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Kidnapped by Deutsche Bahn

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Re: Kidnapped by Deutsche Bahn

#971

Post by iso1631 »

db48x wrote: post #854
iso1631 wrote: post #725

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> bit of a safety issue OK, so you disgorge however many people, at what age, with or without babies in ipushchairs or people in wheelchairs, onto the tracks, and they avoid the passing 100mph trains, they then walk along in the dark and rain for a few miles looking for a gap in the fence? Sure, just a "bit" of an issue.

No, you let them off at the nearest station or level crossing. Here in America that would generally be within a block of where the train was supposed to stop anyway. There are a few stations with “underground” tracks that would have to let you off a little further away, but every station has some safe place to do so. It’ll be a place the crew knows about ahead of time as well.

There in America your trains have steps down to the floor so letting people off at level crossings are fine. You also tend to have

American railways are far less regimented than European or Chinese, when you have 3 trains a day you can do stuff like that

Re: Kidnapped by Deutsche Bahn

#972

Post by ragall »

ninalanyon wrote: post #681
ragall wrote: post #614

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

AMEX cards are being used by both large and small businesses. It's accepted by hotels, restaurants, airlines, suppliers, utilities, etc... Small shops are of little importance.

Re: Kidnapped by Deutsche Bahn

#973

Post by lmm »

OrangeMusic wrote: post #900
lmm wrote: post #840

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Yes, although quite often they forget not everyone speaks German. Do you complain when announcements in your home country are given in exclusively non-German languages?

This is a bad faith argument. English is (like it or not) the international language. If you want tourists to understand what's happening, do announcements in your local language and in English. Making announcements in German in the US makes little sense.

How convenient for monoglot English speakers!

Re: Kidnapped by Deutsche Bahn

#974

Post by tauchunfall »

ergocoder wrote: post #827
apexalpha wrote: post #365

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Germany and Italy should gang up together to make the trains run on time and... wait a minute.

Hey Japan wants to join. I know we are a bit far away but we can form some sort of a tri-something axis.

I think, the joke about Germany and Italy should team up is a reference to the new CEO of Deutsche Bahn, Evelyn Palla, who is from Italy. The "to make the trains run on time" gives a hint here, because this is her declared task.

Not about Germany, Italy, and Japan, forming some sort of axis, I guess.

Re: Kidnapped by Deutsche Bahn

#975

Post by YorickPeterse »

apexalpha wrote: post #334
YorickPeterse wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Netherlands has a very similar problem: the train system was privatized in the late 90s/early 2000s and has been going downhill since the 2010s or so. While it's still better than Deutsche Bahn, it's just so much worse compared to how it used to be.

The Dutch train system is not privatised, the government owns 100% of both the tracks and the main carrier: the NS.

It's very much privatised in the sense that it's operating on a for-profit business model, rather than a for-benefit model.

Re: Kidnapped by Deutsche Bahn

#976

Post by [deleted] »

rayiner wrote: post #743
majormajor wrote: post #716

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That seems pretty wildly orthogonal to me. Did the individuals and industries that truly drove fabulous innovation and development in the first world REALLY do it from a mindset of "it would be shameful to inconvenience others even slightly for one's own sake"? There are an awful lot of stories of rulebreaking out there... "The Wild Wild West" turned into some of the richest parts of the world, that name doesn't sugg…

It's not orthogonal. If you look at societies that industrialized early, their social development diverged hundreds of years before industrialization actually happened. When my dad was born in 1951, 90% of the population of Bangladesh lived in villages in extended kinship networks and multi-generational households. In such an environment, the informal rules of families dominate society. Bangladeshis have a very relax…

[deleted]

Re: Kidnapped by Deutsche Bahn

#977

Post by ergocoder »

tauchunfall wrote: post #974
ergocoder wrote: post #827

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey Japan wants to join. I know we are a bit far away but we can form some sort of a tri-something axis.

I think, the joke about Germany and Italy should team up is a reference to the new CEO of Deutsche Bahn, Evelyn Palla, who is from Italy. The "to make the trains run on time" gives a hint here, because this is her declared task. Not about Germany, Italy, and Japan, forming some sort of axis, I guess.

Japan wants the trains to run on time too!

The tri partners have a mutual goal.

Re: Kidnapped by Deutsche Bahn

#978

Post by tietjens »

The thing that stands out to me about this story and that confuses me the most about German life is the general passive acceptance of realities like this. I think it might be simply European.

Re: Kidnapped by Deutsche Bahn

#979

Post by wouldbecouldbe »

integralid wrote: post #665
wouldbecouldbe wrote: post #568

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On paper yes, but every time my flight was delayed in EU the airlines (KLM, Lufthansa, RyanAir) always had a cop out, weather, airport issues, etc. and I didn't get compensated. Even though other planes managed to fly in the same conditions.

If they refuse you can escalate or hire a company that will negotiate for some percentage of profit. In most cases I had this problem they gave me a refund, but sometimes I had to argue a bit.

I’ve tried those as well, they only take easy cases you can do yourself as well

Re: Kidnapped by Deutsche Bahn

#980

Post by modo_mario »

larnon wrote: post #232
aziaziazi wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This assume that a country should please english-speaking tourists but not everyone speaks that language. Here our perception is biased because we're in a english-speaking-forum. Tourism isn't a central concern for many people/countries and not supporting it is a valid choice. > French level of racism Racism really ??? As a Parisian I'll struggle to make tourists feel unpleasant but I assure you there's absolutely no…

English is the international language. It is mandatory to learn it as the second language in most parts of the world, even places you never heard of. It is especially a no-brainer for a person who grew up in Germany(which is one of the most developed countries in the world, and definitely has the means to educate its own people). Again, this is a problem of choice. And since Germany is a country that relies on import…

Germany isn't a country that relies on importing educated people to keep it's economy afloat.

It for the most part imports comparatively uneducated people and partially to suppress the wages of it's native population.

>I wouldn't expect a French to understand this though.

A weird reaction given the way you described them earlier.

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