And for the most part, this is true. Our ball-club is fined if our scorekeeper turns in a score-sheet with even one error. The train scheduled to arrive at 1:04, 1:24 and 1:44 arrives at 1:04, 1:24, and 1:44. But I have found a few areas where German culture is extremely loose and inefficient:
Train Tickets (at least for foreigners):
In order to ride the German rails one must purchase a stripe ticket. The price of a 10 stripe ticket is 11 Euro, and the trip from my town of Vaterstetten into Munich costs 4 stripes each way (2 if you're 20 or under). I have been on the train approximately 12 times and have been checked exactly twice. Neither time did I have a ticket, and this is the reason:
When a ticket checker sees that you do not have a ticket, he first asks you if you have your passport. Whether you do or you do not, you say that you don't. The checker does not investigate this further. He will proceed to ask you if you have your drivers license or a credit card. Again, you do not, and again he believes you. At this point the checker will ask you for your name and address, and of course you are now anyone you want to be. He hands you a ticket for 40 euros and you thank him. You exit the train and throw the ticket in the trash with a smile on your face, because you ride the rails for free.
The Postal System:
Even if you want to be honest with the train ticket checker, you will never receive a bill. I'm going to tell you why:
I ordered a new camera off of Amazon.de after my coach broke mine a few weekends back. (For the curious commenter, he did pay for it) I typed in my name and my current German address , paid via credit card, and patiently waited. A few days later I thought I may as well let the people with whom I'm staying know that I was expecting a package. Before leaving for the gym one day I told Melanie that I was expecting a new camera to arrive via post in the next few days. She responded with a look of utter dread, asked me to remind her what my last name was, and told me that she believes it had already come.....only she sent it back.
It turns out that without addressing the package to Nat Ballenberg c/o Family Kirchlechner, the German mailman will return the parcel to sender. Since Melanie was home at the time, the postman asked her if the name on the package was someone in the house that he didn't know about. She said no. What is the line of reasoning behind that?
"Well, I do have this kid staying with me. His name is Nat, which is an extremely common name. I don't know his last name, but this package is addressed to Nat Ballenberg, so....yeah....it's probably just a mistake. I won't even ask, just send it back."
Stop Signs:
They don't exactly exist. I have seen exactly 1 stop sign in two months. There is however a general rule of the road. When at an intersection, one must yield to any cars coming from his right. This sounds fine in theory, but in reality it is stupid.
Think about a general "T" intersection. In the U.S. the car that can no longer go straight either has a stop sign or abides by the road rule stating that he must stop before making the turn. In Germany, this car has the right of way to turn right without even looking. Instead, the car on the main road must slow and yield to any lunatic flying around the corner from his right.
And don't get me started on four way intersections. What if four cars get there at the same time? No one is legally allowed to move, and because this is Germany, no one will.
I'll keep you updated as I find more inefficiencies in the world's most efficient country.
No comments:
Post a Comment