Went to Germany for work....my impressions

Brampton_Boy

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I just got back from a work trip to Germany - I spent 10 days in Dusseldorf and Frankfurt.... I know that isn't exactly representative of what a country has to offer, but I was not impressed.

My first experience was extremely negative - I get a taxi from the airport to the hotel, and the driver seems really angry (but speaking exclusively in German). I couldn't tell if he was angry at the traffic, at me, or something else entirely, but the guy spends the whole time screaming and banging his hands on the dashboard. We get to the hotel and I give him my credit card - keep in mind his window has a VISA/Mastercard sign in it. He loses his shit and says only money (and he keeps on repeating the word money and banging the steering wheel). This continues for a couple of minutes until he pulls out the credit card machine and punches in 40 Euros.....which was double the fixed fare that was advertised at the airport. I just said fuck it and paid him.

I don't even get to the hotel entrance and I am stopped by security who demand to see my passport. I tell them no and say that I am a guest at the hotel - the security could only speak broken english and just kept on demanding to see my passport. Eventually the hotel concierge comes out and explains that the EuroCup is being played at the Dusseldorf Arena (which was attached to the hotel) and because of heightened security risks, everybody has to show their passport. Fine, I give them my passport and check in. I was booked in a single room, which in every other instance in my life, meant a room with one queen or king sized bed in it. Instead, I get a room with two single sized beds - I am physically wider than a single sized bed and I go to the reception and explain that this must be a mistake. They tell me that it is no mistake, and just to push the two beds together.

For the next 8 days, I dealt with some of the rudest, angriest and unhelpful people I have ever met in my life (these were all service people - either people at working at the conference, in the hotel, or at the airport.... I didn't meet many people from the general public). People I dealt with seemed insulted when I couldn't speak German - on the way back, I missed my connecting flight because of a delay, and when I went to the Lufthansa help desk, the woman said "just check your email to see what to do next, I don't have any information".

The German people I know in my life back home in Canada are the exact opposite of what I experienced, so I don't know if I just had a string of bad luck, or whether Germany just doesn't like me.
 
I just got back from a work trip to Germany - I spent 10 days in Dusseldorf and Frankfurt.... I know that isn't exactly representative of what a country has to offer, but I was not impressed.

My first experience was extremely negative - I get a taxi from the airport to the hotel, and the driver seems really angry (but speaking exclusively in German). I couldn't tell if he was angry at the traffic, at me, or something else entirely, but the guy spends the whole time screaming and banging his hands on the dashboard. We get to the hotel and I give him my credit card - keep in mind his window has a VISA/Mastercard sign in it. He loses his shit and says only money (and he keeps on repeating the word money and banging the steering wheel). This continues for a couple of minutes until he pulls out the credit card machine and punches in 40 Euros.....which was double the fixed fare that was advertised at the airport. I just said fuck it and paid him.

I don't even get to the hotel entrance and I am stopped by security who demand to see my passport. I tell them no and say that I am a guest at the hotel - the security could only speak broken english and just kept on demanding to see my passport. Eventually the hotel concierge comes out and explains that the EuroCup is being played at the Dusseldorf Arena (which was attached to the hotel) and because of heightened security risks, everybody has to show their passport. Fine, I give them my passport and check in. I was booked in a single room, which in every other instance in my life, meant a room with one queen or king sized bed in it. Instead, I get a room with two single sized beds - I am physically wider than a single sized bed and I go to the reception and explain that this must be a mistake. They tell me that it is no mistake, and just to push the two beds together.

For the next 8 days, I dealt with some of the rudest, angriest and unhelpful people I have ever met in my life (these were all service people - either people at working at the conference, in the hotel, or at the airport.... I didn't meet many people from the general public). People I dealt with seemed insulted when I couldn't speak German - on the way back, I missed my connecting flight because of a delay, and when I went to the Lufthansa help desk, the woman said "just check your email to see what to do next, I don't have any information".

The German people I know in my life back home in Canada are the exact opposite of what I experienced, so I don't know if I just had a string of bad luck, or whether Germany just doesn't like me.
This will be controversial but I want to know...

A) were these 'real' Germans?
B) what racial appearance are you?

Poor hospitality experiences whilst travelling do suck.
 
@Brampton_Boy Frankfurt is the biggest shithole city these days here hands down. Apart from a couple of parts Berlin 2nd. Obviously sucks if you travel for work and you can't pick the destination. Stuttgart/Munich would've been a better trip guaranteed everything more down the South, other than that I like Hamburg too.

@BroRogan explain yourself

You can confirm I'm (mostly) a nice german fella ;)
 
This will be controversial but I want to know...

A) were these 'real' Germans?
B) what racial appearance are you?

Poor hospitality experiences whilst travelling do suck.

A) I'm going to guess you mean "white" by real German, to which the answer was "about half". I'm not good at guessing ethnicities, but the hotel staff seemed like they were from the Middle East, and some of the people who were working the conference had fair skin, but dark hair (Romanian possibly?). Taxi Driver and airport staff seemed like "real germans"

B) I am ethnically Indian.
 
A) I'm going to guess you mean "white" by real German, to which the answer was "about half". I'm not good at guessing ethnicities, but the hotel staff seemed like they were from the Middle East, and some of the people who were working the conference had fair skin, but dark hair (Romanian possibly?). Taxi Driver and airport staff seemed like "real germans"

B) I am ethnically Indian.
Thank you.

Yeah that doesn't sound like a pleasant trip at all.
People being kind, professional and assisting with languages when you travel is a godsend...and a nightmare when they aren't.
 
service jobs, especially when it's busy, makes for rude employees. it sounds like germany is becoming a bit more like france, in that they want outsiders to speak the german language more, and not always have to switch to english. i've only had positive encounters with germans, so i can't relate with the threadstarter.
 
People enforcing the local language instead of Globish would be fantastic and totally against the current of culture.

I'm not principally against that, but these were people who are working in the service economy catering to visitors (airport, taxi, hotel, conference venue). I don't know, maybe I just caught people on stressful days (and admittedly, with the impending EuroCup, the hotel and conference center, both of which are part of the stadium complex, was packed.
 
I had a mixed experience in Germany. The hotel staff were nice but I took a bus from Switzerland to Germany and the bus driver was a rude, yelling prick. Although I wasn’t sure if he was yelling at me or yelling at the person beside me
 
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