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You say that Germans are rude, but check your comments instead and note how angry you are. You say that Berliners aren't friendly and it's impossible to make friends here, but have you noticed that Berlin is full of expats? You compain about startups, but you are not building new ones or trying to change something in existing. You say that Berlin is for loosers, but in reality it's for winners, this website is for loosers though.
Haaaaa.. Winners? Quick to the airport batman!...Ahhhhhhh.Ahhhhhhh. I feel so inspired by German innovation and can do attitude. Berlin..A shinning beacon.Na..A Mecca!...See how the piss and desperation glimmer in the Nordic dawn of the 21st century. Oh. Pardon me. That would be the 19th century. What have I done with that quill pen of mine? Forward oh brave Berliners..The world trembles at your innovation. If you are still having trouble with that electric can opener dont be too proud (You do have a tendency to think you know how to do everything) Ask an expat. By the way..only a provincial towns refer to international business or workers as expats. Big kiss.xx
Having fun and working is quite normal in most forward thinking cultures. In fact fun and work makes the workplace much more productive and creative. And may I add it is my democratic right to waste my time where and where I want. Now go off and have a temper tantrum with your retrograde mindset Hans.
The only real start up in Berlin is the one way flight you take out : Then you will see your life,relationships,money,well being,mental health,optimism,good will and hard work really "Start Up". It has taken a little over a year to achieve double what seven years in Berlin leached from my hard work. Berlin is not "International"..It is provincial. Dont waste your time. To "Start up"..You must first get out.
If you search around for "popular technologies in Berlin", you'll see people saying things like: c++, java, sql, php, perl.
These technologies all have their applications, but they're not suitable for all possible needs, which essentially means that the Berlin tech scene looks like the tech scene in something like NYC or London.... 10-15 years ago? You can really feel this when you use anything on the web, whether it's city services, banking, even food delivery, it all has this rustic 2007 feel to it (long page loads, weird urls, broken styling, no responsive design, etc.)
The weirdest thing just happened: I'm trying to sell my old desktop computer and someone contacted me to buy it for their son, saying that their son can only pay 50% of my asking price. I reply that asking for 50% is too much, I can't go below a 10% discount. Then they reply saying that they can LEND their son 10 euros for this, is this enough?
First of all, I can't believe someone would use these shady negotiation techniques (my son, he's very sad, he wanted this computer for his birthday) and then say they will lend money to their child... and a whole 10 euros at that! What generosity! What magnanimity!
THIS PLACE IS WEIRD!
I am a German and work in Berlin's widely praised StartUp scene. Our company language is English since most employees are Non-Germans, mostly Spain and Italy. Now here is the thing: I am getting discriminated like never before just because I am German. As an example, they organise regular food events and parties and everyone is invited except me. Once I asked my Spanish colleague about that and he told me "It is because you are German. Germans don't want to go to parties". This really shocked me. Maybe it helps to understand my problem here better when I say that before moving to Berlin, I spent many years living abroad and I really enjoy meeting people from around the world and never had problems to get along with work mates. Also, since I am not native from Berlin I also like to find out more about this city (even though I might not be so excited about eating Currywurst and Schweinshaxe as they apparently are...). I find this very sad and it really makes my time here in Berlin difficult. It's like you're totally excluded in your country of birth just because some people believe in stupid stereotypes and want to keep in their groups. Does not make this place more exciting to me. Maybe anyone of the readers here have hints on how to deal with that :D
also to comment on this..I find the Berlin startUp scene to be totally overrated. I've been working in several startups here already and I find them to follow always the same pattern: They all look to US and want to be like them, the "managers" are in their 20s and have no clue about how life works but want to manage a company and everyone is right as long as they shout out the loudest. Real expertise counts for nothing unless you yell your intelligence directly at the face of people. Also, the startups are not really innovative, it's more like they're running after trends rather than creating them. I don't know if this is like this in other countries too but I find it here to be very annoying.
Try to befriend them, invite them over at your place and if it doesn't work, don't get bitter, find friends outside of work. They probably found a comfort zone in their group of expats. However don't have great expectations from people in this city, mostly are unreliable, selfish and immature.
....'start up scene employees from Spain and Italy' (?) - BIG YAWN! Who cares ? Be glad they don't invite you! There are a million things more important and exciting things to get involved in than the nauseating, so called Berliner start - up scene! I can't imagine anything more vile than being in a room full of southern European kids wearing Zara and Hand M, trying to act clever and "cool". Going to the 'event' with a bottle of cheap beer in hand, drinking more at the so called 'event' then eating disgusting street food on the way home and spewing it up on the subway or side walk. WOW Berlin is so awesome!
Silicon Valley is great if you're under 30 (no one will want to hire you if you're over 30 and not Director level or higher), live to work, want to be only around people who work for tech companies or who have filthy rich parents, want to struggle getting laid and finding a steady gf (way too many single guys compared to women), and want to see 100 times the amount of homeless people on the street and who are more aggressive. That said, the natural setting in that region is a hell of a lot more enjoyable, as opposed to Berlin, which only has a river and a lake and is often cloudy.
I habe noticed that French and Spanish people tend to stick together as a group. Don't try to fit in with rude and not welcoming people because they are not as fun and exclusive as they desperately try to appear.
You can try to enroll into a small club or check out meetup groups. By the way, not all expats are unfriendly and hostile. We dislike Berlin and some Berliners but not if you are a decent, friendly and non judmental person. You would definitely click with Australians and Americans because we are known for being much more friendlier.
"but not if you are a decent, friendly and non judmental person" too bad this is how you display yourself here, so I already lost all interest in connecting with people from this site. Seems to be the same bunch of self-centered asshats as everywhere, just the subject of hate switches. If it had been just Berlin I would have liked to chime in, but it goes against all kinds of people here
"fine" germans that eat italian food ("zum italiener") , drink san pellegrino water, drive fiat, take all holidays in Italy, have no desire to learn italian and still act like rude, primitive germans. far worser than the white trash from east berlin.
Is it just the people I've met or did most people from the east simply never work again after reunification?
In reply to "BECOME A BERLINER 101" Below.
-Those nose rings make me want to puke.
-Man are those tunnel morons going to be sorry one day when they get sober and off drugs.
-I'm sure most of these arrogant Berliner bike riders would have been Naz-is for sure.
-Shawarmas, Don(g)ers and curry worst contain the worst possible meat imaginable, actually it's unimaginable. Why d you think so many people are vegan here, they're the smart ones.
-The big thing here is "open" relationships, in other words, people with no respect for themselves or others, no sense of commitment and wanting a quick escape route instead of working on making a relationship work, selfish and Childish.
-Hartz iv money is the opiate of the Berlin masses.
-Techno? Is that sheet still around, I thought it was dead and burst 20 years ago, oh, wait, that's the rest of the world.
-Graffiti? are you kidding me, that sheet is drug addicts having a flashback to kindergarten.
-They couldn't give a sheet about "refugees", it's all show. How many "refugees" do you think any of them have invited home for a meal.
-Tattoo mentality, say no more, the tatts say more than words about how stupid they are. With no thought for their future.
-Feminists marching for Muslim "refugees" who beat their wives, mutilate their daughter's vaginas, want sharia law to take away women's rights. They don't even see the hypocrisy. Feminists are the most stupid liberal CNNts of all. With their bullsheet about the wage-gap myth, that is the most dishonest use of stats I've ever seen.
-Cold, unfriendly communists, still living the un-glory days of the DDR.
-The filthy, self pride-less drug addicts around Kotti, all the filthy "homeless" a.k.a. alcoholics begging for drink money while they stink out the U8, one after the other.
Thousands of people scrounging for bottles to get a few cents to make ends meet, because of high insurance costs that are criminal.
The music scene is kind of weird but it really isn't better anywhere else at the moment imo, except maybe Iceland. Too many western countries following dumb American music trends, with artists trying to sing in the same fake southern/raspy American accent, or copying American hiphop/trap or edm. At least Berlin has its own thing going on (though some copy US trends, particular with hiphop).
Hiroshima and Nagasaki where the wrong targets.
Service is "Neuland"..not sure about you but have you ever experienced a restaurant in Berlin where the staff was friendly? Yesterday I went to yet another place and the waiters did not ask if I wanted anything else, did not seek eye contact, did not smile at all and just threw the plates on my table as if they just want to get over it. I was there in total only 1h with only 1 main dish; I think this was the shortest restaurant visit ever.
that's nothing. I dont care for eye contact or smiles. But I'd like at least to have my order taken. How about waiting like a fool and waving around to waiters/barman, but they are too busy joking with their colleagues or checking their phone? So when you call the m out on their siht, they run away somewhere else? Berlin: the only place in the WORLD where waiters and barman think they are doing something cool. Even a monkey could do your job. Get off your high horse you hipster cnut, and give me a fcuking white russian.
They probably use the excuse that people don't tip in Berlin, but a tip is not why you should be giving good service, you give good service because they are the people paying you wages, not your boss, without customers coming back, you're out of a job and back on Hartz iv, oh wait, that's probably the plan.
Walk into a bar, find table, sit down. Barman and waitress have not shown any glimmer that they have seen you. Peruse menu if it is on the table. Ten minutes pass. You look around for someone, they still have not registered your presence. You wave, they turn away, you wave more urgently and possible voice an Entschuldingung. They scowl and weave towards you, expressing all the body language of contempt. Thry take out their pad jot down your order, still no eye contact then turn and leave with no more than three words returned. 15 or 20 minutes later, drinks are dropped on the table. Repeat for second round.
"Get off your high horse you hipster cnut, and give me a fcuking white russian." You! I like you!
Best are the coffee shops though, lol! Like Einstein or Coffee Fellows at Alexanderplatz. Like, 1 measly piece of cake is 5 fcuking bucks. Seriously?? The barista always looks super unfriendly, mean and like she thinks she should have been a famous star instead where she didn't have to serve scum like me. If there is more than one, they often behave like a small, exclusive club that you are not good enough for, ignore you and/or and scowl at you. Doesn't matter how nice you are or if you tip them, the problem is them and their narcisstic arrogance like they're some superstars working at Starbucks.
I only like to go to a small Asian restaurant, they're always friendly and I always tip them. Actually I think it's the best place I've found in Berlin so far, the rest seems to be shit. But it has happened to me in other cities as well, also abroad.
German, talking about how Turks are not assimilating correctly (ie. not following superior German rules):
"Germany is not every accepting towards the turks who think of themselves as turks. They often speak turkish in public, they only hang around with their turkish friends and they are not very friendly towards germans, specially when they ask them to speak german."
So immigrants are bad when:
- they speak their own language IN PUBLIC
- have other immigrants friends
- don't listen to germans when germans order them to do something: a german is ordering them to speak german in germany, the turks are not listening, therefore they are bad immigrants.
Found this on another german/expat forum.
Guys, the common enemy here are germans, don't forget that, don't fall for the trolling.
I'm the person who posted the original rant. I do admit that compared to germans, turks are expressive, smiley, and it's sooooo much easier to communicate with them AND they have awesome food (the teas, baclava, and most of all THE COFFEE). Compare that to the cold, bland, germans, eating potatoes everyday.
From personal experience I can attest to the above experience. I was beaten up twice by Germans. Why? Because I expressed an opinion different from theirs and I was not willing to bend to their broken up mindset.When it was apparent that I would not bend for them they punched me. When I reported it to the police nothing happened..it was my fault. I have lived in many different countries and never had any experiences like this.Never had anything but good experiences with Turkish people in Germany. As far as I am concerned Germans are still Nazis.Disgusting robot waste of D.N.A.
It has a thriving arts industry: Scat porn and Crap art. Of which Germans are the Oscar winners everytime.
DOES BERLIN ACTUALLY HAVE A FILM OR ARTS INDUSTRY OR IS IT ALL BULLSHIT?
You can read about movie industry here as googling doesn't seem to be your strongest point en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babelsberg_Studio
Btw no need to scream :D
Become a Berliner 101:
-Lose your job (provided you ever had one to begin with)
-Get tunnels, or one earring to display how original and individual you are. If you are a woman, a nose ring is non-negotiable.
-Abandon heterosexuality and go bi, homosexual or metrosexual.
-Spend your Hartz-IV money on drugs. Preferably cheap, awful beer like Berliner Pilsener, and weed.
-Complain about everything. Yell at the sky when it rains or it gets cloudy.
-Pretend you're a techno DJ
-Get a tattoo. Preferably as many as you can afford.
-Hate foreigners, Germany, Christianity, yourself
-Buy a (green) parka
-Claim grafitti makes a city look beautiful
-Miss no chance to hate on America and Americans, while at the same time you annoy people with your stories from the time you were in New York.
-Use as many anglicisms as you can. Maybe people won't notice your poor grasp of English.
-Eat falafel, shawarma and other middle Eastern dishes so that you'll have enough energy to protest against refugees.
-Post "refugees welcome" stuff on Facebook all the time while at the same time complaining about Islam.
-Be vegan, drink club mate, be a feminist.
-Avoid normal, traditional dating. Be in an open relationship.
-Be proud of being a cuckold.
-Whether you're riding your bike, or driving around the city, be as aggressive as you can.
It's true. When you leave Friedrichshain/Kreuzköln/Prenzlauer/Wedding and enter the REAL Berlin Bezirke you meet people that do not fit into all of those descriptions above. A lot of people who live in Zehlendorf, for example, don't have tunnels and are not LGB or T.
Well at least you won't find any of the above mentioned there and btw there are a lot of expat families in Zehlendorf who move there because of good quality of live (lakes, parks, excellent bilingual schools such as JFK, good healthcare with the best doctors living in the Southwest of the city). But like I said, if you enjoy living in party/ drug hellhole Friedrichshain/"Kreuzkölln", then it's your choice. Enjoy your little bubble :-)
Kreuzberg has become as expansive as Mitte and other wealthy districts by the way, so if you can afford renting an apartment there or in the nicer areas of Neukölln or Friedrichshain, the financial outlook doesn't look more positive for newly arrivals than in the traditionally wealthier districts. Except of course you can enjoy the party/drug scene there, which you seem to loath at the same time. A bit contradictory, don't you think?
west berlin is pretty exclusivist, if you can pay a rent that doesn't mean that you also get the place while competing with germans with steady jobs and reputations. At the beginning, people move to kreuzberg etc. because they want to live in an international vibrant environment not necessarily a party/drug scene, so I'm sure there is no desire to live in a suburbia (yes, I know there are altbaus in areas like friedenau,steglitz -but it really feels like it). Berlin is indeed contradictory, that's what a lot of expats also found out after a while and that's what this discussion is about.
I lived in Koepenick, Prenzlauer Berg, Potsdam, Wilmersdorf, Dahlem and on the border of Maerkesches Viertel. Although there are slight differences between the areas, the lack of customer service and friendliness of the locals is pretty consistent throughout. Slightly different levels of coldness and indifference.
I'll never forget the first argument I had with my German/Berliner EX bf. We were peacefully watching a movie at home one night, he asked that I pause it so he may use the bathroom, so of course, I did. What happened next laid the foundation for our miserable 7yr relationship and thankfully Divorce.
As I pressed the Pause button, he flew into a RAGE. "Why did you press the button so hard?! Dont ever do that!! Remotes are expensive and pressing their buttons too hard wears them out faster, I dont work as hard as i do to search for this SPECIFIC remote! (*Because you know...if its not German made...its not good enough.) Then he proceeded to go of on this childlike tangent that included insulting my Career...Family...Childhood and Nationality. Sound Familiar??
Lol only a German would get mad because someone pressed a button too hard. Reminds me of one German I lived with who got angry because of increased toilet paper use. I mean, a bag of toilet paper costs only 1.79! It's not like you'll be poor if you buy two extra bags a month.
Either way...
First mistake: Dating a German man. Why did you do it? They usually smell bad, have mommy issues, sit down to pee, are bad in bed, not romantic, awkward and borderline autistic.
OP here, yeah he was a very toxic and negative person. Germans aren't happy unless they go through great lengths to make others feel inferior. He was such a loser. He lost a fantastic Job because he stole Cheese on a flight he worked. Because he was TOO CHEAP to buy food. Glad thats over!
Same thing with me, I had a German girlfriend who completely demolished my self esteem, it took me two years to get it back again after splitting with her. I thought I was useless and couldn't make any decisions for myself because of her constant criticisms. To many years wasted here, only 17 days to go, sorry to leave you all behind, but I've finally woken up. Don't try to find the magic key to understanding Berlin, there is no structure, no morals, no responsibility and no commitment etc etc etc etc.
What do you expect from a culture in which co-ed nudity in saunas and at every public "beach" is perfectly acceptable not just to some batshit fringe groups but to the masses? What do you expect from a society that doesn't adequately punish child molestation and public indecency? Expose yourself to a woman here (or a child for that matter) and you can expect absolutely no reaction from anyone. Is anyone surprised all of the men turn into avoidant babies and all of the women become controlling shrews?