- Joined
- Dec 7, 2002
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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.
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.
