UpToWick

  If I'm not wrong, even during the lockdown people with a residence permit in CH were allowed to leave and re-enter the country (for example cross-border commuters). I would also think that in case of another border closure (unlikely), your Swiss company would allow you to work remotely from Germany as long as necessary, so you could go back to Germany and stay there for weeks.   I would also stay in Germany if I were you, and see if you can commute weekly + do remote work.

The way Lufthansa is treating its customers with the refunds is really immoral...other airlines, who didn't receive any fat bailout, have refunded cancelled flights much faster.   These crooks (who are also responsible for the crash of the Germanwings flight on the Alps) instead are breaking the law by withholding money for a service that they didn't provide...another German company for whom the rules are flexible when it suits them. If they can't survive without withholding these money...they deserve to go bankrupt.   Have a look at the Twitter and Facebook page... I will boycott them until I get my money back.

I don't think it's a matter of "German culture" vs other cultures...you work in a shitty German company, just like there are many shitty US/UK companies. I'd suggest to look for a new job, in a better company (either German or "international"), or to lawyer up...   You can also find glass ceilings in international companies, especially if you don't fit in the more "high-energy extroverted always enthusiast" nonsense culture of US startups.   And the political culture here is much more civilized than in the US.

  If I was the Swiss government I would put heavy tariffs on German cars (they can because they are are not in the EU customs union). Let's see if this changes their mind on extraditing this dickhead...

  Well you started with generalising about 'all Germans' caring only about degrees. And if I look at the current US president, he's definitely not a very intellectual person.   Btw...compare apples to apples. On a per-capita basis, Germany has actually won more Nobel prizes than the US.

  Would you get a surgery from somebody who self-taught it? There is some value in 'pieces of paper', even if in anti-intellectual USA they think they are worthless...

Say that you applied for a job, you pass the interview...but you changed your mind about the job (it's not the right role for you, personal circumstances, not the right time...whatever).   What would be the best way to politely decline without burning too many bridges, and without pissing too many people off?

  Answer from Condor...I opened a conciliation procedure with the SOEP (https://soep-online.de/en/the-conciliation-procedure/), if this doesn't work I'll use one of those agencies that take a percentage of the refund but handle the whole process.   --- We do not make the refund since the rules do not cover a worldwide pandemic like this one with all its implications for the aviation and travel industry. It refers to one-off cancellation events, but it cannot take effect, if European aviation comes to a standstill. That is also the view of the German Government which supports flight or travel credit.  Like other German companies, Condor follows the decision of the German government offering a flight credit. Thank you for your cooperation.  

  Then the politicians here should stop telling shit like "We want to attract skilled people in Germany. We want to be attractive like Canada and Australia". If you want to attract skilled people from all over the world, you can't expect them to be fluent in C2 German quickly, you need to give them the infrastructure and support in English, for christ's sake. Instead the expectation here is "You are on your own, go to survive in the jungle"...   Sorry Germany, you'll never be like Canada or Australia. You'll always be a tier 2 country when it comes to attracting skilled people.

Lufthansa yesterday told me that it will take at least 8 weeks to get a refund of my ticket credited on my credit card...wow, do they have a human processing every single refund manually, or do they just want to get interests out of this withheld money as long as they can? I understand they are in deep trouble financially, but of all the airlines, they are the one that will probably survive, since they'll be bailed out by the government. Condor instead, whose future is much less certain, will "only" take 2 weeks to refund me the money.

  What if instead - Interest rates are cut even more (going even negative) - Real estate is seen even more as a safe refuge investment   Could there be instead a continuation of the bubble? I hope that the insane Munich prices go down as well, but I'm afraid we'll see a continuation of the post-2008 bubble...