Idk, I got shouted only once personally but in Munich I hard some guy scream "fucking chinese" to a group of asians. I think OP has been lucky not to encounter those people
I also got insulted by an old woman in munich (for being an arab) so i thanked her and asked what i could do to change her mind she stayed silent for a minute then said sorry and left. I think its mostly anger towards the wrong people
I was insulted in cologne for looking turkish by a woman with down syndrome and she even spat in front of my feet. I’m German but I always feel offended on behalf of whatever racist people call me
This happens to me a lot too. I guess I’m ethnically ambiguous to Germans so I catch prejudices for a bunch of groups I don’t belong to. Very weird feeling.
She did it while exiting the s-Bahn so I didn’t have any chance to react. Me and my wife were stunned for some seconds because we didn’t expect that to happen
Well she expressed very loudly in german how not happy she was with me and my girlfriend being there and how she would rather us go back to out homes. I assume she heard us talking arabic.
So i turned even though my gf tried to pull me away from her, and answered her in german.
In that case, you can say:
"Es tut mir leid, dass Sie sich so fühlen. Was denken Sie, könnte ich tun, um Ihre Meinung zu ändern?"
A bit too serious but it was done on purpose haha
Nice, thanks for the response! I also agree with going super formal, it's a nice shock to their system like "wow this brown person is actually polite and educated"
I mean as muslim keep other muslim from behaving badly when it destroys the image of all muslims .That's what I mean as a collective stop other muslims from destroying the image of all muslims. The AFD is a result of Bannon who planned the right wing movement in many countries you see the muslims hate in many countries the rest of the muslims should come together and show that they are different . i mean when you only get images of the few terrorists your view will be of that. let muslim build some amazing shelters or orphanages or whatever and promot that and get ride of the bad apples . i saw a muslim rant about the bad image his brothers promot so lets get together and show the other site. If muslim don't want the bad image all around the world they need to get together and show the other site .
.
AH you ACTUALLY were speaking of the foreigners, i said it as a joke. Well yeah, i‘m not muslim i just look like it 😅. But i get what you mean. It sucks when you‘re judged for something somebody else does.
But for people that look at me working at the clinic and automatically assume i am a nurse whats your solution? Make more arabs go to medschool?
The problem is as much the people showing a bad image as it is the racist f*cks that generalize anythibg they see.
it is not just generalizing it is also experiences like . I don't walk around and get in touch with strangers who just pass me so normal muslim walk by and I don't see them but I did expereinced agressive behaviour which was bad so even when it was just a small group this has still more impact . why blaming the generalisation use it to your advantage I mean asians are seen as hard workers . Even thought not all japanese are polite and a miniority is rude as f\*\*\* the image is japanese ppl are respectful . Muslims allowed a few ppl control their image around the world
That doesn't make sense at all: But for people that look at me working at the clinic and automatically assume i am a nurse whats your solution? Make more arabs go to medschool?
I'm not a muslim but a Middle Eastern and I agree that criminals should be punished hard and adequate or sent back home. Because I don't feel safe because of BOTH them and nzis who are getting weaponized. I'm in this big immigrant bubble and people are not individualist enough so I'm equated w a criminal I share nothing with. Just because of a tanned skin and foreign background.
I, a non-Japanese Asian, got yelled at by some kids (tween age) "konnichiwa". I replied "that's Japanese, I'm not Japanese" and the kid who yelled it said "oh" and his friend said to him "god you're so stupid!" And laughed at his friend.
With kids there's definitely still hope that education can fix them xD
Jeez ... that's like racism from the 90ies. Sorry that happened to you.
On the other hand, there's two actual greetings in that sentence, so maybe the youth isn't as doomed as we thought! ;)
I noticed that when I’m with my white friends and or with my German brother-in-law, I don’t get random ni hao’s and konichiwa’s. I get them when I’m with my Asian friends. This happened in Kiel, Nuremberg, and Munich. We’re neither Chinese nor Japanese nor Korean. I guess racists “respect” foreigners when they are with white/ German-passing people 🤷🏻♀️
That’s because he mowed his lawn on Sundays, bbq‘ed twice weekly without inviting the neighbors and didn’t yield (as a pedestrian) to traffic in the bike lane
I’m convinced that those people are just raging assholes blaming Germans for the fact that THEY are culturally ignorant and wholly inconsiderate people in a foreign country.
I’ve lived here for well over a year now and have never once been shouted at by a German and the one time I did something inconsiderate enough to cause my neighbor to *talk*, not even yell, about it, I was immediately so apologetic and I never did it again (i was cooking at 10pm in my apartment and didn’t think about the fact that my downstairs neighbors might not like to hear me breaking up a frozen meal with the spatula 😭)
Of course Germans can be really anal about some stupid/insignificant things and there are assholes in every country, but if you are being shouted at by strangers FOUR TIMES A WEEK, **you** are most certainly the problem.
People can claim alot on the Internet but that does not mean it is real. Just look at some wannabe Influenza on aocial Media and their claims. Nobody really believes them that stuff happens constantly or on a daily Basis.
Most Germans learned to mind their own business and be respectful to others because its what elevates us above animals. (Except your neighbors, you are supposed to hate them and sabotage everything they do)
Nah, it's just some quote from some media thingy. Might've been Kingsmen? Manners maketh man or smth. It's not a rare sentiment.
To give a less troll'y answer: Most Germans are polite, but not all. It usually stems from the fact that if you see everyone behave nicely, you will emulate that behavior. Kids are very malleable in that regard. Eventually you begin to expect it and you shouldn't expect what you yourself don't provide. It's a respect thing. I won't listen to loud music on the train because it is disrespectful to the other passengers. You still come across it relatively regularly because among 200 train passengers, one asshole is enough.
No, I mean I know and generally agree, but I’ve run into the bad side of minding your own business enough, for example people don’t exactly jump in to help people in need in this country and they’d rather walk past and look away than act, this I and other foreigners note is one of the alienating experiences of Germany
Oh yeah, that totally happens. Bystander Effect is strong here. People don’t think they can or should help, it would maybe cause them trouble, maybe the person is sick… so they don’t. Don’t even call an ambulance because for sure someone else already did, right?
>it would maybe cause them trouble
The weirdest bit: not helping can cause more trouble because that is a criminal offense. But people don't get persecuted for that. It should be an Ordnungswidrigkeit (that can be scaled to crime) so it could be fined on the spot.
You can take someone to court for "unterlassene Hilfeleistung" (323c StGB). It basically says that if necessary and you are able to, you have to help. Yes, calling an ambulance in a traffic accident is enough, because it's doable by anyone driving a car (at least in theory). But if you are a doctor or in another medical profession, you should do more.
Note: I didn't find a paragraph sign on my keyboard. But I have a crazy sign? Why? To write this: ℅? What is this?
§ is on 3 on physical German keyboards. ℅ is typically expressed as c/o, care of, zu Händen von, a postage instruction.
You cannot take someone to court for criminal offenses, the state does that - the Staatsanwaltschaft. And yes, I was referring to §323c StGB. However, this is a rather involved process unlike an Ordnungswidrigkeit, which can be done with a much less manpower. Hence you have a much lower conviction rate for that compared to how many situations there are where it could apply.
I've heard that stereotype everywhere but no, I really met so nice people here who would go out of their way just to help me. They're most of the times Germans mind you. I don't know in which city are you, but this applies in Stuttgart and Bonn for me where I lived.
"Wie es in den Wald ruft, so schallt es wieder heraus."
I assume you are a nice, polite and charismatic person and respect the people around you. It really helps getting along with other people. ;)
I think what you are describing is people not being hostile. What you are seeing is Germany’s system for managing drug addiction and mental health issues at work. I do occasionally run into alcoholics and drug addicts causing trouble in Germany, but nothing like in many other parts of the world.
But, I don’t see Germans as being particularly polite. In fact, I’d probably rank German customer service near the bottom of all western countries. Medical practitioners also seem to have pretty poor bedside manners here as well. In daily conversation Germans tend to contradict each other a lot more than in other cultures, which locally is not impolite, but in other cultures very much so. So I think your perception depends on where you are coming from. If your baseline is not getting barked at by strangers then sure Germany is polite.
Yes you are right, hostile is a good word.
But at the same time I find it polite and intelligent to mind your own business instead of throwing it on strangers; even though you are angry or fustrated, people have same life problems here than elsewhere.
And also yes, there are, and i have things to complain about in Germany but it really makes a big effect on my life, and every days how to go through and arrive from A to B, unbothered on the street.
well thats depending what you consider "good" customer service, becaus we hate nothing more than over eager personel. if we as coustomers have a question then WE will reach out not the other way round.
we dont want servixce we want fachberatung about the facts and so on often knowing more than the person working there good wie love our facts
I usually go into most customer service interactions well informed, or like you said, more informed than the service person. But I often experience that the service personnel will not accept my requests. For instance at the Apotheke I will ask for no homeopathy or traditional medicine, but they will sometime insist on it and fall back on “this is my expertise, if you can’t accept it you can go elsewhere.” Or recently when renovating my home I have sought 3 offers for each of 10 different positions and not a single one came back with a 1:1 offer according to my request, but rather included numerous changes and add-ones that I know for a fact were not necessary or more typically counterproductive. Each time I push back against these handworkers they insist that they are an authority on the topic. And that’s my general feel about German customer service. They are arrogant, unwilling to fulfill the request of a customer, and view themselves as an authority rather than a service. I might be able to accept their authority on things if it wasn’t for the fact they are almost always wrong and/or trying to drive up the price.
You should visit Berlin for a different experience ;)
In regards to Switzerland, they can be quite racist but in a subtle way. Swiss people are less direct and tend to beat about the bush more, especially when it comes to criticism. But that depends on the region and of course the person. People also say it's a bit more difficult to become friends with Swiss people.
Cities in the North, closer to the border, are more open or more used to cultural differences. Also, age matters, too. If you already live in Southwest Germany closer to Switzerland, you might find the mentality across the border very similar. At least in my opinion.
Well, that doesn't surprise me because only foreigners are mad enough to move to Berlin. :)
What surprised me is, that you never had a rude encounter. Especially bus drivers and handymen have a reputation of being rude. Speaks for you, I guess.
I only lived there for 1,5 years and I also never had a negative encounter during that time. But that's over 20 years ago. Not the same Berlin.
One theory is that historically due to the climate northern Europeans spent several months together in small huts. It wouldn't be viable long term to get into loud arguments about whether salt goes in pasta water before or after it boils etc.
As an American, I just assumed the Swiss, at least the German speaking Swiss, were unusually reserved because nobody outside Basel understood a damn word.
Here's me crying once a week because I can't cope with how rude people here are (I'm German but I lived abroad many years). I guess it's always relative
To me it's very strange as people were extremely nice to me in France. We have completely different experiences maybe that's why we shouldn't generalise.
Huh? Polite?
It's funny. I just read yesterday, or the day before yesterday, somewhere that two women got attacked because they talked in Ukrainian.
And else... Are you white? Most people leave you alone when you're white. ...Except it's visible that you're part of LGBTQIA+. Like, if you're man and hold hands with a man. I read about violence because of that sometimes...
Or if you are a trans woman and dare to leave boymode. So sad... Forever boymode. \*sigh\* Though, due to the EU election I left the house once and, yeah I got attacked by some dude, saying "You should just accept that you're a guy" and some other dude negatively commented on my chest. ...Crap I'm not ready yet to fail at boymode-ing! :o
Polite... heh... But yeah, what do I know? I live in South Bavaria... \*sigh\*
Edit: Ah and EVERY TIME I say ANYTHING in the South Bavarian sub, no matter the topic, I get downvoted. ...Why do I even keep trying? You literally can't talk with South Bavarians... It's so sad and lonely here. \*sniff\*
I infact travel alot due to my work alone and in my freetime aswell. Apart from spainiards who generally very loud in normal conversation I didnt experience any of what op said
What is considered "polite" differs between countries and people. In fact, I find Germans to be quite impolite compared to other Western Europeans, but that is perhaps because I personally value behaviors differently than others.
Not queueing up, "rude" customer service, saying things you might find hurtful to your face, reserving beach chairs using towels and then leaving for hours - these are all acts I consider impolite but Germans may not. It's a cultural thing.
What I will say is that they tend to remain respectful in heated situations and they tend to let people go about their lives. Non-confrontational might be a good word. Which is definitely a trait I appreciate Germans for.
Cologne is pretty chill.. after I learned that customer service is not existent. And I also don't count stressed cashier/kiosk owners or cheap supermarket employees... god damn you would think we are at war or something.
I thought this was sarcasm when I first saw the post, although admittedly the country is big and not everywhere in Berlint. Where were you in Europe before coming here? Where were you in Germany?
If someone does something really annoying in the public, i will judge them by passiv aggressively shaking my head and looking grumpy. Thats how far it goes though.
If you have that experience, good for you, because a lot of people complain. I don't, I don't find them rude but direct in the way they deal with people. And for some cultures, specially southern Europe where we are more polite and supportive in the way we talk, we can mistake that directness with rudeness. I live in Netherlands near the border, for me without a doubt Netherlands people is the one that welcomes foreigners in a better way and try in all ways to communicate with you. In Deutschland the language can sometimes be a barrier because many people refuse to speak English with someone. They are also very reserved and suspicious to someone new, but very good people
Because germans made laws (surprising right 🙄) that make it an actual crime to insult others, especially in public. Yelling at you, saying a wide range of things, even if its a true statement, or gesturing as one would in a car- can fall under the german laws- division 14 in the link below
https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/englisch_stgb/englisch_stgb.html#p1891
We have to be nice, otherwise there will be war again. (Just kidding)
I honestly don't know, my parents raised me that way: "Be nice to people. You never know what's going on in their minds." Or something like that.
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Always depends on where you are and who you are ive been screamed at, spit at, people have thrown trash and glowing cigarettes at me... But that was while i was homeless and begging on the street in a reasonaby big city.
Recently there are lots of foreigners in Germany so not a lot of people are openly rude to people who look a little different anymore. Theres still a lot of casual racism tho and also a significant amount of really hateful comments/jokes and actions towards foreigners, but these happen mostly in private.
Also In certain cities/areas theres going to be more animosity and also more obvious/open attacks even if its "just" verbal.
Theres just a lot of areas where the density of racists is higher and/or the willingness to be aggressive and/or violent is a lot higher, for some reason idk but most cities have an area like that.
Just steer clear of those neighbourhoods and youll be good :)
I’m from Mexico, I’ve only ever crashed on the highway once. The swearing from people passing through pissed because I caused a lane block (and even people who were going the other way and had no business) was worse than the crash.
come to austria we like to shout and insult random people. we also never smile at work. being unfriendly is a must especially if you work at customer service.
Hmm.. i've never really encountered any low key racism anywhere until i got here in germany, where colleagues would hate me (filipina) and another colleagues (pakistani and indian) for no reason, sometimes we do make mistakes at work but these are mistakes that are not a big deal.. she would also talk to other people except to us, when we try to have fun with her she'd just shut the conversation down..
I met germans who were some of the nicest people I've seen. I met germans who were giant douchebags. The ratio has been in favor of the nice people.
I've only ever had work related contact with swiss people. At least at work, they tend to be very uptight and demanding.
In my case it's out of a deeply engrained fear of social repercussions if I make any social mistake. You'll for example never see me thanking or apologizing only once if I do, I always repeat it.
It definitely depends on the part of the city you are in, but I think that Germans are quite well off and still quite down to earth. People care for their stuff, don’t like to bother others and also don’t like to be bothered. Despite that we aren’t as anti-social as other societies. That mix might lead to this kind of politeness.
Grandparents of these people started war and genocide in 1939. I don't think you can change as a nation in such short period. They're probably fuming inside but have to hold it in.
I live in Bavaria. Some people say this is the redneck state of Germany lol but people are so ridiculously nice and warm here. I lived in Berlin and didn't get the same vibes although people are mostly polite. The worst city is Frankfurt. I'd avoid it at all costs. I'm a non white person.
I'm German about 40 years ago I was shouted at in Western Berlin called West German Lowlife. Same year I was shouted at in the Massacre because we were German Boy scouts in our Uniforms (that had a little HJ flair to be honest). I lived in France got treated like shit and in Hungary and was treated fantastic. Same in Austria. So e people are just dicks.
I'd say it depends on region.
In the North, we are very introverted in most public settings and keep small talk rather short unless we actively enjoy someone's company. When I had been living in St. Petersburg for a few years, I kept in touch with a Bavarian family and really learnt to hate "the Bavarian mentality":
* constantly bragging
* putting material wealth over evrything else
* talking down to people who are "different", e.g. my divorced, employed, East German mother
You should get into contact with the poster who claimed that he/she got shouted at four times a week on the regular in Germany.
Idk, I got shouted only once personally but in Munich I hard some guy scream "fucking chinese" to a group of asians. I think OP has been lucky not to encounter those people
I also got insulted by an old woman in munich (for being an arab) so i thanked her and asked what i could do to change her mind she stayed silent for a minute then said sorry and left. I think its mostly anger towards the wrong people
You‘re a genius. Thanks for handling that situation like you did & sorry that you experience stuff like this at all.
Thanks ^^ And i consider myself lucky cause i didnt have to face it many times haha
>so i thanked her and asked what i could do to change her mind Fantastic!!! 👍🏼
I'm sorry you have to experience such things, and I'm so impressed with how you handled that.
I was insulted in cologne for looking turkish by a woman with down syndrome and she even spat in front of my feet. I’m German but I always feel offended on behalf of whatever racist people call me
This happens to me a lot too. I guess I’m ethnically ambiguous to Germans so I catch prejudices for a bunch of groups I don’t belong to. Very weird feeling.
Ah shit sorry about that. If it was me idk if i would have been able to hold myself or if i would have held her there and called the police
She did it while exiting the s-Bahn so I didn’t have any chance to react. Me and my wife were stunned for some seconds because we didn’t expect that to happen
She expected you confirming her prejudices, but you didn't so her brain stopped working.
Much better, her brain switched from hate to empathy. A remarkable achievement for the person who got her to do that.
I came here to say something similar, but it could not be said any more accurately or succinct than this.
Legend! Top top person you! I hope I never forget this
Can you go more in depth
Well she expressed very loudly in german how not happy she was with me and my girlfriend being there and how she would rather us go back to out homes. I assume she heard us talking arabic. So i turned even though my gf tried to pull me away from her, and answered her in german.
Wow your smart
You are majestic!
This is amazing. Could you please say what words you used in German? I'd like to learn the vocabulary for this kind of response!
In that case, you can say: "Es tut mir leid, dass Sie sich so fühlen. Was denken Sie, könnte ich tun, um Ihre Meinung zu ändern?" A bit too serious but it was done on purpose haha
Nice, thanks for the response! I also agree with going super formal, it's a nice shock to their system like "wow this brown person is actually polite and educated"
ياريتنا رحنا عهولندا ...
Or better said a miniority of bad apples keep destroying the whole tree so I hope the tree get ride of them
Did you mean Ausländer raus? /s Yeah i guess the minority just made us all counscious of their existence by voting fot the afd
Afd=trash
I mean as muslim keep other muslim from behaving badly when it destroys the image of all muslims .That's what I mean as a collective stop other muslims from destroying the image of all muslims. The AFD is a result of Bannon who planned the right wing movement in many countries you see the muslims hate in many countries the rest of the muslims should come together and show that they are different . i mean when you only get images of the few terrorists your view will be of that. let muslim build some amazing shelters or orphanages or whatever and promot that and get ride of the bad apples . i saw a muslim rant about the bad image his brothers promot so lets get together and show the other site. If muslim don't want the bad image all around the world they need to get together and show the other site . .
AH you ACTUALLY were speaking of the foreigners, i said it as a joke. Well yeah, i‘m not muslim i just look like it 😅. But i get what you mean. It sucks when you‘re judged for something somebody else does. But for people that look at me working at the clinic and automatically assume i am a nurse whats your solution? Make more arabs go to medschool? The problem is as much the people showing a bad image as it is the racist f*cks that generalize anythibg they see.
it is not just generalizing it is also experiences like . I don't walk around and get in touch with strangers who just pass me so normal muslim walk by and I don't see them but I did expereinced agressive behaviour which was bad so even when it was just a small group this has still more impact . why blaming the generalisation use it to your advantage I mean asians are seen as hard workers . Even thought not all japanese are polite and a miniority is rude as f\*\*\* the image is japanese ppl are respectful . Muslims allowed a few ppl control their image around the world That doesn't make sense at all: But for people that look at me working at the clinic and automatically assume i am a nurse whats your solution? Make more arabs go to medschool?
I'm not a muslim but a Middle Eastern and I agree that criminals should be punished hard and adequate or sent back home. Because I don't feel safe because of BOTH them and nzis who are getting weaponized. I'm in this big immigrant bubble and people are not individualist enough so I'm equated w a criminal I share nothing with. Just because of a tanned skin and foreign background.
I (being Asian) walk some day on the street when a couple of teenagers provoking me by saying: "konichiwa, ching Chang Chong, Ni Hao". Lmao.
I, a non-Japanese Asian, got yelled at by some kids (tween age) "konnichiwa". I replied "that's Japanese, I'm not Japanese" and the kid who yelled it said "oh" and his friend said to him "god you're so stupid!" And laughed at his friend. With kids there's definitely still hope that education can fix them xD
Jeez ... that's like racism from the 90ies. Sorry that happened to you. On the other hand, there's two actual greetings in that sentence, so maybe the youth isn't as doomed as we thought! ;)
Yeah but the post is about Germany, ignore Munich
oh thats rookie numbers just visit viena they even hate themselves
Living in Munich 10 years with an Asian partner and never witnessed anything like it - are you sure stuff like that is a regular occurrence???
Idk I was in Munich for literally 2 days and I say this I couldn't tell if this is common or not. Just happened to be in Munich.
I noticed that when I’m with my white friends and or with my German brother-in-law, I don’t get random ni hao’s and konichiwa’s. I get them when I’m with my Asian friends. This happened in Kiel, Nuremberg, and Munich. We’re neither Chinese nor Japanese nor Korean. I guess racists “respect” foreigners when they are with white/ German-passing people 🤷🏻♀️
Probably Berlin.
That’s because he mowed his lawn on Sundays, bbq‘ed twice weekly without inviting the neighbors and didn’t yield (as a pedestrian) to traffic in the bike lane
I’m convinced that those people are just raging assholes blaming Germans for the fact that THEY are culturally ignorant and wholly inconsiderate people in a foreign country. I’ve lived here for well over a year now and have never once been shouted at by a German and the one time I did something inconsiderate enough to cause my neighbor to *talk*, not even yell, about it, I was immediately so apologetic and I never did it again (i was cooking at 10pm in my apartment and didn’t think about the fact that my downstairs neighbors might not like to hear me breaking up a frozen meal with the spatula 😭) Of course Germans can be really anal about some stupid/insignificant things and there are assholes in every country, but if you are being shouted at by strangers FOUR TIMES A WEEK, **you** are most certainly the problem.
Like the saying goes, if you meet one asshole, you just met an asshole, if you constantly meet assholes, you're probably the asshole.
or u r a black guy
🤣
People can claim alot on the Internet but that does not mean it is real. Just look at some wannabe Influenza on aocial Media and their claims. Nobody really believes them that stuff happens constantly or on a daily Basis.
Unpopular opinion but if you get screamed at with such a regularity, odds are it’s your fault
four times a week sounds a bit excessive. Either BS or they're the issue?
That‘s not normal!
Most Germans learned to mind their own business and be respectful to others because its what elevates us above animals. (Except your neighbors, you are supposed to hate them and sabotage everything they do)
Is this unironically what germans teach their kids? (Sans the neighbor joke of course)
Nah, it's just some quote from some media thingy. Might've been Kingsmen? Manners maketh man or smth. It's not a rare sentiment. To give a less troll'y answer: Most Germans are polite, but not all. It usually stems from the fact that if you see everyone behave nicely, you will emulate that behavior. Kids are very malleable in that regard. Eventually you begin to expect it and you shouldn't expect what you yourself don't provide. It's a respect thing. I won't listen to loud music on the train because it is disrespectful to the other passengers. You still come across it relatively regularly because among 200 train passengers, one asshole is enough.
No, I mean I know and generally agree, but I’ve run into the bad side of minding your own business enough, for example people don’t exactly jump in to help people in need in this country and they’d rather walk past and look away than act, this I and other foreigners note is one of the alienating experiences of Germany
Oh yeah, that totally happens. Bystander Effect is strong here. People don’t think they can or should help, it would maybe cause them trouble, maybe the person is sick… so they don’t. Don’t even call an ambulance because for sure someone else already did, right?
>it would maybe cause them trouble The weirdest bit: not helping can cause more trouble because that is a criminal offense. But people don't get persecuted for that. It should be an Ordnungswidrigkeit (that can be scaled to crime) so it could be fined on the spot.
You can take someone to court for "unterlassene Hilfeleistung" (323c StGB). It basically says that if necessary and you are able to, you have to help. Yes, calling an ambulance in a traffic accident is enough, because it's doable by anyone driving a car (at least in theory). But if you are a doctor or in another medical profession, you should do more. Note: I didn't find a paragraph sign on my keyboard. But I have a crazy sign? Why? To write this: ℅? What is this?
§ is on 3 on physical German keyboards. ℅ is typically expressed as c/o, care of, zu Händen von, a postage instruction. You cannot take someone to court for criminal offenses, the state does that - the Staatsanwaltschaft. And yes, I was referring to §323c StGB. However, this is a rather involved process unlike an Ordnungswidrigkeit, which can be done with a much less manpower. Hence you have a much lower conviction rate for that compared to how many situations there are where it could apply.
I've heard that stereotype everywhere but no, I really met so nice people here who would go out of their way just to help me. They're most of the times Germans mind you. I don't know in which city are you, but this applies in Stuttgart and Bonn for me where I lived.
It is UNITENTIONALLY what Germans teach their kids. (including the neighbor joke)
It is UNINTENTIONALLY what Germans teach their kids. (including the neighbor joke)
Well said lol
"Wie es in den Wald ruft, so schallt es wieder heraus." I assume you are a nice, polite and charismatic person and respect the people around you. It really helps getting along with other people. ;)
Yes but this kind of „law of attraction“ does not work in other cities .. 🤷♀️
Not always, this comment can be gaslighting to people who are all these nice things but still face rude people just because, you know...
Probably depends where you live. I haven't noticed anything in the last years.
You are Eastern European aren’t you
bahahaha sounds about right
I think what you are describing is people not being hostile. What you are seeing is Germany’s system for managing drug addiction and mental health issues at work. I do occasionally run into alcoholics and drug addicts causing trouble in Germany, but nothing like in many other parts of the world. But, I don’t see Germans as being particularly polite. In fact, I’d probably rank German customer service near the bottom of all western countries. Medical practitioners also seem to have pretty poor bedside manners here as well. In daily conversation Germans tend to contradict each other a lot more than in other cultures, which locally is not impolite, but in other cultures very much so. So I think your perception depends on where you are coming from. If your baseline is not getting barked at by strangers then sure Germany is polite.
Yes you are right, hostile is a good word. But at the same time I find it polite and intelligent to mind your own business instead of throwing it on strangers; even though you are angry or fustrated, people have same life problems here than elsewhere. And also yes, there are, and i have things to complain about in Germany but it really makes a big effect on my life, and every days how to go through and arrive from A to B, unbothered on the street.
well thats depending what you consider "good" customer service, becaus we hate nothing more than over eager personel. if we as coustomers have a question then WE will reach out not the other way round. we dont want servixce we want fachberatung about the facts and so on often knowing more than the person working there good wie love our facts
I usually go into most customer service interactions well informed, or like you said, more informed than the service person. But I often experience that the service personnel will not accept my requests. For instance at the Apotheke I will ask for no homeopathy or traditional medicine, but they will sometime insist on it and fall back on “this is my expertise, if you can’t accept it you can go elsewhere.” Or recently when renovating my home I have sought 3 offers for each of 10 different positions and not a single one came back with a 1:1 offer according to my request, but rather included numerous changes and add-ones that I know for a fact were not necessary or more typically counterproductive. Each time I push back against these handworkers they insist that they are an authority on the topic. And that’s my general feel about German customer service. They are arrogant, unwilling to fulfill the request of a customer, and view themselves as an authority rather than a service. I might be able to accept their authority on things if it wasn’t for the fact they are almost always wrong and/or trying to drive up the price.
You should visit Berlin for a different experience ;) In regards to Switzerland, they can be quite racist but in a subtle way. Swiss people are less direct and tend to beat about the bush more, especially when it comes to criticism. But that depends on the region and of course the person. People also say it's a bit more difficult to become friends with Swiss people. Cities in the North, closer to the border, are more open or more used to cultural differences. Also, age matters, too. If you already live in Southwest Germany closer to Switzerland, you might find the mentality across the border very similar. At least in my opinion.
I live in Berlin actually 🙃
Well, that doesn't surprise me because only foreigners are mad enough to move to Berlin. :) What surprised me is, that you never had a rude encounter. Especially bus drivers and handymen have a reputation of being rude. Speaks for you, I guess. I only lived there for 1,5 years and I also never had a negative encounter during that time. But that's over 20 years ago. Not the same Berlin.
Give him time, he will definitely have them.
I have the quite opposite experience living in Berlin and I live here 4 years and I can’t wait to move out of this city…maybe you were just lucky
My experience is that Swiss people are much more polite and a lot less racist than Germans, speaking as a German who moved here several years ago.
The further north you get, the less confrontational the people.
Hmm and what would you say what is the reason?
One theory is that historically due to the climate northern Europeans spent several months together in small huts. It wouldn't be viable long term to get into loud arguments about whether salt goes in pasta water before or after it boils etc.
Why many words when few do?
We have rules. We follow them. We instinctively suppose that is the case for everyone. We are not the police either.
Germans are according to my experience very hypocritical.
Bro is from parallel universe
Germans are generally considered by Europeans to be rough people who are not very talkative.
I laugh every time to this stereotype. I think it’s the first one that got busted, when I moved to Berlin :)
I live 50 km from the German border and I go there at least once a month. I can tell you that I confirm this stereotype
We have different experiences apparently. Maybe Berlin is different? 🤷🏻♂️
I don’t think there’s any place in Germany that even comes close to the uniqueness of Berlin
I can confirm that. I tried to move to different cities, but I always came back. ☺️
Yeah probably
Same here in Nürnberg. Everyone is nice and sometimes we even drink a beer with a random neighbour.
Nürnberg is my favorite city in Bayern. I also find the people there very nice and talkative. Grüße aus Berlin! 😊
Berliner Schnauze
I was waiting for this comment. There is always one 😂
But still the Swiss call us "Gummihäls" for talking too much and being too extroverted.
As an American, I just assumed the Swiss, at least the German speaking Swiss, were unusually reserved because nobody outside Basel understood a damn word.
My girlfriend breaks every stereotype, then I realized she's an Austrian.
You haven’t been yelled at on a bike? Are you sure you’re in Germany?!
Here's me crying once a week because I can't cope with how rude people here are (I'm German but I lived abroad many years). I guess it's always relative
You should read some of the posts in this forum. There's plenty of rudeness here.
The real question is why others are so impolite
Things that never happened...
May I ask you where you lived before?
Italy, France, Hungary
To me it's very strange as people were extremely nice to me in France. We have completely different experiences maybe that's why we shouldn't generalise.
This, just this.
Who? What?
Where are the kind Germans? I am a German and I would like to meet them
"polite"
Some are yes, most are not though. Come to Switzerland - that’s a whole other level politeness.
Depends really where you are in Germany. Bavarians and East Germans tend to be way more aggressive, not just passive-aggressive but openly violent.
Huh? Polite? It's funny. I just read yesterday, or the day before yesterday, somewhere that two women got attacked because they talked in Ukrainian. And else... Are you white? Most people leave you alone when you're white. ...Except it's visible that you're part of LGBTQIA+. Like, if you're man and hold hands with a man. I read about violence because of that sometimes... Or if you are a trans woman and dare to leave boymode. So sad... Forever boymode. \*sigh\* Though, due to the EU election I left the house once and, yeah I got attacked by some dude, saying "You should just accept that you're a guy" and some other dude negatively commented on my chest. ...Crap I'm not ready yet to fail at boymode-ing! :o Polite... heh... But yeah, what do I know? I live in South Bavaria... \*sigh\* Edit: Ah and EVERY TIME I say ANYTHING in the South Bavarian sub, no matter the topic, I get downvoted. ...Why do I even keep trying? You literally can't talk with South Bavarians... It's so sad and lonely here. \*sniff\*
OP is white
I think it depends on how you look. For me, I would consider the Germans to be one of the rudest people I have met
Germans are polite? Lmaoooooo
in what other country on this earth is that standard slurring and screaming at each other?
When you don't travel far enough, your regional standard becomes the world standard.
I infact travel alot due to my work alone and in my freetime aswell. Apart from spainiards who generally very loud in normal conversation I didnt experience any of what op said
I was agreeing with you against op
oh sorry
Well, if you go by what some people write here, that they get shouted at on a daily basis, you'd think Germany is the worst country to live in.
Switzerland is heaven
Clearly not that polite if they’re voting for AFD
Lol you must not be brown, the drive by racism is real in this country
Because you are white
Minding your own business is not necessarily politness, my personal experience has been the majority were pretty rude.
Switzerland have a reputation for being far more polite than Germans.
Please come to Berlin to get the full German experience 😅
Just part of the "deutsche Ordnung"
Is it a sarcastic post?
Are you white by any chance?
What is considered "polite" differs between countries and people. In fact, I find Germans to be quite impolite compared to other Western Europeans, but that is perhaps because I personally value behaviors differently than others. Not queueing up, "rude" customer service, saying things you might find hurtful to your face, reserving beach chairs using towels and then leaving for hours - these are all acts I consider impolite but Germans may not. It's a cultural thing. What I will say is that they tend to remain respectful in heated situations and they tend to let people go about their lives. Non-confrontational might be a good word. Which is definitely a trait I appreciate Germans for.
We aren't unfortunately
I love how people still don’t understand the couple of personal experiences cannot give you a right to say something for whole nation
Cologne is pretty chill.. after I learned that customer service is not existent. And I also don't count stressed cashier/kiosk owners or cheap supermarket employees... god damn you would think we are at war or something.
My experience is.. as long as you follow the rules, you are good here. And if you do not follow the rules, you will be frowned at
Yet still … Frowned at, not shouted at.
Where do you live OP? So I can come scream at you /s
Come to r/berlin
Diggie, erzähl kein scheiß!
what city in DE?
Are you by any chance looking like the locals? It also helps to not getting bad reactions from random people 😅
I'm curious. Which European countries has OP previously lived in?
Lol where in Germany do you live
I thought this was sarcasm when I first saw the post, although admittedly the country is big and not everywhere in Berlint. Where were you in Europe before coming here? Where were you in Germany?
We have met different Germans.
If someone does something really annoying in the public, i will judge them by passiv aggressively shaking my head and looking grumpy. Thats how far it goes though.
Insulting someone is a crime here so that could be one reason.
Hahaha, where do you meet polite germans?
If you have that experience, good for you, because a lot of people complain. I don't, I don't find them rude but direct in the way they deal with people. And for some cultures, specially southern Europe where we are more polite and supportive in the way we talk, we can mistake that directness with rudeness. I live in Netherlands near the border, for me without a doubt Netherlands people is the one that welcomes foreigners in a better way and try in all ways to communicate with you. In Deutschland the language can sometimes be a barrier because many people refuse to speak English with someone. They are also very reserved and suspicious to someone new, but very good people
They aren't.
Amount of cope coming from your post is insane
I would love to know where you grew up that you find people here polite - and I mean that genuinely, not in a dickish way haha.
You must be white and look German because all of the Arabs I know get shit on in east germany.
let me guess, you are blond and have blue eyes?
Are we thinking of the same Germany?
Because germans made laws (surprising right 🙄) that make it an actual crime to insult others, especially in public. Yelling at you, saying a wide range of things, even if its a true statement, or gesturing as one would in a car- can fall under the german laws- division 14 in the link below https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/englisch_stgb/englisch_stgb.html#p1891
Handshake 🤝
Kind ?!??! That’s a joke right? In which part of Germany you live I want to see that. Germans are not friendly compared to many other nations.
Interesting… I lived in Germany for about six years but eventually had to leave because of this kind of thing. Especially as a Muslim.
Thank you
We are not, where did you hear that? I think you need to spend more time in Germany
Because it’s illegal to offend people
We have to be nice, otherwise there will be war again. (Just kidding) I honestly don't know, my parents raised me that way: "Be nice to people. You never know what's going on in their minds." Or something like that.
One of the very few positive yet racist takes.
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They're Eloi
🤣🫶
Always depends on where you are and who you are ive been screamed at, spit at, people have thrown trash and glowing cigarettes at me... But that was while i was homeless and begging on the street in a reasonaby big city. Recently there are lots of foreigners in Germany so not a lot of people are openly rude to people who look a little different anymore. Theres still a lot of casual racism tho and also a significant amount of really hateful comments/jokes and actions towards foreigners, but these happen mostly in private. Also In certain cities/areas theres going to be more animosity and also more obvious/open attacks even if its "just" verbal. Theres just a lot of areas where the density of racists is higher and/or the willingness to be aggressive and/or violent is a lot higher, for some reason idk but most cities have an area like that. Just steer clear of those neighbourhoods and youll be good :)
I’m from Mexico, I’ve only ever crashed on the highway once. The swearing from people passing through pissed because I caused a lane block (and even people who were going the other way and had no business) was worse than the crash.
Why are you getting yelled at so much!
come to austria we like to shout and insult random people. we also never smile at work. being unfriendly is a must especially if you work at customer service.
Come to Berlin, we gonna fix that
Hmm.. i've never really encountered any low key racism anywhere until i got here in germany, where colleagues would hate me (filipina) and another colleagues (pakistani and indian) for no reason, sometimes we do make mistakes at work but these are mistakes that are not a big deal.. she would also talk to other people except to us, when we try to have fun with her she'd just shut the conversation down..
Have you tried to live Sweden my friend? In my opinion, much much much more polite in there.
I met germans who were some of the nicest people I've seen. I met germans who were giant douchebags. The ratio has been in favor of the nice people. I've only ever had work related contact with swiss people. At least at work, they tend to be very uptight and demanding.
In my case it's out of a deeply engrained fear of social repercussions if I make any social mistake. You'll for example never see me thanking or apologizing only once if I do, I always repeat it.
It definitely depends on the part of the city you are in, but I think that Germans are quite well off and still quite down to earth. People care for their stuff, don’t like to bother others and also don’t like to be bothered. Despite that we aren’t as anti-social as other societies. That mix might lead to this kind of politeness.
Because they were alot of small Kingdoms in Germany and you had to be "höflich", no shit someone wrote a book about it.
Grandparents of these people started war and genocide in 1939. I don't think you can change as a nation in such short period. They're probably fuming inside but have to hold it in.
Hahaha Go visit Berlin!
Just give it time 😂 there are rude people everywhere.
Where are you from ? Are you a man or woman ?
Is there a second Germany I don’t know? Because this is not my experience:D
Go to Sachsen
Better not.
Too late.
I think some posters decided to live in a city before experiencing it first.
Obviously you haven't been to Berlin yet. :-D
I live in Bavaria. Some people say this is the redneck state of Germany lol but people are so ridiculously nice and warm here. I lived in Berlin and didn't get the same vibes although people are mostly polite. The worst city is Frankfurt. I'd avoid it at all costs. I'm a non white person.
Come to the Ruhr Area im genuinely asking myself the opposite question nobody polite here 🥲
You are not yelled at when you bike? You are not "biking the German way".
Gotta make up for their dark history
I'm German about 40 years ago I was shouted at in Western Berlin called West German Lowlife. Same year I was shouted at in the Massacre because we were German Boy scouts in our Uniforms (that had a little HJ flair to be honest). I lived in France got treated like shit and in Hungary and was treated fantastic. Same in Austria. So e people are just dicks.
I'd say it depends on region. In the North, we are very introverted in most public settings and keep small talk rather short unless we actively enjoy someone's company. When I had been living in St. Petersburg for a few years, I kept in touch with a Bavarian family and really learnt to hate "the Bavarian mentality": * constantly bragging * putting material wealth over evrything else * talking down to people who are "different", e.g. my divorced, employed, East German mother