...
Reading some of the comments and people who respond to themselves I can't help but wonder... is it really the place or is it you being looneys??
Obviously a retoric question.
I might have discovered hot water but I think I've figured the reason for the hype in this place... corporate landlords! How would they entice buyers if not by creating a fake reputation so that the place gets popular and the wealthy see it as worth their investment...
Gotta love the Berlin lefty morons.
On Saturday, they held a demonstration to get more cars off the street.
One problem.
They held the demonstration on streets with trams, so all the trams were cancelled, which then, you guessed it, foced people into their cars, or at the least made them think about buying a car because the public transport is unreliable.
My guess is half a milion people were put out by these selfish idiots. One old lady was on crutches and couldn't walk to the sho[ps to do her shopping, she relies on trams. The main problems with Belrin are the lefties, alcoholics, drug addcits, public urinators, public defcators, just like their dogs. Spitters. Deranged mental cases. Beggars who stink everyone ut of the U-Bahn. Stupid young peope straight out of school who think they knpw everything because they attend university, like sheep, but have so far had no life experience and follow each other like the blinnd leading the blind. But the worst of all are the hypocritical, sexist-Feminists and white people who hate white people, especially if those white people are hetero-sexual males. Don't get me started om the expensive 2 hour train ticket you can't even double back on within the two hours. They need a half day or 5 hour ticket for €4.00 that takes you ANYWHERE, in any direction.
Public defecators are getting worse here. Walking around central Berlin I see plenty of places where you can clearly see someone has leaned up against a wall and sh!t down it. Even relatively busy parts of the city. What the hell is wrong with this place?
Question for the Brits: is it true that the UK is starting looking more and more like Berlin, e. g. junkies, bums, unemployed, piss everywhere etc?
True ..
www.radio.cz/en/section/curraffrs/czech-republic-still-seeking-justice-for-czech-killed-in-london
I suppose it varies a lot depending on the area - British friends, correct if I am wrong. I used to live in the south west of England and it was cool, but I suppose it was due to the fact that that region is mainly inhabited by wealthy people so there's less trouble going on... whereas going up north things change...
As long as you keep away from the nuff-nuffs, Liverpool people are great, very friendly and a great sense of humour. But of course, like anywhere, the idiots are a small percentage who give a bad name for the other very decent people in Liverpool. Also Manchester.
I have another idea how to be able to express feelings in this place where feeling is usually not happening so easily. So i'll just let you know. You probably all know the situation when you are asked if you want the receipt. Since this was introduced there is tons of games revolving around this f.ucking receipt that is first of all one's own, so nobody should act like it's about them and second of all much more can you make yourself small than by putting this meaningless piece of paper that nobody ever wants when buying just a few things somewhere, above the two of you? The first thing is dignity. When you feel you would say something that undermines your dignity then you are actually not able to reply.
Then, very often it is the case that you already answered the question nonverbally, but they ask you cause they hate their jobs (probably because they are told to work faster maybe. It's like one should tell them to work slow, they would work very fast. They can be so f.ucking slow. Yesterday I nearly said. How long do you take to wrap up a f.ucking piece of cake? The big problem is, they don't grasp to humanly normal interact. They are utterly stupid. They should be like, I wouldn't want to wait in his shoes, so it should make them happy to do their job, I mean that's how it works right?..But instead they are so focussed on themselves and the other things all go out of the window by that) But back to the point.
A variation of this poop is when you already took a few steps and they act as if you forgot it. "Whoever forgots a receipt?" is somewhere along the way one feels then. So one way to express anger, is to overact as if you forgot it (remember you are feeling angry) so you walk back saying something like: Oh, how yould I forget, but then when they are about to give you, you turn around and leave. It's non passive-aggressive, very expressive thing.
Another thing you can do is time saying: Alright, bye, just about a few moments before they ask you this freaking question. Don't get me wrong, I do reply when somebody asks me friendly or feels maybe stressed by having to say it but otherwise I do not participate in repeating the same redundant phrases like an idiot who is told what to say. It just drives you nuts. I don't get how cashiers are so into it. There used to be normal chats, and f.ucking work you know, with work flow. You know they are stupid because they could actually express their feelings by the work they do, instead of being passive-aggressive. It doesn't appear to them. I think there was something else but I can't think of it atm.
I feel, I'm getting misunderstood. No, it doesn't bother me when someone ask friendly or with actual interest. But it does bother me when it's passive aggressive or said in way that feels unfree. With anger I also do not mean to leash out or bite back. It's a calm good strong feel, very connected to dignity. You know, you can just trust your feel. If the person really is just asking, then you will not feel angry. But I've seen it before, I do not wait. I payed I say bye and I go. That should let the person know, that I do not want the receipt. But instead many feel offended and that is offending to me because after all it is my receipt. And then they female dog around, doing this low nonsense of acting as if I forgot it or throwing you a schönen Tag noch! Very often people are very controlling. They do not just do their job normally in the normal flow. No, they take their time little bit, make you wait, get you out of your rhythm and then they ask over the top about the receipt. I do not respect this behaviour obviously and I have no mind for this Quatsch. There is also rather some than many people asking normally and it's alright of course. You do not seem to understand how much it undermines you as a human being. You do not have to verbalize everything like a f.ucking idiot. And first of all the default should be to not ask because most do not need it. Need...not needed. And if somebody wants it then why the fuc.k can he not say it himself. You cannot switch this to something unnatural and then cashiers act as if it was ignorant of one to not have waited for them! to slowmotion wise, as it often is fiddle out your! receipt. The whole meaning of importance is completely stupified. Of course the love to control people are gonna smelled out that they can make you wait with it because you cannot just leave, how offensive of you. Fuc.k them you know
I do though say bye in a friendly way, just normally but I can't get myself to answer this f.ucking question anymore and some even understand it. Some don't even ask because they can feel it. Yesterday I happened to say bye right before she asked and she paused midsentence and just replied bye. She assumed I didn't even hear her. I'm not passive aggressive with it and neither are the ideas I wrote about. because passive aggressive would be of the same low stuff that I hate, to clarify that.
No mate, I wasn't insulting you :) At least I didn't intend. I'm sorry if I upset you. It's funny how truly apologizing is now that you steeped things quite a bit low also the way for biting back. Like I turn it back on you, that you are offended :) The low stuff, where everybody is throwing with dirt at each other. You know,I don't like it. Good day. Thanks for appreciating also.
Actually you are a complete freaking moron! You didn't even care to read what I wrote. I said I am friendly very often. I D.I.F.F.E.R.E.N.T.I.A.T.E.D. You completely ignored the whole image. How can you not grasp it? What the fu.ck are you even writing. You cannot just pick one thing out of it. You can only be a f.ucking troll, nobody is that stupid. You should be ashamed of yourself man.
Ok, well you actually might just not got me. Idk how but it seems you were reading it the wrong way. It's funny because you saw it like I would let it get to me :) I don't know what you are seeing but I was coming from the complete opposite. I mean did I write anything that it upsets me? That I bother about it? That it brings me down? No, I was sharing a way that you can express yourself. I meant to say, it's not a very bright way of seeing it, as in you are not having a lot of light to see atm. Why would I mean it in general? Do I know you? And whoever is such way.
And for the record, it doesn't mean the other is unfriendly. It's not even something about me. I was writing about a general topic! But I already wrote everything and you are ignorant and careless. Not sure why I replied to you, maybe I cared that others who it might be inspiring for, don't get irritated by your effective nonsense. It's very to dismiss something when you go like "Ah mate I feel like you letting that get to you." Now you might actually been kind you know. That's actually sad then, how we got into each other. YOu might actually been kind there. But no :) I'm good you know. No worries
I see it now. I expressed it in a way that appears as if it was below it. I guess I could have said it differently. It's like something mature and good but not expressed in this direct way, at least it appears like it. So that's why you felt I would let it get to me and you were like Idk. It's a very tricky thing to be angry about something low without appearing below it. But this doesn't relate to the low thing but the feelings it can make you feel, those are not low. So try to look at it again and maybe I was a bit overacting at some point where I'm already not even having an issue :) It's just a bad dream you know ;)
Listen, you freaking nub I am merely painting images and the things I say are not so easy to express. I am a very intuitive person and I do feel about if what I meant to say is the way I meant it. And if not then I add to it. By your logic every painter would be crazy. Moreover I was resolving some misunderstandings so get the F.UCK OUTTA HERE!!!
Ok I will let you know basic verbal selfdefence (I'm just playing). It's good to know a few 1-liners to have in your basic repertoire to be able to express things.
Wolln Sie mir n Bären aufbinden? This expression is very useful to express how you might feel when somebody tries to give you BS. Part of this expression is that it is not possible to bind up a bear on somebody's back without him noticing. Nobody says this here, but they will understand it.
Wolln Sie mich auf n Arm nehmen? This expression you can say when you feel somebody talks to you like a child. It means if they want to hold you in their arms like a child. Interestingly this is actually the expression for Are you kidding me? kid..child..It is important to communicate about such instead of just letting it slip by. It is in fact a very common passiv aggressive behaviour especially by women to talk in such a way.
Wolln Sie mich rollen? This one was mainly used by younger ones. It means something like if the person wants to kid you? But instead it is to role. SOme people act like they give others a role that relates to them.
I don't actually recommend to say this one but the other 2 are very handy expressions to express your feelings with a simple 1 line.
Of course that fits too sometimes but it can be something you don't even want to say. It can in fact something that was merely provoked. If somebody bull.shits you, you don't feel like saying f.uck off or go away everytime because maybe you need something, maybe you want to get something done. Man :) I didn't mean to actually ask with it as if you are wondering and had no clue. In fact you are fucki.ing kidding me right now. If you would look at it from an energetical pov, just for the f.ucking sake of it..it would be a lack of a desired reaction plus it would be a question putting it back to the other, plus it would be something else instead. Somebody who talks to you like a child got nothing on you, if you don't react back, he just looks stupid. But it's not about not reacting back because you already feel like this anyway. ItÄs like after a while you don't even feel like replying, it just doesn't interest you, but if for some reason you feel affected, which is the fear to feed into it then you can say that if you see it. You cannot say it just in itself. That be unfree. It's an adult reply from who you are with what you see. It reminds me of a child when I was on a bus the other day. mother: But you still gotto eat something child: but I WANT to eat something, mum. In German it gets more clear...Du musst trotzdem was essen...Aber ich Möchte doch was essen, Mama. It was very innocent. And so much more mature than the mother. It was in the way it was said. she was like MÖCHTE but it wasn't aggressive. If she wondered this to herself, she couldn't assert how she feels. If she was argueing..the same. It's like Wtf do you want? You feel like saying that after you found smth not interesting like a cat, but the dog keeps bugging you..it just makes you more angry and at some point it just comes out like this. Most of these things have no power over and depends on your reaction but it doesn't mean you could make it about not reacting. I was working at some f.ucking store and by the end of the shift the chef made a scene about nothing. He blamed somebody. But it was just a stunt effectively. Usually you would give that a look of 1 second. You don't even see that it would be absurd to blame somebody for nothing. It's like it's none of your business. You would walk on. Then the person of course would be like Hallllooo?! and you would feel like wtf do you want?! you would feel actually bothered by it.What is this shit? She doesn't even give a f.uck. She was merely looking for something, the f.ucking liar. And it's her thing, it wouldn't interest me. She might say Come to my office. You would say Well, I don't. She might say something else. You would say I'm not going with you. I got nothing to talk to you. (Idc if you like that) That is not rebellious.
You could even forget all the details because you would just see that it doesn't even have any real energy. You would feel like what the heck is that supposed to be as a mature soul so to speak. It's pretty thin. It doesn't have any power literally, it depends on someone else. They always look like Wow I can't believe that actually worked. It's not even good for them. You could even see it kindly. I don't want to lie is another thing. It's like I would really like to admit a potential mistake but their is no real offence. How can you do it? just technically. It doesn't work. You might actually yawn but not about her but because it was a hard day.
Let me get the image right. What the heck is that supposed to be is no disrespect like this picture of Picard Wtf is this s.hit, although it's kind of funny because he actually doesn't know hahaha but it's something else. You can see it as truth, something of God. When somebody feels a way for real, then we humanly respond to it. But when there are no real feelings, then what is it supposed to be? That's another way you could see it while I like the one before better. So, I think that was kind of everything that came up. A cat isn't cool, you see it wrong. It's not cool for ignoring.
I meant "Wtf do you want" is not like the child said to her mother. That doesn't relate to that. I meant that it reminded me of something else :) It's a bit chaotic at times and maybe I didn't write it from my real feels, I feel I could have expressed it differently, more serious. Instead I was describing something but I think it's okay too.
I also take back everything I wrote here because maybe it wasn't a good idea. If you do any of that it's your own thing. I honestly have no idea what of these things is good and what not and I refuse to figure it myself when I was coming in with the idea to exchange about it. So yeah I take it back.
I feel Under appreciated and invisible here. Got my bachelors degree in sociology and education from a public ivy in California. In the US I worked in education and I felt appreciated. Here, they told me, that this degree isn't enough to qualify working with children. They told me: "Da könnte ja jeder daher gelaufene mit Kindern arbeiten! Sie müssen zuerst 3 Jahre eine Ausbildung machen!"
Nice!! So lovely!! I feel my old life (and accomplishments) is worth NOTHING here...
I honestly feel for you. Germany is so weird with education. There is one specific training program or degree you need for pretty much any career and it's basically impossible to transfer without starting over from scratch. I personally think that society here deems the average person to be extremely stupid and only capable of performing even the most basic of tasks after three years of formal training in that specific task. Or maybe it's just the government's only way to make unemployment seem low and switching costs high. Either way, if your education/career path don't fit neatly into a little German box then you'll never thrive here unless you're an exceptional personality (read: extreme sycophant). If you already have a degree you will invariably be more successful in America. Berlin will offer you nothing but low-level employment.
And for what it's worth I have seen several daycare places specifically looking for native speakers of English on Indeed and met an American guy some time ago who worked at one. It was freelance work and the pay was very bad (less than 15 EUR/hr).
I have the same problem. I graduated from social law and the Germans told me, I wasn't qualified enough. The country I come from is in the European Union since 2004! After all the problems here I prefer to leave next month definitively! The Germans don't need anybody like me. I can work as a teacher in my native country. Fighting local bureaucracies makes no sense! Get out of here. Or do you prefer to wash toilets?
I think people should start reporting them to the EU for discrimination when appropriate, for ex when they request a pic on CVs - this is NOT something they should be allowed to do. When they start getting fines, they will start thinking about changing their retarded obsolete ways. There are ways of doing it even anonymously, countries can be reported and we should start doing it. These idiots are the main people who benefit from being in the EU and get away with murder, this needs to stop.
Germans are seriously afraid of air. They think it causes illness and body aches. If there's a draft they freak out. If a fan blows on them they act like they're being exposed to the plague. And God forbid they ever see an air conditioner, they'd probably require a six month rehab visit. Is this some kind of environmentalist opportunity to scream at Emmanuel Goldstein?
Three more months of stewing in sweat.
Just got off the call with a building company. 2 days before the work was scheduled, they cancelled. I wrote them an e-mail, simply pointing out that I didn't find the communication on the phone very polite, considering my situation.
Afterwards, the wife of the builder called and told me that she didn't know why I found the previous call problematic and that she feels sorry if I had perceived it as impolite but she doesn't have to apologize for what she said.
This devalues the whole apology - why do you have to point out that you don't have to apologize, or that I need to have some understanding for your situation as a company when I am understandably upset by the cancellation and the fact, that they wrote me an e-mail saying that they can't give an alternative date? Throughout the whole call, she wanted to make a point about that the fact she was right and that basically I was too sensitive. In the end, they cancelled on the work completely just because I did not want to give in and accept that she was not being rude to me. WTF.
I hate it when they can't own their mistakes and take responsibility for their actions. I have experienced situations before, when I was upset and I tried to communicate that, but then in the end I was blamed for just being too sensitive or being dramatic. It's easier I guess not to look at yourself and admit a mistake. I freaking hate them all!!
Thank you. I guess due to the shortage of builders here they don't care about smaller customers. But why did they accept my order in the first place? And just because they are in demand it doesn't mean that I need to accept abusive behavior. Thankfully, no financial damage was caused. Only a lot of trouble.
A typical Berlin Customer experience: A couple of days ago I went to Saturn to buy a new body trimmer. Bought the device. Felt peeved there was no-one to help me, and instead witnessed a member of staff shouting at a customer and looking irritated that he has to ...do his job... and speak to members of the public and HELP them. In Germany there are never enough people working as assistants, so we have to wait around as customers like puppies yelping to be seen, only to be barked back at. Anyway, I bought the device and went home. Plugged it in, and it didn't charge or turn on. Brought it back to exchange today aaand, went to the huge counter entitled CUSTOMER SERVICE only to be told this only for online customers and I have to go to another counter. Get to the other counter and am told to go up to get the product myself, and then find a worker to sign something. So I have to traipse my butt up to the 4th floor, find the shaver again, and here the fun begins... try to find a free worker. I run up and down the aisles chasing them (puppy) and while I go over to one an opportunistic german comes along from the other direction and jumps in to the other assistant... think supermarket checkouts ... no queuing system, just a free for all... who can be the most dominant and pushy, and shameless. Only the bolshy thrive here, not the polite and considerate. Then eventually a brute spoke to me, distrusted me and didn't know where to find an electrical point/socket to test the shaver. Excuse me... this is an Electrical store, and I am the first person to have something wrong with an electrical device bought at your ELECTRICAL store?!?! He looked so confused and perturbed. Eventually he found one and I had to follow him...puppy...while he finds the electrical point. He realises I didn't lie and then makes me wait to make a photo copy... yes I said that, of the receipt I had brought. He then mumbles something about going to exit but didn't make himself clear. I, by my own initiative approached security and he checked that the new (replacement shaver) was security passed... it wasn't so the alarm went off. Where is the efficiency german ... where is the process? Where is the logical thinking one step ahead /foresight in thinking of the customer's experience. Stone age plonkers.
My plea for you is, leave this place ASAP. I left almost two months ago and I still have to deal with some sort of PTSD - I am not even kidding, I wish I was. What really pisses me off is that I have lost any motivation to learn German. I was doing well, but the depressive situation I was in when in Berlin together with the impossibility of finding a decent job just killed it. I am elsewhere in Germany now and I have some kind of fear of speaking and no willingness to improve it whatsoever. That fking place just made me lose my mojo.
Run, run as fast as you can.
I will try to articulate myself as much as possible:
1) Passive Aggressive: germans consider themselves as honest and direct, what I often see, is passive-aggressive behavior and nothing more, they are dead scared to say the truth and can only, at best, imply it.
2) They don't look around: I don't recall the last time i bumped into so many people, they just don't move from their path, I used to be thoughtful and always make room for people to pass through, recently I have stopped since I got sick of it. The outcome: a lady bumped into me (and I bumped into her), she was blaming me of women's hatred.
3) The language: It's not enough to speak the language, one has to comply to the way they speak it, otherwise no one will make the effort to understand you. I am a student who studies and german, write exams and exercises in german, but I have stopped speaking german entirely, as I feel no one understands what I am saying.
And at last, this techno peace of poop culture and attitude, my worst decision was to move to kreuzberg, I have become resentful hating male genitalia since I moved here, I was always dark and morbid, but now it's whole new level
What's up with the clothing style here? The best dressed are the tourists! Native Berliners wear things that weren't even cool in the late 80s/early 90s. Middle aged women seem to only wear ill-fitted shirts with leggings. Looks like rags! Young men wear shorts & t-shirts that are beyond ugly, and always in grey or black. Don't get me started on middle-aged men - denim shorts that are at least 20 years old, old techno-style t-shirts, old tattoos full on display. Actually, the best dressed Berliners are the children!
Filthy Mussie on the tram tonight playing his cat wailing Mussie music out loud on his iPhone, I politely asked if he had earphones, and he became very agressive. I thought, OK, it's on, so I sized up my MO and then realized in his other hand was a bottle of drink bottle, so I thought better of it. I have 5 days left here, so I just have to block the freaks and creeps out and just leave this hellhole to them, that's my best revenge.