rubbeldiekatz

...is to get away from germany. Of course being with the missus is the major reason but germany is such a sad country. Germans are seriously fu**ed.....most of them are unfriendly, arrogant - I can say that as Im a german myself but I hate the german mentality....I only realised that germans are a**holes after I first visited australia....I even hate going shopping here, its like war....to me it looks like everyone hate everyone here. What they say about germans is right, not all of it of course but yeah we are a grumpy bunch.....not me, Im outta here.....and I have no interest to hang out with germans in australia....no good.....anyway guys, have a good day....

Simone

Yep, and the reason people leave the Netherlands(not me) is because society's going down the drain, and people don't say hi to each other in the street anymore, and push in front of the other while waiting for a train etc.

And the reason why people leave the UK is because society's going down the drain and... and... and.....

And the reason people move from Sydney to Perth is because.....

And the reason people move from Perth to the southwest is because.....




Good luck, hope you find somewhere better!

Bix

One of my closest friends and her family are German.
I would be insulted on her behalf but they agree with you
They all moved to Belgium.

Personally I reserve judgement. I know a few other Germans and I would not say they fit your description at all.

Devlin

I've spent a lot of time in Germany and love the place and it's people!

I think you should move to Britain if you are that cynical, you'll fit right in.

NJJ

Reminds me of what Damon Hill once said of M Schumacher - "What you've got to remember about Michael is that under that cold professional Germanic exterior beats a heart of stone."

jad n rich

At least it makes a change from getting away from the UK threads.


Just dont read our papers interest rates going up, health insurance going up, rates going up, the end is nigh were all doomed :scared:

Phoenixuk2oz

I think you're John Howards adviser

JackTheLad

Yip. I spent the most miserable 6 months of my life working in Mannheim. I couldn't believe how unfriendly the locals were. I've never seen so many shouting matches in supermarkets (LIDL), and it wasn't just the customers, supervisors were screaming at checkout girls as customers walked past, people shouting at each other in the queue for the checkout. Not a friendly face amongst them, lots of glaring. And I lost count of the number of times I got pushed out of the way on streets, no apology or danke or anything, just a shoulder charge as they passed.

I had to travel to Hiedelberg at the weekends just to see a smiling face, and shops who wouldn't ignore me cos of my beginners german.

(Just to balance things, Mrs JTL travelled briefly to Frankfurt once and loved it, maybe its just Mannheim, cos its an industrial town, and everyone is miserable, but then, my colleagues in Mannheim told me it was the northern Germans I had to watch out for, as they were a really miserable bunch!)

Cheers,
JTL

Sophie Louise

I've spent a bit of time travelling all around Germany, and I absolutely loved it. Beautiful country - very clean, with stunning scenery, and both me and (Aussie) boyfriend commented on exactly how friendly and helpful the people were.

My boyfriend had complained that something that irritates him in the UK is that when he says hello to passers by people look at him as if he's insane, but in Germany (and Austria) people always greeted us in the street.

Sophie

Phoenixuk2oz

I used to go to Germany a lot through business and they did seem a misrable lot to begin with. Then when I get to know them some were lovely people with the odd one or two miserable sods...who even the German's didn't get on with

There are good and bad in every race and each culture has it's own individual style. No one race being perfect...each having nice and not so nice people.

JackTheLad

I'm not denying there is a mix. But having worked there longish term, I know the general attitude is much more aggressive. I laugh looking back thinking how I could have tolerated a boss shouting at me ( I was a prima donna Java developer in those days, I expected ego massages, not abuse). They'd shout at each other, meetings degenerated into very loud slanging matches, and the general atmosphere was one of intimidation.

We would go to Heidelberg (its more touristy) at weekends, people were much nicer. And once a month we would take the train over the boarder to Alsace-Lorraine, and suck up the french atmosphere. It recharged the batteries for another month of german life.

But as you say, they are allsorts, but on average, I think they have a more aggressive, less pleasant, less caring attitude.

Oh, and they shout too much.

Cheers,
JTL

Phoenixuk2oz

It's funny but I worked for a very large UK company that behaved in the very same way i.e aggressive, less pleasant, less caring but it was in the days before Management realised "people" were their greatest asset

And then...this company got taken over by a German company [they are the largest of their kind worldwide] and the whole company ethos changed. For the better. Don't get me wrong, the German's don't take prisoner's [ahem..pardon the pun] but if you work hard then they pay you well in terms of salary, benefits and self development.

The biggest cultural difference IMHO is that the German's strive to do well so this comes accross as aggressive and they are in a sense hungry for success. Whereas in UK I think the mentality is still one of the empire days..where we ruled half the world and didn't have to try very hard as it was ours anyway. Just my opinion and what I "felt" was different.

The other noticeable difference. When the company was owned by the Brits, often a blind eye was turned towards Managers who were incompetent [too much trouble to get rid and most were on the same scam] yet when the German's owned the company the first thing they did was bring in coaching and development and benchmarking and means by which to measure individual and group performance. Pretty basic stuff by today's standards but then the UK lot hadn't fathomed it out. Spoke about it a lot though The British Managers crapped themselves, and rightly so cos half of them knew they wouldn't cut the mustard. On the other hand, if you were good potential and a hard worker who was willing to learn then the German's looked after you.... so rewarding good behaviour. This eventually gained respect from the workforce who at first seemed to come in and railroad through the company.

The biggest difference though was the sense of humour. When I first started going to Germany I noticed it was slap stick humour [bloody Benny Hill style] but as the years have gone by they have caught up with the British, having the same sense of fun. This is probably because most speak and write perfect English, unlike their English counterparts who hardly spoke German at all.

So, it's easy to see why they have an air of arrogance sometimes. It seems they are streets ahead in a lot of ways, ready to embrace technology and learn different languages in order to get ahead. Where in UK we sometimes seem to drag our feet kicking and screaming into the next century. I often used to have to remind myself who won the war

And you're right about them shouting. They are a loud race. And this does come accross as agressive, especially as they are forthright too so the combination of loud + forthright is frightening to us Brits who like to think we're more humble and gentgeel and our approach less agressive. I've noticed the Italian's are the same and some other European countries.

One thing a Senior German Manager once said to me though was he'd noticed how indirect the English were and sometimes he felt mislead as the English didn't always tell it as it was. Having seen the "chess games" that are played in big business...I can agree with that.

So it's probably a matter of different races working in very different ways and as you say, it's what suits you best and that probably depends on the type of person you are and how you feel you fit. No right, no wrong, no one race that's good or bad....just different.

Maybe a spiky helmet and long black leather coat would have helped

babybella

I always thought it was just an English joke about the German towel on sunlounger pun! Until I went to a campsite near venice, couldn't believe it!!
Me and the kids had great fun taking them all off and then refusing to move. That foxed them.
KAZ

JackTheLad

Best example of our boss in germany 'telling it how it is':

We were round at his house one night, boss's wife was present and the four uk people hired to work for his department, 2 men, 2 women. After a few wines and a few beers he said to our prettiest and youngest uk girl (I'd guess she was about 25), that the only reason he hired her, was because she wore a miniskirt to the interview, and he had an erection the whole way through the interview.

As you can imagine she was well chuffed that her years of C++ and Java programming experience had made a big influence on his decision . He did half-heartedly apologise a few days later, but we all knew it was the truth by then.

Maybe there is a good reason not to always 'tell it as it is'. Especially if you are a horny perverted german.

As for the rest of it, I think we just have to agree to disagree. I spent 6 months amongst them. Got abused, ignored, barged out of the way, shouted at, mugged, thrown of a moving tram, robbed, attacked walking home. Oh how I miss those days.

It was a relief when I was sent to Glasgow... at least I could understand the abuse

And Brisbane, well, no abuse, no attacks. no nothing so far (touch wood). So, its been all improvement since Germany!

Cheers,
JTL

Phoenixuk2oz

Oh dear...bloody awful time you had by the sounds of it

And what about that boss and his recruitment skills :scared:

That young lady should have kicked his frankfurter right in the middle of his lederhosen

Yep...two different perspectives. I wonder if it's because values came into the workplace and better management training over the years? Mine was a a worldwide organisation so they probably realised there is a way to treat and be treated at work? [they were also in USA which is litigation heaven for this kind of behaviour ]

I certainly never encountered anything like that. I too would have been mortified. No wonder you were glad to leave. They sounded like right sour krauts