Please take this video with a grain of salt and remember that this is just my personal opinion, other opinions are totally valid as well! 😊 👉 Go to piavpn.com/felifromgermany to get 83% off Private Internet Access with 4 months free!
Feli I've seen quite a few of your videos now and I believe you to be a VERY intelligent young woman. To do what you've done (living here in Ohio) is outstanding in itself I think. Ohio is fortunate to have you in my opinion. I say that not personally knowing you, but judging solely what I know of you in these videos. 😊 I'd imagine we probably don't have the same political views, but I don't care. (Have you been following Vivek Ramaswamy running for president? He grew up in Cincinnati). Keep making your wonderful videos and just being your bubbly self. Everyone needs someone as positive as you appear to be in your videos. I'll tune in as often as I can, to see what's new in your life, cause it makes me feel better seeing your smiling face and positive attitude. Thanks darlin',,, take care and keep smiling that beautiful smile you have... :-)
Ich stimme dir wirklich bei allem zu. Klar es gibt überall Vor- und Nachteile. Jeder Mensch tickt anders. Ich habe für mich auch den Entschluss gefasst nach dem Studium in die USA auszuwandern. Mir fällt das aber nicht nur in den USA auf, sondern auch in einigen nahen europäischen Nachbarländern. Dann denkt man sich...Ok, es geht auch anders. Es gibt deutsche Eigenheiten mit denen ich mich, persönlich, nicht mehr identifizieren kann, die aber in der Vergangenheit so selbstverständlich waren. Klasse Video btw :)
That "subtle pessimism" of which you spoke didn't stay in Europe, but emigrated to America along with my German/German-Swiss ancestors. 😅 Every visit to my relatives in the V-E-R-Y Germanic part of Pennsylvania, would begin with a "gripe session" in which everyone's current problems were aired. "Oy, yoy, yoy..." was a frequent utterance.
In the fall 2017 a couple of German guys I knew from work came to Houston on business. The Houston Astros were in the middle of a playoff game and of course it was being played on every television in the bar. The crowd in the bar was going wild, and everyone was cheering and being loud. My German friends were absolutely enjoying themselves and one of them says over the loud crowd, "This is like a scene from a movie!". They couldn't believe this was actually how Americans reacted, they had only seen this in movies, and couldn't believe it was real.
That’s really interesting because I had an opposite experience when I took German family to a regular season baseball game. They said after that they thought the people cared more about the Jumbotron than the game 😂😂
@@dgill441Of course you went to one of 162 regular season games where the stakes aren't that high for just one game. The other scenario involved postseason games which is completely different.
I am German and have just been to the US for 3 weeks and I have to admit, I was expecting the Americans to be fake friendly and that it would annoy me. But not at all, I LOVED it! It wasn't too friendly in my opinion, it was just right and so much nicer as in Germany. Also loved the free Water and free refill 🙂
Once in Hamburg I went into a clothing store to look around. The store owner asked if we needed help and we said, no we’re just looking. His response: you can go outside and look through the windows. 😂
@@robf435 Well, if i the customer answer "Im just looking" i usually mean that i just dont need/want any help or service and want to shop myself. Dosent have to mean you wont get any sell out of me.
I thought it was a little weird that German’s I met (especially those who haven’t been to the states) automatically assume American friendliness is fake or superficial. Sure that maybe the case for some people, but I think there are just as many people out there that are just genuinely friendly.
We are genuinely friendly. Until our political lines are crossed. If you are out-of-town we may give foreigners a pass. I have no respect for people that only get their news from Facebook and emails.
We're raised to be polite, and being a bit chatty is considered good manners: "How are you doing today? Some great weather we're having, isn't it?" The key is not to ask, if you're not going to care about the response.
In the context of customer service, I personally find the friendliness superficial because they are not interested in me, but my money. I used to live in Cologne, where a good bartender called "Köbes" is traditionally is the most unfriendly person you can imagine in that kind of profession. It's a superficial unfriendliness that I personally enjoy much much more than superficial friendliness.
@@shells500tutubo that works ofc, funnily if you answer the unfriendliness of a Köbes with the same superficial unfriendliness yourself, you'll get an amazing service as well. I traveled the globe quite a bit and the service a good Köbes provides is rare. You order once (usually a beer) and when you finish the drink you'll get a new one in mere seconds without even looking for the guy. A Köbes only stops bringing drinks if you put your coaster on top of your glass. You'll have to endure the questioning of your masculinity and financial reach, but the service itself is stellar. Women are usually treated a bit better, they sometimes get negative comments about their age or looks, but only if they are feisty themselves. I highly recommend trying it, if you happen to visit Cologne. Oh and there's actually a historical reason for the behaviour that's quite interesting.
American customer service also extends to office workers who answer the phone, who don't get any tips at all. :) To those who think it sounds fake, I can say from experience that you do force yourself when you first get a customer service job, but after six months to a year, it becomes automatic and not forced at all. Then making a smile actually makes you feel good inside too, so being friendly isn't fake at all. Unless you're having a bad day, of course, but not normally. :)
I am German and have lived in the US for almost 30 years. Most of what you are saying is what made me want to live here, because I liked it so much better than in Germany. So I could not agree more with you. Yes, there are some people in customer service in Germany who are nice and trying to give their best, but the vast majority is not. And after experiencing this here, I wanted my future kids to go to School here, and they did. I had a blast going with my kids through all the Scholl activities, supporting, cheering them on and seeing them excel in something other than just academics. Yes, I still love certain things about Germany, and I miss others, but would I want to live there again? Nein!
You were simply lucky enough that you had not had cancer yet to experience one of the "chocolate sides" of the US system. I can't take any German seriously who thinks the US has anything to offer in terms of life or living standard. Just the fact that there are so many clearly uneducated and misinformed Convervatives and Republicans there who tell you to your face that you have the freedom to die there if you cannot afford healthcare and that they should not chip in to make it affordable for everyone is so outrageously medieaval, it is actually an insult to the Middle Age to call assholes with such a mentality medieval. I have experienced most facets of the US and it is an absolutely inferior fucked up society and country overall - by objective metrics. I do not care at all what some individuals "feel" as Feli clearly is in some sort of honeymoon phase herself still. Feelings do not matter when it comes to the objective reality. The US has so many problems, if the news would report on them regularly there would be nothing but bad news day after day.
I wonder how Germans compare to other Europeans. I've been to Russia, Scandinavia, France, Britain and Spain. I saw the same "attitude" especially in Russia (!), France and Scandinavia. And customer service is probably getting worse in the United States. Latin American countries usually have better customer service than the US and the US is usually better than Europe. I've heard Asian countries usually have very good customer service.
I bought 10 linear displacement transducers from a firm in China. Someone from the firm, speaking very good English, phoned me in the UK on a Sunday at 4pm (when it was midnight in China) to check that one of the dimensions of the transducers was suitable. If there was still any firm making a product like this in the UK it would refuse to sell me any because I am not an important enough customer.
I served in W. Germany from 83-88 and while I loved so much about it one thing nearly ruined my experience there and that was…drum roll…the bureaucracy. I’ve never experienced anything that aggravating and soul crushing. I heard it said that “Germans live to fill out forms” 😂 That certainly rings true for me.
@@SenorJuan2023 Traveled there afterwards and experienced it first hand. Just recently I was there and wanted to purchase an online train ticket and had to fill out a three page questionnaire. Thirty seven questions to simply but a train ticket. I was stunned not to mention frustrated beyond belief.
There was a story last year that the US was seriously considering moving more of its forces from Germany to Poland because of concerns that responding to a Russian invasion would be delayed by a week or more because of delays in getting convoy approval.
Having worked in the US restaurant industry, I can say the reason my restaurant chose not to charge for refills on soft drinks was because the syrup in the fountain machine cost something like $0.05 per gallon, so giving someone a soda or a lemonade cost the business practically nothing. Most places in the US that make a lot of money on drinks are primarily looking at alcohol sales when they cite that, though I suspect there’s a bit of psychological pressure happening where people are more likely to order a fountain drink with free refills than they are to order one without. In my experience as a diner and an employee, most people only get one or two refills at most anyway, so if eating the 25 cents or whatever that a Pepsi or Coke refill costs means that you’re more likely to sell the first $3.00 Pepsi or Coke in the first place, that’s a pretty good deal! Just my theory anyway, love your videos and your perspectives!
@@moi01887 There can be a couple of practical reasons for multiple sizes: customers’ hands are different sizes, and takeout customers may differ in how much they want to take with them.
I was a foreign exchange student in 1991-92 at the University of Dortmund with a few other Americans from my university. We brought our own music from home... mostly classic rock, on tape-cassettes. Our German friends might have liked it, but they said with a critical tone that it was too happy, and not at all realistic. We were happy with our happy music.
Thanks for this interesting video 👍 I immigrated from Germany to the USA, 24 years ago. Last 3 years living with my family in Columbus, Ohio. I consider myself blessed to live amongst such friendly people with an overall positive mindset and a good attitude. Positivity is contagious! What I will remember from your video is when you said: Americans ask “Why not?” while Germans ask “Why?” Even after 24 years in the US, I sometimes still catch myself saying “Why?” instead of “Why not?” Greetings from Ohio and Happy Holidays, Marco.
@@boballmendinger3799 Hi Bob, greetings back to you, and Happy Holidays from Westerville, Ohio! My family and I are very happy, we moved away from California and to Ohio. Less crowded, less stress, less traffic, genuinely friendly people. Then main thing that I miss from California is it’s spectacular nice weather though. On the other hand, having immigrated from Germany to the US in 1998, I am used to having four seasons and like Ohio’s winter season with snow. Only thing that I don’t like is all the salt on the streets being bad for my nice car. Are you Dutch or German by any chance?
@user-wi1zt5ql8o Before I retired, I sometimes worked at the AT&T central office building on State Street in Westerville, as well as all the other ones in and around Columbus. I'm both Dutch and German, and grew up in western Pennsylvania. I was only here for college, and the job, lol. If you have the opportunity, visit Cooks Forest, in PA. It encompasses the type of beauty I still like best, particularly in the summer.
@@boballmendinger3799 Thanks, will make sure to put Cooks Forest on my list to visit, especially since I love photography. Hope, we get some snow here in Westerville. I am all geared up to capture a nice winter wonderland. Yes, I exactly know where State Street is. I often visit Uptown Westerville for shooting pictures.
@user-wi1zt5ql8o when you go to PA, in Fryburg is St Michael's Church. It's modeled after the Freiburg Cathedral. Farther east in Coudersport, is the Coudersport ice mine. In summer, it's full of ice! There's a Wikipedia article about it.
I’m a fourth generation German American. I’m astounded by the degree of German cultural traits that you describe remain in my family. The persistent cynicism and questioning one’s life choices around the questions “why” versus “why not?” I’ve long recognized my family’s inclination toward these attitudes and behaviors being distinct from other American families, what hadn’t fully occurred to me was that these were German traits. Das interesiert mich ganz!
I was thinking this too. My great grandfather was born in Solingen but family came here (St Louis, Missouri) when he was a boy. His son (my grandpa) and my father were/are of the Why? mindset, definitely!
Yep, same here, except I think I'm 5th generation. I did study abroad in Germany during college and I was shocked at how many traits, like an obsession with sorting recycling properly (abnormal in American culture but my mom was very serious about it) and the way words were pronounced, were the same. And then the cynicism Feli is describing sounds just like my older sisters and some aunts and uncles. German character traits almost seem (ironically?) genetic to me, as a result.
I live in a small New England town. I was at a local parade a few summers ago when I overheard some German tourists standing nearby. I was surprised -- we're not near any major cities and hardly a tourist town! -- so I asked them in my rusty high school/college German what brought them to the area. They were equally surprised that someone 1) knew German and 2) was being so forward and friendly to strangers. (They also thought the parade was like something out of a movie about tiny American towns. 🙂) In the end, I think they were very, very happy that a stranger approached them and was friendly. They said they'd been driving through New England for ten days and initially thought our "American niceness" was all fake, but quickly realized that we really do mean it in nearly all cases, and they were really enjoying chatting with strangers.
This "why" vs. "why not" was interesting. It reminds me of a conversation I had with an American woman who had recently returned from a trip to Germany. She said that she couldn't wait to get back to the land of "can". I asked her hat she meant. She said that in Germany people say you can't do this and you can't do that. She said here people say you can and can. Also, I had a 12th grade German exchange student who kept being amazed at how we just talk to one another so casually. And how agreeable Americans are.
Having worked in restaurants and bars in the US I have to say that interest in the customers isn’t fake. The best part of the job was talking to customers! It’s fun to learn about other people’s lives and experiences. The job is hard work, without those positive interesting interactions I would have quit much sooner. I finished putting myself through college by working in a bookstore. The best part of that job was also helping my customers. Finding out what books they liked or didn’t like. Helping them discover new authors. It was so rewarding when they came back in and let me know how they enjoyed a book that I had recommended. Americans just generally enjoy talking to new people.
@ravanpee1325 I worked in a grocery store (which is customer service). It was a blast talking and getting to know the customers. You find some extremely interesting people and extremely strong people this way. How many people can say they met and talked with Dolly Parton? I can say I did. In a grocery store you don't receive tips because usually you are paid a liveable wage. As an employee you will be fired if you accept a tip.
I went to a Gesamtschule and had a really good experience there. It was possible to leave at year 9, 10 or 13, so depending on your grades and your personal plans you could decide if you want to do Haupt, Real or Abitur. We were also encouraged to participate in both Haupt and Real exams, even if we wanted to do Abitur. This was really beneficial for practicing exam situations.
Also went to a Gesamtschule in Hessen. I liked it. Best of both worlds, learn with people of similar skill and ambition plus you can change easily if you put in the effort.
A guy I worked with was once a manager at Taco Bell… he said it cost Taco Bell 2 cents to make a drink. It makes perfect sense to offer free refills as the drink initial cost will Cover it, and Incentivize people to buy drinks.
Plus, making the customer his own drink fetcher shifts the labor cost to the customer. Since labor is THE highest cost in fast food, pretty much ALL fast food in the US have gone to the "get your own unlimited drinks" model.
I agree the economic argument for free refills is generally sound. A problem with it, might be the health issues for the punters. Can also be an issue with kids. But generally I would be in favour.
I love Christmas in Germany, the atmosphere around the Christmas markets makes it feel really like Christmas, and most of the shops have the Christmas atmosphere too.
I am German and I agree with you on every single point you raise. Especially the school system, even though I find that we should keep the opportunity for students to leave school a few years earlier with a lower level diploma that allows them to start an apprenticeship. The one point that leaves a sour taste is the „civil servants are lazy“-stereotype though. I work at a government agency, we only have 80% of the staff we need and I am in my second year of a four year trial period. I am constantly afraid of not being fast enough and I don‘t understand how my more experienced colleagues do it all. I also don’t think I could half-ass anything in order to be faster as our decisions are really high-stakes. I constantly worry about making legal mistakes and really hurting people.
I used to live in the US (I'm from Switzerland) and while I understand your point about American positivity (and I partially agree with it), looking back at my life in the US, I feel like it was also rather exhausting at times. Yes, German people are reserved and sometimes negative. Swiss people are even a million times more reserved. But on the up-side, they're also mellow. And honestly, I kinda like that. In the US, I often felt as though everyone was on a never-ending sugar high; everybody's very emotionally charged. This made me feel pressured to act the same way, which cost me a lot of energy. More importantly, though, it also leads to a lot more open conflict. For example many Americans rub their politics or religion into other people's faces. I'm a very non-confrontational person, so I get super stressed out when people around me get loud, animated, or even hysterical. In Switzerland, public spaces feel very peaceful. People are very reserved (which can be frustrating) but they also very much respect your privacy and generally leave you alone, which is nice. Anyway, maybe this is why I love British people. They're much mellower than Americans and they allow themselves to be grumpy but they're also very humorous and self-depreciating, which makes interacting with them feel easy and fun, yet deep at the same time.
I'm sorry but I had to laugh at "In the US everyone was on a never-ending sugar high." I don't know why we're like that. All of the Americas are like that by the way, not just the U.S.
I feel sorry for late bloomers in Germany. I wasn't good in High school, but my senor year of H.S. math became clear to me. So I went to college and became an Engineer. Imagine if I didn't have that option. I would have certainly been a Hauptschule student in German, but instead I now have a Masters degree in Electrical Engineering. Late bloomers are people too. :)
There are plenty of opportunities for late bloomers in Germany. Too many to list here. And the beauty of those opportunities is that you don't have to pay for the education.
You would have had that option in Germany, too: You don't have to end school after Hauptschule oder Realschule, you can go on and make a higher graduation. You also can do that later in your life, as there are evening schools. And if you have absolved a professional job training (which also includes school days in Germany) and worked in that job for 3 years, you can go to university without Abitur. It's not that strict as it seems in the video.
Glad to hear about this, it was something I'd heard of before that people are tested very early in life and that's it. I'm glad to hear there are options for late bloomers. Thanks for the reply.@@annkathrinhanamond2982
Don't worry. After Hauptschule you can switch to Realschule then to Gymnasium (High School), then to Uni. Late bloomers can work their way up to college and further in Germany. I did. But it was exhausting to be thought of as someone who can't make it.
There are systems in germany exactly for that. You can go to a special school after your 'Haupt-, Real, Mittel or Gesamtschul' degree to receive the degree needed to gain higher education qualification (called 'Abitur'). And you can do that even later in life, after working for a bit or afer learning a trait and not liking it. And it is free. Also, you can get a kind of trait-degree (called 'Meister'), with which you're also elligeble to go to university in your field, even if you never finished a higher education school.
I have spent some time in Germany and your comments regarding customer service are spot on. I am amazed at how much of a hurry everyone is in when grocery shopping. I have been yelled at for not being quick enough packing my things by another shopper behind me. Regarding the school system, German emphasis on skilled trades is something we could use here in the US.
Speaking of being in a hurry… the US is different when it comes to speed depending on where you live. On the west and east coasts, we are very fast paced. In the mountain west, Midwest and south, life is a bit slower. As a west coast person, everywhere else in the US is noticeably slower!
@nickbono8 Except for NYC. No other place in the entire USA can match the frenetically fast-pace of New York. In fact, NYC is the closest to German culture with regard to pace, lack of small-talk, abruptness, and judgementalism. These attributes are neither good nor bad, just a style that works for these folks.
No one believes in school much in the USA. I know people that went to college and could never get a job for what they went for. Just have a bunch of debt with no results. I'd rather learn on the job and some jobs will send you to school for free.
Many kids in America are wising up to the fact that they are much better of going to trade school to become a plumber or electrician than taking on 6 figures student debt on a useless DEI college degree
@@nickbono8 LOL. You mustn't live on my part of the West Coast where the service people tend to be stoned half the time. I spend much time on the East Coast as well, where people are often much more focused and less fake. You know exactly where you stand. If you really want to see culture clash in action, get on an Alaska Airlines flight to Seattle, with a Baltimore flight crew.
Hi Feli, I think you will have to do some reading up on the German school system. I am a teacher in Schleswig Holstein and we do not have the three teared school system anymore. We have the Gesamtschule (called gemeinschaftsschule) with or without the oberstufe, the three last years in preparation for the Abitur. So every student theoretically has a better possibility to reach the Abitur. Also 60% of students in general attend a gymnasium! As for extracurricular activities, in Hamburg, just next door to us, primary schools are Ganztagsschulen, all-day-school (?). The students finish class at 1pm approximately and go to their afternoon activities such as drama class, sport, guided homework , etc pp. Sooooo a lot already has changed in the school system! I can not speak for bavaria of course, you may confirm, that they are a bit more conservative and tend to hold on to the old system a bit longer. I wish you all the best from the rainy north!
Hi Feli, The thing I would change is that if you are in a restaurant and order a Coke it comes in a little glass. On the other hand if you order a beer it comes as a 1 liter serving for probably less money. Since I don’t drink I always wondered why why I wasn’t asked if I wanted a large Coke? But everyone ordering beer automatically got way more to drink than me. Thanks, John
Feli, I’m an American and a Cincinnatian. But I’m 100% German heritage. When I has young i was quite unknowingly critical like you described many Germans are. I always felt I was being helpful giving my friends and family advice or my opinion. It took a couple of my good friends to point it to me to where learned how to be more supportive and less critical.
I'm in Cincy (actually living in NKY and working in Cincy) now, and of German / Luxembourg ancestry. I don't think it's so much genetics related, but more of a result of our upbringing and overall culture. While it's taken me far too many years to "calm down" even a little bit about my personal and professional "what can go wrong" attitude, it does have a place, time, and environment. My problem solving skills are what they are from my parents, and grandparents. Frankly, it's served me well professionally. However, t's sincerely a challenge to turn off this mindset off away from work. My children are just like me, despite my wife and I's best efforts. So the cycle continues... I should also mention how grateful I am for my upbringing, and my children.
As an American, if customer service is the 1st thing you list as being better in the US than in Germany, I sure dont want to deal w German customer service.
In the US we have this “the customer is always right” mentality. It makes things a pain in the ass if you’re the one providing the service when you have to put up with rude, inconsiderate, stupid people and can’t talk back or you’ll be fired, but it’s great for the customer. Working in customer service in the US you have to have the patience of a saint and good acting skills 😂
I agree, that in germany some servers are kind of unfriendly (I would not go as far as "rude"), but service personell I encounter is usually very nice and friedly, if you are nice and friendly to them. I would not like a fake friendlyness and I like that they can oppose unfriendly and entitled customers. I have even once seen a rude woman get kicked out of a restaurant.
That mentality is disappearing in America now. Service workers in America are calling out rude/loud/abusive/racist customers on their shit, telling them to get the fuck out of the establishment or they will call 911.
“The customer is always right” is a frequently misinterpreted mentality that does not mean the server has to bend over backwards and endure verbal abuse to make the customer happy, “the customer” in the saying refers to customers as a whole. If you have 100 customers and 95 are complaining about something, they’re right and you need to change it. Not when it’s just 1 out of 100
I think american customer service in restaurants check on their table often because of how we serve our drinks (non alcoholic ones) where unlimited refills of water, coke, or tea is normal so we drink faster which in turn makes the server have to stay on top of the drinks more.
I was at a restaurant in Berlin overlooking The Brandenburg Gate. The server was an older lady who spoke English to me because I know very little German. She couldn't have been any nicer. I asked for a beer and said "gross", and she smiled. She asked me how everything was, and I said "gut". She appreciated the little bit of the language that I knew.
The “fake happiness & fake friendliness” issue fascinates me since happy events in the lives of others often make me feel better than if the same events happened in my own life. I suspect that joy in the success of others comes from thinking of them as members of our family. That must be learned and cultivated in a culture, but the resulting pleasure in seeing good things happen to others is authentic and encourages others to view the world the same way.
I agree. The pessimism and negativity in Germany will make anyone very depressed and combined with the awful weather, there's no wonder German people hate their lives.
I dont think you understand what is meant with Fake friendliness. I totally enjoy if other people are happy, it is more so that I am uncomfortable if people I barely know are overly friendly to me. It feels Not authentic. I just feel Like they have a hidden agenda and are trying to deceive me. But to be fair, I also don‘t think of myself as a very likable Person, so if somebody I just Met is extremely friendly, I doubt their Intentions immediately. For a Person working in a Store, I already know their motive For being overly friendly, but I still don‘t really enjoy it, because I don‘t want them to Talk me Into Buying something I don‘t really Like.
@@Narda185, yes, some forms of friendliness are entirely fake and designed only to get something from people. I'm reminded of the expression that “the smile never reaches their eyes.” I’ve been bamboozled by it myself, including in a significant way once at work (interesting story). My point was more about the balance of interpretation. I think if you ask most Americans if they are being fake when they smile at a person they just met, they would be genuinely shocked and probably baffled. For most folks, it's more like realizing that whoever you are meeting might someday become your best friend, so why not get off to a good start? This often does not last. After just a few sentences, one or the other or both may decide they don't like the other person and will make much less effort to get to know them after that. In business settings, you may react the same way, but you're still expected to be polite to the other person. Why? Mostly because it's often necessary to get a job done well. Also, frankly, as we get older it gets easier to realize how many incredibly stupid things we've done in our own lives. That kind of self-awareness creates a certain tolerance, since the problem may be more with ourselves than the other person. Overall, it doesn't hurt simply to smile and be nice to two others we’ve just met as a way of showing respect. Being human is a curious condition we all share, so why not start on the best foot possible?
Having grown up in the USA in a German household, I totally understand the pessimism thing. It's kind of the story of my life. And I struggle with it myself.
As an American who has worked for the US government for many years in many facets, the bureaucracy of the US system actually shares a lot of similarities. Yes, it is far more digitized, but outside of an initial 1-2 year probation period at the beginning of employment for a government employee, it can be extremely difficult to get rid of someone outside a literal act of Congress. They have implemented various systems of incentives to try to change stagnant behavior and poor performance, but it can be a serious problem. So, it’s definitely not just Germany.
Too true! I worked for government agencies for over 30 years. Nothing the public has heard tells the half of it. We probably have less government bureaucracy in the United States than in Germany, but it's full of corruption, sloth, and incompetence.
While this is definitely true, the problem the U.S. is often too much change, not too little. Changes are made to processes or rules without fully appreciating why the process existed the way it did. Things then only get smoothed out with painful adjustment after the fact. My stereotype would be an American government manager wants to show he changed some sort of system or process, even when it isn't called for, as the cultural assumption is there is always an inefficiency that can be fixed. His German counterpart would feel no such obligation. There, the cultural assumption seems to be that the system is too complicated to fully understand and changing one piece will inevitably screw things up.
@@ahwhite2022 when I worked for a government agency (adjudicating disability claims) I saw that the APPEARANCE of fairness and equity mattered far more than the reality. The agency denied far more claims than they should have, but the Administrative Law Judges allowed claims that were specious (they were supposed to be bound by the same guidelines). The other thing is that it made little difference which party was in power- the Republicans wasted as much money as Democrats, and stupid bureaucratic obstacles that impeded people getting timely decisions were as likely to be implemented by Democrats as Republicans.
I’m American but my in-laws are from Germany and my wife was born in the US but has German citizenship and speaks fluent German. I’ve studied in Germany ( and Austria) and have been to Germany many times. There are lots of things I love about Germany but one thing I dislike intensely is ghat I feel Germans lack a standard politeness that is generally standard in the US and the UK, etc. If some slams into you walking on the sidewalk, nothing is said in the way of an apology or excuse me. This is unheard of in the English speaking world. German bluntness can be off putting for many can be also interpreted as rudeness although it is really a cultural matter.
I'm sorry to hear that you've been having such a bad experience. I wouldn't say that's universal though, my impression (as a German) is that people here tend to apologize in such a situation even if it wasn't their fault. Or at least that's the kind of experience that I remember more easily.😅
> If some slams into you walking on the sidewalk, nothing is said in the way of an apology or excuse me. I don't know where in Germany you've made that experience, but, where I live, this would be considered extremely rude and may even be criminal. I'm very sorry for you that you've had to deal with people that would behave like that.
Hi Feli. Now you should do a totally hypothetical video what you would change about your host country if you were queen of America. It might be tough, but super interesting to hear your point of view. Tschüss!
Bro, I'm a diplomat, so my entire job is bureaucracy, and when I was stationed in the embassy in Berlin I had sooooo much work every fucking day and hated it. So happy to now be in Riyadh where things are a lot more streamlined, but at the cost of it being ludicrously hot every day
As a former emplyee of a big german supermarket chain i can tell that we were always short staffed so there was literally no time to help customers as bad as it sounds. It also occured quite often that customers asked very, very stupid questions that could have been solved by simply reading the ad sheet correctly and the basic knowledge that you can´t get a product on a discounted price on monday despite the ad sheet clearly states that it´s only available on the weekend.
I entirely get this! I am American by birth, but have lived in other countries at two points in my life, and I've had the exact same experience. It made me appreciate many things about life at home, but also drew my attention to certain other things that my host countries did better.
RE: Schools - I'm still angry 50 years later that entering High School, My counselor pushed me into a track that led to getting a job instead of getting a college degree because I came from a "working class family". It took me five years to figure out for myself that I could go to a college and get a degree and experience that allowed me to get a better job and pursue a career of interest and make more money and love getting up in the morning and going to work!
I mean, but what was your job after high school? Surely in comparison to people of today, you had an advantage to most college graduates I that you had actual work experience, right? Besides, you can work and study at the same time, though of course that is hard on a young person at that age.
@@Checkmate1138 having grown up on a farm, I had been working my entire life. At the age of 10, I was selling vegetables out of the garden, mowing lawns, and doing any other odd jobs I could find to make money to buy photo chemicals and papers. My aunt had given me a camera at a young age and I became enthralled with photography. I finally found a college teaching photography and was able to develop a portfolio and use that to get a job as a professional photographer which I was for my entire career. The problem I had was having been judged as being from a working class family therefore, all you need is a job. I was smart, I was good at math, not that I was going to be the next Elon Musk and become a rocket man, but having been encouraged to learn and educate myself and take advantage of the skills that I had I feel like I could have been more, or I could have done more, or I could have accomplished more.
Hi Feli! One of the things I just love about you is your happy enthusiasm about the subject you are addressing. You are lovely! Best wishes from Southern Spain. 😀
Feli, I just have to say I really enjoy your insights! I’m a fifth generation immigrant from Germany, so I’ve never lived there, but I love being able to learn about my heritage like this. I truly appreciate your humility in how you present your thoughts!!
My husband has been on the "Gesamtschule". He tells me that he was one of the best pupils in elementary school and got a recommendation for the "Gymnasium". But since the "Gesamtschule" was closer to his parents' house and you can receive the "Abitur" there, too, his parents decided to send him there. There is one special rule for the "Gesamtschule" as well: Students cannot be forced to repeat grades. So my husband just had some quite lazy 8 years where he did not have to study at all. After school, he started studying and really had a hard time. For me it was similar: Since my teacher at elementary school said I did not speak/participate enough during lessons, she suggested that I should go to the "Realschule" and not to the "Gymnasium". My father always says that it was a mistake to listen to her and I agree. I was very lazy for 6 years and then switched to a "Gymnasium". Of course I did not stand a chance there... Even though those stories have been taking place ~25 years ago I would suggest parents to decide for themselves where to send their children.
Great video! I do think that tips is a factor for why US customer service is better than Germany but I think there’s a lot more to it than that. From what I hear, even business that are non-food related and don’t rely on tips have better customer service than its equivalent in Germany. Chick fil A idea a fast food restaurant that don’t rely on tips but their customer service is better than 90% of top based restaurants. Culture is a huge part of it
The only reason I live in Germany is because my husband is a beamter. He's the Studiendirektor for a Gymnasium. Whether he is a good teacher or not I can only judge by the fact that he's always working. Evenings, weekends, and today is the first day of Cmas vacation and he's in his office working. He works even during Summer break. It's like I married a doctor *lol* About the paperwork - last week I had to go to the doctor to get a Krankenschreiben doctor's note cuz my husband had Corona. As I arrived at the office and asked for the paperwork, I suddenly was struck with how absurd it is that I had to do this, knowing full well they have fax machines! And email, and scanners. Welcome to the new century where you don't even offer a fax to a customer and I need to drive my car to pick up a physical piece of paper? I asked and she said it's because we're privately insured. WTH. I knew you were going to mention CS. I love that you embrace good CS. I had two bad experiences just last week. I waited 20 minutes in line in the rain at the fish truck. Someone jumped in front of me (well, started a new line beside me) and before I could take my turn she ordered and they let her do it! Then I went to a shop to buy a new butane gas container to refill my lighters. I asked if they would recycle my empty and the lady just said NO. No "I'm sorry no" just no. And I don't think they belong in any trash container I own. Isn't there a law that states if a business sells something that must be recycled differently, they have to also accept the old/broken one? That lady is so mean, every time I come to her shop to buy our weekly magazine she looks at me like I'm ruining her day by being there. Oh, and she smokes cigarettes in the shop.
Hi Lytha, easy solution for your magazines, buy elsewhere rather than rely on the change of heart by the proprietor, she apparently is self employed, grant herself to smoke, that's personal freedom. For the bluntness NO of an answer, German directness, you asked and get a clear response. Try a bigger shop.
Directness is ok. Rudeness is not. Most Germans are not even intentionally rude. It just seems like it compared with other cultures. But what you describe is just mean. 😳 I wouldn’t shop there anymore. You can buy everything online it there is no other shop around 😉 Hope you‘ll get treated more nicely in the future. ❤
Free 'glass water' is always a thing in Mexico as well. I also found it so weird growing up and visiting Germany that I couldn't get any Leitungswasser for free or at least for restaurants to have some bottled water with 0 bubbles available. I would literally go to the restroom and drink from the tap! Desperate times called for desperate masures 😬
They typically do not ask you what size of drink you want in Germany. They just bring you a large and you have to pay for it. Many restaurants do this.
Restaurants in the US also make lots of money from drink sales. It typically costs the restaurant about 8 cents per cup/glass (their cost, depending on their contract with the drink vender) and they may charge $2-3 for the same. Free refills do not hurt their bottom line but infact make it a value proposition for the customer as an incentive to order it in the first place. Food costs are generally their highest expense (outside of labor) and generally margins are not great. Drinks or other specialty items are the high-profit items for the service industry.
@@CNC-Time-Lapse Well, mostly true. My state recently raised its liquor license to $3000 every six months, which really eats into profits. Many places now just serve beer and wine, as it's something like $1000 a year.
Watching this video while visiting my mom in Germany 😂 And she agreed with your first 2 items. (she didn’t watch the whole video) The water/free refills thing was definitely a culture shock for me as a teenager in the 90s. I’m used to it now. 😅
Many restaurants will refill your drink without even asking. When I was a teenager, I was a busboy in a restaurant. I asked why it was so important to keep customers glasses filled. The answer was that in case of a choking emergency a drink was usually a quick solution.
lol!!!!! I want my drink filled because I need something to drink while I’m eating. Not bc I’m worried about choking. Not keeping my glass full, is poor customer service. Plus in the US, by the time you count tax and tip, I paid $5 for my soda. So there is an expectation to having the cup filled.
I have never been to Germany so I cannot comment on much of your commentary, but I want you to know that I am a regular viewer, I appreciate your opinions, and I do live close to Cincinnati.
I've been on both sides of the service industry in the US, and I have visited Germany. It's odd when Germans claim American service is "fake" or "pushy". At least in the South, servers and bartenders are laid back and friendly like most of the culture. Interactions are with them are low cost for introverts like me because they're governed by all sorts of unwritten norms. As long as your kind to others, they don't care if you break the norms. You're also allowed your own feelings, as long as you're honest about them. For instance, you can tell a waiter you're not in the best mood because your pet died and they can recommend a dish that might help you feel better. That kind of interaction is far from fake.
I stayed in outside of Regensburg 4 years ago, and the customer service at my hotel was outstanding, and when I would order my meals I was given free tap water. For breakfast I would order coffee and orange juice, they brought out a carafe full of coffee for me. On the whole that was the exception and definitely not the rule.
I think customer service in Germany just varies a lot between different types of businesses, types of customers, etc. I live one town over from Regensburg, and never had any issues with customer service there. Even though it is a bit different from being in a small town, where the owner themselves might interact with guests, so it will feel more friendly overall
A British bureaucrat (a personal friend) said to me he has to schedule time on the internet at some room down the hall and is then only allowed 58 minutes per day to update his files. No internet in his office, at home, or elsewhere in the department. In my US office if my internet goes down I have dozens of other desks where I can access the system and can ask any of my colleagues to log in on the laptops during their lunch hours. I have dozens of options and even then an IT is likely to show up in person to fix the issue. I can also work from home where I have four other laptops in addition to my company issued machine. Five internet-ready computers at home....dozens at work. Blessed I suppose but no excuses for not getting work done.
You arent lying about that joke for the government workers. I was in the US Air Force and worked with NATO in a small German village. Fridays you wouldnt see them after 12. We used to say NATO, Not After Two Oclock
My first shock was when my home phone (early 2000’s) was shut off. My kids were sick and I couldn’t call for an appointment. I drove down to the Bundespost with my receipt from the prior month. I was informed that a receipt doesn’t mean you paid your bill, but can track down where my money went. Let’s just say it wasn’t a pretty moment for me. I was an exhausted mom with sick kids.
About teachers, it can get even worse sometimes: A German teacher friend of mine who put in some extra time to help a couple of students with difficulties advance better, got screamed at by her colleagues, fearing they'd have to work harder, too, that way...
As a German who works at a government agency and who isn't tenured (we don't do that anymore where I work), i heavily disagree. Yes, people do go home at noon on Fridays, but that's not because they only have half-days on Fridays (unless they are part time workers). They just accumulate enough overtime hours during the other weekdays so they can leave earlier on Fridays. They don’t actually work less. Even if the office is closed, that does not mean everyone is going home. They're dealing with the bureaucracy during those hours cause - and this may be shocking to some - every goddamn file people hand in needs to be processed. I guarantee you: Nobody in Germany hates the bureaucracy more than civil servant workers. 😂 And the reason things take so long is just that: Bureaucracy. We hate it too. But we don’t make these rules. The government does. The other reason is that there is just too few of us. Most of us work overtime like crazy. And those who are lazy ... those exist, but they exist in every bigger company. And then those who aren't have to pick up their slack. On the point of digitalization: Where I work we have all documents in a digital file. There is only one printer left in the entire floor my office is on. Whenever we do get a fax, it gets digitalized and sent to us as a pdf-file as a mail attachment. Most stuff that seems antiquated, at least where i work and in my experience, is because of laws. Eg. we can't accept some legal forms digitally because the LAW says we can't. So people have to mail it via post it or send it via fax. Which - if you remember - gets converted into a pdf file anyways. We send faxes digitally too 😂. Your story about writing a mail and receiving back a letter is probably also because of a law: Data Protection Laws. Mails can be hacked. Therefore depending on what information you want, they can only convey it to you via letter because that is the only way they can be sure it is only read by its proper recipient. Sooooo yeah. Bureaucracy is a problem. Not the actual civil servant workers. Of course there are those who are lazy etc. But i know for a fact that those exist elsewhere as well.
In the US, most law offices still have fax machines because fax machines never lose things in cyberspace. You cannot claim to have never received something if it came by fax. Also, there are copies on both ends, which is itself worthwhile.
Hey Feli, ich liebe deine Videos. In diesem sind mir allerdings ein paar Dinge aufgefallen, die vielleicht aus einer bayrischen Perspektive stimmen können, aber nicht aus einer gesamtdeutschen. Ich bin Lehrer an einer Gesamtschule in Niedersachsen und hier ist diese Schulform sehr verbreitet und akzeptiert. Außerdem muss man, um verbeamtet zu werden, natürlich erstmal das Referendariat mit unzähligen Prüfungen machen und hat danach eine 3-jährige Probezeit, in der man sich in Unterrichtsbesuchen mit Reflexionsgesprächen bewähren muss. Bei anderen Jobs hat man da nur ein halbes Jahr. Auch sonst sind die Schüler- und Elternschaft gute "Kontrollelemente" für Qualität nach der Probezeit. Es gibt sicherlich gute und schlechte Leistungen bei Lehrer*innen, aber die gibt es überall und der Grund dafür ist nicht das Beamtentum. Keep up the great work, Feli!
Ich habe ebenfalls den Eindruck, dass sich unter den jüngeren Kollegen der von Feli kritisierter Lehrer-Typus kaum noch findet. Dies hat bestimmt etwas mit den starken Fokus auf Professionalisierung und den hohen Anforderungen im Referendariat zu tun. Arbeitsvermeidung und Faulheit kann sich dort keiner erlauben.
I was born in Germany, but grew up in Canada after the age of three. I had an aunt in Germany, so I would spend summers in Germany when I was young. I think the biggest difference that I noticed was the social aspect of life in Germany. Neighbors in Germany actually know and speak to each other. I have been living on my street in Canada for twenty five years and I only know less than a handful of my neighbors. The ones I do know, I rarely talk to. One of the things that really surprised me about Germany when I was young was people dropping by at 7:00 AM to have coffee and breakfast. This would never happen in Canada. People on public transit in Canada will never talk to each other. Co-workers will very rarely spend time together after work in Canada. When I was at my aunt's place in Germany, someone was always dropping by, at any time during the day. There's a much greater sense of community in Germany than there is in Canada. I think North America generally is more individualistic and Europe in general is more collectivist. There's a very distinct sense of history in Germany that doesn't exist in Canada. A sense of a common shared experience. The history behind every square or fountain that I find so fascinating. I also love the density in Germany. You're always no more than a few minutes away from a tram stop. There's always a pub or bakery a few doors away. Where I grew up in Canada I was at least a half hour walk away from anything resembling a store and that's despite living in Toronto. You don't get the same kind of residential sprawl in Germany that you do in Canada. Some of the things I didn't like. The fact that stores are only open at certain times. In Toronto you can get a great dinner at 3:00 on a Sunday. At the time when I was young, television only had two or three channels and they were only functioning at certain times of the day. My television at the time in Canada had well over a hundred and would only be not broadcasting for a few hours very late at night. I didn't like how complete strangers in Germany would get into your business. I once had an old lady chase me down because I crossed the street on a red light on a Sunday morning when there were absolutely no cars on the road. People will call the police if you are listening to the radio or television and the volume is only a fraction greater than barely audible. I was actually told that I was walking too loud when I got up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. I received the same warning about opening the front door of the building too loud. I also found it weird that your landlord could lock you out of the apartment that you were renting if you came home too late. I came home one day to have the front door of the building open. I thought it was an automatic door, but it was actually the landlord waiting at the door to lock it for the evening.
I have experienced multiple levels of customer service in Germany, I’m always polite, obviously an American. Tipping in Germany is different, but I am very generous on the tip because of the extra help/accommodation.
I've been watching you videos for a while, and I just want to say how much I admire your attitude that neither country is better or worse than the other. They're just different. Oh, and BTW, my 11yo daughter started learning German off Duo Lingo, and I've been trying to help her. I'm so excited!
Sorry, but she is in some sort of honeymoon phase of her life. The US is objectively worse in so many aspects. Most of the stuff she mentioned in this videao is not even properly quantifiable and more of a "feeling". I used to live and work in the US for a bit more than 10 years and after those 10 years I was totally fed up with that country. Also, we don't know that much of the inner workings of her family and she started dating a Murican... However, objectively there is so many things wrong with the US that it makes no sense for a German to stay there and build a life UNLESS you become lucky and filthy rich so that the broken US system does not phase you AT ALL. The problem is: Even with a lot of money you do not get the same degree of quality of life Europeans enjoy with far far less money. Overall, since I moved back to Germany I have a significant higher quality of life despite earning less. What really bothers me in Germany is the attitude of the bureaucrats - that's true. There is plenty of things to improve. However, as a foreigner with a GreenCard I had my fair share of US bureaucracy myself - and it was insane, often even worse than the Germans. See, the Germans are just abrasive or rude when they are on the other side of the desk - but once the process runs, the process runs and it will be done 100% accurately. In the US, you get outright threatened sometimes by people and then they still are too stupid to do their job. Plus the digital stuff the US are doing has a huge downside as well: No protection of the citizens against Big Brother. Nothing you do is in any form protected against data mining or data selling. An absolute desaster. So what is better? A slow paper-loving bureacracy like in Germany or a half incompetent dumpsterfire with a backdoor to all 3 letter agencies like in the US and without constitutional rights for the individual? As a grown up you must be capable to make objective decisions - so fuck the US system. It has too many downsides which cannot be accepted for a peaceful stable life in prosperity.
I concur with @bobbwc7011 nearly 100% except for the „fuck the US system“. It’s the system the Americans have chosen for themselves and it does seem to suit Feli very well indeed. And why not ? To each her/his own. Feli either doesn’t see the downsides or she’s okay with it. That’s her right and I’m happy for her that she’s become a murican and wish her much success, lots of health forever and always a good income. I only wish she’d stop pining for some things German, because one simply cannot have it all … By the way, I lived in the greater Los Angeles area from 1978 to 1990, and I’ve experienced some bad and, much worse, very incompetent customer service there, no amount of „hi hon, how’re you doing today“ could gloss over it. I myself worked there during those US years as a customer service rep (inside sales) in a company with many varied customers (amongst them Disneyland Group Services, Magic Kingdom Club, Colleges, government offices) and I took much pride in offering all of them always top service, efficiency, good and honest advice, save them money where possibly, find solutions for difficult matters. I was always friendly and pleasant but always to the point and I never called anyone honey … and my customers all appreciated me and my work and attitude very much. When I moved back to Germany I took my work ethics, attitude and behavior with me and made my new customers (mostly) happy. Occasionally I pissed off some South American “macho men” when I had to tell them that this or that was simply not possible - but even they, after I outright suggested that they might be happier if their account was served by someone else, begged me to not pass them on to someone else. I don’t go shopping much for clothes etc anymore, and I don’t eat out much anymore either - but I’m sure that in the last 33 years here in Germany I’ve encountered hardly more than 2 handfuls of unfriendly sales people or servers, or amongst my counterparts in other businesses. A simple smile and friendly hello or good morning will suffice, on my side and on theirs.
I haven't been to Germany in over 20 years so I hope it is better now, but I remember spending huge amounts of time waiting and waiting on super slow "service" at restaurants. The food wasn't great, took forever and you were treated with absolute contempt for coming into the restaurant in the first place. I don't think I'd waste my time at any restaurants if I go back, just hit a grocery store for some snacks and keep moving.
The only time my mom (in Germany) experienced a record fast response from a federal agency was when she submitted that she was no longer unemployed- it was literally the next day, mail turnaround that she was acknowledged and removed from the rolls. That spoke volumes.
Just found my Gluhwein mug from 1997 when I was stationed in Germany. Labeled "Reiterlesmarkt" and "Alt-Rothenburger Weihnacht". Wish I could share a pic.
I spent a little over 2 years (90-92) in Germany when I was in the Army and was stationed in a small town called Darmstadt. Although I didn't do as much traveling as I'd wished, I did see some fantastic sites while I was there. I truly enjoy your videos of the country I called home for two years! Although our experiences are over 30 years apart, it is pretty cool to hear about your experiences in Germany as well as your second home here in the US!
Great list! I can totally agree, especially with point #3. One thing I love about the US is the entrepreneurial spirit whereas in Germany this kind of thinking is usually met with doubt and envy.
I took business classes and was told what also affects it is that it's very hard to file for bankruptcy in Germany. When you consider that most new businesses fail in the first few years, and it's reasonably likely you might need to file, that becomes a consideration in launching a business. I an see that in some ways being good, keeping some outlandish ones out. But there have been diamonds in the rough, such as Apple, that might otherwise have never gotten off the ground without taking massive risk for something that most people thought would never work.
So interesting. I was raised Dutch in the 70's and 80's. It's unreal how alike our upbringing sounds. Except I was in the US and much older. Your channel has answered so many questions I didn't know I had. I now really see and understand my Oma's and Opa's floor plan in the house where they thought they'd live forever. I understand reasonings for things that were done and the why's. You keep it up. You're awesome! 🎉 Much Love from the Southern California desert 🏜 ❤️
You make such good points here! I spent six months in Germany when I was in college, and I noticed all of these things even back then (a while ago!). I noticed the judgment issue, big-time! I was in Munich, and I felt that I was being judged and evaluated all the time!, and oh my goodness, yes! We always felt like we were intruding on the wait staff in the restaurants, just by being there!😂. I can honestly say, I don’t ever remember, feeling welcomed by a waiter or waitress. It’s interesting and also to regularly hear Europeans (in Europe) comment on America as being very “fundamentalist” and full of gun violence This confirms that they get all their information from the mainstream media, which pushes these misconceptions (for obvious political reasons).
I had similar experiences in UK with some teachers who could not be bothered to do any teaching. Effectively we were just constantly given exercises from books, just keeping us quiet. It was quite a revelation when I went on to further education and had lecturers who actually told us things!
US restaurants do make a lot of money on drinks. A cola only costs pennies to make. Alcoholic drinks are even more depending on the drink. A bottle of cheap rum, vodka, tequila, or whiskey might cost $12 - $20 but you get charged $5 - $10 per shot. Remember they buy at wholesale prices which is about 1/2 of what you would buy the same thing at a liquor store.
I actually really like, that your free time activities are less tied to your school here in germany, because it gives you people out side of the context of your school. As someone with a really hard time at school because of social reasons i was really happy to have an escape into a group of people who didnt bully me because of peer pressure. But iI totally see, that thats only really possible in an urban area and i also would have loved some way where it was extra but also more connected. Maybe an event where the clubs in your region get to present themself or something. Another thing where I disagree is bildung ist ländersache. I actually am really happy about that, because it gives a lot more freedom to be progressive. If u organize a schoolsystem in a centralistic way it tends to be way more conservative, right now the bundesländer can choose themselves whats best for them. Some bundeslandäder have religion as a mandatory subject and i would expect that it also would be if school were centralistic because for some bundesländer its a huge deal. Where i come from religion isnt mandatory, ethics is. And that just makes so much more sense for students here.
We have both things in the United States lots of club sports and all the extra curriculars connected to the school. My daughter has done both and to be honest I prefer the school activities because she just stays after school they provide the transport if there is any needed and a lot of the time there is not an additional cost.
Generally waitresses and waiters are quite friendly here in Upper Swabia. However I remember one waiter at a quite popular pub who was always in an extreme hurry to get orders done and you had to be really quick at answering his questions. The way he was reacting appeared to be rude sometimes - but also quite funny because he was really doing everything to bring the things you wanted as fast as possible to your place. So actually after knowing him better some people actually liked the way he was working and preferred to be served by him. I did too. However it's a fact: you can get treated quite unfriendly for no reason at all. And although it happens rarely it isn't a nice experience. And allegedly there are places where such treatment is supposed to be part of the experience - eg. Berlin and Vienna (who would have thought).
When I did a short month-long exchange in Munich in high school, I was pretty surprised that the Gymnasium didn't have a band and only had a small, not very good (sorry) orchestra. The music groups at my public American high school performed at a pretty high level and a lot of my classmates in AP classes were also part of music groups and took private lessons. And those that weren't were part of a varsity sports team or were in the business or Key club. American extracurriculars can be competitive to a fault, but it's nice that there's a really robust set of options built in to the school system. It was nice to be able to work toward an achievement that's not academic.
About 50 years ago my wife and I were stationed in Germany for the first time and quickly learned that eating at a local restaurant meant spending most of the evening there. Often it would be 1/2 hour before we got a menu and then another 1/2 before a waiter took our order. We quickly got used to this and even enjoyed it. But the day came for our anniversary and I wanted to take my wife out to the restaurant, but I was starting to feel ill. So I let the waiter know that I needed them to get us in and out rather quickly and they understood and did a great job for us.
When I was younger and worked as a waiter in Colorado, I like it when customers asked for special requests because it made the evening a little more interesting and made it more likely that I would get a good tip (unless they were visiting Texans, who were notoriously bad tippers).
When I lived in Italy there were similar issues. The country was beautiful and the people wonderful for the most part, but when it came to customer service, they always treated you like you're a bother to them and government bureaucracy was beyond frustrating and pointless.
yep..I lived in Italy 10 years and german's negative outlook is very similar to Italian people. after 10 year of living in Italy I became much more pessimistic and cynical than I was ever before. if you show passion for something or enthusiasm Italians think you are not serious person. and yeah, the bureaucracy in Italy is a nightmare and just a waste of time. after 10 years living in Italy I felt half of my years there were a waste ...either you wait and wait for things or you have to wait until things fall in your lap...the opposite of American where you go after things...lol. Italy is the country of NO :).
Totally agree with you on customer service. My first trip to Germany, I was shocked. Customer service was something like this: "Don't bother me. If your not satisfied, go someplace else. And don't ever come back." This attitude is pervasive throughout Europe. I hate it!
For the mentality difference, I think there's nothing much we can do about it. Moreover, thinking of every problem beforehand made the Mercedes Benz what it is, and doing away with that habit resulted in German Railways as it is now (delays for hours, staff on strike). Being pessimist has its advantages. It's so common that we can learn it as vocabulary: "OMG, this is AWESOME!! I'm SO flabbergasted!" translates into German as: "Quite OK. Can't complain." (German: Passt schon. Kann man nicht meckern.) It means the same. Not being able to complain about something means that it is faultless after being tested by a habitual fault-finder. German-Austrian difference: In Austria, you'll always get a free glass of water with your coffee or wine.
Feli, your ability with language is pretty amazing... ala.. Speaking American English so well with little accent... There is far more to that (in any language - and doing it well, than most people fathom... Thanks for sharing these videos... Really cool perspective!!!
I actually think having accents is awesome because it shows the origin of a person and their ability to master other languages. Speaking without an accent has nothing to do with your language proficiency.
@@JG4689 I honestly love accents as well... I'm just really impressed by the way Feli talks... I seriously don't think she is the norm. I grew up with some 'German" school friends who landed in the 80's (or maybe 70's.. I was a kid... I didn't have a grasp on the "ratlines" or World History.. ONLY far later did a few people who came up to a hotspot (there in Houston 'then') did I get a history lesson I honestly didn't care anyting about then.. But, these legit German speakimg people. (Search and study if you think the WWII Germans didn't "TREK" outside.. Simply put.. It has to be hard to go from German proper speach to American English.. One would think the jump would be seriously easy.. I'm multilingual..KINDA have been beatin with 'latin' (I actually prefer "PIG" latin) just for fun.. Yeah.. This LADY.. FELI IS REALLY good! Some brains get hiccups "translating"... You really gotta think in the other language to get it correct to have a real convo.. MY ONLY "BEEF" (kinda funny issues) with this Lady is.. Cincinnati!?! I was forced twice to go to a "conference" there.. "Just saying".. ASIDE! LOVE this Lady's channel.. Really educational if the others here care to lear / look here...
My mother emigrated from Berlin to the USA after WW2 and of course learned English here. We didn't speak much at home until I took German in high school. Naturally I was used to the way she spoke but sometimes other people would comment that they could hear an accent so I began to recognize it myself. I say all this because I can hear the same faint accent when Feli speaks!
Some suggested translations for some of the tricky words: For Ausbildung, I recommend using “vocational training.” “apprenticeship” sounds like something from a few centuries ago lol 😅 Behörden: You could say “official offices” or “administrative offices.” relativieren: In this context, you could use something like “use a lot of qualifiers” or “qualify your response.”
I like to use the word apprenticeship for the German Ausbildungssystem because vocational training in the US is often just a few months which is very different to the 3 year system in Germany. Plus, it actually does go way back in history so I don't see a problem with that. In regards to the other suggestion: Thank you! Administrative offices aren't always Behörden though, I thought about using that word but administrations can also exist within private businesses.
@@FelifromGermany The problem with “apprenticeship” is that it’s an outdated concept. It doesn’t exist anymore. It describes something that used to be done a long time ago, not what is done in a modern Ausbildung. A lot of Americans wouldn’t even know what you were talking about if you used “apprenticeship” with them in this context. vocational training” has no implications about length of time, plus we’re talking about a different country, so there’s no reason to assume it would be similar to vocational training in the US. “vocational training” is just an accurate description of what it is, and unlike “apprenticeship,” it works for 2023. For “Behörden”: My first suggestion was actually “official offices.” I did hesitate before adding “administrative offices.” 😅
I have been spending a lot of time in Rhineland-Pfalz where there is a lot of American presence and they have a lot of positive things to say about the U.S. Of course they see the negative aspects of the U.S., but they are really happy that the Americans helped them rebuild after WW2. The Germans that I've met aren't interested in living in the U.S., but are curious to visit.
Any country should be delighted to have you call it home. I appreciate your talent, deep intelligence, and most of all, your kindness, compassion, and overall enthusiasm for life.
Another great video! I just love your effervescence!!! I also commented recently on another one of your videos in the past few days, and commented on how your English has become outstanding. And lastly, how beautiful your hair is, with such a nice color and sheen! Enjoy the holidays at home, and hopefully you won't run into too many 'Germans' who are either negative, or bad mouth your living in the USA, a country where most people in the world would like to live! My guess on this one issue, that the negative comments may be rooted in jealousy. 'Long, Long Ago, Far, Far Away', I use to live in Vienna, Austria (a truly wonderful city) as a teenager, so I have some concept of the differences between Europe and the US. I recall how early it got dark in the Winter. After returning to the US I have lived in quite a few different places in the US, including in Ohio - Toledo, Ohio. Today, we live in the Phoenix, AZ metro area, which is now 5 million people! And it is sunny here 300-320 days a year, but no snow for X-Mas (unless you go up into the mountains).
Customer service is definitely different! I as a former Waiter, Kellner, myself, spoke right up there without problems but my local friends looked a little stunned I was so bold. I said, it's there JOB!
A few weeks ago I spent my holidays in Naxos, Greece (btw. it was fantastic, Naxos is the most beautiful island I can think of! Try a visit! And no, I am not the advertising representative of Naxos😂) and it showed off that whenever you ordered anything at a restaurant or a bar, you got a big glass of tap water aside, most of the time even with ice cubes. I wasn't pretty much used to it and ended up by always smiling like a Honigkuchenpferd and thanking the waiter/waitress multiple times inan exaggerated manner and appreciating this gesture waaay to much for it was so uncommon for me as a German. When I heard Feli talking about this I had to laugh and simultaneously felt a little embarrassed regarding my behaviour.🙈 Greetings from the Ruhrgebiet!
At a lot of restaurants here in the US, they will greet you with a large glass of ice water for free. Then you can order whatever drink you want and have both on the table.
@@Skirkly I like it very much!! One's for the pure thirst and the other one's for enjoyment. And you are encouraged to drink more. But as Feli said, here in Germany it is not common at all.
Love your videos. Thanks for the information on German social nature. Was at the top of a German mountian pass and saw a restored Opel like I had in the 70s. As an American I was excited to see it. I talked to the guy and it seemed like I got a cold shoulder. I asked him if his car gets up to the top of these steep mountains with no trouble for a 50+ year old car. He seemed very put off by my question. I thought he was a jerk, but I guess he just wasn't into small talk. I have several antique cars, and I'm always glad when someone takes interest and talks to me.
Dear Feli! Its so fun watching you and im learning a lot! Im an asian currently living in Germany and I agree with everything you shared specially the school system here.
Please take this video with a grain of salt and remember that this is just my personal opinion, other opinions are totally valid as well! 😊
👉 Go to piavpn.com/felifromgermany to get 83% off Private Internet Access with 4 months free!
Feli I've seen quite a few of your videos now and I believe you to be a VERY intelligent young woman. To do what you've done (living here in Ohio) is outstanding in itself I think. Ohio is fortunate to have you in my opinion. I say that not personally knowing you, but judging solely what I know of you in these videos. 😊 I'd imagine we probably don't have the same political views, but I don't care. (Have you been following Vivek Ramaswamy running for president? He grew up in Cincinnati).
Keep making your wonderful videos and just being your bubbly self. Everyone needs someone as positive as you appear to be in your videos. I'll tune in as often as I can, to see what's new in your life, cause it makes me feel better seeing your smiling face and positive attitude. Thanks darlin',,, take care and keep smiling that beautiful smile you have... :-)
Ich stimme dir wirklich bei allem zu. Klar es gibt überall Vor- und Nachteile. Jeder Mensch tickt anders. Ich habe für mich auch den Entschluss gefasst nach dem Studium in die USA auszuwandern. Mir fällt das aber nicht nur in den USA auf, sondern auch in einigen nahen europäischen Nachbarländern. Dann denkt man sich...Ok, es geht auch anders. Es gibt deutsche Eigenheiten mit denen ich mich, persönlich, nicht mehr identifizieren kann, die aber in der Vergangenheit so selbstverständlich waren. Klasse Video btw :)
One thing we want to stay in the US Feli
👍🙂❤
I'd vote for you to be Queen of Germany!
FRIENDLY CUSTOMER SERVICE and FREE REFILLS for EVERYONE!
👍🙂❤
That "subtle pessimism" of which you spoke didn't stay in Europe, but emigrated to America along with my German/German-Swiss ancestors. 😅 Every visit to my relatives in the V-E-R-Y Germanic part of Pennsylvania, would begin with a "gripe session" in which everyone's current problems were aired. "Oy, yoy, yoy..." was a frequent utterance.
In the fall 2017 a couple of German guys I knew from work came to Houston on business. The Houston Astros were in the middle of a playoff game and of course it was being played on every television in the bar. The crowd in the bar was going wild, and everyone was cheering and being loud. My German friends were absolutely enjoying themselves and one of them says over the loud crowd, "This is like a scene from a movie!". They couldn't believe this was actually how Americans reacted, they had only seen this in movies, and couldn't believe it was real.
That’s really interesting because I had an opposite experience when I took German family to a regular season baseball game. They said after that they thought the people cared more about the Jumbotron than the game 😂😂
@@dgill441Of course you went to one of 162 regular season games where the stakes aren't that high for just one game. The other scenario involved postseason games which is completely different.
Don't take them to an England Soccer game the results could be worse.
I guess they haven't visited tjeir local Kneipe during worldcup.
That’s funny to hear because they go wild for soccer/football.
I am German and have just been to the US for 3 weeks and I have to admit, I was expecting the Americans to be fake friendly and that it would annoy me. But not at all, I LOVED it! It wasn't too friendly in my opinion, it was just right and so much nicer as in Germany. Also loved the free Water and free refill 🙂
There are substantial cultural differences within the U.S. Where did you visit?
We visited California, Nevada, Utah and Arizona, all the Tourist Spots 😊
@@Chrissi-ps6iw - okay, that helps me understand. Those places are sort of average friendly by American standards.
@@Chrissi-ps6iw Did you avoid the bad areas?
Depends where you go in Minnesota people tend to be fake but New Jersey or New York very straight forward so I kind of like it
Once in Hamburg I went into a clothing store to look around. The store owner asked if we needed help and we said, no we’re just looking. His response: you can go outside and look through the windows. 😂
😂😂
potential sale after looking=zero lol
I work part time at a store Im going to use that line on a customer as a joke lol
Imagine if you said you were casing the joint to visit after hours :)
@@robf435 Well, if i the customer answer "Im just looking" i usually mean that i just dont need/want any help or service and want to shop myself. Dosent have to mean you wont get any sell out of me.
😂
I thought it was a little weird that German’s I met (especially those who haven’t been to the states) automatically assume American friendliness is fake or superficial. Sure that maybe the case for some people, but I think there are just as many people out there that are just genuinely friendly.
We are genuinely friendly. Until our political lines are crossed. If you are out-of-town we may give foreigners a pass. I have no respect for people that only get their news from Facebook and emails.
We're raised to be polite, and being a bit chatty is considered good manners: "How are you doing today? Some great weather we're having, isn't it?" The key is not to ask, if you're not going to care about the response.
In the context of customer service, I personally find the friendliness superficial because they are not interested in me, but my money.
I used to live in Cologne, where a good bartender called "Köbes" is traditionally is the most unfriendly person you can imagine in that kind of profession.
It's a superficial unfriendliness that I personally enjoy much much more than superficial friendliness.
@@ruyan247 IDK, I respond to the friendliness with my own friendliness, and I get a lot better service than most people.
@@shells500tutubo that works ofc, funnily if you answer the unfriendliness of a Köbes with the same superficial unfriendliness yourself, you'll get an amazing service as well.
I traveled the globe quite a bit and the service a good Köbes provides is rare. You order once (usually a beer) and when you finish the drink you'll get a new one in mere seconds without even looking for the guy. A Köbes only stops bringing drinks if you put your coaster on top of your glass.
You'll have to endure the questioning of your masculinity and financial reach, but the service itself is stellar.
Women are usually treated a bit better, they sometimes get negative comments about their age or looks, but only if they are feisty themselves.
I highly recommend trying it, if you happen to visit Cologne.
Oh and there's actually a historical reason for the behaviour that's quite interesting.
American customer service also extends to office workers who answer the phone, who don't get any tips at all. :)
To those who think it sounds fake, I can say from experience that you do force yourself when you first get a customer service job, but after six months to a year, it becomes automatic and not forced at all. Then making a smile actually makes you feel good inside too, so being friendly isn't fake at all. Unless you're having a bad day, of course, but not normally. :)
I am German and have lived in the US for almost 30 years. Most of what you are saying is what made me want to live here, because I liked it so much better than in Germany. So I could not agree more with you. Yes, there are some people in customer service in Germany who are nice and trying to give their best, but the vast majority is not. And after experiencing this here, I wanted my future kids to go to School here, and they did. I had a blast going with my kids through all the Scholl activities, supporting, cheering them on and seeing them excel in something other than just academics. Yes, I still love certain things about Germany, and I miss others, but would I want to live there again? Nein!
Ja,wer braucht schon eine furchtbare sozialistische Krankenversicherung....
You were simply lucky enough that you had not had cancer yet to experience one of the "chocolate sides" of the US system.
I can't take any German seriously who thinks the US has anything to offer in terms of life or living standard. Just the fact that there are so many clearly uneducated and misinformed Convervatives and Republicans there who tell you to your face that you have the freedom to die there if you cannot afford healthcare and that they should not chip in to make it affordable for everyone is so outrageously medieaval, it is actually an insult to the Middle Age to call assholes with such a mentality medieval.
I have experienced most facets of the US and it is an absolutely inferior fucked up society and country overall - by objective metrics. I do not care at all what some individuals "feel" as Feli clearly is in some sort of honeymoon phase herself still. Feelings do not matter when it comes to the objective reality. The US has so many problems, if the news would report on them regularly there would be nothing but bad news day after day.
I wonder how Germans compare to other Europeans. I've been to Russia, Scandinavia, France, Britain and Spain. I saw the same "attitude" especially in Russia (!), France and Scandinavia. And customer service is probably getting worse in the United States. Latin American countries usually have better customer service than the US and the US is usually better than Europe. I've heard Asian countries usually have very good customer service.
I bought 10 linear displacement transducers from a firm in China. Someone from the firm, speaking very good English, phoned me in the UK on a Sunday at 4pm (when it was midnight in China) to check that one of the dimensions of the transducers was suitable. If there was still any firm making a product like this in the UK it would refuse to sell me any because I am not an important enough customer.
Not just nein but hell nein...haha
I served in W. Germany from 83-88 and while I loved so much about it one thing nearly ruined my experience there and that was…drum roll…the bureaucracy. I’ve never experienced anything that aggravating and soul crushing. I heard it said that “Germans live to fill out forms” 😂 That certainly rings true for me.
How were they involved if you weren't a civilian?
many of us lived "on the economy"..try getting a phone! It tookover a year!@@SenorJuan2023
Legacy of WW2 and post-war era.
@@SenorJuan2023 Traveled there afterwards and experienced it first hand. Just recently I was there and wanted to purchase an online train ticket and had to fill out a three page questionnaire. Thirty seven questions to simply but a train ticket. I was stunned not to mention frustrated beyond belief.
There was a story last year that the US was seriously considering moving more of its forces from Germany to Poland because of concerns that responding to a Russian invasion would be delayed by a week or more because of delays in getting convoy approval.
Having worked in the US restaurant industry, I can say the reason my restaurant chose not to charge for refills on soft drinks was because the syrup in the fountain machine cost something like $0.05 per gallon, so giving someone a soda or a lemonade cost the business practically nothing. Most places in the US that make a lot of money on drinks are primarily looking at alcohol sales when they cite that, though I suspect there’s a bit of psychological pressure happening where people are more likely to order a fountain drink with free refills than they are to order one without. In my experience as a diner and an employee, most people only get one or two refills at most anyway, so if eating the 25 cents or whatever that a Pepsi or Coke refill costs means that you’re more likely to sell the first $3.00 Pepsi or Coke in the first place, that’s a pretty good deal! Just my theory anyway, love your videos and your perspectives!
Never mind the irony of places (mostly takeout) that have free refills but offer drinks in multiple sizes!
You are right about the cost of fountain drinks vs profits.
@@moi01887 There can be a couple of practical reasons for multiple sizes: customers’ hands are different sizes, and takeout customers may differ in how much they want to take with them.
May that was $.05 of syrup for each refill ) definitely not per gallon, nothing is that cheap in America, )
@@SWalkerTTU caps have same circumference at the bottom, they only defer in length
I was a foreign exchange student in 1991-92 at the University of Dortmund with a few other Americans from my university. We brought our own music from home... mostly classic rock, on tape-cassettes. Our German friends might have liked it, but they said with a critical tone that it was too happy, and not at all realistic. We were happy with our happy music.
Thanks for this interesting video 👍 I immigrated from Germany to the USA, 24 years ago. Last 3 years living with my family in Columbus, Ohio. I consider myself blessed to live amongst such friendly people with an overall positive mindset and a good attitude. Positivity is contagious! What I will remember from your video is when you said: Americans ask “Why not?” while Germans ask “Why?”
Even after 24 years in the US, I sometimes still catch myself saying “Why?” instead of “Why not?”
Greetings from Ohio and Happy Holidays, Marco.
Greetings from this part Dutch part German on the far east side, near Groveport.
@@boballmendinger3799 Hi Bob, greetings back to you, and Happy Holidays from Westerville, Ohio! My family and I are very happy, we moved away from California and to Ohio. Less crowded, less stress, less traffic, genuinely friendly people. Then main thing that I miss from California is it’s spectacular nice weather though. On the other hand, having immigrated from Germany to the US in 1998, I am used to having four seasons and like Ohio’s winter season with snow. Only thing that I don’t like is all the salt on the streets being bad for my nice car. Are you Dutch or German by any chance?
@user-wi1zt5ql8o Before I retired, I sometimes worked at the AT&T central office building on State Street in Westerville, as well as all the other ones in and around Columbus. I'm both Dutch and German, and grew up in western Pennsylvania. I was only here for college, and the job, lol. If you have the opportunity, visit Cooks Forest, in PA. It encompasses the type of beauty I still like best, particularly in the summer.
@@boballmendinger3799 Thanks, will make sure to put Cooks Forest on my list to visit, especially since I love photography.
Hope, we get some snow here in Westerville. I am all geared up to capture a nice winter wonderland.
Yes, I exactly know where State Street is. I often visit Uptown Westerville for shooting pictures.
@user-wi1zt5ql8o when you go to PA, in Fryburg is St Michael's Church. It's modeled after the Freiburg Cathedral. Farther east in Coudersport, is the Coudersport ice mine. In summer, it's full of ice! There's a Wikipedia article about it.
I’m a fourth generation German American. I’m astounded by the degree of German cultural traits that you describe remain in my family. The persistent cynicism and questioning one’s life choices around the questions “why” versus “why not?” I’ve long recognized my family’s inclination toward these attitudes and behaviors being distinct from other American families, what hadn’t fully occurred to me was that these were German traits. Das interesiert mich ganz!
*interessiert
;P
Just kidding. I don't care about grammar.
I am also a Fourth Generation German American on my Father’s side, and I couldn’t agree more!
Where in America does your family center its roots?
I was thinking this too. My great grandfather was born in Solingen but family came here (St Louis, Missouri) when he was a boy. His son (my grandpa) and my father were/are of the Why? mindset, definitely!
Yep, same here, except I think I'm 5th generation. I did study abroad in Germany during college and I was shocked at how many traits, like an obsession with sorting recycling properly (abnormal in American culture but my mom was very serious about it) and the way words were pronounced, were the same. And then the cynicism Feli is describing sounds just like my older sisters and some aunts and uncles. German character traits almost seem (ironically?) genetic to me, as a result.
I live in a small New England town. I was at a local parade a few summers ago when I overheard some German tourists standing nearby. I was surprised -- we're not near any major cities and hardly a tourist town! -- so I asked them in my rusty high school/college German what brought them to the area. They were equally surprised that someone 1) knew German and 2) was being so forward and friendly to strangers. (They also thought the parade was like something out of a movie about tiny American towns. 🙂)
In the end, I think they were very, very happy that a stranger approached them and was friendly. They said they'd been driving through New England for ten days and initially thought our "American niceness" was all fake, but quickly realized that we really do mean it in nearly all cases, and they were really enjoying chatting with strangers.
This "why" vs. "why not" was interesting. It reminds me of a conversation I had with an American woman who had recently returned from a trip to Germany. She said that she couldn't wait to get back to the land of "can". I asked her hat she meant. She said that in Germany people say you can't do this and you can't do that. She said here people say you can and can. Also, I had a 12th grade German exchange student who kept being amazed at how we just talk to one another so casually. And how agreeable Americans are.
Having worked in restaurants and bars in the US I have to say that interest in the customers isn’t fake. The best part of the job was talking to customers! It’s fun to learn about other people’s lives and experiences. The job is hard work, without those positive interesting interactions I would have quit much sooner.
I finished putting myself through college by working in a bookstore. The best part of that job was also helping my customers. Finding out what books they liked or didn’t like. Helping them discover new authors. It was so rewarding when they came back in and let me know how they enjoyed a book that I had recommended. Americans just generally enjoy talking to new people.
Of course you are interested, because you need the tips to survice
Ugh I could never last in a customer service job even with mostly nice and polite customers. I'd go insane.
@@ravanpee1325 Some people like meeting and helping people. Some people actually like life. Has nothing to do with tips, sweetheart.
@ravanpee1325 I worked in a grocery store (which is customer service). It was a blast talking and getting to know the customers. You find some extremely interesting people and extremely strong people this way. How many people can say they met and talked with Dolly Parton? I can say I did.
In a grocery store you don't receive tips because usually you are paid a liveable wage. As an employee you will be fired if you accept a tip.
I went to a Gesamtschule and had a really good experience there. It was possible to leave at year 9, 10 or 13, so depending on your grades and your personal plans you could decide if you want to do Haupt, Real or Abitur. We were also encouraged to participate in both Haupt and Real exams, even if we wanted to do Abitur. This was really beneficial for practicing exam situations.
Also went to a Gesamtschule in Hessen. I liked it. Best of both worlds, learn with people of similar skill and ambition plus you can change easily if you put in the effort.
Sounds like a good system.
Huh
A guy I worked with was once a manager at Taco Bell… he said it cost Taco Bell 2 cents to make a drink. It makes perfect sense to offer free refills as the drink initial cost will Cover it, and Incentivize people to buy drinks.
Plus, making the customer his own drink fetcher shifts the labor cost to the customer. Since labor is THE highest cost in fast food, pretty much ALL fast food in the US have gone to the "get your own unlimited drinks" model.
What about wages?
I agree the economic argument for free refills is generally sound.
A problem with it, might be the health issues for the punters.
Can also be an issue with kids.
But generally I would be in favour.
I love Christmas in Germany, the atmosphere around the Christmas markets makes it feel really like Christmas, and most of the shops have the Christmas atmosphere too.
I am German and I agree with you on every single point you raise. Especially the school system, even though I find that we should keep the opportunity for students to leave school a few years earlier with a lower level diploma that allows them to start an apprenticeship.
The one point that leaves a sour taste is the „civil servants are lazy“-stereotype though. I work at a government agency, we only have 80% of the staff we need and I am in my second year of a four year trial period. I am constantly afraid of not being fast enough and I don‘t understand how my more experienced colleagues do it all. I also don’t think I could half-ass anything in order to be faster as our decisions are really high-stakes. I constantly worry about making legal mistakes and really hurting people.
I used to live in the US (I'm from Switzerland) and while I understand your point about American positivity (and I partially agree with it), looking back at my life in the US, I feel like it was also rather exhausting at times. Yes, German people are reserved and sometimes negative. Swiss people are even a million times more reserved. But on the up-side, they're also mellow. And honestly, I kinda like that. In the US, I often felt as though everyone was on a never-ending sugar high; everybody's very emotionally charged. This made me feel pressured to act the same way, which cost me a lot of energy. More importantly, though, it also leads to a lot more open conflict. For example many Americans rub their politics or religion into other people's faces. I'm a very non-confrontational person, so I get super stressed out when people around me get loud, animated, or even hysterical. In Switzerland, public spaces feel very peaceful. People are very reserved (which can be frustrating) but they also very much respect your privacy and generally leave you alone, which is nice. Anyway, maybe this is why I love British people. They're much mellower than Americans and they allow themselves to be grumpy but they're also very humorous and self-depreciating, which makes interacting with them feel easy and fun, yet deep at the same time.
I'm sorry but I had to laugh at "In the US everyone was on a never-ending sugar high." I don't know why we're like that. All of the Americas are like that by the way, not just the U.S.
Well. It's cause a lot of us ARE on a never ending sugar high, lol. But I love our optimism and positively!
I feel sorry for late bloomers in Germany. I wasn't good in High school, but my senor year of H.S. math became clear to me. So I went to college and became an Engineer. Imagine if I didn't have that option. I would have certainly been a Hauptschule student in German, but instead I now have a Masters degree in Electrical Engineering. Late bloomers are people too. :)
There are plenty of opportunities for late bloomers in Germany. Too many to list here. And the beauty of those opportunities is that you don't have to pay for the education.
You would have had that option in Germany, too: You don't have to end school after Hauptschule oder Realschule, you can go on and make a higher graduation. You also can do that later in your life, as there are evening schools. And if you have absolved a professional job training (which also includes school days in Germany) and worked in that job for 3 years, you can go to university without Abitur. It's not that strict as it seems in the video.
Glad to hear about this, it was something I'd heard of before that people are tested very early in life and that's it. I'm glad to hear there are options for late bloomers. Thanks for the reply.@@annkathrinhanamond2982
Don't worry. After Hauptschule you can switch to Realschule then to Gymnasium (High School), then to Uni. Late bloomers can work their way up to college and further in Germany. I did. But it was exhausting to be thought of as someone who can't make it.
There are systems in germany exactly for that. You can go to a special school after your 'Haupt-, Real, Mittel or Gesamtschul' degree to receive the degree needed to gain higher education qualification (called 'Abitur'). And you can do that even later in life, after working for a bit or afer learning a trait and not liking it. And it is free.
Also, you can get a kind of trait-degree (called 'Meister'), with which you're also elligeble to go to university in your field, even if you never finished a higher education school.
I have spent some time in Germany and your comments regarding customer service are spot on. I am amazed at how much of a hurry everyone is in when grocery shopping. I have been yelled at for not being quick enough packing my things by another shopper behind me. Regarding the school system, German emphasis on skilled trades is something we could use here in the US.
Speaking of being in a hurry… the US is different when it comes to speed depending on where you live. On the west and east coasts, we are very fast paced. In the mountain west, Midwest and south, life is a bit slower. As a west coast person, everywhere else in the US is noticeably slower!
@nickbono8 Except for NYC. No other place in the entire USA can match the frenetically fast-pace of New York. In fact, NYC is the closest to German culture with regard to pace, lack of small-talk, abruptness, and judgementalism. These attributes are neither good nor bad, just a style that works for these folks.
No one believes in school much in the USA. I know people that went to college and could never get a job for what they went for. Just have a bunch of debt with no results. I'd rather learn on the job and some jobs will send you to school for free.
Many kids in America are wising up to the fact that they are much better of going to trade school to become a plumber or electrician than taking on 6 figures student debt on a useless DEI college degree
@@nickbono8 LOL. You mustn't live on my part of the West Coast where the service people tend to be stoned half the time. I spend much time on the East Coast as well, where people are often much more focused and less fake. You know exactly where you stand. If you really want to see culture clash in action, get on an Alaska Airlines flight to Seattle, with a Baltimore flight crew.
Hi Feli, I think you will have to do some reading up on the German school system. I am a teacher in Schleswig Holstein and we do not have the three teared school system anymore. We have the Gesamtschule (called gemeinschaftsschule) with or without the oberstufe, the three last years in preparation for the Abitur. So every student theoretically has a better possibility to reach the Abitur. Also 60% of students in general attend a gymnasium! As for extracurricular activities, in Hamburg, just next door to us, primary schools are Ganztagsschulen, all-day-school (?). The students finish class at 1pm approximately and go to their afternoon activities such as drama class, sport, guided homework , etc pp. Sooooo a lot already has changed in the school system! I can not speak for bavaria of course, you may confirm, that they are a bit more conservative and tend to hold on to the old system a bit longer.
I wish you all the best from the rainy north!
Where do they eat lunch?
Convenience store clerks are alwaays polite and friendly to me, and they are not getting tips. Sometimes people are just friendly.
Hi Feli,
The thing I would change is that if you are in a restaurant and order a Coke it comes in a little glass. On the other hand if you order a beer it comes as a 1 liter serving for probably less money. Since I don’t drink I always wondered why why I wasn’t asked if I wanted a large Coke? But everyone ordering beer automatically got way more to drink than me. Thanks, John
Feli, I’m an American and a Cincinnatian. But I’m 100% German heritage. When I has young i was quite unknowingly critical like you described many Germans are. I always felt I was being helpful giving my friends and family advice or my opinion. It took a couple of my good friends to point it to me to where learned how to be more supportive and less critical.
I'm in Cincy (actually living in NKY and working in Cincy) now, and of German / Luxembourg ancestry. I don't think it's so much genetics related, but more of a result of our upbringing and overall culture. While it's taken me far too many years to "calm down" even a little bit about my personal and professional "what can go wrong" attitude, it does have a place, time, and environment. My problem solving skills are what they are from my parents, and grandparents. Frankly, it's served me well professionally. However, t's sincerely a challenge to turn off this mindset off away from work. My children are just like me, despite my wife and I's best efforts. So the cycle continues... I should also mention how grateful I am for my upbringing, and my children.
As an American, if customer service is the 1st thing you list as being better in the US than in Germany, I sure dont want to deal w German customer service.
It depends on the store and on your problem
In generell german customer service is totally fine for me, we are just different culturally
I think you missed the point
@@zbatchDOCI think you missed my point.
American customer service is best in the world. Seriously. Lived in many different countries and visited over 40. USA had the best service industry.
Yes, US customer service is unrivaled.
In the US we have this “the customer is always right” mentality. It makes things a pain in the ass if you’re the one providing the service when you have to put up with rude, inconsiderate, stupid people and can’t talk back or you’ll be fired, but it’s great for the customer. Working in customer service in the US you have to have the patience of a saint and good acting skills 😂
I agree, that in germany some servers are kind of unfriendly (I would not go as far as "rude"), but service personell I encounter is usually very nice and friedly, if you are nice and friendly to them. I would not like a fake friendlyness and I like that they can oppose unfriendly and entitled customers. I have even once seen a rude woman get kicked out of a restaurant.
It is so rare to find a manager that will actually back their employees when customers behave badly.
Therefore you have so many Karens
That mentality is disappearing in America now. Service workers in America are calling out rude/loud/abusive/racist customers on their shit, telling them to get the fuck out of the establishment or they will call 911.
“The customer is always right” is a frequently misinterpreted mentality that does not mean the server has to bend over backwards and endure verbal abuse to make the customer happy, “the customer” in the saying refers to customers as a whole. If you have 100 customers and 95 are complaining about something, they’re right and you need to change it. Not when it’s just 1 out of 100
I think american customer service in restaurants check on their table often because of how we serve our drinks (non alcoholic ones) where unlimited refills of water, coke, or tea is normal so we drink faster which in turn makes the server have to stay on top of the drinks more.
I was at a restaurant in Berlin overlooking The Brandenburg Gate. The server was an older lady who spoke English to me because I know very little German. She couldn't have been any nicer. I asked for a beer and said "gross", and she smiled. She asked me how everything was, and I said "gut". She appreciated the little bit of the language that I knew.
The “fake happiness & fake friendliness” issue fascinates me since happy events in the lives of others often make me feel better than if the same events happened in my own life. I suspect that joy in the success of others comes from thinking of them as members of our family. That must be learned and cultivated in a culture, but the resulting pleasure in seeing good things happen to others is authentic and encourages others to view the world the same way.
I agree. The pessimism and negativity in Germany will make anyone very depressed and combined with the awful weather, there's no wonder German people hate their lives.
@@jamesr1703 Trust me, German weather is far better than that in deserts. You do not want to live in a desert.
@jamesr1703 Nonsense
I dont think you understand what is meant with Fake friendliness. I totally enjoy if other people are happy, it is more so that I am uncomfortable if people I barely know are overly friendly to me. It feels Not authentic. I just feel Like they have a hidden agenda and are trying to deceive me. But to be fair, I also don‘t think of myself as a very likable Person, so if somebody I just Met is extremely friendly, I doubt their Intentions immediately. For a Person working in a Store, I already know their motive For being overly friendly, but I still don‘t really enjoy it, because I don‘t want them to Talk me Into Buying something I don‘t really Like.
@@Narda185, yes, some forms of friendliness are entirely fake and designed only to get something from people. I'm reminded of the expression that “the smile never reaches their eyes.” I’ve been bamboozled by it myself, including in a significant way once at work (interesting story).
My point was more about the balance of interpretation. I think if you ask most Americans if they are being fake when they smile at a person they just met, they would be genuinely shocked and probably baffled. For most folks, it's more like realizing that whoever you are meeting might someday become your best friend, so why not get off to a good start?
This often does not last. After just a few sentences, one or the other or both may decide they don't like the other person and will make much less effort to get to know them after that.
In business settings, you may react the same way, but you're still expected to be polite to the other person. Why? Mostly because it's often necessary to get a job done well. Also, frankly, as we get older it gets easier to realize how many incredibly stupid things we've done in our own lives. That kind of self-awareness creates a certain tolerance, since the problem may be more with ourselves than the other person.
Overall, it doesn't hurt simply to smile and be nice to two others we’ve just met as a way of showing respect. Being human is a curious condition we all share, so why not start on the best foot possible?
Having grown up in the USA in a German household, I totally understand the pessimism thing. It's kind of the story of my life. And I struggle with it myself.
As an American who has worked for the US government for many years in many facets, the bureaucracy of the US system actually shares a lot of similarities. Yes, it is far more digitized, but outside of an initial 1-2 year probation period at the beginning of employment for a government employee, it can be extremely difficult to get rid of someone outside a literal act of Congress. They have implemented various systems of incentives to try to change stagnant behavior and poor performance, but it can be a serious problem. So, it’s definitely not just Germany.
Too true! I worked for government agencies for over 30 years. Nothing the public has heard tells the half of it. We probably have less government bureaucracy in the United States than in Germany, but it's full of corruption, sloth, and incompetence.
While this is definitely true, the problem the U.S. is often too much change, not too little. Changes are made to processes or rules without fully appreciating why the process existed the way it did. Things then only get smoothed out with painful adjustment after the fact. My stereotype would be an American government manager wants to show he changed some sort of system or process, even when it isn't called for, as the cultural assumption is there is always an inefficiency that can be fixed. His German counterpart would feel no such obligation. There, the cultural assumption seems to be that the system is too complicated to fully understand and changing one piece will inevitably screw things up.
@@ahwhite2022 when I worked for a government agency (adjudicating disability claims) I saw that the APPEARANCE of fairness and equity mattered far more than the reality. The agency denied far more claims than they should have, but the Administrative Law Judges allowed claims that were specious (they were supposed to be bound by the same guidelines). The other thing is that it made little difference which party was in power- the Republicans wasted as much money as Democrats, and stupid bureaucratic obstacles that impeded people getting timely decisions were as likely to be implemented by Democrats as Republicans.
Yay government unions!
I’m American but my in-laws are from Germany and my wife was born in the US but has German citizenship and speaks fluent German. I’ve studied in Germany ( and Austria) and have been to Germany many times. There are lots of things I love about Germany but one thing I dislike intensely is ghat I feel Germans lack a standard politeness that is generally standard in the US and the UK, etc. If some slams into you walking on the sidewalk, nothing is said in the way of an apology or excuse me. This is unheard of in the English speaking world. German bluntness can be off putting for many can be also interpreted as rudeness although it is really a cultural matter.
I'm sorry to hear that you've been having such a bad experience. I wouldn't say that's universal though, my impression (as a German) is that people here tend to apologize in such a situation even if it wasn't their fault. Or at least that's the kind of experience that I remember more easily.😅
I'm a dual Canadian/ US citizen. I find Americans in many parts of the country very rude.
@@redsoxmom66 Which regions would you consider the worst? What are some of the appalling behaviors you have witnessed in those places?
They are polite the German way... which works for them as the German masses seem not to mind that at all. For use Mercans, yeah!! its a little dry!!!
> If some slams into you walking on the sidewalk, nothing is said in the way of an apology or excuse me.
I don't know where in Germany you've made that experience, but, where I live, this would be considered extremely rude and may even be criminal. I'm very sorry for you that you've had to deal with people that would behave like that.
Hi Feli. Now you should do a totally hypothetical video what you would change about your host country if you were queen of America. It might be tough, but super interesting to hear your point of view. Tschüss!
Even if your life isnt where you want it to be; attitude makes a world of difference. And attitude can be contagious.
Bro, I'm a diplomat, so my entire job is bureaucracy, and when I was stationed in the embassy in Berlin I had sooooo much work every fucking day and hated it. So happy to now be in Riyadh where things are a lot more streamlined, but at the cost of it being ludicrously hot every day
I never mess with people who are involved with cooking my food, and I also never send food back to the kitchen.
In the us the most expensive part of a drink is the cup and lid while the soda costs pennies
As a former emplyee of a big german supermarket chain i can tell that we were always short staffed so there was literally no time to help customers as bad as it sounds. It also occured quite often that customers asked very, very stupid questions that could have been solved by simply reading the ad sheet correctly and the basic knowledge that you can´t get a product on a discounted price on monday despite the ad sheet clearly states that it´s only available on the weekend.
I entirely get this! I am American by birth, but have lived in other countries at two points in my life, and I've had the exact same experience. It made me appreciate many things about life at home, but also drew my attention to certain other things that my host countries did better.
RE: Schools - I'm still angry 50 years later that entering High School, My counselor pushed me into a track that led to getting a job instead of getting a college degree because I came from a "working class family". It took me five years to figure out for myself that I could go to a college and get a degree and experience that allowed me to get a better job and pursue a career of interest and make more money and love getting up in the morning and going to work!
I mean, but what was your job after high school? Surely in comparison to people of today, you had an advantage to most college graduates I that you had actual work experience, right? Besides, you can work and study at the same time, though of course that is hard on a young person at that age.
@@Checkmate1138 having grown up on a farm, I had been working my entire life. At the age of 10, I was selling vegetables out of the garden, mowing lawns, and doing any other odd jobs I could find to make money to buy photo chemicals and papers. My aunt had given me a camera at a young age and I became enthralled with photography. I finally found a college teaching photography and was able to develop a portfolio and use that to get a job as a professional photographer which I was for my entire career. The problem I had was having been judged as being from a working class family therefore, all you need is a job. I was smart, I was good at math, not that I was going to be the next Elon Musk and become a rocket man, but having been encouraged to learn and educate myself and take advantage of the skills that I had I feel like I could have been more, or I could have done more, or I could have accomplished more.
Hi Feli! One of the things I just love about you is your happy enthusiasm about the subject you are addressing. You are lovely! Best wishes from Southern Spain. 😀
Feli, I just have to say I really enjoy your insights! I’m a fifth generation immigrant from Germany, so I’ve never lived there, but I love being able to learn about my heritage like this. I truly appreciate your humility in how you present your thoughts!!
My husband has been on the "Gesamtschule". He tells me that he was one of the best pupils in elementary school and got a recommendation for the "Gymnasium". But since the "Gesamtschule" was closer to his parents' house and you can receive the "Abitur" there, too, his parents decided to send him there. There is one special rule for the "Gesamtschule" as well: Students cannot be forced to repeat grades. So my husband just had some quite lazy 8 years where he did not have to study at all.
After school, he started studying and really had a hard time.
For me it was similar: Since my teacher at elementary school said I did not speak/participate enough during lessons, she suggested that I should go to the "Realschule" and not to the "Gymnasium". My father always says that it was a mistake to listen to her and I agree. I was very lazy for 6 years and then switched to a "Gymnasium". Of course I did not stand a chance there...
Even though those stories have been taking place ~25 years ago I would suggest parents to decide for themselves where to send their children.
Great video! I do think that tips is a factor for why US customer service is better than Germany but I think there’s a lot more to it than that. From what I hear, even business that are non-food related and don’t rely on tips have better customer service than its equivalent in Germany. Chick fil A idea a fast food restaurant that don’t rely on tips but their customer service is better than 90% of top based restaurants. Culture is a huge part of it
The only reason I live in Germany is because my husband is a beamter. He's the Studiendirektor for a Gymnasium. Whether he is a good teacher or not I can only judge by the fact that he's always working. Evenings, weekends, and today is the first day of Cmas vacation and he's in his office working. He works even during Summer break. It's like I married a doctor *lol*
About the paperwork - last week I had to go to the doctor to get a Krankenschreiben doctor's note cuz my husband had Corona. As I arrived at the office and asked for the paperwork, I suddenly was struck with how absurd it is that I had to do this, knowing full well they have fax machines! And email, and scanners. Welcome to the new century where you don't even offer a fax to a customer and I need to drive my car to pick up a physical piece of paper? I asked and she said it's because we're privately insured. WTH.
I knew you were going to mention CS. I love that you embrace good CS. I had two bad experiences just last week. I waited 20 minutes in line in the rain at the fish truck. Someone jumped in front of me (well, started a new line beside me) and before I could take my turn she ordered and they let her do it! Then I went to a shop to buy a new butane gas container to refill my lighters. I asked if they would recycle my empty and the lady just said NO. No "I'm sorry no" just no. And I don't think they belong in any trash container I own. Isn't there a law that states if a business sells something that must be recycled differently, they have to also accept the old/broken one? That lady is so mean, every time I come to her shop to buy our weekly magazine she looks at me like I'm ruining her day by being there. Oh, and she smokes cigarettes in the shop.
Hi Lytha, easy solution for your magazines, buy elsewhere rather than rely on the change of heart by the proprietor, she apparently is self employed, grant herself to smoke, that's personal freedom. For the bluntness NO of an answer, German directness, you asked and get a clear response. Try a bigger shop.
@@Mayagickit‘s not directness, it’s pure rudness!
Directness is ok. Rudeness is not. Most Germans are not even intentionally rude. It just seems like it compared with other cultures. But what you describe is just mean. 😳
I wouldn’t shop there anymore. You can buy everything online it there is no other shop around 😉
Hope you‘ll get treated more nicely in the future. ❤
Free 'glass water' is always a thing in Mexico as well. I also found it so weird growing up and visiting Germany that I couldn't get any Leitungswasser for free or at least for restaurants to have some bottled water with 0 bubbles available. I would literally go to the restroom and drink from the tap! Desperate times called for desperate masures 😬
I have also done that in Germany, I brought my glass in the restroom, filled it up and brought it back to the table full...they were not amused ❤
There are also no drinking fountains in Germany? ❤
That carbonated bottled water in Europe is really disgusting. I have no idea how they can drink it without sweeteners and flavoring.
I hated that water. If you don't ask for still water that's the first one they'll bring you
@moniho6907 Still water is actually nonsense in Germany because tap water is just as good, if not better.
They typically do not ask you what size of drink you want in Germany. They just bring you a large and you have to pay for it. Many restaurants do this.
@@decollector95 Money or liquid? 😁
Hey,Feli just be you as we will love as you are anyway!
Restaurants in the US also make lots of money from drink sales. It typically costs the restaurant about 8 cents per cup/glass (their cost, depending on their contract with the drink vender) and they may charge $2-3 for the same. Free refills do not hurt their bottom line but infact make it a value proposition for the customer as an incentive to order it in the first place. Food costs are generally their highest expense (outside of labor) and generally margins are not great. Drinks or other specialty items are the high-profit items for the service industry.
If there's liquor sold that's a huge profit center for them.
@@markdecker6190 Yes, that is very true too. Massive profit there.
@@CNC-Time-Lapse Well, mostly true. My state recently raised its liquor license to $3000 every six months, which really eats into profits. Many places now just serve beer and wine, as it's something like $1000 a year.
@@plektosgaming Wow, that's a bummer! Really puts things in perspective though. Thanks for sharing this! I appreciate it.
Watching this video while visiting my mom in Germany 😂 And she agreed with your first 2 items. (she didn’t watch the whole video) The water/free refills thing was definitely a culture shock for me as a teenager in the 90s. I’m used to it now. 😅
Many restaurants will refill your drink without even asking. When I was a teenager, I was a busboy in a restaurant. I asked why it was so important to keep customers glasses filled. The answer was that in case of a choking emergency a drink was usually a quick solution.
lol!!!!! I want my drink filled because I need something to drink while I’m eating. Not bc I’m worried about choking. Not keeping my glass full, is poor customer service. Plus in the US, by the time you count tax and tip, I paid $5 for my soda. So there is an expectation to having the cup filled.
I have never been to Germany so I cannot comment on much of your commentary, but I want you to know that I am a regular viewer, I appreciate your opinions, and I do live close to Cincinnati.
I've been on both sides of the service industry in the US, and I have visited Germany. It's odd when Germans claim American service is "fake" or "pushy". At least in the South, servers and bartenders are laid back and friendly like most of the culture. Interactions are with them are low cost for introverts like me because they're governed by all sorts of unwritten norms. As long as your kind to others, they don't care if you break the norms. You're also allowed your own feelings, as long as you're honest about them. For instance, you can tell a waiter you're not in the best mood because your pet died and they can recommend a dish that might help you feel better. That kind of interaction is far from fake.
I stayed in outside of Regensburg 4 years ago, and the customer service at my hotel was outstanding, and when I would order my meals I was given free tap water. For breakfast I would order coffee and orange juice, they brought out a carafe full of coffee for me. On the whole that was the exception and definitely not the rule.
I think customer service in Germany just varies a lot between different types of businesses, types of customers, etc.
I live one town over from Regensburg, and never had any issues with customer service there. Even though it is a bit different from being in a small town, where the owner themselves might interact with guests, so it will feel more friendly overall
@@Tessa_Gr that was the case, the owners were doing EVERYTHING.
A British bureaucrat (a personal friend) said to me he has to schedule time on the internet at some room down the hall and is then only allowed 58 minutes per day to update his files. No internet in his office, at home, or elsewhere in the department. In my US office if my internet goes down I have dozens of other desks where I can access the system and can ask any of my colleagues to log in on the laptops during their lunch hours. I have dozens of options and even then an IT is likely to show up in person to fix the issue. I can also work from home where I have four other laptops in addition to my company issued machine. Five internet-ready computers at home....dozens at work. Blessed I suppose but no excuses for not getting work done.
You arent lying about that joke for the government workers. I was in the US Air Force and worked with NATO in a small German village. Fridays you wouldnt see them after 12. We used to say NATO, Not After Two Oclock
My first shock was when my home phone (early 2000’s) was shut off. My kids were sick and I couldn’t call for an appointment. I drove down to the Bundespost with my receipt from the prior month. I was informed that a receipt doesn’t mean you paid your bill, but can track down where my money went. Let’s just say it wasn’t a pretty moment for me. I was an exhausted mom with sick kids.
About teachers, it can get even worse sometimes: A German teacher friend of mine who put in some extra time to help a couple of students with difficulties advance better, got screamed at by her colleagues, fearing they'd have to work harder, too, that way...
As a German who works at a government agency and who isn't tenured (we don't do that anymore where I work), i heavily disagree.
Yes, people do go home at noon on Fridays, but that's not because they only have half-days on Fridays (unless they are part time workers). They just accumulate enough overtime hours during the other weekdays so they can leave earlier on Fridays. They don’t actually work less.
Even if the office is closed, that does not mean everyone is going home. They're dealing with the bureaucracy during those hours cause - and this may be shocking to some - every goddamn file people hand in needs to be processed. I guarantee you: Nobody in Germany hates the bureaucracy more than civil servant workers. 😂
And the reason things take so long is just that: Bureaucracy. We hate it too. But we don’t make these rules. The government does.
The other reason is that there is just too few of us. Most of us work overtime like crazy. And those who are lazy ... those exist, but they exist in every bigger company. And then those who aren't have to pick up their slack.
On the point of digitalization: Where I work we have all documents in a digital file. There is only one printer left in the entire floor my office is on. Whenever we do get a fax, it gets digitalized and sent to us as a pdf-file as a mail attachment.
Most stuff that seems antiquated, at least where i work and in my experience, is because of laws. Eg. we can't accept some legal forms digitally because the LAW says we can't. So people have to mail it via post it or send it via fax. Which - if you remember - gets converted into a pdf file anyways. We send faxes digitally too 😂.
Your story about writing a mail and receiving back a letter is probably also because of a law: Data Protection Laws. Mails can be hacked. Therefore depending on what information you want, they can only convey it to you via letter because that is the only way they can be sure it is only read by its proper recipient.
Sooooo yeah. Bureaucracy is a problem. Not the actual civil servant workers. Of course there are those who are lazy etc. But i know for a fact that those exist elsewhere as well.
In the US, most law offices still have fax machines because fax machines never lose things in cyberspace. You cannot claim to have never received something if it came by fax. Also, there are copies on both ends, which is itself worthwhile.
Hey Feli, ich liebe deine Videos. In diesem sind mir allerdings ein paar Dinge aufgefallen, die vielleicht aus einer bayrischen Perspektive stimmen können, aber nicht aus einer gesamtdeutschen. Ich bin Lehrer an einer Gesamtschule in Niedersachsen und hier ist diese Schulform sehr verbreitet und akzeptiert. Außerdem muss man, um verbeamtet zu werden, natürlich erstmal das Referendariat mit unzähligen Prüfungen machen und hat danach eine 3-jährige Probezeit, in der man sich in Unterrichtsbesuchen mit Reflexionsgesprächen bewähren muss. Bei anderen Jobs hat man da nur ein halbes Jahr. Auch sonst sind die Schüler- und Elternschaft gute "Kontrollelemente" für Qualität nach der Probezeit. Es gibt sicherlich gute und schlechte Leistungen bei Lehrer*innen, aber die gibt es überall und der Grund dafür ist nicht das Beamtentum.
Keep up the great work, Feli!
Ich habe ebenfalls den Eindruck, dass sich unter den jüngeren Kollegen der von Feli kritisierter Lehrer-Typus kaum noch findet. Dies hat bestimmt etwas mit den starken Fokus auf Professionalisierung und den hohen Anforderungen im Referendariat zu tun. Arbeitsvermeidung und Faulheit kann sich dort keiner erlauben.
@@Bluthund666 Absolut! Für meine Schule kann ich das klar so bestätigen
Clarifying a magical hypothetical with clinical accuracy is so German.
💯💯💯 👏👏👏
I was born in Germany, but grew up in Canada after the age of three. I had an aunt in Germany, so I would spend summers in Germany when I was young. I think the biggest difference that I noticed was the social aspect of life in Germany. Neighbors in Germany actually know and speak to each other. I have been living on my street in Canada for twenty five years and I only know less than a handful of my neighbors. The ones I do know, I rarely talk to. One of the things that really surprised me about Germany when I was young was people dropping by at 7:00 AM to have coffee and breakfast. This would never happen in Canada. People on public transit in Canada will never talk to each other. Co-workers will very rarely spend time together after work in Canada. When I was at my aunt's place in Germany, someone was always dropping by, at any time during the day. There's a much greater sense of community in Germany than there is in Canada. I think North America generally is more individualistic and Europe in general is more collectivist.
There's a very distinct sense of history in Germany that doesn't exist in Canada. A sense of a common shared experience. The history behind every square or fountain that I find so fascinating.
I also love the density in Germany. You're always no more than a few minutes away from a tram stop. There's always a pub or bakery a few doors away. Where I grew up in Canada I was at least a half hour walk away from anything resembling a store and that's despite living in Toronto. You don't get the same kind of residential sprawl in Germany that you do in Canada.
Some of the things I didn't like. The fact that stores are only open at certain times. In Toronto you can get a great dinner at 3:00 on a Sunday. At the time when I was young, television only had two or three channels and they were only functioning at certain times of the day. My television at the time in Canada had well over a hundred and would only be not broadcasting for a few hours very late at night. I didn't like how complete strangers in Germany would get into your business. I once had an old lady chase me down because I crossed the street on a red light on a Sunday morning when there were absolutely no cars on the road. People will call the police if you are listening to the radio or television and the volume is only a fraction greater than barely audible. I was actually told that I was walking too loud when I got up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. I received the same warning about opening the front door of the building too loud. I also found it weird that your landlord could lock you out of the apartment that you were renting if you came home too late. I came home one day to have the front door of the building open. I thought it was an automatic door, but it was actually the landlord waiting at the door to lock it for the evening.
I have experienced multiple levels of customer service in Germany, I’m always polite, obviously an American. Tipping in Germany is different, but I am very generous on the tip because of the extra help/accommodation.
I've been watching you videos for a while, and I just want to say how much I admire your attitude that neither country is better or worse than the other. They're just different.
Oh, and BTW, my 11yo daughter started learning German off Duo Lingo, and I've been trying to help her. I'm so excited!
Don't bother. That's what i studied. No point. They all speak English. Better to learn Spanish.
@@saratemp790 That's why Spanish was my minor.
Sorry, but she is in some sort of honeymoon phase of her life. The US is objectively worse in so many aspects. Most of the stuff she mentioned in this videao is not even properly quantifiable and more of a "feeling". I used to live and work in the US for a bit more than 10 years and after those 10 years I was totally fed up with that country.
Also, we don't know that much of the inner workings of her family and she started dating a Murican... However, objectively there is so many things wrong with the US that it makes no sense for a German to stay there and build a life UNLESS you become lucky and filthy rich so that the broken US system does not phase you AT ALL.
The problem is: Even with a lot of money you do not get the same degree of quality of life Europeans enjoy with far far less money.
Overall, since I moved back to Germany I have a significant higher quality of life despite earning less. What really bothers me in Germany is the attitude of the bureaucrats - that's true. There is plenty of things to improve. However, as a foreigner with a GreenCard I had my fair share of US bureaucracy myself - and it was insane, often even worse than the Germans.
See, the Germans are just abrasive or rude when they are on the other side of the desk - but once the process runs, the process runs and it will be done 100% accurately. In the US, you get outright threatened sometimes by people and then they still are too stupid to do their job. Plus the digital stuff the US are doing has a huge downside as well: No protection of the citizens against Big Brother. Nothing you do is in any form protected against data mining or data selling. An absolute desaster. So what is better? A slow paper-loving bureacracy like in Germany or a half incompetent dumpsterfire with a backdoor to all 3 letter agencies like in the US and without constitutional rights for the individual?
As a grown up you must be capable to make objective decisions - so fuck the US system. It has too many downsides which cannot be accepted for a peaceful stable life in prosperity.
@@bobbwc7011 Well you sound nice.
I concur with @bobbwc7011 nearly 100% except for the „fuck the US system“.
It’s the system the Americans have chosen for themselves and it does seem to suit Feli very well indeed. And why not ? To each her/his own.
Feli either doesn’t see the downsides or she’s okay with it.
That’s her right and I’m happy for her that she’s become a murican and wish her much success, lots of health forever and always a good income.
I only wish she’d stop pining for some things German, because one simply cannot have it all …
By the way, I lived in the greater Los Angeles area from 1978 to 1990, and I’ve experienced some bad and, much worse, very incompetent customer service there, no amount of „hi hon, how’re you doing today“ could gloss over it.
I myself worked there during those US years as a customer service rep (inside sales) in a company with many varied customers (amongst them Disneyland Group Services, Magic Kingdom Club, Colleges, government offices) and I took much pride in offering all of them always top service, efficiency, good and honest advice, save them money where possibly, find solutions for difficult matters.
I was always friendly and pleasant but always to the point and I never called anyone honey … and my customers all appreciated me and my work and attitude very much.
When I moved back to Germany I took my work ethics, attitude and behavior with me and made my new customers (mostly) happy.
Occasionally I pissed off some South American “macho men” when I had to tell them that this or that was simply not possible - but even they, after I outright suggested that they might be happier if their account was served by someone else, begged me to not pass them on to someone else.
I don’t go shopping much for clothes etc anymore, and I don’t eat out much anymore either - but I’m sure that in the last 33 years here in Germany I’ve encountered hardly more than 2 handfuls of unfriendly sales people or servers, or amongst my counterparts in other businesses.
A simple smile and friendly hello or good morning will suffice, on my side and on theirs.
Tack!
I haven't been to Germany in over 20 years so I hope it is better now, but I remember spending huge amounts of time waiting and waiting on super slow "service" at restaurants. The food wasn't great, took forever and you were treated with absolute contempt for coming into the restaurant in the first place. I don't think I'd waste my time at any restaurants if I go back, just hit a grocery store for some snacks and keep moving.
The only time my mom (in Germany) experienced a record fast response from a federal agency was when she submitted that she was no longer unemployed- it was literally the next day, mail turnaround that she was acknowledged and removed from the rolls. That spoke volumes.
Just found my Gluhwein mug from 1997 when I was stationed in Germany. Labeled "Reiterlesmarkt" and "Alt-Rothenburger Weihnacht". Wish I could share a pic.
I spent a little over 2 years (90-92) in Germany when I was in the Army and was stationed in a small town called Darmstadt. Although I didn't do as much traveling as I'd wished, I did see some fantastic sites while I was there. I truly enjoy your videos of the country I called home for two years! Although our experiences are over 30 years apart, it is pretty cool to hear about your experiences in Germany as well as your second home here in the US!
Great list! I can totally agree, especially with point #3. One thing I love about the US is the entrepreneurial spirit whereas in Germany this kind of thinking is usually met with doubt and envy.
I took business classes and was told what also affects it is that it's very hard to file for bankruptcy in Germany. When you consider that most new businesses fail in the first few years, and it's reasonably likely you might need to file, that becomes a consideration in launching a business. I an see that in some ways being good, keeping some outlandish ones out. But there have been diamonds in the rough, such as Apple, that might otherwise have never gotten off the ground without taking massive risk for something that most people thought would never work.
#2 literally validates the last 16 months of suffering for me. thank you
So interesting. I was raised Dutch in the 70's and 80's. It's unreal how alike our upbringing sounds. Except I was in the US and much older. Your channel has answered so many questions I didn't know I had. I now really see and understand my Oma's and Opa's floor plan in the house where they thought they'd live forever. I understand reasonings for things that were done and the why's. You keep it up. You're awesome! 🎉 Much Love from the Southern California desert 🏜 ❤️
6:50 When I was studying abroad in NRW in 2010, I had to submit a physical piece of paper in order to get internet access in my dorm!
You make such good points here! I spent six months in Germany when I was in college, and I noticed all of these things even back then (a while ago!). I noticed the judgment issue, big-time! I was in Munich, and I felt that I was being judged and evaluated all the time!, and oh my goodness, yes! We always felt like we were intruding on the wait staff in the restaurants, just by being there!😂. I can honestly say, I don’t ever remember, feeling welcomed by a waiter or waitress.
It’s interesting and also to regularly hear Europeans (in Europe) comment on America as being very “fundamentalist” and full of gun violence This confirms that they get all their information from the mainstream media, which pushes these misconceptions (for obvious political reasons).
I had similar experiences in UK with some teachers who could not be bothered to do any teaching. Effectively we were just constantly given exercises from books, just keeping us quiet. It was quite a revelation when I went on to further education and had lecturers who actually told us things!
US restaurants do make a lot of money on drinks. A cola only costs pennies to make. Alcoholic drinks are even more depending on the drink. A bottle of cheap rum, vodka, tequila, or whiskey might cost $12 - $20 but you get charged $5 - $10 per shot. Remember they buy at wholesale prices which is about 1/2 of what you would buy the same thing at a liquor store.
As a fellow German who moved to the US, I second all of these!
The free water situation was my number one pet peeve when I was in Germany
Germany: using fax machines
Meanwhile in the US: people using checks 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
HAHAHA true!!
Sadly many medical clinics in US still use Fax also!
People in the U.S. rarely write checks anymore. Most bills are set up to pay automatically through EFT.
I actually really like, that your free time activities are less tied to your school here in germany, because it gives you people out side of the context of your school. As someone with a really hard time at school because of social reasons i was really happy to have an escape into a group of people who didnt bully me because of peer pressure. But iI totally see, that thats only really possible in an urban area and i also would have loved some way where it was extra but also more connected. Maybe an event where the clubs in your region get to present themself or something.
Another thing where I disagree is bildung ist ländersache. I actually am really happy about that, because it gives a lot more freedom to be progressive. If u organize a schoolsystem in a centralistic way it tends to be way more conservative, right now the bundesländer can choose themselves whats best for them. Some bundeslandäder have religion as a mandatory subject and i would expect that it also would be if school were centralistic because for some bundesländer its a huge deal. Where i come from religion isnt mandatory, ethics is. And that just makes so much more sense for students here.
We have both things in the United States lots of club sports and all the extra curriculars connected to the school. My daughter has done both and to be honest I prefer the school activities because she just stays after school they provide the transport if there is any needed and a lot of the time there is not an additional cost.
Generally waitresses and waiters are quite friendly here in Upper Swabia. However I remember one waiter at a quite popular pub who was always in an extreme hurry to get orders done and you had to be really quick at answering his questions. The way he was reacting appeared to be rude sometimes - but also quite funny because he was really doing everything to bring the things you wanted as fast as possible to your place. So actually after knowing him better some people actually liked the way he was working and preferred to be served by him. I did too.
However it's a fact: you can get treated quite unfriendly for no reason at all. And although it happens rarely it isn't a nice experience. And allegedly there are places where such treatment is supposed to be part of the experience - eg. Berlin and Vienna (who would have thought).
When I did a short month-long exchange in Munich in high school, I was pretty surprised that the Gymnasium didn't have a band and only had a small, not very good (sorry) orchestra. The music groups at my public American high school performed at a pretty high level and a lot of my classmates in AP classes were also part of music groups and took private lessons. And those that weren't were part of a varsity sports team or were in the business or Key club. American extracurriculars can be competitive to a fault, but it's nice that there's a really robust set of options built in to the school system. It was nice to be able to work toward an achievement that's not academic.
About 50 years ago my wife and I were stationed in Germany for the first time and quickly learned that eating at a local restaurant meant spending most of the evening there. Often it would be 1/2 hour before we got a menu and then another 1/2 before a waiter took our order. We quickly got used to this and even enjoyed it. But the day came for our anniversary and I wanted to take my wife out to the restaurant, but I was starting to feel ill. So I let the waiter know that I needed them to get us in and out rather quickly and they understood and did a great job for us.
When I was younger and worked as a waiter in Colorado, I like it when customers asked for special requests because it made the evening a little more interesting and made it more likely that I would get a good tip (unless they were visiting Texans, who were notoriously bad tippers).
When I lived in Italy there were similar issues. The country was beautiful and the people wonderful for the most part, but when it came to customer service, they always treated you like you're a bother to them and government bureaucracy was beyond frustrating and pointless.
yep..I lived in Italy 10 years and german's negative outlook is very similar to Italian people. after 10 year of living in Italy I became much more pessimistic and cynical than I was ever before. if you show passion for something or enthusiasm Italians think you are not serious person. and yeah, the bureaucracy in Italy is a nightmare and just a waste of time. after 10 years living in Italy I felt half of my years there were a waste ...either you wait and wait for things or you have to wait until things fall in your lap...the opposite of American where you go after things...lol. Italy is the country of NO :).
Totally agree with you on customer service. My first trip to Germany, I was shocked. Customer service was something like this: "Don't bother me. If your not satisfied, go someplace else. And don't ever come back." This attitude is pervasive throughout Europe. I hate it!
I hope you and your family and friends have a wonderful Christmas
wow - make or break at age 10. was just listening to this in the back ground but that one stopped me in my tracks.
For the mentality difference, I think there's nothing much we can do about it. Moreover, thinking of every problem beforehand made the Mercedes Benz what it is, and doing away with that habit resulted in German Railways as it is now (delays for hours, staff on strike). Being pessimist has its advantages.
It's so common that we can learn it as vocabulary: "OMG, this is AWESOME!! I'm SO flabbergasted!" translates into German as: "Quite OK. Can't complain." (German: Passt schon. Kann man nicht meckern.) It means the same. Not being able to complain about something means that it is faultless after being tested by a habitual fault-finder.
German-Austrian difference: In Austria, you'll always get a free glass of water with your coffee or wine.
Feli, your ability with language is pretty amazing... ala.. Speaking American English so well with little accent... There is far more to that (in any language - and doing it well, than most people fathom... Thanks for sharing these videos... Really cool perspective!!!
I actually think having accents is awesome because it shows the origin of a person and their ability to master other languages. Speaking without an accent has nothing to do with your language proficiency.
@@JG4689 I honestly love accents as well... I'm just really impressed by the way Feli talks... I seriously don't think she is the norm. I grew up with some 'German" school friends who landed in the 80's (or maybe 70's.. I was a kid... I didn't have a grasp on the "ratlines" or World History.. ONLY far later did a few people who came up to a hotspot (there in Houston 'then') did I get a history lesson I honestly didn't care anyting about then.. But, these legit German speakimg people. (Search and study if you think the WWII Germans didn't "TREK" outside.. Simply put.. It has to be hard to go from German proper speach to American English.. One would think the jump would be seriously easy.. I'm multilingual..KINDA have been beatin with 'latin' (I actually prefer "PIG" latin) just for fun.. Yeah.. This LADY.. FELI IS REALLY good! Some brains get hiccups "translating"... You really gotta think in the other language to get it correct to have a real convo.. MY ONLY "BEEF" (kinda funny issues) with this Lady is.. Cincinnati!?! I was forced twice to go to a "conference" there.. "Just saying".. ASIDE! LOVE this Lady's channel.. Really educational if the others here care to lear / look here...
My mother emigrated from Berlin to the USA after WW2 and of course learned English here. We didn't speak much at home until I took German in high school. Naturally I was used to the way she spoke but sometimes other people would comment that they could hear an accent so I began to recognize it myself. I say all this because I can hear the same faint accent when Feli speaks!
Some suggested translations for some of the tricky words:
For Ausbildung, I recommend using “vocational training.” “apprenticeship” sounds like something from a few centuries ago lol 😅
Behörden: You could say “official offices” or “administrative offices.”
relativieren: In this context, you could use something like “use a lot of qualifiers” or “qualify your response.”
I like to use the word apprenticeship for the German Ausbildungssystem because vocational training in the US is often just a few months which is very different to the 3 year system in Germany. Plus, it actually does go way back in history so I don't see a problem with that.
In regards to the other suggestion: Thank you! Administrative offices aren't always Behörden though, I thought about using that word but administrations can also exist within private businesses.
@@FelifromGermany The problem with “apprenticeship” is that it’s an outdated concept. It doesn’t exist anymore. It describes something that used to be done a long time ago, not what is done in a modern Ausbildung. A lot of Americans wouldn’t even know what you were talking about if you used “apprenticeship” with them in this context. vocational training” has no implications about length of time, plus we’re talking about a different country, so there’s no reason to assume it would be similar to vocational training in the US. “vocational training” is just an accurate description of what it is, and unlike “apprenticeship,” it works for 2023. For “Behörden”: My first suggestion was actually “official offices.” I did hesitate before adding “administrative offices.” 😅
I have been spending a lot of time in Rhineland-Pfalz where there is a lot of American presence and they have a lot of positive things to say about the U.S. Of course they see the negative aspects of the U.S., but they are really happy that the Americans helped them rebuild after WW2. The Germans that I've met aren't interested in living in the U.S., but are curious to visit.
Any country should be delighted to have you call it home. I appreciate your talent, deep intelligence, and most of all, your kindness, compassion, and overall enthusiasm for life.
Another great video! I just love your effervescence!!! I also commented recently on another one of your videos in the past few days, and commented on how your English has become outstanding. And lastly, how beautiful your hair is, with such a nice color and sheen! Enjoy the holidays at home, and hopefully you won't run into too many 'Germans' who are either negative, or bad mouth your living in the USA, a country where most people in the world would like to live! My guess on this one issue, that the negative comments may be rooted in jealousy. 'Long, Long Ago, Far, Far Away', I use to live in Vienna, Austria (a truly wonderful city) as a teenager, so I have some concept of the differences between Europe and the US. I recall how early it got dark in the Winter. After returning to the US I have lived in quite a few different places in the US, including in Ohio - Toledo, Ohio. Today, we live in the Phoenix, AZ metro area, which is now 5 million people! And it is sunny here 300-320 days a year, but no snow for X-Mas (unless you go up into the mountains).
Customer service is definitely different! I as a former Waiter, Kellner, myself, spoke right up there without problems but my local friends looked a little stunned I was so bold. I said, it's there JOB!
A few weeks ago I spent my holidays in Naxos, Greece (btw. it was fantastic, Naxos is the most beautiful island I can think of! Try a visit! And no, I am not the advertising representative of Naxos😂) and it showed off that whenever you ordered anything at a restaurant or a bar, you got a big glass of tap water aside, most of the time even with ice cubes. I wasn't pretty much used to it and ended up by always smiling like a Honigkuchenpferd and thanking the waiter/waitress multiple times inan exaggerated manner and appreciating this gesture waaay to much for it was so uncommon for me as a German. When I heard Feli talking about this I had to laugh and simultaneously felt a little embarrassed regarding my behaviour.🙈 Greetings from the Ruhrgebiet!
At a lot of restaurants here in the US, they will greet you with a large glass of ice water for free. Then you can order whatever drink you want and have both on the table.
@@Skirkly I like it very much!! One's for the pure thirst and the other one's for enjoyment. And you are encouraged to drink more. But as Feli said, here in Germany it is not common at all.
My family lived in Ruhrgebied mother born there. . Hunsrück after the war.
@@noracox6567 Greetings from sister to sister! 😂
Love your videos. Thanks for the information on German social nature. Was at the top of a German mountian pass and saw a restored Opel like I had in the 70s. As an American I was excited to see it. I talked to the guy and it seemed like I got a cold shoulder. I asked him if his car gets up to the top of these steep mountains with no trouble for a 50+ year old car. He seemed very put off by my question. I thought he was a jerk, but I guess he just wasn't into small talk. I have several antique cars, and I'm always glad when someone takes interest and talks to me.
Dear Feli! Its so fun watching you and im learning a lot! Im an asian currently living in Germany and I agree with everything you shared specially the school system here.