slammer

Have to be with Mike here, German companies tend to look at depression as a personal problem, not a company problem and they will see to it that they get rid of somebody with a mental health issue before the end of the Probezeit and all that it contains kicks in.  That is why there is a Probezeit in the first place. As much as I sympathize with the OP and wish all the best vibes I can muster at the end of the day the company is not your doctor and certainly not your support therapist. Can the OP take time off? Sure! Just don´t expect to survive the Probezeit.

All the cheap printers use a UPE or a universal print engine, one size fits all, most are a Mitsubishi design built by Foxconn so you just need to skin it with your branded covers and huck it to customers. That way you can get a 40 Euro unbranded laser printer chassis and use any toner you want. If you can´t find a newer driver, try feeding your printer via a PCL6 driver, it´s a driver from 1996 and will work with most new and even the so-called obsolete printers by the way, you may not get all the functions but it should print. Laser printer design hasn´t changed in decades, in fact I can show you a laser printer from 1995, I´ll take parts out of it and install them in a 2021 printer. What is interesting is that the laser is from the early sixties, they transfer toner to paper using a Xerox method from 1932 which is based on electrostatic printing from 1904. And the spinning mirror is a galvanometer from 1820. And why am I telling you this..? It´s Friday evening and I´m bored.   PS. Just did a check, you can pick up a A4 laserprinter for 20 bucks on Alibaba.

Because the hardware is just the vector for ink and printer ink is where the money is.

Why bother? My last name has only four letters and Germans get it wrong each and every time, by now I am at 20 different variants. I know a lot of people whose last name reads like a cat has walked over the keyboard and who figure that it is not their problem when officials struggle. Also it´s your name so why take on all the hassle just to make it easier for somebody who doesn´t care anyway?

Spent six months in Etchmiadzin setting up the printshop in the Kloster, a fun time indeed and I went back a while ago to Yerevan setting up another printshop. Great fun and great memories indeed.

I´m slowly going around the bend too, cabin fever is a thing. Actually it helps to go a little bit insane, not too much mind you, just enough to get by and roll with.

That is my only saving grace. It almost went horribly wrong for the seven years I lived and worked in Denmark, after I left the country to go to Switzerland I was sent some papers to sign, only they sent them to the old address and I never received them. Turns out they had a time limit on them but the money is safe so I am not going into panic mode yet.

There is nothing left to collect, Stepmother threw a load out when my father died, ex wife chucked another load out of spite and the rest were destroyed when my live aboard boat sank in ruddy Denmark. It´s just strange that the government knows down to the last cent how much you owe them but not the other way round, however I am going to make an appointment with a Rentenberater and see what they say.

Jeeez! Keep all papers to get a pension? I´m doomed, I am simply going to have to trust the system on this, there is no way on god´s green earth that I can provide any kind of paper. It´s one of my nightmares (and it´s one I am sure to have tonight) that I will be asked for papers that I simply no longe have. In fact I am going to have to get papers from Germany, Denmark, Switzerland, Malta and maybe the UK. Just the thought of papers brings me out in a cold sweat.

Interesting indeed, Apple built the "Knutschkugel" all in one in a variety of colours but the blue one was the most popular, they also built the e-mac which was a white Knutschkugel and was aimed at schools and libraries etc. only it was cheaper than a I-mac and much more capable, so it was dropped and is now as rare as hens teeth. The colours were kept until the G4 "Kopfkissen" after which Apple went metal. Having said that black is beautiful, Steve "the Jobs" did the NeXT in a sexy black tone. You can pick one or two up on ebay but expect a just shy of 10.000 USD price tag for a unit in the original box. You can also find a brand new LISA for 20.000. Apple also tried a few "clear" shelled units, I must admit I found the cube totally cute and I would kill to get my hands on a 20th century mac, they were the ultimate on sexy computers.

I watched it as it conducted an unplanned spontaneous disassembly.  

Isn´t there another salty paste known as "Gentleman´s Relish"?   Anyway, talking about carpark annoyances when shopping. Recently getting out of the car and I was maskless, still hadn´t closed the door. Some daft old bat peels off from a gang of senior citizens, comes and snaps at me to wear a mask. I turn (had my FSS2 in my hand by the way) and smile sweetly at her. "Don´t I know you" I ask in a voice that sounds like a summers breeze with rainbows and unicorns. "I think not" she screeches.  "Well then, fornicate off and mind your own fornicating business!" And off she scuttled.

Driving through Munich in the hight of the cycle season renders me a gibbering wreck. Seriously, I lived on Malta before coming to Germany two years ago and can tell you a Munich cyclist would have a life expectancy of five minutes on Malta.

Hardy´s, they are nice and expensive, but they may ask you to gently at least look at a treadmill once in a while between sips of a beverage from the bar or a new flavor from the protein shake menue. 

"Selbständige Tätigkeit nicht erlaubt" Can´t do it, case closed. At least not in this configuration, looks like they are a bit wary of you having just one or two customers, and a "Scheinselbständigkeit" having said that I have heard of Canadians being sponsored and able to work in Germany as freelancers. At least you are not American where FATCA would make you toxic for the Finanzamt.