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You'll never have a random, positive interaction with a local in this city. It just doesn't happen, ever.
It kills me that you have to wait until all your groceries have been scanned before you can swipe your card in the supermarket.
When I left my home country for Berlin, I never thought that one of the main things I'd look forward to doing when visiting home would be visiting the f*cking SUPERMARKETS there.
But, my god, they're an absolute paradise compared to every single dirty, squalid, nasty hole of an Aldi, Lidl, Netto, Rewe, Reichelt, Edeka etc. in this dump. Zero quality, extremely narrow choice that largely consists of revolting Abendbrot fodder, hard bread, tasteless fruit & veg, inedible meat, sour-faced clientele with zero manners or situational awareness, and a grand total of two checkouts (if you're lucky) staffed by downtrodden drones (not actively hostile, if you're even luckier) who scan everything through at the speed of light while you panic and flail.
Dear avid BH readers,
Churchhill once said that the germans (then referred to as the hun) were either at your throat or at your feet. Please help me understand how this rather apt generalisation plays out in Berlin?
Easy. If you are a figure of authority, they will treat you with respect. If you are a foreigner or non-white, you are inferior and are meant to obbey them. This explains the behaviour patterns people here complain about. If you were a foreigner with a lot of prestige or fame, Germans would treat you differently.
Well, even as a white european girl from a priviledged background I was treated like poop by my in-laws, go figure! I can and never will be one of them and why would you want to? They have issues up to the roof. They iced me but Its the ice-age for them. Ciao! to those cold tyrants.
Kiss my PO Berlin!
I have attended a job interview yesterday. The company was a start up and it was the worst job interview ever.
The person who was conducting the interview has failed to provide clear job specifications. Beyond this point, during the interview there were too many inconsistencies and uncertainties. After Brexit decision, you know media pampers that Berlin will be the new capital of start ups. I have also talked to couple of friends and heard the similar experiences regarding start ups. I can understand, start ups can have some minor problems but it seems they are looking for people who basically give all and demand minimum salary. I find this perception bullshit.
Berlin could only be the capital of failure !
The hype around Berlin startups has been going on for a long time, before Brexit. The real startup city in mainland Europe is Amsterdam. There are more stable companies there, better salaries, etc. Behind Amsterdam is maybe Paris if you speak French well, then Berlin and Barcelona. The rest is hit an miss. If you're looking for a more stable developer job within Germany, not at a risky startup, Munich is supposedly a better city for that.
Yeah, the German media likes to pat itself on the back and describe how Berlin is courting startups from London but no one with any awareness of the world believes this. If they want English skills or highly educated people (not just with degrees from diploma mills) then they'll go to Amsterdam as stated above. If they want hard workers, they will go to France or Eastern Europe. If they want to fail they will come to Berlin.
Some crowd of third-wave feminists hissed and booed at Goddess Trump today in Berlin. At least she doesn't have to fear having acid thrown in her face by walking around her hometown.
you are so brainwashed. She was booed not for her beauty greatly enhanced with plastic surgery, and ugly made in china floral dress. She was booed because she is a liar and a hypocrite just like her daddy. Go away alt right brainwashed Trump worshippers. You are too stupid for this site.
Germans have good sense of humour. They just don't know it cause they are serious with it.
Berliner Neo-Luddites win again. Kreuzberg can remain a place of drunken reflection, abject poverty and laughing at ones own genitals.
www.gruenderszene.de/allgemein/widerstand-gegen-google-campus-in-berlin-kreuzberg
The German tendency to say "ach, echt?!" in a sarcastic manner whenever you point out at something that may or may not seem obvious to them.
Basically, being passive-aggressive, which is "fine" if done by women, but downright annoying if a male does it.
You know what's hilarious? People like to turn you into a snail! when they want you to work faster. It's a saying that means to make somebody small, or critisize somebody harshly but they don't get the actual meaning of a snail lol. I'm not saying they actually want you to work faster though :) which doesn't though contradict with them not getting the meaning of a snail... And at the same time they might actually want you to work faster. Like a fail on both levels. It is unclear where their consciousness is and chances are it's in between somewhere who knows. And surely it isn't just funny, while funny being also something serious by showing absurdities as a side effect. It is also serious cause it is a human being and it is pretty sad to deal with such impossible people. When you laugh hatefully it kind of goes against something within you unless it is just innocent laughing cause something is funny especially without it having another intention -yet you can't try that anyway which is good - But at the same time it is good to express just how you feel, that's always the mystery. Anger expressed leads to sense of humour but hate is a bit different, yet it is normal to hate something cause often it relates to what we love. I mention this also cause people like to enable you taking a ridiculing position so they can again vent on you which means you actually didn't intend to ridicule and don't have to doubt when you laugh.
Xeno-File again.
Napoleon was right: "If you tell a German a lie, he'll believe it sometimes."
I don't want to throw every German into the same bin, but Berliners top it.
They don't have a sense of critical thinking.
They don't have a sense of love, hate, joy, sorrow etc. They are like machines.
As a countryside German by myself, I am glad to have recognized that Germany is not my country.
EDIT:
I said:
"They don't have a sense of critical thinking.
They don't have a sense of love, hate, joy, sorrow etc. They are like machines."
This irrestisibly reminded me of a German band called Kraftwerk, which had produced tons of songs around technology. Like "We Are Robots" or "Computer Love"...'nuff said.
It is not just Berliners, it is all Germans. The German nation is one of followers. They will follow rules and leaders even if it means their demise.
Yes, they are like machines, void of feelings and real personalities. Met one German (vegan, SJW, self-hating anti-nationalist, anti-patriotism, sits down to pee, gets cheated on by his gf, watches kinky p0rnography, likes sh1tty music and TV, passive-aggressive, obsessed with career and work, stingy and selfish, hates the USA), met them all.
Compare to me: meat-eating, caring about others (but no SJW), right-liberal, standing when peeing, gay (but not effeminate), I rather do sex myself than just watching it, I like US Indie House (Harry Romero, Robbie Rivera etc.) and DMAX (a Discovery Channel with men-focused documentaries), not a trace of passive-aggressive, casual, open-minded and I'M FREAKING LOVING THE UNITED STATES!
I am leaving Berlin for good on Monday. Am packing up this weekend. Texting friends and family at home, making plans to meet up. It's such an incredible feeling, to know that you're leaving this place. I hope you all get to experience this someday soon.
Background info:
I came to Berlin 1 year ago. At first, I was drawn to the physical freedom that I found in Berlin... you know, the typical things. Good quality of life for the price, slower pace of life, not stressful compared to major cities, lots of arts/culture/entertainment/nightlife, diversity, people weren’t obsessed with status, income or image like they are in so many places, and so on. I slowly realized, over that year, that this was all an illusion. And a very twisted illusion at that. If you don’t have the awareness and introspection skills to see Berlin for what it is, you WILL become a typical Berliner over time, if you stay in Berlin.
Here is my breakdown of the “illusions” of Berlin…
Good quality of life for the price - This is all relative to your salary. Salaries in Berlin are very low, unemployment is very high, prices are skyrocketing (especially for housing) without increase in salary or industry. There is a social tension in Berlin because tourists come in with money, long-term tourists come here and live for months/years, etc, and this pisses off people on Hartz IV and/or those receiving housing assistance, or those who make a typical low Berlin salary. I would say only maybe 20-30% of people in Berlin make a “real” salary. The rest are on some kind of social assistance, are unemployed, people who work very part-time (a few shifts at a bar or something) and are always working on “projects”, students and/or make a very low salary. The average person doesn’t have a career or much ambition. Tourism is the only real industry in Berlin, yet the people resent it because it’s forcing Berlin to change/evolve/etc, and people in Berlin are evolutionary failures. People who can’t and won’t evolve, change or adapt. The only reason they continue to survive/live is because the German government provides so much for them.
Slower pace of life/not stressful compared to major cities - True, but you also don’t get the bustling energy of a true major city. Berlin is more like a bunch of provincial towns pasted together.
Lots of art/culture/entertainment/nightlife - Once you go to a few grungy bars in Kreuzberg, some galleries that you know deep down in your heart is displaying totally sh*t art, eat doner a few times, go to the nightclubs stuck in time in the 90s with the whole sex/raver/drug den culture, maybe go to the Christmas markets in December… you have basically experienced all of the “culture” that Berlin has to offer. Unless your idea of culture is sitting in gritty bars where you can’t breathe from smoke fumes, going to horrible art galleries, getting high in clubs, going to fetish/sex parties, etc, you will tire of Berlin’s art/culture/nightlife etc, and find that it offers no variety.
Diversity - LMAO. This one is hilarious. I could write a book on how twisted this is in Berlin. Yes, on the outside, Berlin looks diverse, but really all you have is people who might look different, but they all think the same. You can be white, black, brown, yellow, green, but you think the same exact way as everyone else, have the same personality. Even in fashion, people in Berlin largely all dress the same and you won’t find many people with a unique style like you’d see in other big cities across the world. People are very same-samey, matching, robotic, conformist. Also, Germans deep down are quite prejudiced, xenophobic and secretly will never accept outsiders even though they put on this facade of being international, liberal, what with their constant traveling overseas etc. If you are white and learn fluent German, you might be partly accepted, but you will have to CONSTANTLY hear autistic screeching from Germans about how your country is x, y and z, how Germany does this and that better, hear their passive aggressive cowardly put-downs, and so on. If you are brown, non-European background, etc, forget it. Leave Berlin immediately before it starts to damage your psyche. People will assume you are a refugee at first glance, or a drug dealer (if you’re a black man), and you will never really be accepted in German society, let alone be allowed to prosper or advance. The best case scenario for non-white immigrants is opening a nail salon. Germans will always use Asians as an example of successful immigrants, when they are criticizing Turks for not wanting to integrate… yes, you can come to Germany, wash toilets, work in restaurants… maybe someday you can even open a nail salon! You good little immigrant! *pats your head*
People aren't obsessed with status, income or image - True, but they are obsessed with having the same exact political and social opinions , wearing the same clothes, thinking the same thoughts, eating the same horrible food, drinking the same cheap terrible beer, etc. There is MORE peer pressure in Berlin to conform, then there would be in a bigger, more cosmopolitan city that has true diversity in human beings. Yes, you will find more materialistic people in big cities like London, Paris or New York, but you’ll also find real artists, real intellectuals, real working class people who aren’t totally hostile, real everything. In Berlin, everyone is basically just the same, and if you are not, you will be soon, because no one can psychologically handle living in Berlin while being a real individual. Politics - mostly they are deranged wannabe anarchist pseudo leftist types who think they are “free" while being dependent on the German government, alcohol and drugs. Lots of SJW, 5th wave feminist type of brain damaged morons who find Berlin to be a mecca for their ilk. Lots of people have no real friends, are lonely, etc… this is why you will find people drinking at 10am on Tuesday on the train. In general, people here don’t have fulfilling relationships, and a large part of having good mental/emotional health, is having fulfilling relationships. People this stupid, devoid of common sense/reality, lacking in empathy/social skills and people this irresponsible WILL, over time, damage your own psyche.
Basically, Berlin is for a very specific type of person. It’s basically a place for losers, slackers, bums, etc… it’s like living in your mother’s basement forever, surrounded with other people living in their mum’s basement, so you never have to feel bad about yourself, although deep down you are extremely insecure. If you have any ambition or spark or whatever in you, you will come here and be miserable after a while, because you never planned to live in your mum’s basement forever… which is what Berlin is. If you are not this type of person, leave immediately before this city damages your psyche. I am leaving on Monday and am losing thousands of euros in the process, but I can’t stand to be here any longer.
I could have written this very same post. I left Berlin almost a month ago. Haven't regretted it a single time. Now I am back in my sunny hometown in the Caribbean, which is full of normal people. I have yet to see a woman with a nose piercing here, or a guy with a tattooed face, SJW vegans or someone who is in an open "relationship".
F*** Berlin.
Wanted to add - getting almost anything done is unnecessarily stressful in Germany, yet somehow Germany has a reputation for being "efficient". Example - I spent 300 euros on a DHL shipment overseas, scheduled a pick-up and paid a fee for that (with VAT tax)... they simply never arrived. Didn't leave a note, never rang, nothing. I called DHL, absolutely no one spoke English (kept calling and trying to find an English speaker willing to help me for over an hour). Emailed them, they sent me an automated response in German and never contacted me. Courier is still not here for pickup and it is the end of the day. This is what kind of customer service you can expect in Berlin on a daily basis. Basically give your money to companies and be treated like sh*t for it. And anything related to the government, taxes or bureaucracy is 50x worse. It is really, really stressful to live here. I really do not find Germany to be "efficient" at all. More like they take a sadistic pleasure in making everything very complicated and difficult. And the robotic Germans/robotic expats are such fearful sheep they never speak up against stupid or wrong things.
I know who you are Mr. Broken Will, and you can and you will leave this place. There are a lot of ghosts from the past here who hypnotize the living and live vicariously through people like you, manipulating their thought patterns and keeping them feeling powerless, desolate and self-medicating. Be on your guard! These things are real, and until you find the energy to leave here you´re in a trance thinking HOW can I leave? As if its about money or something. Yeah, that voice is muttering something about can´t leave without money. Oh yes you can! Twice over! If you don´t have the will to get out then you will die. WAKE-UP There are not many decades left.
Maria, you are a genius, you should have opened a clinic for ex-pats who are totally lost on this f-\'ed up place. I love this following paragraph that you wrote, it's absolutely the truth, every single last word of it, brilliant!!!! Actually I love all of your post. I'm leaving in 3 months, counting the days. These lefty freaks are the most stupid conforming sheep I've ever come across. The moronic Feminists here are as dumb as a brick.
Politics - mostly they are deranged wannabe anarchist pseudo leftist types who think they are “free" while being dependent on the German government, alcohol and drugs. Lots of SJW, 5th wave feminist type of brain damaged morons who find Berlin to be a mecca for their ilk. Lots of people have no real friends, are lonely, etc… this is why you will find people drinking at 10am on Tuesday on the train. In general, people here don’t have fulfilling relationships, and a large part of having good mental/emotional health, is having fulfilling relationships. People this stupid, devoid of common sense/reality, lacking in empathy/social skills and people this irresponsible WILL, over time, damage your own psyche.
Some ... psychotic wifes of german employers.
I fled Berlin a few months ago. My faith in humanity had almost been restored until I went on holiday. A couple from Berlin were in the vicinity and I couldn't flee. The nightmares instantly came back.
It's not the terrible architecture, weather or food which makes Berlin unattractive, it's the people. "Oh no, you can't do it like that", "Really, is that all you've got", "This one time, I was managing 10,000 people", "In Germany, we do the best sausages". Every conversation involved highlighting how awesome they were or Germany in general, whilst delivering minor put downs. The retorts were something I expected from children, then I forgot I was dealing with Berliners again.