Pressure to quit a job due to poor German skills

enough people have said the comment regarding German being easy is BS so no need for me to say it, but it is (bs). an easy language uhhh... try Spanish or French.

So the lastest update is:

Today I have my free day from work and in the post I have received "Ordentliche Kündigung" i.e. bye bye job as of the 31 December 2006. The reason stated being "betrieblichen Gründen".

So looks like the New Year will be a period of job hunting.

Go see a lawyer. It's standard practice here if you get fired.

Sorry to hear that. TT unemployment threads will give you info about what to do next - you must inform the Arbeitsamt immediately. Good luck!

Thanks for the good luck wishes. I had already had a look at the link at the weekend - I just had one of those feeling !

I'm sorry to hear that things turned out this way. As others mentioned already, make sure you are properly informed about your rights and whatever benefits you are entitled to while looking for another job. Good luck!

How can there be 'Betrieblichen Gründen' if they have just hired 2 new people. It really does sound as if you were being used as a stop gap until they could find a qualified German for the job. It's possible you would have grounds to challenge this if you wanted to, but without Rechtschutzversicherung it could be costly. I think I would probably prefer to invest my time in finding a new job.

Actually Finnish doesn't use the personal or inpersonal pronoun. They seem to cope.

But then again, the rest of the langauge is rather hard.

So my point is ... er, ... back to work.

That sounds like a bit too short of a notice period for here in Germany. Make sure you receive at least 3 more paychecks from them.

I think I will invest my time as well in trying to find another job as well. I am not sure that I have the stomach for a legal battle. I also do not have Rechtschutzversicherung and I do not have money burning a hole in my pocket.

I have just phoned another Pharmacy that is looking for a Pharmacist as of January 07 and they would like me to send them my CV etc.

Will just have to keep my fingers crossed that something come along. Failing that I will have the novel experience of being unemployed as off January. Will be strange I suppose having worked solidly for the last 10 years.

Ha Ho everyday is a learning experience. I suppose I had better go an practice some of the german that I learnt on Monday night before tonights German Course.

6 weeks to end of quarter is standard where I work.

The standard notice period in the Pharmacist contract is "mit der tariflichen Kündigungsfrist von sechs Wochen zum Quartal" i.e. 6 weeks before the end of the quarter. Which by my calculation means that the last day they can fire me this quarter is 19 November. Which surprise surprise is Sunday this week !

Anyway good luck with the job hunting. The good news is that this is a nation of hypochondriacs, where even the smallest town has three or four Apotheken (only outnumbered by the number of opticians).

really sorry to hear that, hope you find something soon.

Might not be what you want to hear, but being made redundant helped two of my friends get the chance to re-think their careers and in the end turn their lives around. Now they reckon its the best thing that could have happend. So its not always a bad thing, scary as it may be!

At very least you should be able to get some of your money back from the government in the form of Arbeitlosengeld..

you are the merriest person i've ever seen on TT. look at your shit situation and I bet you are smiling and laughing? what gives? YOU'VE JUST BEEN FIRED!!!

"Aus betrieblichen Gründen"? What a piece of f*cking bullshit. I would be fuming. I'd put cat and dog crap in a bag and throw it in on my bosses doorstep! They just hired 2 people, how could they justify firing you?

You'll get unemployment insurance, but long gone are the days when you could just be a happy drunk on unemployment. But as suggested, immediately go to the unemploymnet office & tell them they just hired 2 people and fired you. They won't do anything, but maybe then they can put a little red mark next to your pharmacies name.

I think I'm more pissed off than yuo!

@Elfenstar: maybe he's trying to make the best of the situation, is being sarcastic or deliberately light-hearted. Not necessarily what he's feeling though!

So, when do you have to be out? Maybe there are beaucup des other pharmacies who would love to have you!

This could be an opportunity. Treat it as one and I wish you the best of luck.


Ah, come on. Did the languages minor in college (OK, so comparison basis is limited to Oregon college classes) but German was not that hard. Spanish was a freaking cake walk for two years until hitting the wall in the third year with the 15 (!) cases they use in everyday speech (did anyone get that far?)

And French? Speaking it and differentiating words from each other takes a trained ear and much experience.

I think you wussies would complain about French if we were all in Paris. Or Spanish in Madrid. German is logical and mathematical. Do you seriously feel Spanish and French are easier? I totally disagree. Let's face it, German is and will always be a "must" language. Who learns it for its aesthetics? It is a tool. Only.

It is fun to see so many persons' reaction to it though. Toytown must just be this incredible oxygen supply for some, I guess. Seems like that is a pretty sensitive button.

German does sound pretty bad though, let's face it. Some of the most beautiful German women subtract from their aura simply by speaking a sentence in their own dialect. I live in Vienna. This is probably the most extreme of the beauty-subtracting Germanic dialects. Certainly someone will one-up this.

Coming from Glasgow I tend to be rather sarcastic. I am also trying not to let the bastards get me down to much. I am however to use the Glasgow phrase "Fucking Mad"

I think I will be having a couple bottles of Schneider Aventinus tonight.

I don't know if this has been suggested yet or not, but why not try and get a job at a pharmacy in central Munich? There would certainly be more of a call for English there, so your poor German might negate itself on your great English.

Currently am looking for jobs that are based within central munich as that was also my though with all the tourists etc. Not all tourists that come to germany speak german but they may however have some knowledge of English.

You mean definite or indefinte article.
And Finnish isn't the only language by any means, not even in Europe.
But the correct answer to Don's question is still "none".
Carry on.

I think that one of the problems that Germany has is that it has more Apotheke than needed. And that is causing no end of financial headaches for the owners of the Pharmacy. As the money that they receive from prescriptions is decreased with the Healthcare Reforms they are now beginning to worry in some areas how they are going to make ends meet.

It is always interesting to read the Pharmazeutical Zeitung and not that each week there a several noticaftions of Pharmacies that have closed.

A German friend who is involved in the property business tells me that he has regular calls from Pharmacy Owners who are finding it more and more difficult to pay the increasing rents on the property that they have.

Thanks Jeeves,

it's been a slow brain day.

It seems that you were so keen to expound on the order and logic of the German language and the attractiveness or otherwise of Vienna's female population that you forgot to read Andy's posts.

Hang in there, Andy. Things could always be worse:

@AndyJMcC
chin-up, man. you've been pissed about, and it's not a great feeling. just an thought, I know many germans who would spend their last weeks "working" on the sick!


i disagree, but anyay. i guess it depends on what standards you set for yourself. i've been living here for years and I don't consider myself fluent in german. put me in the sticks outside munich, and i don't have a clue what's being said. german humour, much of it i still don't get. all part of fluency, having full command of the language. i know many people who speak german a hell of a lot worse than me, and they call themselves fluent. i guess it's sometimes an ego thing.

Intersting, wasn't it you on the Extended Shopping hours thread that told foreigners to stop trying to change your country? So, are your german or english?
Just looking for some clarity here.

I have had people tell me off cause I speak little german at work, although rare it does happen. I tell them Im trying to learn (we thinking about it) the language and culture. Most of the time they are happy after explaining it.

Aussie Steve

erm, yes, i was on the extended shopping hours thread, but i can't recall ever having said "don't change my country". as far as i recall, the thread was about opening hours in bavaria. i suggest a re-read!
as per screen name - britmuc - and as per profile, well & truly british. you don't have to be german to appreciate positive aspects in the local culture here!! and clarity doesn't exist on the basis of nationality, surely? brit or german, what difference does it make? an opinion is an opinion . ...

I'm German, born and raised in Munich. I speak decent Bavarian (I would consider myself fluent in Bavarian ;-) ), but as the dialects vary a lot dependign on where you are it's not easy to understand everyone.
I can't understand someone form the Allgäu whe he speaks dialect. Even though it's less then 100 km away.

Actually I would take it as a sing of your proficiency (hope I typed that right) in the language if people talk to you in dialect.


Nah , me neither.

I would consider moving back to Scotland. I am on a fixed term contract as a consultant and have seen this sort of thing far to often. They offered me a german contract to stay another 2 years I refused as there was no way I was going to put myself up for what you are experiencing. They ofered for me to continue as I was, as they wanted my outside experience.

I would not work for a German company on a german contract under any circumstances. They are so frustrated by the Works councils and their power mad ideas anybody new they treat realy badly in many cases . i see it all the time

Just spent the weekend away from it all with my wife and a group of German friends in Switzerland. Now Swiss German is another language altogether.

Spent Thursday at the Arbeitsamt - That was fun ! Mananged to get through all the paperwork. Just have to get a couple of bit from the UK to do with NI Contributions etc.

Will see what next week brings. Hopefully lots of jobs that I am interested in applying for.

Not in work next week and I am not really feeling up to working at the moment I wonder why Should hopefully give me some clear time to start looking in the job situation.

It is always interesting when I talk to my German friends about what happened. They cannot believe it and are shocked at what has happened.

Have even been looking at the possibility of talking some intensive German lessons on top of the evening classes that I am currently taking. Hopefully will help to build up my confidence again. Has been rather shot to hell the last 10 days.

Moving back to Scotland is not really an option. My wife is German and she is still happily employed. I do after everything that has happened still really enjoy living in Bavaria. Life generally tends to be less stressed than back in the UK. (The last 10 days excluded)

I agree that Bavarian is not easy. I have certainly found over the last 8 months that dialects even vary from village to village where I have worked. You think that you have finally cracked a small part of the language and you go to another shop the next day and do not understand anything !

You should try Schwäbisch - every second words ends in "ah" e.g. Nudelah (Nudeln)
The women are even more difficult to understand!!! I try to go each year for a couple of weeks hols on Schwäbische Alb - beautiful countryside esp from above but its an asault on the ears... Great people...