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More German than many Germans

mertbulan.com

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Re: More German than many Germans

#481

Post by MisterTea »

14u2c wrote: post #124
beeforpork wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The driver is not allowed to open the door anywhere but at a bus stop, the company running the bus forbids it. Quite strictly, actually. I think it is mainly because of insurance things. It is the same in a traffic jam when you are on the bus and the next bus stop is just a few meters away, and the bus is stuck and nothing moves -- impatient people will get angry because they want to leave the bus, but the driver is…

Is it typical for a company to run the busses? Somewhat interesting as that's one thing in the US that is rarely privatized. The driver, etc. will be a direct employees of the municipality.

Depends. NYC busses used to be a mix of municipal and privatized companies that were part of the Transit Alliance. In addition to city owned and operated buses you had four private companies: Green Bus Lines, Jamaica Buses, Triborough Transit and Command. Around the mid 00s they were all absorbed into the MTA. Living in south Queens the Green Bus Lines were a big part of my youth as I took the Q41 to school every day and the Q11 on weekends to the mall.

Re: More German than many Germans

#482

Post by Georgelemental »

spider-mario wrote: post #52
bambax wrote: post #13

The first time I was in Berlin I had to take a bus. It was just leaving the stop as I was getting there, but stopped at the next red light. So I ran to the bus and knocked on the door. The driver looked at me with a concerned look to see if something was wrong, and once he understood I was just asking to come onboard outside of the regular stop, he laughed. Not ironically or in a mean way: it was a genuine laugh like…

> Being French, I have a hard time understanding why you wouldn't. I too am French and I’m more puzzled by you than by the driver. Am I secretly German?

100% Boche, désolé

Re: More German than many Germans

#483

Post by scotty79 »

inatreecrown2 wrote: post #54
bambax wrote: post #13

The first time I was in Berlin I had to take a bus. It was just leaving the stop as I was getting there, but stopped at the next red light. So I ran to the bus and knocked on the door. The driver looked at me with a concerned look to see if something was wrong, and once he understood I was just asking to come onboard outside of the regular stop, he laughed. Not ironically or in a mean way: it was a genuine laugh like…

This was such an unusual thing for me coming from Germany to Italy. The Bus driver would stop at seemingly random places to pick up or drop people off. Once he stopped at the cafe to pick up his newspaper!

I was shocked that in Italy pretty much no one used turn indicators (except buses and taxis), drivers where kinda trying to sus out where everyone is going and this was causing speed adjustments that made the whole thing not that unsafe.

Re: More German than many Germans

#484

Post by capr »

master-lincoln wrote: post #163
rglullis wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> it would set an example No, it wouldn't. This type of logic only holds if we consider that drivers are automatons who can not analyze risks by themselves. Give the drivers autonomy to judge whether it's safe or not to deviate from the scheduled route. I rather have a driver signaling me "No, I will not open the door now because I don't think it is safe" over "No, I will not open the door now because I can't break t…

You not following rules makes me think less of you as a person. Rules are made so not everybody needs to judge every situation correctly themselves. People might overlook consequences or are not informed enough to make good decisions.

Likewise for you following them blindly.

Re: More German than many Germans

#485

Post by lazide »

sunshine-o wrote: post #396
wuschel wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Speaking of which, a lot of German natives complain and some are even leaving the country (around 100k left last year), but honestly I have visited / lived in nine countries, and people have no idea how good they have it here. The grass is always greener on the other side ... until you actually dare to find out. Having lived and worked in many a country, I second your opinion that it is often about trade offs. Prob…

> The grass is always greener on the other side ... until you actually dare to find out. Yes this is the core problem. The grass used to be very green in the "first world" (North America and Western Europe) but it is now getting dangerously yellow. Instead of asking themselves the hard question why the grass is getting yellow the people in charge try to prove it is fine by bringing cows (it is an image here) from the…

Uh, I think you’re misunderstanding.

3rd gen immigrants aren’t impressed because they literally have no idea what it is like to live back in the ‘old country’.

Go back (to actually live there) and often those 3rd gen immigrants will definitely have a different perspective than they used too.

‘Native’s’ in 1st world countries often just don’t really understand the reality of the situation, and are the ones with the rose colored glasses.

Or do you think someone complaining about, say, the UK, will legitimately find things easier in India?

Because I’ve lived in Both; and nah dog.

The bigger issue here IMO is the fraying social contract and exposure to narcissistic manipulation due to social media and the ‘algorithm’.

It’s ragebaiting everyone about everything.

Combined with the bill ‘coming due’ for a lot of debt fueled overspending, and population collapse, of course.

Re: More German than many Germans

#486

Post by aleph_minus_one »

ido wrote: post #405
guenthert wrote: post #391

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In fact, I like most of the rules, rules are good because they ensure order, fairness and equality. I'm sure some of the more entrepreneurial minds will argue that many of those rules stifle innovation and progress. But also on a personal level, at least to this returning German, some of the rules seem silly at best and at worst cause some underlying sense of oppression. Why, e.g., is there a Meldegesetz/Meldeamt?…

Yes, there are good rule and bad rules (and rules that were once reasonable but changes in technology or society rendered them suboptimal). As an immigrant to Germany, I wish the authorities would think more about the chilling effect every new rule has on activity (add another item to your to-do checklist, and less people are likely to even start). A prime example is trying to open a company in Germany vs some other…

> As an immigrant to Germany, I wish the authorities would think more about the chilling effect every new rule has on activity (add another item to your to-do checklist, and less people are likely to even start). A prime example is trying to open a company in Germany vs some other countries (not even going as far as the US, it's enough to compare with Finland or the UK).

Also many Germans think this way. They have just given up that the politicians will ever change that.

Re: More German than many Germans

#487

Post by capr »

karmakurtisaani wrote: post #243
suslik wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see it like this: Me: I'd like to get out here please. Driver: But it can be dangerous... Me: Noted. Good thing that is not your problem. And when I am hit by a camel while departing the bus, that is my problem also. But of course, most cultures do not support this line of reasoning - you need to be taken care of weather you like it or not. This approach is well tolerated by most people, but saddens and irritates p…

And then you go to the media and file a law suit against the bus company for being reckless. You deny ever asking to get out and say the driver instructed you to get off. You probably wouldn't do this, but the company needs to protect itself against the people who would.

I think "Good thing that is not your problem." includes inability to do such a thing.

Re: More German than many Germans

#488

Post by capr »

mlrtime wrote: post #232
suslik wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see it like this: Me: I'd like to get out here please. Driver: But it can be dangerous... Me: Noted. Good thing that is not your problem. And when I am hit by a camel while departing the bus, that is my problem also. But of course, most cultures do not support this line of reasoning - you need to be taken care of weather you like it or not. This approach is well tolerated by most people, but saddens and irritates p…

The people that think like this are the ones that want to pick and choose what is not other peoples problems. It doesn't work or scale in a society. If everyone gets to arbitrarily choose what is 'not your problem', the everything is everyones problem, or nobody's problem.

Strawman - it wasn't arbitrary at all.

Re: More German than many Germans

#489

Post by jpfr »

probably_wrong wrote: post #159

On the topic of rules: > [Rules mean that] someone, or a group of people, sat down and thought about that specific thing and decided on a standard for everyone. When you have to do something, you don't feel lost, because you can just look it up. You don't have to find someone who knows. I mildly disagree with this stance for two reasons. First, "you can just look it up" it's like arguing that it's okay if the Linux k…

Sorry you had that experience.

I supervised a PhD who had come to Germany and through her indirectly experienced the immigration office.

When your residence permit runs out, and your application is still being processed, you automatically get a temporary permit for the time until your application is done.

But the temporary permit arrives only a few days before the deadline. Quite a few people don’t understand that part or don’t trust the process - and get into a real panic.

For the GmbH: It’s quite easy. Google for “Musterprotokoll”. That’s a one-page document with all the statutes a company needs and a fast-track process if you want to not deviate from it. Or you get a template from the IHK homepage and adjust it.

I did it - no problemo.

Re: More German than many Germans

#490

Post by 100percentjake »

aleph_minus_one wrote: post #475
100percentjake wrote: post #462

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Curious to get some perspective: How viable would starting a career in IT/Technology in Germany be as a mildly autistic American with an inability to learn foreign languages? I hear many opinions about this ranging from "English is commonly spoke, you'll be fine" to "You can visit but you will be unable to settle down due to xenophobia". The EU is incredibly appealing as someone highly dissatisfied with the trajector…

> Curious to get some perspective: How viable would starting a career in IT/Technology in Germany be as a mildly autistic American with an inability to learn foreign languages? In my observation, in Germany the tolerance for the symptoms associated with mild autism is a little better than in the USA. On the other hand: if you aren't able to learn the German language fast: forget it. Also be aware that starting a care…

Very fair. It is mostly just amusing to me to share an uncommon last name with the signage on an company's building.
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