Peculiar customs and culture in Germany

First of all, although it's not just a German thing, I agree with you Puffinstuff. I remember a teacher at school who used to have longest springy black hairs randomly bursting from her hose. Ugghh!!
Second, nice user name! I do love Puffinstuff.

@ Puffinstuff- I had a warning from another girlfriend before I went the first time here- wear a long tshirt or pullover! Then you don't feel so naked, then put your pants back on, and then let them do the other exam!

I thought this happens even without umbrellas as I've often encounter Germans not side-stepping on e.g. a narrow shopping aisle for you to cross! And if they want to cross the aisle, they do not say "excuse me"! Same in clubs. I get pushed a lot. And there is definitely no "personal space" concept. Kinda strange because no matter how crowded it is back home, we always manage to create a personal space, that we do not touch the other person. Here, they touch you & they don't feel a thing! What is wrong with these people?!

Hey Zimmer, That happens to me too! I don't get it either. It's like you get ran over and pushed and nobody says a word. I have lived here over 10 years and don't understand this to this very day. One thing I do now when trying to exit the S-bahn/U-bahn and the people waiting outside of the door will not move- I run into them hard on purpose! Yeah, you heard it on purpose. If they won't move then I am gonna move them. I never thought I would start doing things like that but was about feed up with it.

but to do it right- you need to raise your elbows! or swing your heavy shopping bad into them!

Saying "Entschuldigung!" at the top of your voice at the same time. One must stay polite. Works for me, they don't know how to react.

the worst thing is the german pillows, those oversized square things that pack down to the fit in your wallet

GRR Rant over

How about birthdays? Why, on your own birthday do you have to supply everyone else with cake? Also, why is it such taboo to give out congratulations before the actual date of the birthday?

On that note: Happy Birthday Miss Squeaky, I'm expecting you to bake me a cake.

Why do they write the titles on the spine of most book and DVD's from bottom to top? It makes no sense at all...

Oh that book thing is annoying! Mixing mine and my (german) husbands books on our bookshelves together is such a mess!

@ Silva,

I'll bake you a nice DRY German cake with Vile Cucumber icing :-)

Excuse excuse me , but as a dumb Irish guy I'd just like to know if that reference to cucumbers and Silva is kinky just in case ... hate to see these things slip by unnotticed.
Happy birthday
Ps. Avatar is hawt

let me guess, the icing will be white?

BTW your grapes have sprouted fruitflies, will you be so kind as to remove them from my house?

I was told a long time ago it brings bad luck (like, you could die before it is actually your birthday... )

because then they have an excuse to take a break from work! i'm just gonna buy a nußzopf tomorrow since my b-day was yesterday. unlike my colleagues, i don't have anyone at home who will bake a cake for me and i sure as hell won't do it myself. but everyone came into my office (5 colleagues) and all shook my hand!

hmmm...must remember to wish some of the idiots I work with a day before their birthday.

well, you could wish me happy birthday now, belated, but nevertheless wish me it!

Holy Shit!! Never saw that...HAPPY BIRTHDAY Elf!!! hope you had a good one!!!

Well, talking of trams and trains , it always really bothers me to see younger people on the trains who don't get up for the elderly/disabled/moms - when there are no other seats left. It really pisses me off. It's like they were raised with no respect. Especially the folks who take up two seats - one for their bag. One day I was on a train back from the airport, and an old man was standing next to me. The train was packed, but there were a bunch of young women taking up about 2 sets of seats, they had their bags on it. He asked the one lady if she would move her bag to allow him to sit and she refused!!

Another thing - and I know this isn't exclusive to Germans, but what is it with the boys and men spitting? ug!

Vent over

Men not getting up for old ladies drives me crazy. I always do it - and they just stare at me! (Another custom I am trying to get used to.)

Show respect for your elders. Even if they happen to complain about their Kreislaufssytem (and its respective Zusammenbruch), the lunch they just ate, how their son married the wrong woman, and how drafty it is in the train.

I can't wait for the time when someone has a bag on a seat and refuses to move it when I ask to sit down. I intend to just sit down anywayand ignore them until the stop where I get off the train. If it's past their stop then it's tough shit for them I guess.

I use the S8 everyday. You don't ask, you already have your hands on the bag when the words "kann ich..." are leaving your lips. If they're not quick enough the bag is in the rack above their heads before they can say anything. It drives me crazy but thats the way.

my father-in-law (German) sat on a man's hand in the S-bahn. "What! he did not see me sitting down next to him???"

This could not happen anywhere else...

An excellent collection of true, oh so true things the old Gerries get up to! How about:
- Adults who think they are cool with those silver scooters. Its a toy you fool!
- Nordic Walking pride! Over confindence again.
- Insisting "Menchester" is the correct pronunciation. And telling you, a native speaker that you are wrong!
- "Kreislauf!" Why do we not suffer from that in Britain?
- In the hotel the maid makes the bed folding the duvet and turning it 90degs. Why turn it around? You have to turn it back again to use it.
- Purple patterned shirts worn by men in their 50's. With pride!

Crazy!

But for me, it's not even saying *men* should get up. I'm a woman, I get up no problem. I was just raised to have respect and some consideration.

lol@ Gideon and Melrose..

Must remember to just sit next time..

What's up with every person saying, "Grüß Gott" or "hallo" when they come in a doctor's waiting room? It doesn't annoy me, per se, but just seems downright strange. Strangely friendly for Germans.

wow this thread has made me feel so much better.

The pillows! I fold it in half and it still goes flat! so I sleep on one of those stupid pillows and the spare duvet. Why have a pillow at all!

another thing, why do german yell about everything? Even if they are just having a chat at home it always sounds like that are about to rip each other apart!

Ahh the horrible pillows!

The yelling thing makes me think about public speeches made in German- they always sound like Hitler to me... It's funny, even though I know 80-90% of what people are saying in German, it always "sounds" like people are super pissed off in their intonations. I guess like French can sound sexy even if someone is describing a crossword puzzle...

yea and I don't understand really most of what they are saying so I'm always worried if they are about to turn around and attack me

I like this thread!

My pet peaves:

As others have mentioned ... bed linen ... oh what a disaster that is. I stocked up on 'British' standard size pillows, duvets and covers before coming here from Asia because I hate, most of all, square pillows with 2 feathers inside! I do like those stretch jersey matress covers though ...

My mum-in-law also irons towels in order to get them soft after liberal doses of washing powder, fabric conditioner and drying them outside. Result is towels don't absorb any moisture, the pile is completely flat, and I end up "air-drying" in front of the heater!

Getting the third degree from the Apotheke when I ask for Witchazel, glycerine, Aloe Vera water or anything "unusual" ... why do I want it, what is it for and no they can't get it! Thank goodness for eBay and Naturallythinking! The other day, I asked for some Benadryl tabs as mine were finished and was told these were banned in Germany! Alas, the Ratiopharm tabs they gave me are exactly the same ... Also, not being able to buy aspirin in Rossman or any other Drogeriemarkt ... how odd is that?

Hand shaking ... such concern for "drafts" but quite happy to spread germs around. I have to wash my hands all the time and suffer the concequences!

Limescale! I know it's not only Germany that has this problem but they go to great lengths to protect the environment, recycle, save energy etc etc, so why ignore this? Reducing limesacle in the tap water would pay off in the long run. Washing machines, water boilers, kettles etc would last longer and use less electricity. We would need less soap, shampoo, detergents, cleaning materials and descaling cocktails, thereby reducing water pollution. I only use vinegar for this purpose and am sure the people at Lidl think I am the mad foreigner who buys all the "Essig"! I am just tired of cleaning white spots off everything and paying a fortune for Britta filters!

Kaiser's running out of Ocean Spray Cranberry juice and Kerrygold Cheddar Cheese! I stock up for a month now otherwise my (German) husband has a fit!

[quote name='not me honest' date='Jul 29 2005, 12:19 am' post='266132']
Please don't, you sound like a racist pig.
Germany doesn't need people like you!!

No we don't i think there are enough here already

The worst thing you can do to towels is use fabric softener on them! It ends up coating the fibers, thus (as you've pointed out) reducing their ability to absorb water. Actually running a bit of vinegar thru the rinse will soften them, but not too much as obviously you don't want towels smelling of vinegar! I'm thinking that next year's x-mas gift to the in laws should be a tumble dryer. I still can't believe that my MIL at 60 is hanging the wash up- there is just nothing like soft towels fresh from a dryer! I hate using air dried towels, the first time it's like having to dry off with a piece of cardboard.

Supermarkets that open at 7 or 8 am but if you go at that time, the shelves are still half empty and/or blocked by pallets!

People who stand still in the middle of the S/U-bahn escalator blocking the way for anyone trying to make a connection or who might actually be in a hurry to get somewhere--drives me M E N T A L

Renovation work starting at ungodly hours of the morning (last summer I had to deal with drills and hammering at 7 bloody AM every day!)

-Pushing (rather than pulling) doors open. I've been here over a year and I STILL run into the door occassionally when exiting a building.
-Not really a pet peeve, but why do so many German women wear such ugly shoes? You can have comfortable shoes that are nice...they don't have to look like grandmother shoes.
-General unfriendliness (more of a Berlin problem...I didn't encounter this in the South.)

most of my culture shock was sorted out once I moved to Prenzlauer Berg and when they started selling cranberry juice at Kaiser's. I don't miss dryers because I lived in an apartment in Canada without one for 2 years (I only had a hookup for a small one and I had a large one, and didn't want to pay a lot of money to use the building dryers.) I also don't miss air conditioning because never in my life have I ever had an air conditioner (not as common in Canada, and NO it's not because of the cold...it's warm in the summer all over Canada.)

Had a better one than that yesterday. U4 on the way to Lehel, I was holding on to the carriage pole before alighting when a pretty young blonde girl leans against the pole plonking her behind directly on my hand.
"Entschuldigung, darf ich mein Hand wieder haben?"
"Oh! Störe ich?"
"Na, solches mache ich normalerweise nur zuhause also..."
She laughed, let me have my hand back and I got out of the train.

That's another anoying thing they have here that I don't ever remember seeing at home.
The Supermarket fruit and veg sections are infested with them and you bring them home with your "fresh" fruit.

Here's a tip: use a vacum cleaner and suck up those little bastards, do it a few times and thats the end of that.

One time I was on the tram and this guy asked me to move my bag so he could sit. There were seats opposite me as well as behind me in front of me and to the side of me that were free. The tram was empty !!! I pointed this out to him to which he replied did you pay for this seat ? I said no and he sat on my bag which I then pulled from under him !!! UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I could of really punched him but I would probably then be sued for assault !!!

Exactly! MY German friends (& my wife) all mutter about Kreislauf on occasions.
Must be due to lack of British breakfast (having just got back from the UK where I had British
breakfast 4 mornings on the trot...)

OMIGOD...! Sh--t! Many of these posts are exactly the same things I find troublesome in Switzerland, and here I was thinking that perhaps by moving to Germany this summer we might get away from some of this! Anyway, have been laughing so hard that tears have been pouring down my face. And anyway, I know the Swiss are just überGermans anyway. No one can be as uptight as they are...even the Germans.

Lay and display shelf toilets: TIP (from my mom's cousin in Freiburg who learned this from her Bosnian cleaning lady) -- to prevent skid marks, simply place a sheet of toilet paper on the shelf first. Works wonders! (Luckily, they don't have these in Switzerland.)

Drafts: every time I hear about the damn draft fear, plus all those people with scarves at all times, well, I feel like punching someone. It is just so damned illogical. Also getting sick from A/C in the car or something like that. Hello?! Why doesn't it happen to other nationalities, then... At least our pediatrician agreed with me that colds come from VIRUSES and not drafts...duh!

Sitting down to pee (men): I beg to differ--I think this is cool. Our toilet is spotless (Swiss hubbie), compared to any other man I lived with from other countries...And no, we girls are not tinkling on the underside. When my family came to visit (American), within a day the toilet was noticeably dirty from my bro and dad who pee standing up.

Nose-blowing: why is it that sniffing occasionally is considered totally gross here in Switzerland, but blowing your nose so loud that it sounds like you're honking or blowing a trumpet is OK, plus using a hankerchief or tissue to "discretely" pick your nose in front of everyone is also OK??? Aghh, barf! Or is this considered proper by Brits too and this is just an American issue??

Only being able to buy asprin etc at the chemist.
Why is this.

Hidden speed cameras its just not British.

Oh, don't get me going. This happens to me on the S-Bahn regularly. The other day some guy physically forced my legs out of the way to sit down opposite me in an empty carriage. And he felt wronged! Bloody hell, back home, that's fighting talk

Guy

This is just the sort of thing that has put me off Germany. Some of them are just so unpleasant and rude and regretably far outweigh the others.

Then please, tell me in which country that is different ... I 've come around a bit, and assholes seem to be everywhere i go.
Thinking of it ... maybe i am bringing them along ...

This post really had me laughing.

I just left Germany after almost 7 years. One thing that always gave me a weird feeling was standing in the s-bahn station next to my work. It was one of the starker above ground places - always had an area or two that was cordoned off with yellow tape - simultaneously sanitary ( expect for the smokers ) and depressing-looking. Then the announcement would come on the old intercom in a semi-muffled voice with train information that I completely understood. However, I always felt like I was in a POW camp in an old war movie - regardless of what the guy was saying.

The other thing I felt I never got used to was the supermarket cashiers in the area where I worked. Despite the fact that I stopped off at a supermarket for a couple small things every morning, the cashier women never became friendly ( except for one who was always nice for the first couple of years then suddenly turned nasty also ). Quite the opposite - they became more hostile as the years wore on. I just got the impression they knew I was a foreigner making alot more money than them - or even my work colleagues - and the longer it went on, the more they resented it.

Its strange we had a German personnel manager when she spoke german she had a very unpleasant manner. When she spoke in English she completly changed she was most pleasant
so much so the germans asked her to speak English. She was very tall and slim, but thats another story.

well, of course its your fault they never made it to gymnasium, and got a real education to get a real job.

my pet peeve still, is the total lack of personal space, be it on the Ubahn, in the line at the grocery store, talking to a person on the street asking for directions or what ever... why do they always need to be totally in my face, to the point I can see every little blackhead on their nose? (and they always seem to have obsence breath)

I'm not sure if anybody came across an article in Saturday's International Herald Tribune entitled "Speaking Up, Regardless of Your Accent", so I thought I'd share the link here: Expats Can Effect Change Despite Hurdles. It's written by Gretchen Lang living in Berlin and she speaks of how it can be intimidating for foreigners living in Germany (and other countries in general) who wish to complain to the local goverments, authorities, etc.
Here's a snippet:

Thanks for the laugh!

It is really funny reading about all these peculiar things in Germany from a German perspective.

About pillows: I actually prefer the German pillows, the American ones are too small, they cannot be squished and accustomed to the shape you want them to be.

About Kreislauf issues: do y'all never feel dizzy/ have low blood pressure? That's what it is. I rarely have that problem, but sometimes I do.

About train seats: I hate when the entire train is empty and someone decides to sit right next to you. Sometimes I then get up and sit down on another seat.

About ironing: I do not iron anything. That is also why I don't wear my nice shirts a lot, because they're too crumply to be worn without ironing. But bedsheets, underwear, socks, PJs and towels, hell no!

About air conditioning: I think that is a matter of what you are used to. When I moved to the US I got a cold three times within a month. Just when I was feeling better, there it was again. Most Germans are not used to being cold inside. And in the car, while I would turn on the AC, I would definitely not like it to continuously blow in my face, I don't like the feeling and it dries out my eyes (and with wearing contacts that's really uncomfortable). In the summer, I think most German houses do not really need AC, as the insulation actually works, and it doesn't heat up as easily. I lived in Oklahoma for a year and there, the heat wouldn't have been bearable without air conditioning, but here I only miss it on the busses and in stores, especially clothes stores. Who likes trying on clothes when they are all sticky?!

About keys in every lock: not sure what the reason is, but every now and then I do lock myself into my room if I don't want to be disturbed. They can also be helpful at Christmas when the Christkind puts the presents under the tree and doesn't want to be caught.

I never meet people around lunch time that say Mahlzeit to me, unless I am sitting down to have lunch with them, and before we start eating we say that or "guten (Appetit").

I have screens in front of my windows so they do exist. Admitted they are only nets that stick to the frame with velcro, but it works just as well.

About not saying Happy birthday before the actual birthday. That's for the same reason there are often no 13th floor/row in buildings/planes... of course it is superstition but superstition is not a German thing. We just don't do it, just like we don't ask everyone how they are doing, it's a German thing. Not saying one thing or the other is better, they're just different.

About washing machines and dryers: I have never used a toploader washing machine but I have heard from many Germans who live in the US (and physically it makes sense) that they do not clean the clothes as well. About dryers: I have one here, and I love putting on warm clothes that just came out of the dryer, or using a still-warm towel, but back home (at my parents') we don't have one, and we have a room that just keeps the oil tank/heating so we hang up our laundry there, and that works just well. Here I would not want to put up my laundry all over my apartment.
But try living in Spain, they hang their clothes outside, not sure what they do in the winter, but I know when I was there, and it rained I had to hang it on hangers on doorknobs window handles, everything because obviously I couldn't put it outside.

About the clapping after a plane lands, I kinda always thought that was an American thing, and that some Germans did it to be "cool". Because we all wanna be all American as ya know.

About the clapping with your knuckles on the table, I first encountered that during a lecture at uni, but now that I've been in uni 4.5 years I just do it, and I do not even feel ridiculous anymore; it becomes a habit after a while.

And about that remark on Mexicans: the term Mexicans is not used just for Mexicans in the US but for anyone looking Mexican (i.e. a Hispanic person with Indio roots). Now Hispanic is not a race, but an ethnicity but it is still considered racism when you say something hateful and negatively biased about them.

Just thought I'd put in my $.02 (or €.02? )

This is all coming from a Munich born and raised girl who does not speak Bavarian, does not like beer, and does not like skiing.

#249 I didn't know about the 13! I live on the 13th floor and consider it very lucky. Only 2 other flats on our floor, one houses a very busy businessman who is rarely home and the other an old gentleman who bothers nobody and always takes my parcels from DHL. We have no neighbours above so no trampling. We have a fab view all around Berlin (first city where I prefer to spend New Year's at home to watch the fireworks) and the lifts always work!