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Went to Germany for work....my impressions

Brampton_Boy said:
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.
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If you ever expecting cheerful beer drinkers you should have went to Bavaria. Germans have strong regional cultures like the US where you are not getting a universial experience. There are places in Germany that are polar opposites to each other. Doesn't Berlin have lots of cocaine and clubs now?

Germany is not a real country it was a bunch of different countries 200 years back. They all have their unique cultures.
 
lsa said:
I was in Berlin the year after the wall went down.
Yes I am that old. Seeing eastern Germany and Berlin back then was amazing.
Had a great time, and have of course been back many time after.
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I agree about Berlin. Woman alone are worth the trip there.
 
listrahtes said:
10 days and he judges a country of 80million people with vastly different cultural regions being upset about germans speaking german <lmao> Let me guess you are american.

You sound like a foreigner I would avoid getting in contact with. I speak fluent english but I expect from a visitor to my country at least make an effort using the local language in my case german. Thats how I do it visiting other countries and I always get positive experiences by respecting the culture and language.
If you are too lazy to do that honestly f** off.
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Ahhh, I see your English reading comprehension skills are still not up to snuff. You ignored the first part of my post where I said it wasn't representative of the country, and didn't seem to grasp my grievance was with the way I was treated for not speaking German by service staff (at an international conference no less).

I swear, some of you dullards have never had jobs that required international travel. I'm not volunteering to travel to different countries out of personal interest - I get invited to speak at industry associations, academic conferences etc. I've traveled the world and faced so many instances of encountering a language barrier.....the difference is that people are normally super helpful and friendly. *My* experience in Germany was not
 
Jack Reacheround said:
I was under the impression that Europeans kind of had the idea that they were more multicultural and less racist than us. Either way, you’re right. People are still people no matter where they are. And they’ll always find a way to discriminate against other people. Whether that’s skin color, religion, sexuality, or whatever, humans will use it.
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I haven't the world experience to truly assume, but I think the general field of thought around racism is that race is kind of slammed in your face in the states.

I'd like to go to Germany. It's just a short trip and yet I've never been. Closest I got to it was The German on a soi in Bangkok. Had a sausage platter, with mash and sauerkraut, and a large beer. Twas lovely.
 
I'm guessing the euros probably means you have a lot of temps working in the service industy right now.
 
Yeah Germany is hit or miss. I didn’t like Berlin at all, but Munich was fantastic. They seem cold and unfriendly in the north, but never had a bad experience in Bavaria.

Will say once you crack their shell, those in Berlin are still cold… only slightly less. Not entirely bad, just a bit too serious all the time for my taste. Based on about a month and a half total time in those two places, so a grain of salt is needed.
 
I kind of understand the credit card thing.

My dad and I co-own and are the main laborers for a fence installation business, on the side.

There's nothing worse than working your regular job all week, then busting your fucking balls all weekend digging in the dirt and carrying heavy-ass bags of concrete, pressure-treated posts and fence panels only to be given a personal check at the end.

It's defeating.
 
Berlin was officially 71% ethnic German in 2011. The real figure would be lower than that then and with demographic changes it's probably below 60% now.

Frankfurt:

According to data from the city register of residents, 51.2% of the population had a migration background as of 2015, which means that a person or at least one of their parents was born with foreign citizenship. For the first time, a majority of the city residents had an at least part non-German background. Moreover, three of four children in the city under the age of six had full or partial immigrant backgrounds, and 27.7% of residents had a foreign citizenship.
 
Osculater said:
Canada is in America
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@Brampton_Boy also doesn't say he is from Canada in the OP, he says it is his home. He could be a US citizen living in Canada for instance. You could get in trouble in court with that kind of slip up, @Law Talkin’ Guy!

With that being said many 'people' post without reading the OP (or any other post in the thread). Sometimes they don't even read the title. I don't know where @Law Talkin’ Guy has been hanging out to be surprised by this.
 
Rare Germany W to be honest.

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Jack Reacheround said:
I was under the impression that Europeans kind of had the idea that they were more multicultural and less racist than us. Either way, you’re right. People are still people no matter where they are. And they’ll always find a way to discriminate against other people. Whether that’s skin color, religion, sexuality, or whatever, humans will use it.
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FJyDy3HXsAk-v6W.jpg
 
Last edited by a moderator:
All i have to say is lol at the terrible observations on germany by people who speak about it with authority it seems.
 
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Anytime you meet a German, talk to them about the Second World War and if their grandparents knew Uncle Adolf? Then point and laugh at them for losing not just one but TWO world wars.
 
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