US is better and where Germany is better.

I'll start off with the tame ones, where Germany has a clear edge:

• Worker's rights and working conditions (limited working hours, pro-worker stances and mentality)
• Healthcare (shit's free yo...)
• Driver's education and quality of drivers here
• Public Transportation and the ability to be mobile without a car
• An engaged and informed populace
• And a good number more not listed here

Now, here's where things get interesting. These items below are where the US has a clear advantage, but for the most part, Germany will never accept it because either Germany can do no wrong, or moreso due to the mentality that because it's done a certain way in Germany that must be the right way of doing it. Here, though, are where the US is better than Germany:

• Beer. The US has what is called VARIETY. We're not limited to four ingredients thanks to an over 500-year-old law, and therefore can brew things with imagination and innovation
• Speaking of which - Innovation. The ability to take bigger steps and leaps from the current norm to achieve a goal or task
• Efficient Bureaucracy (kinda). Germany has processes to have processes and forms in order to fill out forms. Most of the time it just leads to confusion and frustration. The US is no poster-child in terms of bureacracy, but it's nowhere near as convoluted and inefficient as in Germany.
• Customer Service. In the US it actually exists. Wheras in Germany it's not listed in the dictionary
• I could keep going...

All this is NOT to say that the US is a better country than Germany. That is an argument that cannot be decided on a few topics, but is really a colorful discussion to have. I could honestly rant on both sides as to why which country is in which area is better. Because that's just it, both countries have their pros and cons, strengths and weaknesses.

Background Info

As mentioned in one of the topics above, Sunday is a fairly holy day in Germany. Holy not necessarily in a religious sense, although that is a part of it. But moreso in the sense that everything shuts down on Sundays. Grocery stores, shopping malls, drug stores, really any retail interface is required by law to be closed on Sundays.

There are certain things that are able to open up on Sundays such as bakeries, gas stations, train stations, and very emergency services. But for the most part, if you are looking to do any shopping on Sundays, you are S.O.L.

Cultural Commentary

Germans have this fact completely internalized, and therefore know how to prepare for this. All shopping is done Friday or Saturday in advance, but thank god bakeries are still open so fresh bread can be bought on Sunday morning. Then, the rest of the day is spent walking with family, and then coffee and cake from 2-4pm, and then a relaxing evening doing whateverthehellelse Germans do on Sundays. But shopping, that's never on the table because this is engrained in their minds from day one.

My Experience

For us uncultured foreigners who happen to be in Germany on a Sunday, this fact can be a stark realization. You're there, hungry, expecting to be able to waltz into your local REWE just like you would a Fred Meyer. But it's closed. And the Lidl is closed. And the Aldi. And the Edeka. Everything is closed.

Thankfully, after now a few years of experience and being used to this, I haven't run into this issue much anymore. Sunday is my preferred day to go mountain biking because A) I don't need to shop, B) it takes up the most of the day, and C) there are no trucks on the highway so it's nicer to drive. But thankfully, I haven't been in a situation where I needed to buy something on a Sunday in a while. So I guess you could say I've learned that custom fairly well.

Background Info

For the purposes of sharing rough times throughout the year, rather than saying 'the third week of April', calendars here typically include the enumerated calendar week next to each week. This is rarely the case for calendars in the US, as people just don't use Calendar Week that often in North America. Therefore, it's a different custom once people interact with Germany and Europe and someone says "Calendar Week 15" or something. Here's what I mean: Calendar Week Example.

Weirdly enough, Europe and North America (for the parts of North America that use it) do not always have the same number for the same week. And after a little digging, the difference appears to be decided between who follows ISO 8601 in terms of calendar setup and week date information.

In summary, when following the ISO 8601 guidelines, the first Calendar Week of the year falls on the week of January 1, if January 1 is on a Monday-Thursday. If, however, January 1 is on a Friday-Sunday, then that date falls into Calendar Week 52 or 53 of the previous year.

As an example, January 1, 2021 fell on a Friday. So, in the EU or other countries that follow ISO 8601, Calendar Week 1 for 2021 is the week starting January 4th, 2021 (also a Monday, because ISO 8601 starts the week with Mondays which is a WAYYYY better way to go). For the US though, Calendar Week 1 is the week with January 1st, 2021. So, for 2021, the Calendar Weeks between the US and Germany are not aligned, but rather the US is one week 'ahead' of ISO 8601.

Cultural Commentary

Germans seem to have a pretty good understanding of this setup and appear to use it quite frequently - not necessarily just in a work environment. At work it is used quite a bit as a quick method of clarifying a certain part of the year. It also seems to be a more mechanical way to address dates, which subjectively fits well to the logistical or detailed stereotypes of Germans.

My Experience

In all honesty, I'm a fan of the Calendar Week nomenclature. We weird, Americans, just like being behind the times with not using the metric system, for some reason also don't utilize ISO 8601. For me, the biggest part of that is having a week start on Monday. That makes so much more sense to me than to have a week start on Sunday. Who the hell thought of that anyways? Sunday is part of the weekEND, right? Then whey does it START the week on a calendar?

But for Calendar Week stuff, it's just annoying that there's a different number for the same week used between the US and Germany. That can get a bit confusing at work, as someone will say CW15 (Calendar Week 15), but it then means a different week depending on which calendar you look at.

Background Info

Going back to the previous point about Calendar Weeks, ISO 8601 also clarifies the structure of how to write clock time (HH:MM:SS) as going from 00:00:00 to 23:59:59. Compared to the US, however, where time goes from 12:00:00A.M. to 11:59:59A.M. and 12:00:00P.M. to 11:59:59P.M.

Here, rather than using A.M. and P.M. to clarify if one o'clock is in the morning or the evening, the distinction is made that 01:00 corresponds to 01:00A.M., and 13:00 corresponds to 01:00P.M.

Cultural Commentary

The usage of this time construction of time is definitely wide-spread in Germany, but it's not the only version used. I have yet to hear anyone hear utilize A.M. or P.M. Rather, people will say more directly, for example, "three in the afternoon (drei Uhr Nachmittags)" instead of saying Hour 15 or so. Because of the multiple conventions in use though, you just have to be on your toes and a little more attentive as to what is being said and what time is being considered.

My Experience

For me, I'm a big fan of (as we Americans call it) military time. Going from 00 - 23, that's pretty damn straightforward and hard to mix up when it comes to morning times or afternoon times. Ever since living in Germany for CBYX, my clocks have always been set to the ISO 8601 time convention, and it makes it pretty easy to always know what's going on, even after I wake up from a nap in that drunken stupor resulting from sleep. As soon as I see 17:00, I know it's five o'clock in the afternoon. Boom. Easy. Straightforward.

Background Info

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that butter is the most frequently used ingredient in terms of cooking in Germany. It is an important part of many dishes, or even just as a fattening agent. But as you know, it's needed for baking, and it finds its way into most/all things one can eat here.

Cultural Commentary

There's a reason this topic came up, because butter is really extremely pervasive here. This requires a little explanation for an example, but German breakfasts are a little different over here. Normally it's just a giant potpourri of various breads, spreads, jams, meats and cheeses, and whatever else. Well the most common spread is easily butter. Just throw a slab of butter on anything baked and either eat it just like that or throw something on it. But butter is the most popular (from my observation) spread out there.

Pair that with whatever's cooking, where butter is used to oil up the pan, and you get a good amount of butter covering whatever is cooking. Then baking, again, butter to grease the pans or trays or whatever. Maybe I'm sensationalizing it a bit, but butter seems to be everywhere.

My Experience

I am not a frequent butter eater. For one, when I need to fry something with a pan, I'll use vegetable oil instead of butter to grease it up. Then, if I'm eating something for breakfast, I don't usually follow the German model with breads and spreads and such, but usually a bowl of cereal, fruit and yogurt; or something like scrambled eggs or so.

For me, butter does come into play when I'm eating some Mettbrötchen. If I don't have any chive cream cheese or something like that, I'll spread a little layer of butter down before I put on the Mett, and that's pretty damn good. As my buddy Christoph would call it, Feinkost / Gourmet.

As for the defensiveness of the frequency of butter, I've never seen any arguments take place if someone knocks on the healthiness of butter. I would assume (ass, you, me, I get it) that most intelligent people can recognize that butter is not exactly healthy, especially when consumed in excess.

Background Info

Smoking is still a surprisingly popular vice in Germany and in Europe. And although packs of cigarettes are very easy to buy at grocery stores, kiosks, gas stations, and at the many cigarette vending machines that are easy to find on most street corners, it is also easy and common to see people here rolling their own cigarettes instead. Bags of tobacco, along with filters and papers are easy to find usually anywhere cigarettes are sold, so the difference really comes down to the smoker's taste/preference.

Cultural Commentary

As I am not a cigarette smoker myself, all this is going to be postulation.

As I said, smoking is still surprisingly popular over here. From my non-smoker perspective, the self-rolled cigarettes appear to have a few benefits compared to the pre-packaged ones: they seem to be overall cheaper, they seem to be more customizable/flexible, and they seem to be more indie/retro/'organic'/alternative.

In my eyes, that last benefit/group is likely the one that would try and argue that self-rolled cigarettes are actually healthy, or at least healthier compared to pre-packaged ones. This is a flawed argument, but I have the feeling someone might try to argue that point.

Again, I'm not a smoker, have no experience here, so this is all conjecture.

My Experience

First: cigarettes == EWWW. Not a fan of the smoke and smell of them. I've never tried one, and don't plan on it because it's not appealing whatsoever.

I've never talked much about cigarettes over here, and defintely never had to argue that hand-rolled cigarettes are just as healthy as packaged cigarettes, which is not healthy at all. I could potentially see someone somewhere trying to make that argument, but I don't think it holds water.