Peculiar customs and culture in Germany

One thing that I've never got used to since living in Germany and that's the bizarre act Germans perform of staring at strangers. Not just a casual glance but more of an intimidating stare. I asked a few German friends of mine if they find it uncomfortable being stared at by a total stranger in a bar, restaraunt, cafe, wherever, just to find out if I'm being too paranoid or I'm still not used to German culture. To my surprise my German friends totally agreed with me. They find strangers who stare at them thoroughly annoying. The country I'm from and the places I've traveled to you would never stare at anyone, since it's considered rude and even provocative. Nowadays here in Germany, I either stare right back or walk up to the perpetuator and ask what their problem is. They look away sheepishly and mutter something about having the right to stare provocatively at strangers.
I know it's not exactly funny stuff, but to me it's certainly a peculiar custom

I often stare into the "nothing". So if a person happens to be in the way of "nothing", they might feel stared at. And sometimes I just like watching people, and people who are not just average, who don't blend in will catch my attention more easily. Maybe others do that too, and that's what you perceive as that uncomfortable stare.
That said, I also don't like others staring at me. I am such a hypocrite, I know.

We both ought to buy a pair of mirrorshades each.

Ah, here we go: Watcha Lookin' at, Granny?

They stare at my dog too. My dog! Yes, they stare down my 5 kilo hairy rat of a dog until he breaks the gaze. His tail even drops he feels so intimidated.

This is perhaps the one thing I still struggle with everyday. I hate it. I have started staring back - Saturday, a woman on her bike refused to break our gaze until well after she had passed me. I wish at that moment someone would have stepped in front of her on the bike path, she wasn't watching where she was going at all just to stare at me staring at her.

I'm going to start giving the evil squint stare. I can't wink and grin without breaking into hysterical laughter, and I'm not good at coming up with quick witty things to say.

Re Staring...

I've found that if you're a girl - lick your lips and give them that "Lusty" raised eyebrow Look of "Yeah, look all you want...I'll check you out right back".

I've wound up laughing my ass off as people (usually males) crashed into poles, fell off their bikes, and tripped over their feet. The last time I can actually remember having this effect consistently was when I was in High School. In some ways, it's great. In others.. well, let's say it's hilariously funny, though it's NOT something I can get used to.

~Rose

My (German) MIL has that annoying habit of staring too- at me while I'm eating! I knew she was waiting for me to look up at her too, but I just couldn't give in! And it wasn't a "you eat strange/have something on your face/intimidating stare"- it was just a "hey you, look up at me looking at you" stare- so weird! It was so perturbing! Thank God now we've got a couple of grandkids to keep her busy...

Hmmm...

I shared a two bedroom flat in Manhattan with girl from Germany. She would never use the A/C in her bedroom, even in the middle of the stifling August heat and humidity. New York summers are hell, but she would sit there with the windows open, letting more hot air into the room.

We have my wifes right hand drive car over here. She often comes out of the supermarket to find someone standing by the car to see how she drives it , staring at it untill she exits the car park. The car was purchased in Halifax West Yorks and it is on the number plates with a great big GB sticker on it, She has been asaked many times why she brought the car over from Canada. We have asked all our German neighbours if they would like to have a go driving it. They just go all red and shake there head in horror, its just amazing.But we do live in wine farming country.

When I moved to Germany I owned a RHD Renault 5 - automatic transmission...
For various reasons I drove it a number of years here (also on German plates).

Eventually I bought a VW Golf (this was back in 1987) and my (German) wife
took over the R5 until it fell apart with rust. She had great fun driving with
RHD & the automatioc was a bonus as first pregnancy advanced...

Hmm, don't Canadians drive on the right just like in Germany? Doh! I am having an interesting experience at the moment with driving: since moving to the UK I've only ever driven manual transmissions, and right now have a loaner from the garage- this behemoth old Vauxhall (Opel) from 1993 automatic! Never thought an automatic would be harder to drive than a manual, but it is sooo strange...

When it comes to air conditioners, I'm pleased to see that there are more mobile A/Cs available now - especially in office buildings. They're a lot better than having a fan blowing in your face and blasting papers off your desk, and more effective than just having a window open thereby letting in more hot air. The Germans aversion to the older model A/Cs was for me a personal impediment when I first arrived here. So these newer mobile A/Cs are a godsend in the humid summers. Very cool. Considering they're a better technology, my German coworkers have no problem with them.

Surprising that. Id have thought they`d frown on AC units as being environmentally unfriendly. Using up electricity, also articifially cooling the air, rather than choosing the natural low-energy green alternative of simply opening the window!

How do these things work, do they have a pipe that goes out the window to get rid of the heat or what. Because that thing looks like it just takes in warm air and gives out cold, where does the heat go?

Yup, there is a light plastic tube that comes from the back of the unit which dispenses the heat out of a window or other such hole in the wall. We don't have that particular model in the pic. That's another one. I've seen some good ones for about 200 euros. These portable air conditioners also collect water from the air, or dehumidify, and the water needs to be emptied from the unit every so often. Two different firms I worked for in Bavaria each had a mobiles Klimangerät and they love them.

There's a bit more info on them here (in German).
Below is another model showing the hose...

i second that why? what for? who invented it?nightmare .

Some medicals require you to take a sample of your stool as they call it. Those Sothern German and Austrian shelf toilets would make it easy to obtain a sample. Otherwise it is not easy I can assure you.

I wish I hadn't read that last comment. I've just come back from a late lunch.

most of the *funny* details you notice in Germany (or any other place you chose to live in) have a (sometimes historic) good reason attached.
Ironing underwear or towels or baby's clothes is mandatory when you don't have a dryer. Air-drying your stuff, after washing it at temperatures well below 60 degrees C, will not kill germs. If you don't want some extra training for your immune system by putting on last week's undies again, you better iron them out.

You mean Germany actually has a rule on that as well?

oh the ironing of it all. I was going to throw in the towel and call a trews on punning but I'm quite board. Iron't you up for it?

I'm pegging away at something else so I'll have to clothes my contribution for tonightie.

OK, here's something that's weird...maybe it's just a weird German I met and not a weird German custom:

I was sitting at Starfucks today. It's one of the best T-mobile hotspots in town, so €4 cup of something they refer to as coffee buys you a days use of the net.

I had been sitting in a big comfy chair for quite a while, and had my feet on the ottomon in front of me with my laptop on my lap. Several times some guy walked by me and kept giving me a strange look. Finally when he went to leave he walks up to me and touched my shoe. I looked up thinking this person was saying hello thinking he knew me.

He says something to me in German and taps my shoe again. Now, for some reason instead of thinking about what he was actually saying, I was much more focussed on what this guy found interresting about my shoes. I gave him a confused smile and he left.

I then spent a few second looking over both of my feet, convinced that there must have been either dog crap or gum on one of them. Finally it occured to me what he had said to me:

He told me I shouldn't be putting my shoes on the ottoman (foot stool). I then looked around the cafe and noticed that although there were 4 or 5 other sets of chairs with foot stools, none of them were in use. No one had their feet propped up, no one was sitting on them (thinking maybe they considered them a funny chair here).

So what the hell, do Germans just not use foot stools?

What do they think they're used for?

Do you go to the furniture shop and buy a 'chair and ottoman' or a 'chair and optional short chair with no arms and back that is not to be sat in'?

is this normal or were the occupants of this particular starbucks just smoking something?

Yes good points - except that the families I worked in all had dryers and the clothes came out of the dryer (completely dry) before they were presented to me to iron.

So you're in Starbucks, someone says something about your feet that you don't understand (because of your ignorance), and you notice no one else is currently using a footstool. Then you come to the conclusion that Germans don't know what a foot stool is or how to use one. Just think about that for a moment.

Before you start saying "Germans do this" or "Germans do that" you should consider for a moment that it has nothing to do with the Germans, but maybe its just one of those things. Its as if people on here generalise everything that they are not used to as being caused by "those strange Germans". Its like the other thread where someone is claiming that Germans don't like the lights on and they are vampires. In my office its the non Germans that want the lights off. Its just one of those things, some people like lights and some people don't. There are some German peculiarities, but nothing to the extent that a lot of people on this board make out.

probably more of a general stupiditiy thing than a german thing but i'll tell it anyway...

i was watching an Oma play with her granddaughter, tring to calm her down, while waiting for the schnellbahn.
she pulls out a lighter, flicks a little switch, LEDs start blinking, and she hands it to the toddler and says
ist das nicht schön... or something like that...
as the kid was putting the blinking lighter into her mouth, i just looked at gran is disbelief and my look sort of said.

ummm, you're teaching her that a lighter is a toy, and it's fun to make it flash and it tastes good...
well, gran scowled back at me with a fierce i don't care what you think look, mind your own business,
i'll give any toy i want!
so with a shrug of my shoulders i 'said', well hope that doesn't come back to bite you in the ass one day...
then i got and train and prepped for my lesson..

amazing what can be said with a few looks...

t.

gee...despite the fact that the whole thing was a bit comic, you could have at least read the first line I wrote!

Oh and thank you for pointing out my ignorance for being put-off a bit when some random guy comes up to me and starts playing with my foot. If it would make you feel better about my lack of understanding I can repost this in german since I'm assuming you think my ignorance extends to the language?

If you look upon it reflectively.

Who would wish to see your soles of your feet directly displayed.

Happened to me a few years ago.

I was most chastised.

The biggest problem I have is

How could I ever understand ever nuance of the Germanic culture?

So I try just to use all my angles.

guys tucking their shirts into their underwear...

The question is, why wouldn't you? And the answer to that question is Fire Safety.

In the US, there are various building codes in place that prevent some types of locks, or any lock at all, from being used on internal doors. They state fire safety, but really it's also driven by parent/child privacy (or lack there of).

For example, if I put a solid core door with a solid key lock and deadbolt (like most "front doors" in the US) on a bedroom, bathroom, or living room in a US house, that's my right. But if I sell that house, and for ANY reason there is an inspection of the house during the sale, you would be required to remove the door and lock, because it would be considered a fire hazard.

I don't honestly know if the same apply in Germany. But do know that is the reason you don't see locks on most doors in the US.

I can just picture your vacum cleaner full of flies!


I hate it when someone keeps on sniffing, it makes me want to turn around to them and say blow your f**king nose!

Occasionally our 17-yr-old son carries the vacum cleaner into his room & we hear it running.
No - hes not cleaning the carpet - hes removing some poor spider from the wall (or mosquito in the summer).


I also hate it when people sniff...

What is it with dangling soft toys hanging from people's rucksacks, bags and laptop bags? I understand it might once had been a fad by school kids to hang off their schoolbags. But grown men and women often in their middleages, dangling several from their bags. I think might start a blog taking sneaky pictures of them. It's just weird oder?

Am I the only one to notice this phenomena?

People who write in English and then stick "oder?" on the end of their sentances.

I actually spent 20 minutes reading this whole thread ... and am delighted someone replied it back to the top of the stack. 99% rings true.

1. Amen on the plush toy thingieboos handing from backpacks, rearview mirrors, etc. I thought europeaeans were supposed to be stylish and cool ... and what's with that effen Diddlmaus thing with trench foot?

2. A-effen-men on those shoes ... the flesh-tone, square-toed ones that seem to be worn with all suits of all colors, completed with the fly-leg look of 2-inch socks andflood pants (with no cuffs, natch).

3. How about compulsive foot wiping? I understand one or two discrete courtesy wipes upon entering someone's house, but what's with the cat-in-the-litter-box act?

4. The "mahlzeit" thing is just stupid. Someone said it to me once in the restroom, and I replied "veleicht mehr apropos scheisszeit?"

5. Relentlessness lack of creativeness in colloquial speech (using "Ich muss auf gut Deutsch sagen ..." or "auf der motto ...' five or six times in a single sentence). How about some variety, people?

6. Stupid-sounding sing-songy abbreviations for thing ("Kopi" for "Koenig Pilsner", "Kripo" for "Kriminalpolitzei", etc.)

7. Denglish (a whole 'nuther thread idea, methinks). "Ich bin Relaxen", or worse yet putting a "ge" in front of or within an english word to make a verb ("upgegraded", "downgeloaded"), etc.

8. Relentless penny-wise pound-foolishness. Guy drives to the baumarkt in a Mercedes 600, and then acts like a chunk of plaque in the checkout line artery counting out pennies from a changepurse ... put it on a card or round up, for kreissakes!

9. Smoking in closed cars with (natch) closed windows with kids trapped inside ... or in a building with hermetically-sealed Velux windows.

10. Compulsive door closing ... the meeting starts in five minutes and 20 people still have to come throught the door, so so us a solid and just leave the friggin' thing open!

11. Short-sleeve business shirts. On the way to the Full Cleveland.

12. On one's birthday, one is expected to both cater and clean up for one's own celebration ... which leads me to ...

13. ... At a party in the U.S., guests usually stand up at the end of the meal and say "let me clear", and others follow and allow the hard-working host and hostess relax and chat a bit. Here everyone just sits around on their asses and expects to be waited upon.

P.S. t's not all bad ... I actually like the knuckle rapping (it's a bit like snapping one's fingers to applaud at a jazz club); and no A/C is actually nice.

14. How could I have forgotten (echoing a prior post) ... "American-style hamburger sauce" (a viscous mayonaisse/mustard concoction I never saw it in 40 years in America), those little dried Sea monkeys-style onions on hotdogs/hamburgers instead of freshly sliced onions (drool :-), and sliced raw cucumber on stuff instead of pickles (I was once told that that was a direct result of cooks mistranslating "Gurkhin" whilst preparing stuff from american-sourced cookbooks).

P.S. Apologies to the British on the board, but tomatoes and breakfast food are mutually exclusive!

Changing the actual price of drinks by hiding the 'Pfand' costs!(Ostbahnhof). I find it annoying..

Haven't read the whole thread so forgive me if I'm repeating. But I can't stand people who lick their knives, and I mean not just at home but also in fancy restaurants! Is this a German thing or a small village thing or just a Swabian thing?

Regardless, I'm training up my teen-age nieces and nephew to stop it. I've gotten so far that when they sit at a table with me and are about to lick their knives, they often glance at me to see if I'm watching, then I give a small headshake "no" and they put the knife back down. Hopfully I'll break this habit with the kids, but the parents (in-laws) aren't getting the message, even when I'm gently reminding their kids.

Not necessarily peculiar, just different from the UK:

They say "bitte" a lot, but not "danke" so much.
They say hello and goodbye (and expect you to do the same) when you leave and enter a shop.
They expect you to look them in the eye and clink glasses when you say "Prost!".
They say "Guten Appetit" and expect you to do the same.
They like herbal tea, candles and incense sticks.
They introduce themselves to their neighbours when moving into a new home.
They don't understand self-deprecation.
Sticky-up hair
Scarves round the neck
Rimless specs
Birkenstock sandals

You don't PAY a Pfand in itself, it's a deposit on the bottle that you get back when you return the container.

It is sneaky how SOME but not all clubs charge a pfand on glasses fully knowing they are not going to be returned.

The horror.

[quote name='MonksTown' date='Jun 29 2007, 7:58 pm' post='984086']
You don't PAY a Pfand in itself, it's a deposit on the bottle that you get back when you return the container.

That's right. But when you purchase a drink in a place such as bahnhof do you travel all day the with an empty bottle so that you can get your 'Pfand' back in the evening on your way back home?

You can return it at pretty much any grocery store in Germany.

Something very peculiar I saw today... note the sequined socks (of course worn with sandals)...

Oh my, Mariposa! She looks like she belongs on www.hel-looks.com

There's only one all-american response to this: "Is that the way you look?"

Watch it, thats my mother in law

I can understand not being allowed to mow your lawn on Sunday, because of the noise. But I can't understand why you aren't allowed to hang laundry outside to dry on Sundays. With the miserable weather here, it seems like you have to take any chance you can get to hang your laundry on the clothesline when it is sunny outside. We are one of those unfortunate families without a clothes dryer, so if we can't hang the laundry outside, it has to be hung up in the basement and it takes days sometimes to dry. My husband also insists that you aren't allowed to wash your own car because of regulations concerning the pollution of ground water. He's German, so he outta know. But I still find it to be a little extreme.

Every so often I pass a house decorated with a string of cartons (mostly cigarette packets, but not always - once I saw socks). I have no idea what this could be for, except to announce to the world that the inabitants are serious smokers. Can anyone enlighten me?

A quick list:
1. The retro look. Why do they all have these stupid retro glasses now?
2. Everything is overly regulated. I am not allowed to eat Pizza for breakfast, but "Milchreis" for dinner is allowed.
3. how they crawl up your ass when you are in front of them in a line.
4. The lack of lines at the bakery. Stupid little old women come in, barge in front of you (cause they are little helpless old ladies and they can) and then take 10 minutes to get rolls.
5. Nose pickers. There are soooooooo many. Even at the table! Would you like a nice big hocker to go with that?
6. Jeans that don't go even half way up your ass. And shirts that 3 inches too short.
7. Their inability to smile at strangers.
8. They have no idea what customer service is. Will never admit they made a mistake.
9. They look for conflicts. First yell, then walk away without listening.
10. Mid aged women with maraschino cherry red hair.