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Kidnapped by Deutsche Bahn

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Re: Kidnapped by Deutsche Bahn

#681

Post by ninalanyon »

ragall wrote: post #614
Freak_NL wrote: post #301

Earlier quoted context omitted.

American Express I get. No one uses that in Europe. Visa and Mastercard debit cards are what everyone uses and they work in all German ticket machines. You weren't trying to use a credit card where you? What language do you expect the Germans to use?

Lots of people use Amex in Europe. It's very popular as a business card.

I doubt that it is popular with the actual users, only with the company that they work for. When I had a company issued AMEX card the damn thing was practically useless. In fact even in the US there were plenty of places that wouldn't accept it.

Re: Kidnapped by Deutsche Bahn

#682

Post by AmazingTurtle »

eigenspace wrote: post #676
britzsquad wrote: post #666

For my job, I travel all over Germany very often. I take the car, train, bus, or sometimes even the plane. The train is the most comfortable means of transportation in Germany. Of course, there are delays, and sometimes mistakes happen that result in very long delays. But where doesn't that happen? I find traveling by car to be the worst. How many times this year have I been stuck in traffic jams for several hours wi…

I'm glad at least someone has a sense of proportion here. German trains have problems for sure, but the train system in Germany is nonetheless fantastic.

lmfao sorry to say that to both of you: were you lobotomized?

Re: Kidnapped by Deutsche Bahn

#683

Post by potato3732842 »

wat10000 wrote: post #606
alex_young wrote: post #551

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lost humanity is right, and it stems from lost community. During the Great Financial Crisis astute observers pointed to the loss of local bankers for most transactions as a component of the multifaceted structural causes. When you have your mortgage through the bank down the street, you're much less likely to mail them the keys instead of paying your bill, especially if you have to see the banker in the grocery store…

It’s been boiling for a long time. Steinbeck wrote this nearly a century ago: "I built it with my hands. Straightened old nails to put the sheathing on. Rafters are wired to the stringers with baling wire. It's mine. I built it. You bump it down — I'll be in the window with a rifle. You even come to close and I'll pot you like a rabbit." "It's not me. There's nothing I can do. I'll lose my job if I don't do it. And l…

At the end of the day you have to actually shoot someone from time to time to keep everyone in line.

It's way cheaper to not wrong people or to not walk up so close to that line than it is to secure the full stack and pay everyone what you'd need to pay them to compensate them for the risk of being the unlucky guy who gets scalped on livestream or whatever form sloppy retribution takes.

Re: Kidnapped by Deutsche Bahn

#684

Post by Erwin »

forgingahead wrote: post #183
modo_mario wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Belgium gave me one of the more annoying train experiences when I was a younger man. I was in Leuven for a conference, and had decided to bring my then girlfriend (now wife) for a trip, after which we would take the Eurostar to London. On the ticket, it said Brussels-Midi, but after happily boarding the train, we only saw the following related options on the train map for stops: 1. Brussel-Noord 2. Brussel-Centraal 3…

I was in Belgium going to Antwerp and sometimes the French name -- Anvers -- was used. At least in e.g. Valais in CH cities that have dual names are shown with both, e.g. Sierre/Siders.

Re: Kidnapped by Deutsche Bahn

#685

Post by rayiner »

BloondAndDoom wrote: post #131

I feel like we lost humanity somewhere in modern world. I grew up in 3rd world country and if this were to happen, train would literally stop somewhere, anywhere. (With the assumption it’s safe from crewing into another train). But the idea that you go 55 minutes just because of policy; and skip 15 stations is crazy to me. Again with the assumptions that it can safely stop somewhere for 5m and I’m pretty sure the ans…

> I grew up in 3rd world country and if this were to happen, train would literally stop somewhere, anywhere.

I'm from Bangladesh, and the attitude you're describing is one reason why the country is poor and a mess! Deviating from the schedule for the sake of a single person is completely insane and maddeningly inefficient. It's classic third-world mentality. In a good country, the system would never tolerate such deviations. In a really good country, someone wouldn't even ask for such accommodation for themselves, because it would be shameful to inconvenience others even slightly for one's own sake.

Re: Kidnapped by Deutsche Bahn

#686

Post by alexfoo »

throw-the-towel wrote: post #144
groestl wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the top of my head I know three cities which have peculiarities when it comes to public transportation to the Airport. In two cases, it's obvious they do this to push the private train to foreigners, at 5x the ticket rate.

Can you share which cities these two are?

London for sure. All three of the Stanstead, Gatwick and Heathrow Express services are an absolute rip off compared with the alternatives that don’t take much longer.

Many people use them out of ignorance, expense accounts or they have the disposable income not to care.

Re: Kidnapped by Deutsche Bahn

#687

Post by integralid »

flexagoon wrote: post #18
101008 wrote: post #10

I know the author mentioned this, but I just got nervous imagining this as a tourist who doesn't speak German at all. This shouldn't be like this. Why they don't help at all? It's also funny considering how here in South America we look at Germany trains (and Switzerland trains) as always on time, and the best train system, etc. But I am sure if this happens here it would be on the cover of newspapers.

I recently moved to the Netherlands to study, and I experience that a lot. Despite almost all official information everywhere being written in both Dutch and English, in-train announcements are only done in Dutch. I have to constantly listen to the announcements and try to understand based off their vibe if they sound like something critical or not.

Since you moved to Netherlands is understandable they speak Dutch. You should consider learning it off you want to get by in the society.

Re: Kidnapped by Deutsche Bahn

#688

Post by akimbostrawman »

nephihaha wrote: post #609
potato3732842 wrote: post #587

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We live in a society where being the victim of verbal abuse or harassment or various isms and all sorts of other petty things confers legitimacy and power upon one's opinion. There's a subtle difference. Thankfully it seems to be waning slightly.

No, I don't mean that at all. I've had to complain about things before and they accuse you of shouting (when you're not). They almost want people to swear, and rile them up, because that gives them the excuse to do nothing.

>They almost want people to swear

that is sadly exactly how most people operate now. Somebody gives legitimate critique to an issue? simply tone police them and you can claim all they say is [ism] or hate speech and therefore not even worth engaging with.

Re: Kidnapped by Deutsche Bahn

#689

Post by Havoc »

Need to fly to Germany and take DB tomorrow to/from airport and dreading it despite speaking German.

Right out the gate 1st class tickets being half the price of standard tickets on same train does not fill me with confidence that this is organized in coherent fashion

Re: Kidnapped by Deutsche Bahn

#690

Post by pirates »

silversmith wrote: post #611
bcye wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Splitting trains is a quite common thing in Germany (though more long distance) and communicated in the official app. If third party apps don't show that information that's on their part. Usually it's also said after departure inside the train by the conductor, though maybe just on long distance trains.

Are we really living in a world where you need to have the official app - any app! - to ride a train?

I suppose it isn’t required technically, you can still purchase tickets at the stations. But oh boy, the “official” app for the Shinkansen in Japan might be the worst piece of garbage I have ever used.
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