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One thing I have noticed about Germans (and foreigners who have been here a long time and consider German to be the Leitkultur):
Germans HATE change and will resist it no matter how sensible the change is. I have worked for several Berlin startups (which I do not recommend unless you absolutely cannot find anything else). At a couple of them, business was going pretty bad the management brought in external consultants to improve things. The consultants would spend time in each department, have processes explained and them recommend optimizations. In every case, my colleagues always resisted every single change and tried to actively sabotage the success. Each time, the consultants would say something like "Task 1, 2 and 3 do not bring any value, we should scrap them" and my colleagues would say "But we have always done those tasks!". I really think sometimes that these people do not understand how the world works at all. They also don't understand the concept of leverage during negotiations.
BTW, 2 of the 3 startups where I experienced this no longer exist!
This is absolutely true, majority of Berlin startups are blatant scams with really shady people in upper management, or just plain incompetent. Even external consultants mainly from the UK cannot save their mess. There's so much to be said in this subject, Berlin tech scene is absolutely hideous, avoid at all costs
OP here. I agree with the 2nd post. Most startups here (all startups I have worked for) are direct copies of successful Uk or US businesses without any superior features or tech. Germas think companies can survive merely because they are German (and sadly that is sometimes true).
Expats in Berlin/Germany: what made you think that it was a good idea to move to Germany?
I never actually really wanted to move here. Dated a German in my home country and immigrating here was just easier than the other way around. Partner also went on and on and on about how great Germany is, how intellectual and well read the people are, how society here is supportive and so on. Seemed like an adventure at the time.
Moved here and everything I was told SEEMED like a lie but thought it was just me. Worked really, really (in the truest sense of the word) to succeed here by doing every thing by the book (the German book - i.e. sensible degree and among top 15% of graduating class, plenty of work experience). Ultimately realized it's all a lie and that Germany's great only if you're in the bottom 15% of people (whether due to low intelligence, substance abuse, depression or whatever). If you're earning a median wage here, then your life is still the same as someone on welfare - no chance of owning a home, saving any substantial amount of money.
Thinking back to how motivated I was, how positive and optimistic my mindset was - I really wish I hadn't wasted it in Berlin. Now I'm bitter and crabby and have a huge chip on my shoulder (you could say I'm fully Germified).
Berlin, not even once.
Same here on the $500/m altbau front. 10 years back, I lived centrally for €500 for a two bedroom apartment, bills included. I earn't USD so I lived like a king. Since the decent night life is ending, the rents are increasing and the instacrew are moving in, the city is utterly pointless.
2000-2012 wasn't actually a bad time. You still had rude locals but you could do whatever you wanted and live centrally. Those days are gone.
It's truly astounding. This country. These people. This city. World class, unique. One of a kind. Doesn't it seem like a deeply sick project?
What other city on earth tried both right and left wing authoritarianism within a single generation? These people are not healthy, Ai Weiwei was correct - they love abdicating thought to an oppressor whenever possible. The moral hazard is lost on them.
Winter, subway station always dirty with strange people talking to you spontaneously
A few months ago I contacted BVG to ask about the gates. They said it was due to how the stations are designed and their fire safety. According to the BVG they would not be able to provide emergency exists of those gates were installed. I call it utter bollocks. Other cities managed to adapt station to accommodate gates and emergency exits. BVG is just too cheap and wants to have weirdos on their trains so they can run their hobo ads.
Everyone should read the Kentler Experiment.
This sick individual was and still is protected by German Academic community and the state. This explains Germans odd relationship with sex. I honestly believe it’s a major problem with sexuality and kids. I saw a documentary on Madeleine McCann awhile back. They said it was a human trafficking ring that started in North Africa and ventured right to Germany.
www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/07/26/the-german-experiment-that-placed-foster-children-with-pedophiles
German attitudes toward child sexuality have always been completely messed up. Read this if you wanna really get a good picture of why Germans are so completely messed up:
www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/the-sexual-revolution-and-children-how-the-left-took-things-too-far-a-702679.html
I remember casually reading about the ridiculous Pizzagate stuff like 5 years ago and thinking it was the most outlandish thing I had ever heard. Then I slowly started finding things like Kentler and Rote Freiheit, the Edathy scandal and other things in Germany...
It's always lefties, they are f'wits the world over. Good luck with your Commie Russians and soon Chinese overlords. The brainwashed useless cnts wouldn't last a week in a communist country. Fck all lefties, you make the whole world a misery with your political correctness BS. I'm getting very close to the edge of f'ing these morons up good and proper. I don't want to hear one more word about geder pronouns from these pathetic freaks. Always lefties, Hitler, Stalin, Mao, all of them lefties. I would love to take socialist/communist salamis and shove them down their stupid throats. FCK OFF. Now, would you like to hear what I really think of lefties?
Anyone here seen a therapist? I am so depressed I can't do anything anymore, not even sure I can book an appointment to see a therapist if the 6-12 month waiting period is true. Could they help you? Were they compassionate or just Germans? I am really not the kind of person for therapy but I can't handle this anymore. Don't even wanna waste my time though if it's just some Stefan who tells me I just need to adapt better to German society and drink tea.
hey, i dont want to discourage you, but i would suggest to book an appointment online in your native language. i helped me. i went and still go to a group therapy, but it doesnt help me that much, but it helped me when i was feeling very bad + the antidepessants. you can call 116117 and they should give you an appointment.
Why is German academia so cancerous? You can't get anything done here, nobody submits anything on time, people are lagging behind with group projects, basically EVERYTHING is about formalities instead of substance - and why do I get the feeling that your teachers are actually invested in prolonging your training as much as possible instead of urging you to complete? Tenured professors barely speak a foreign language, cannot compete on the international market, and are more autistic than a 30-year old shut-in sitting in his mother's basement.
You can readily approach a tenured professor from MIT, and you can barely talk to the local lecturer from f*cking Göttingen because he is so in love with himself. Incredible.
Academia exists in Germany only to prolong adolescence for the youth with an IQ above 105 so that they waste the years of life they are most motivated to do anything. And, of course, to teach the nascent leading class that everything comes from the government.
Cannot get over the fact that krauts rent out burial plots for 20 years then dig up coffins and dispose of them. These psychos really wanna erase history.
I think it’s not uncommon around the world… We would have graveyards everywhere if it wouldn’t be so.
I personally wouldn’t mind. If you cremate you dispose everything right away anyway…
I don’t really have a problem with that, and I think you can also keep paying and keep the plot if you wish…
Speaking of cremation in Germany - look up all the regulations around that. Must be professionally laid to rest (family cannot under any circumstances take possession of the urn and ashes). Cannot spread the ashes in the woods.
Open casket funerals are strictly forbidden. Germans are obsessed with minimizing the effects of one of the most spiritual human experiences on earth. I am convinced that the German agenda is to completely end the ability for Germans to experience any emotion.
Is Paris better than Berlin? Is French culture more bearable than German culture? Is living in France less soul crushing? Is xenophobia less present? Comparative analysis anyone?
I had a few friends move from France to Germany because they said it is not much better there. Of course they still dealt with xenophobia from the Germans... LOL... despite being neighbours their culture is very different. At least the food is better and you can go to the south where it’s warm if you want to catch the beach
All the French people I have dealt with here (probably like a dozen on a sustained basis) were pretty cool and definitely less cold, robotic, serious than Germs. Dunnonif Paris is better... It's expensive but a lot less BS like you see in Berlin. Paris at least has culture. Berlin feels like a 13 year old, unsocialized kid's wet dream. I would say just try, people can make everywhere work if they want.
i am also thinking of moving to france. Wouldnt france be a better place to raise kids as they would be able to think more clearly and not be subjected to so many rules. Germans are way too conformist for my liking and even i have started going along with crowd now even though that is not my personality at all. Germany is dangerous for young minds dont you think?
Wow, that 17 year old who was attacked by a bunch of adult Germs... Turns out it wasn't because of her mask. Berliner Zeitung has an article. Just Germs being Germs... Racist shits.
Berlin would probably be ok if it wasn't for all the Germans.
U8 right now, 2:43am. Been away from Berlin 2.5 weeks. Feels like arriving back in purgatory. It simply gets worse here… if possible.
OP here- the depraved looks i am getting. I daren‘t look at anyone - they are staring at me menacingly/drugged/drunk or with contempt… yet they look like they fell out of a rhino‘s arss. Homeless, hipsters, self-entitled youths, ugly, savage or obnoxious clothes hanging off their cheesy sun-deprived skins.
I went to a toilet in the centre where the lafayette is, as always I left without leaving any coins. The guy started shouting ‘Hallo’ and actually followed me all the way into the Rewe supermarket in that centre whilst aggressively and continuously shouting ‘Hallo’. When I politely told him I never even have any coins he shouted I should have the decency to pay the 50 cents. An aggressive German with a small d*ck told me to be decent! F*cking Germans. The guy wasn’t even old so you’d think he would be more chill. I guess if I had j*rked off in front of him he would have said nothing but no I have no decency because I didn’t pay 50 cents.
Haha. I salute you for not paying the 50 cents and sorry for going through that.
I had a similar situation at my local supermarket. A German man pushed his cart into my soul (read: butt) while waiting in line. I grabbed an item from the counter, but then I decided that it’s an impulsive buy and put it back, but a bit down the line as the German behind kept pushing with every cm that we advanced. He did the same with the aggresive Hallo, Hallo! Like he had a freaking seizure. He could have very well moved the item himself to its original place where my arm couldn’t reach. Instead I had to take it, go around him and place it… I called him crazy, and packed my stuff as low as I could after. The cashiers that know me witness it, and now they are all weird and barely ask me anything.
I have shown my power in Germanland.
Filthy Whorreson Krrauts
www.bz-berlin.de/berlin/friedrichshain-kreuzberg/frau-31-ein-bvg-kontrolleur-hat-mir-den-finger-gebrochen
Wait a minute... Does the article say that the ticket checker also filed a police report against the woman? What the hell is wrong with this city? Not like this is the first time ticket checkers have been caught beating people up. Surprised the woman wasn't fined for uploading a video shot in public.
haha yeah, the cops will pull you over on your bike if you don't have the right kind of lights (in the middle of the day) or if you are riding on a completely empty sidewalk in the middle of nowhere. but they won't touch the dudes selling drugs on oberbaumbruecke or the weirdos having public sex in TIERgarten.
The attempt of communicating with Germans is giving me anxiety.
I just can't reckon what to expect from a conversation with them. I got no clue how they will react unlike the rest of human beings. You know what I mean?
This country took my human side away and turned me a depressive creature.
Totally relatable.
It’s so confusing…
Best you can do if be yourself. Stick to how you are and the right crowd will follow…
This place made me too old and bitter to accommodate other people reactions and tantrums.
As long as you can look in the mirror you are a decent person yourself, that’s all it matters