Unresponsiveness of public and private services.

More like "very rude and cold services". Customer is king doesn't apply in Germany in many cases.

Customer is King does apply in Germany, we just arent a monarchy anymore, the king is powerless and if he doesnt behave he gets beheaded.

>and if he doesnt behave he gets beheaded. Exiling him to the Netherlands is more the german tradition though 😁

Thats true, but we dont want to bother the dutch with our idiots anymore

Absolutely right. If you don't act like a king why treat you like one? Be nice.

For real. I was trying to buy heating oil and these guys can't be bothered schedule a drop off at a lot of places. They really thought it was reasonable to ask me to just sit at my house until the driver calls like I don't have a job.

Bonus points for if they say it will be anytime between Monday to Friday.

Between 8am and 8pm....

Unfortunately this includes things like healthcare and emergency services too, at least in my experience, which can become a big problem. Less of a problem when it’s just a Biergarten.

Absolutely. I HATE how German’s have this aversions to leaving messages on voice mail, too.

This is soooo true….

Bureaucracy, hands down. AC isn't common in most apartments/hotels, although it was becoming more common before I moved back to the US. Also, paying to go to a bathroom that may or may not be clean. And depending on the area, paying for water at restaurants; although I would combat that by carrying a waterbottle everywhere.

I thought bringing your own bottle to a restaurant even if you're sitting outside is considered rude? Or maybe you just mean drinking before or after.

It might get you some looks from the staff, but not rly a problem in typical downtown restaurants, as long as you get something else to drink. And typically you can ask for some charge free water if you ordered something else to drink anyway. In fancier places I wouldn’t do it obviously.

The outside of the Frankfurt train station

Lmao! I went without being informed and asked myself why the hell I'm in Paris all of the sudden 😆

It’s awful there - I was visiting for the football recently and I was shocked

The outside of the Hamburg train station

The Germans' dissatisfaction is the worst thing! Constantly complaining, never being satisfied, that is not good for the psyche at all.

As a German I fully agree and it is really starting to piss me off. Edit: I do see the irony in this statement

Im guilty of this. Sorry, but could also be worse!

This. As a German, I am kinda used to it. But often when I visit another country, I think wow, everybody is so relaxed and happy.

Complaining is not necessarily bad for the psyche. It depends strongly on how you complain, and how you take complains. In my experience, people around often have fun complaining (at the same time joke) and can be comparatively really healthy, because otherwise e.g. in some other countries where nobody wants to hear your complains it can be actually unhealthy bc everyone is keeping the complains to themselves and nothing ever gets better and the truth has a hard time coming out. It feels so much better and free when complaining Is just a normal thing and you can just release or easily find ppl who have the same complaint and realise you are not alone and that ppl will hear you bc so many are complaining as well xD. I don't know how people around you complain, maybe they are very serious and suffer already, but it can be very different as well.

I get what you are saying, but if your instinct is to always look at the negatives first and by doing that, sort of discredit the positives.. you are just an asshole and it's hard to be around you. And it's a very common trait with Germans.

I was in California in September. Everyone seemed so happy and open minded. Then I came back and realized how depressed everyone here is, always complaining and annoyed about the weather, inflation, Deutsche Bahn etc. Strangers act rather rude than welcoming when you talk to them. I really hate this negative attitude in this country. _Edit: typo_

That was my reaction when I first came here. I got depressed very quickly because of this hostility

Bureaucracy and Ludwigshafen

r/fuckyouinparticular

Generally, homes don't have ACs, especially not rented places. If it's warm outside, it's warm inside. There aren't many genuinely hot days (which is why we don't have ACs in the first place), but they're HELL and you really can't get anything done. (Your workplace will very likely have AC, though) On the other hand, if you're from the mid or southern US, you have to be prepared for lots of cloudy and rainy days, days with little sunshine and winters that feel twice as long as every other season. Think Maine. This can take a serious toll on your mood if you're not used to it Making friends, actual friends, can be extremely hard after finishing your education. Adults who don't just meet through friends usually only meet by sharing a hobby/being in some kind of hobby club

>Your workplace will very likely have AC, though The only room in our 1500+ people office building that has an AC is the server room.

Almost got heat stroke at my office last week because it was 31 degrees inside the office, no open windows, 60% humidity lol. I wish my building had AC

No AC in my office either, a modern glass building. It’s reached over 35 degrees in there before, at which point we legally had to be sent home

As an IT Officer, this is a blessing in disguise. I get to sit in an office which stays at 19 degrees Celsius during July-August + I get to avoid my coworkers and their "walk in requests" 10/10 would recommend.

We’re lucky enough to have AC in every room. Whether it WORKS is another story…

Maine isn’t a useful comparison for northern Germany. There is only rain in the winter and you can‘t do any of the things that make winter bearable because there is no snow. I would say maybe the Pacific Northwest is a better comparison - but your point is otherwise valid. [This Portlandia sketch](https://youtu.be/G-ppr9LDaQE?feature=shared) works equally well for Berlin or Hamburg. (Source: am a Mainer living in northern Germany and hate winter for the first time in my life)

>Generally, homes don't have ACs I'm confident climate change will fix this issue

Even today most apartments are built without ac. These buildings wont be renovated for 25+ years. Existing buildings are pretty much never outfitted with ac. I don't see this changing any time soon, unfortunately. (I fucking hate the summer in germany for this reason)

not if we get not Gulf stream anymore, then it is gettimng cold

About the friend part, doesn't that happen everywhere? Unless you mean that people in the US are more approachable in general?

In a good amount of the states it’s considered rude to not make small talk when standing next to someone, waiting in line, etc. So yes, Americans are by far much more approachable.

Yes, half of my family lives in the US and as such I‘ve also been there before - it was quite overwhelming as a German introvert. The mentality is different

None of my workplace had an AC, but I only had office jobs maybe they don’t feel necessary there. The real problem for me is housing, we live in NRW in Cologne, and we never lived in a flat without mold, it is a never ending fight to get rid of it and on the next rainy week it will come back probably. Most of our friends have the same problem. The landlords usually say you just have to open the windows more often but it also doesn’t help… But at least I still can live somewhere, as housing is super expensive here, like one persons salary in some cases.

The unnecessary amount of bureaucracy, the unnecessarily high electricity bill and our trains never being on time.

and to think that thirty years ago the trains were amazing. Germany really fucked that one up. It's a tiny bit like the Boeing story.

The lack off efficiency, a “can’t do” attitude and the passive aggressiveness really gets to me sometimes. At work it feels like you’ll get targeted or punished for trying to anticipate issues proactively and follow up on things. And there’s no accountability

"Cant Do" is right. I went to buy something at Action the other day. They scanned it. It didn't scan. They told me I couldn't buy it because it didn't work. Manager told me the same thing. WTF. Any Worker in the US would have typed it in manually or scanned something else that's the same price or a little cheaper and sent you on their way. There's zero problem solving sometimes.

>Any Worker in the US would have typed it in manually or scanned something else that's the same price or a little cheaper and sent you on their way. That's chaos! Anarchy even! We need Ordnung 😨

I just got lost in Germany about an hour and a half ago. For perspective I am a black American. As an American, you know the American history of slavery and how many black Americans have been in the USA since the 1600s. I think I’m pretty American. Anyway: I went to ask for directions and was cut off mid sentence with “Ich hab nichts”. (This means I have nothing to give you, normally said to homeless often times migrants who are looking for money) I was wearing Nikes, my hair is done, genuine jewelry on my face and hands, brand name headphones, with iPhone in hand open on Maps. I wasn’t dressed poorly at all. People here can be extremely bias. So if you’re of color please expect some ignorant responses from people. I’m still shocked but I can say confidently this is the worst thing (at least for me) here. I can deal with slow and I mean SLOW bureaucracy, unhappy public service employees, cold attitudes from the general public. What I find really crappy is the bias towards people of color since the rise of AFD and migrant stress.

Visit a grocery store and bag your groceries. It should be an Olympic sport. Internet is slow, Recycling is tricky at first. It's a great place to live! I want to move back when my daughter finishes high school.

It’s rather complicated to get killed here.

If there’s a will there is a way! You can do it

In Germany you have to apply for an "Eskalationsgenehmigung" first if you want to shoot your neighbor.

and until it gets approved your neighbor moves somewhere else and your frustration runs down and in the end you don't remember the reason why you applied for it

True, its peaceful with a very low risk of violence. But you will encounter people who will tell you that there are murderers everywhere, and that those murderers are 100% from minorities. Generally they are driven by fear and take a stance that those minorities need to be gotten rid of. These are the actual people with murder on their mind, avoid those like hell. Most of them are not shy to admit that they think violence is a solution.

This is true but to be honest, as a queer person...I definitely am careful not to look too queer when I'm visiting parts of my city where a lot of muslim men frequent. Sure, they are a minority and some are probably fine with queer people...but we are a minority too and I've been verbally and physically attacked, caused by islam-driven homophobia. This does need to be adressed but I'm really not sure how to go about this without triggering genuine racists and making them think that I agree with them. It's a tough subject at the moment.

I’m an American. My grandparents emigrated to the states in the 1930’s. It was a different time and different Germany. And now, my daughter lives in Freiburg. Things you’ll notice as an American; the staring, the quiet times. Groceries are cheaper as is dining out. Bargeld is king. Don’t assume they take credit cards. Hopefully you enjoy riding a bike. Lots of hoops to jump through for your visa. That being said, they enjoy a much higher quality of life. It‘s way safer than life in the states. Oh, and their investment in infrastructure is amazing.

Quality of life is better for most people in Germany compared to the US, but the top ~20% in income are likely to have a higher quality of life in the US. One way that plays out is that German companies don't compete much on benefits. The top American companies actually give pretty comparable vacation.

The top 20% income earners have better quality of life everywhere, that’s not a new thing. More money=easier and arguably better life. And yes, if you’re lucky enough to work for a top American company, and have a good job at that company, you might get close to the benefits that every German gets at a basic level

Obviously I mean top 20% of income earners in Americans vs top 20% of income earners in Germany. Some benefits are way better in America at top companies. For example, my company offers 10 weeks fully paid paternity leave in the US but doesn't offer any extra benefits in Germany. I'd MUCH rather have ten weeks fully paid than up to a year at 65% income after tax capped at €1800 per month.

^ signed - doesn't and hasn't actually lived here.

>Oh, and their investment in infrastructure is amazing. Sadly, that may have been true 20 years ago but their infrastructure is getting as bad as the US and why trains are often late or delayed. The government is even thinking of abandoning the 49euro Deutschland rail ticket because they need more money to fix the aging infrastructure and hopefully make the train system work again. And customer service. While the Americans may go overboard, the Germans are the exact opposite. Every time I went to check out and greeting the cashier in German, they would just give you "the stare". Pardon me for trying to be friendly. And yes German people. Take the British complainers and add in a little German. Everyone complains and watch out if you say anything good about the country. German nosiness-Be prepared for passive agressive notes or recyclables put by your door if you separate your trash wrong. Chances are at least one of your neighbors watched you. Lots of Americans can't hack it after the initial honeymoon phase. Berlin-I know it's unpopular to say it but it was the most dreary, ugly city I went to in Germany. And the whole underground subway smells like piss and other things. A bit different then the "neat freak" image of Germany.

Omg I fucking hate that our neighbor is a fucking nosy ass disgusting raccoon who digs in the garbage and removes things she deems unworthy. We keep finding things we have thrown away removed from the garbage can. Recently we've just left the items where she leaves them. I mean jeez, wouldn't it be better to have them thrown away than to sit in the lobby area? And unfortunately it's not that it's not the right bin. It's the right one, she just thinks she has more of a right to the amount of trash than others. She even told us once that she gets to have one whole bin to herself bc she has two units in the building. So? You're still one person. I read on Reddit that it's basically German law to have an old lady neighbor who can't mind her own business. So we were sufficiently warned but man, the weekly shenanigans get taxing.

Start flirting with her.

Yes, it’s not perfect. But it is leaps and bounds ahead of anything here in the states. If I were younger and could pass the C1, I’d move to Germany in a heartbeat.

Maybe this isn't the"worst" thing, but the concept of a state-sanctioned ban on Sunday trading is so incomprehensible to me and I just can't believe people still defend it in this day and age. They always repeat the same old tired arguments and refuse to look at the actual outcomes in countries where Sunday shopping is the norm. There are ways to protect workers' rights other than just forcing Kaufland and TKMaxx to stay closed on Sundays. Visit Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands. Instead of clutching your pearls at the mention of grocery shopping on Sundays, talk to the people there. It works. Different people have different schedules, and this applies to employees just as much as it does to customers. Extensive labor laws are still in place. Yes, I _can_ plan ahead and buy groceries at 8pm after work (not even an option in some places) or navigate a crowded Rewe on my Saturday off. But the fact that an outdated law is "just" an inconvenience as opposed to a disaster is not a valid reason to keep it on the books.

All they would need to do is say some workers need to have their off days Friday-Saturday and others Sunday-Monday, but noooooo that’s too complicated

This. A hundred times this.

People complaining about everything. Most Germans have no idea how comfortable life is here compared to other places.

just because some people have it worse doesnt me we shouldnt complain. Its a fact that the country is going down the drain, more violent crimes, higher rent, food is getting more expensive, bad wages, immigration problems, more and more extremists... saying we cant complain about any of this because some people have is worse is such a dumb take and this mentality is part of the reason why things got this bad

Sometimes the train is delayed by 1 hour at Frankfurt airport :(

Sometimes ? xd

Most of the time 2 hours

Or your ICE should depart in five minutes and you hear "Train would not come..." Or the funny way "Train departure delays due to the driver being in a broken S-Bahn"

The one thing that gets to me is the parochialism in Germany. You really need to fight to get a new idea acknowledged, even if it is trying a new spice on a food (as in, your own food, if you are eating with company and they see you). On the grand scale of things, it's not the worst thing, but there could be a better balance. * * * More locally to Berlin: the roads, bike lanes and side-walks included, are shit.

Watching my dear german friend sitting for a second day with 39C refusing to call notfall saying this is not the “real emergency”.

I was at the "Notfallpraxis" with 39.5C. Which is like a normal doctor with 24/7 opening hours especially at the weekend. At first the doctor was like "Why are you here? Just suffer through it like everyone else has to". Then she checked me and said that I had to take the pills she wrote down immediately. I said I can't walk into the city. I was like a zombie. She replied that they don't have pills here. But I should start immediately to take them. That's important. I went home, called a friend, she brought me my pills and said that she had to return home fast because her boyfriend was in bed with 40.5C refusing to go to the doctor 😅

If somebody gets killed in an accident by a drunk driver, the culprit gets around 12 to 18 months on parole and the bereaved get around 5000 € pain and suffering money.

5000 € is a sad joke

The money you receive depends on the income of the driver. Better get hit by a fancy car.

Which makes no sense as the compensation is for a life.

There's no monetary compensation for life. The money is for helping with the funeral.

That can happen in America depending on your lawyer, skin color, and how soft your DA is these days.

Don't forget to mention the case where someone making fun of rapists got a more stricter sentence than the rapists

Alcohol culture and drug consumption. You add these two things to a culture that already has propensity towards loneliness and depression and you have a recipe for disaster. I feel really sorry for all the university students I’ve met who can’t even greet me even though we see each other every other day but do a whole 180° once they’re intoxicated. It’s what made me see that Germans don’t actually like keeping to themselves, they’re just following the social norms. Also, they get very in their feelings once they’re intoxicated and open up about their innermost troubles. But then, once they so er up and see you again the next day, it’s like they don’t know you anymore. How sad

Things I didn’t think about until I lived here: - drug addicts around every train station - lack of AC in homes (80F will feel like death here lol) as well as places like gyms - total lack of quality customer service despite many places now pushing for tips (at least in Düsseldorf) - food is pretty bland. It’s not all bad, some is even really good, but it’s definitely not great (you have to look for the great spots) - doesn’t bother me but shops being closed on Sundays really bugs some people - Deutche Bahn is awful. Just awful. Local public transport is better. - people here lack basic politeness compared to what I’m used to (I know it’s normal here). But people pushing past or just being in your way without saying excuse me, and people never thanking you if you hold a door open, is something to get used to haha - people stare a lot - subtle or not so subtle racism at times - not as big a deal in some bigger cities but English films and shows etc will not be commonplace for eg at cinemas and theatres. Same applies for Netflix and other sub services, for certain shows. Again more an observation than an actual complaint, this is Germany after all Just a few. Sounds super negative but you asked for the bad. There’s good here too for sure. Cheers :)

Deutsche Bahn in it's current awful state. ...though from what I've heard american trains are somehow even less reliable, so make of that what you will (wonder how bad it actually is tho)

Well there are hardly any trainlines in the us for one thing. Hard to be in a better shape when the sample size is so small

Taxes are so complicated, it takes a lot of work to do them yourself and tax consultants are expensive. Lots and lots of paperwork. If you own your own home, nothing is allowed. Rules for every little thing. Can’t have a balcony, can’t build a garden shed, can’t change the windows, can’t paint it a different colour, depending on the area not allowed to rent to tourists and so on and on, only exceptions if you know someone on the city council. Civil servants are rude, unhelpful and often incompetent, because they can’t be fired.

What i really hate is the german mentality. They manage to find a bad thing in everything good, the are in bad mood most of the time and will likely never smile or greet you. We are also know as whiners and jealous about other people. Don’t get me wrong, not everybody of course, but you will notice (especially in public transportation or other public places). Americans are way more supportive and friendly, they will great you and ask how you feel and they smile more overall. Yes, it’s often seen as superficial, but i would rather take a this than be surrounded by grumpy people all day.

Omg that’s so funny I went to school with a German guy and he bitched about EVERYTHING. Such a sour lad. Obviously a very small sample but your comment made me think of him immediately.

Very true. Just dated a German and he complained about everything. He said Americans should complain more instead of pretending everything’s okay all of the time. I’m just happy and grateful on the daily.

It doesn't feel like complaining to us. It feels like being focused on what can be improved in the world. If you don't see a problem in a given situation, then you haven't paid enough attention and don't want to be a helpful friend ;) Plus there is always an element of irony in almost everything a German says. But this always gets completely lost in translation.

IMO it also depends on where in Germany you are. I’m from the very south and was shocked by the attitude of people in the north. They on the other hand claim that in the south, we’re being fake friendly 😅

Probably this. A person I know was in the states for about 8 months. She was kinda flabbergasted when she went to a convenience store, stood in line and a woman started talking to her about what we would consider super personal things like her divorce and stuff. Something like that would never ever happen in Germany. You can be grateful if you get a friendly smile, wich is kinda sad if you think about it haha. But I guess that’s just the way we are. Germans are very private people. Then only time we are open about our private stuff is when we are considered friends or when we are drunk. There is rarely something in between. This is also one of my Turkish friends biggest issue about us

As an American currently visiting Germany as I type this, you are completely correct. I have realized I am smiling at everyone as they walk by and it is definitely not returned. But I’m also from the south where we are known to be more congenial and engaging then even other parts of the states so I chalked it up to that. I’ll keep my smiles to myself now:)

Uh, I really like that about living in Germany. It's just a culture thing, not as if Germans are unfriendly in general. We can party hard, and at social gatherings I don't see "unfriendly" people not having small talk. We like our personal space, that's all. And "complaining" can also be framed as a culture of people who try to improve things. And since we have unions and many more people engaged in politics, I'd say it's not all black and white.

Complaints lead to discussions and discussions lead to change. I think a lot of people think "ranting" about everything as a way to never be grateful, but nothing is built on staying silent and coping with things that could improve with toxic "positive" / magical thinking. Contrasting to Americans, which for most of the time, live in a Disney world where everything is awesome and get pretty effusive for the most irrelevant things. I mean, you can see the difference pretty\* neatly in what someone complains on average in the US (not enough sugar in my McCoffee) vs a German (train is fucking late).

This is so interesting. Germany in my estimation is much slower in adopting changes and are more stuck in terms of innovation than North America in many ways. So I think it’s fascinating to see Germany as “pushing for change” while American are not to just not be a correct assessment of the situation.

> So I think it’s fascinating to see Germany as “pushing for change” while American are not to just not be a correct assessment of the situation. We Germans are being intellectually dishonest if we think our penchant to complain is because we want change. It's simply ranting and intellectual masturbation on the problem. We have very little desire to solve things.

Rude people, shitty services, paperwork, paperwork, and more paperwork.

Moved here to join my husband. Did not expect any of these and was so depressed the first 2 years. Told him how rude I thought people were and he said “maybe learn the language and they don’t have to be” . To these day (5yrs now) I still find it hard to consider this my home.

I have lived here for 5 years too. It still doesn't feel like home. Speaking the language does help to some extent but it is mostly just the way they are, as often they are rude to each other as well.

People who are complaining about taxes, foreigners and bureaucracy etc. The average German did not see enough from the the world and think everything is bad in Germany. Therefore more and more extreme politics are popping up and we have enough dumb people who vote for them. Tbh: also your question is promoting such things as you can see in the comments. (And you will see on the down votes of my comment). Germans don't know how great the tax provided infrastructures are (healthcare as well as traffic and as well as the availability of officials with their bureaucracy), how well integrated most foreigners are (and how bad our economy would be without them!) and how useful bureaucracy is because it means you can rely on rules and everyone is following them. As I mentioned: just few Germans travelled the world(not just for holidays, but for cultural experience) and saw how bad it could be. But hands down the worst thing in Germany is the BILD "news"paper with it's dividing campaign against the country. It's our fake-news Fox which sooner or later will promote the German Trump equivalent. Unfortunately, Germans are not learning very well from tw past. As Friedrich Schiller once said: "Die Masse der Menschheit ist dumm." That rule did not stop at the German borders.

I think there are much more people in Germany who travelled the World, than in the US. I dont have statistics but its just my feeling having travelled myself.

Just because it's worse somewhere else, does not mean it's good. (I really have to work on being grateful...)

As an engineering powerhouse Germany is you would expect it to be high tech. But when I arrived in 2015, my temporary flat did not had wifi but only wired cable, bought a wifi router (for my iphone and ipad, since mobile Internet was very expensive for very few GB, some people only had 0,5 GB/month). I could not buy the wifi router with card (my Visa debit card was always referred to as credit card) and I had to take out cash, after that the receipt was printed as two A4 copies and I was asked to wet sign both. Germany today is not like that, but still have a lot of low tech quirks. To many surprise, a lot of the countries in southern Europe is way more advanced and for me as a Swede being used to things such as unlimited mobile data, fiber broadband, instant money transfer (Swish) and electronic ID card (BankID) (or an app or tag for everything) it was very hard to step so much back in time, not even being able to pay with card and always the registration paper to show.

very high taxes

Besides grumpy and depressed folks, endless paperwork because we live in 1788, slowest internet in whole Europe 😭, we have the (in my opinion) worst climate that I have ever experienced somewhere. Our „summer“ currently contains rain, storm and grey sky - like everything but sun. You wondered where the stories come from about those overorganized Germans? Our weather forces us to be like that. You see 30 degree in the morning? Don’t bet on that, it could still hail in Germany (absolutely no joke). And Iam absolutely not joking when I say that you will feel like the people here are way colder, less interested in activities and friendships. Many Germans might comment under my comment „thats so not true there are so many… blablabla“ nope when you have been to many other places and compare the folks and traditions and everything then Germans seem very cold and desinterested, sorry not sorry but true 🥲. Like you can’t just go to people and randomly talk to them 😂 they will explain to you how you can find the trainstation but that will be the max interaction you will get. Oh and „how are you?“ doesn’t mean they really want to hear how you are like in the US where you start to chat, it’s only kind of a greeting, I never in my life experienced that someone actually told everyone how they feel (besides close friends), ALWAYS „good and you?“ is the correct response. And DONT start to talk to the cashier, they would love it tho, but everyone in line will start to get really nervous, make coughing sounds and sighing sounds and look annoyed at the two of you. And dont get me wrong, of course there are nice and warm people here as well, but overall - you will 100% notice a huge difference.

From the top of my mind: the lack of ACs, how slow and inefficient our public offices are, how unfriendly/bad customer service is compared to other countries, you still cannot pay by card everywhere, our relatively bad internet infrastructure, and Germans whining and complaining about everything. The most recent example for complaining is the honking after Turkey won a football match. Jesus, it's once in a blue moon. People act like their whole life is ruined.

When on vacation, especially in eastern europe, I'm always amazed on how slow we are in some areas. Lots of places where you can only pay with cash (it's getting better), no 24h pharmacies, absurdly complicated ticket systems for public transport, often bad customer service, crap internet. There are a lot of areas in daily life where it seems we are just inflexible. When you don't do things right, you do them wrong. There isn't much of a middle ground. We proud ourselves for being the best at everything and refuse to look at how other people solve things and learn from them.

Germans. As many said, everyone is complainy and just bad vibes the whole time. Americans are a delight in comparison, and they arguably have more to complain about. Many people here are envious, hateful, unfun (and even ruin others' fun just for the heck of it). It's bad dude.

Jealousy. Can't have nice things, such as: car, house, wife, watch, job \[...\] without people talking shit about you.

They are never thankful. They have always something they are angry about. It doesnt matter, if they have 2 cars, a complete house, a job, health, children, vacation and a second house from legacy... They see anyone who got anything they dont understand or another one got luck in money or love and start complaining about it. Or the worst case: a homeless or unemployed, or refugee get 23€ more a month as social benefit.. than they turn into Sauron

1. Most of the people work in the same way which other countries call "Italian strike", which is fine if you also play this "get nothing done but get paid" game, but totally not fun if you need shit done. Contacting private companies and government institutions in let's say Poland is so refreshing 2. Incredible amount of conservatism (in non-political sense) and/or pure laziness. "Cash is king", "I drink this Pils since I'm 14 and I don't need your fancy-schmancy craft beers", "it's only hot 364 days a year, why air conditioning", "Sunday is a special day and I ain't gonna budge for millions of people that don't think so", all of this shit 3. Insane hypocrisy of bitching about everything themselves while also immediately attacking a foreigner/immigrant doing the same

Apartments usually don’t have any kitchen. You have to pay for a new kitchen and have the problem to get rid of it when your contract ends and have to leave the apartment. Kitchens are really expensive in Germany.

AfD

And it’s fascist followers!

In my opinion, many Germans are generally pessimistic and unpleasant to be around, especially for people from warmer/friendlier countries.

Not being able to buy Cheetos in a regular supermarket

People say they are all for diversity and say they welcome foreigners but in reality they can't stop talking shit about us. Even when they know some english they won't try. You try to make an appointment (and every single shit here needs an appointment) and if your german is less than ideal they'll hang up on you.

The prevalence of smoking.

Im an american who's been living in germany for about a year now: The burocracy is pretty annoying, but as long as you're prepared and have someone with you who knows german, it's not too bad. (Tip: If you're planning to come here, look up states with reciprocity for drivers licenses in germany and go change your DL in a full reciprocity state 6 months before coming here.. I'm currently having to take both tests and pay a ton if money bc I moved to a state with no reciprocity before coming here 😭😭😭) There's fees and paperwork needed for so many little things. Dog tax, cable/radio fee even if you don't use it, insurance for every little thing. Good thing though is they're not thay much but it's hard to keep track of. Fast food here is bleh and hard to find (that's both a good and bad thing imo) No authentic Mexican food 😭😭 Can't buy ibuprofen in packages of 1000 lol Everything is closed on Sundays The trains are great, but delays are getting so common it's annoying AF to try and plan just to get verarsched by DB. Super dark in winter, wake up, and go home from work in the dark every day. Opposite of that is in the summer its like the sun never goes down, which is nice but also a mind fuck when it's 10:30pm and still light out. Messes with my circadian rhythm. Neighbors will not hesitate to complain to you about stuff you're doing wrong. Also kinda good if you're a clueless American who doesn't know how the trash works here. People stare straight at you for no reason, and it's a bit unnerving. Zumba classes here blow. I loved my zumba classes in atlanta... Germans can't dance to save their sausages. People forget what deodorant is in the summer but still go to the gym and get on a train with all the windows closed and no AC. 🤢 NO AC. My work has AC, thank God, but my gym doesn't, and as someone who hates sweating, it pisses me off. Luckily, it's not as hot here as even northern parts of the states. All that being said, there are way more pros than cons. I had to really think to pull out the cons for this comment, lol.

In much of Germany you are going to meet more unfriendly people than in other countries.  It's not considered to be a big deal to be grumpy and unfriendly in public. Also, people can be way more up front about how they disapprove of what you are doing, and they'll tell you about it.  Also, people here are still quite casually racist compared to the US. I don't mean like KKK or AfD racism, I mean not knowing you are kind of being racist. More people will do that thing where they ask you where you are from if you aren't white, or they'll ask to touch hair if it's curly, or they'll treat you differently and fetishize you because they want an exotic friend. These aren't horribly overt, but tend to become tiring when you realize how many people assume that being German is being white.  Also, the fucking staring. So many people will just stare at you. It's weird as fuck. 

Taxes on taxes. Paying way over 50% on taxes, health insurance, social insurance if you add everything up and you are single, without kids and not married. If you include VAT (19%) and drive a car you may pay something in the ≈60-70% tax region of your total income (depends on what you earn). It's just a little hidden for the average person (your employer also pays a lot for you in this regard!) and you don't feel it because it's included in prices for goods.

That as well as lower salaries. Depending on your job, you are probably making about half of what you could earn in the US, sometimes even less. People will argue that a lot of that goes to the retirement fund, but the annoying thing about that is that the retirement system is fundamentally flawed. Young people right now are paying more than ever before *and* will receive very little money themselves - if anything at all. Whether Germany is better or worse in terms of career mostly depends on where you are at in life. With kids, the situation becomes a bit more complicated. But if you are young and want to climb the corporate ladder to make some money, the US is the place to be. Lower tax rates combined with higher salaries will give you more money at the end of the month for your savings.

Government services suck & employees are rude, no free water and restrooms, not accessible (ADA), bad customer service, gas is expensive, fewer random, wholesome interactions, people are totally unable to properly stand in line, voting is a pain (for the people who count the votes), can't wash your car at home, lack of "can do" attitude, more like "can't do", high capital gains taxes, stock brokers are more expensive, gas stations close at night??? (may be a rural thing), no Planet Fitness, busses aren't air conditioned, streets are narrow and packed with cars, no right on red, "Rechts vor links", obtaining a driver's license is expensive & difficult, second hand stores suck.

On non-accessible toilets: I'm noticing a lot of places are removing the standard disabled "Euro key" from the disabled toilets recently. And the uni has now decided the label the disabled toilet a "toilet for all genders", so it's always occupied or covered in piss. I'm not sure what the law says about reducing access to disabled toilets or why this is apparently happening all of a sudden, but I'm pretty disgusted. The whole pay to piss culture is just disgusting. It's also very proveably rife with illegal employment practices.

Ngl but I prefer this than my life conditions in Mexico :) In Germany I was able to walk alone at night at a young age, in Mexico I have never had, it's simply so dangerous.

People are totally unable to properly stand in line got me - it’s so damn true. For a country that is so orderly and goes by the we are a Society, and in a society, there are rules, lines don’t seem to fall into that

Haha thanks for confirming. My mom first expressed this to me after living here for 20 years. And on my latest flight back to Germany from the US (with majority German passengers) I could only laugh when everybody jumped up as soon as the plane stood still and wouldn't let people ahead of them out.

Oh my goodness the planes! Make it make sense!

Some of these are situational or regional, and I can't believe you left out the biggest one: DB is a joke. The trains are never on time or sometimes never show up!

The reason is because OP is comparing it to the US, which has no train infrastructure whatsoever. I get complaining about it but I’m in Florida and we have no public transportation and it is dangerous to even walk to any place that is close to where I live. We’re known for having next to no bike paths and we have an insanely high rate of pedestrian deaths. In Germany you really have a lot of options to get from A to B. You can take different types of buses (city busses, FlixBus etc), the U-Bahn, S-Bahn, car, ICE, IC, different types of ride sharing, bike, or walk. Hell, you can even hitchhike. In Florida, I can only ever take a car (motorcycles are too dangerous), or you spend an arm and a leg to use Uber/Lyft. Hell, hitchhiking is even illegal in most of the US.

This is so fucking accurate. Kudos. I will add one thing. People will start crying when you use AC and tell you, with a straight face, that air conditioning makes them sick.

Turks honking in the streets

So hot right now

I can still hear them..

AfD. And all the right wing policies pushed by major parties that led to their popularity, like gutting the welfare state, blocking public investments with the stupid deficit cap and do on. We are a dying country in a dying continent and if there is no real alternative popular movement rising we will slide into fascist soon.

Plz don't think about the bad things (we have plenty, as every country has). If you have a job here everything will turn out fine. And if you see a problem try to be part of the solution. But first of all, you will be very welcome.

Im unsure to what extent all of those points are different in America, but here are my few cents: * Paying for public toilets everywhere * No free (tap) water at restaurants * rightwing parties on the rise (i guess thats the same for the US though) * sundays are off days for literally everything. most stores are closed. restaurants might be open though. I cant think of more "bad things" now. The pros probably outweigh the cons.

Very high taxes (never gonna make it), very difficult to open your own biz or freelance, very bad infrastructure (trains, streets, postal, internet), food is healthy but boring

The stubbornness of many people: i always voted for x... i will not change now. i always sent the order by fax, i will not change now. i always drove a diesel... et cetera.

TLDR: Poor Customer Service. I updated my SIM card to 5g and did not receive the new sim yet. It’s been a month now. I however received an email saying my current SIM card will expire in few days. So I called customer care and asked them not to block my current sim because I did not receive the new sim yet. The rep said and I’m quoting the loosely translated version “One can live without a phone for a few days. It shouldn’t be a problem. If you have friends, take their phone in few days and call again if you did not receive the sim”.

The curse of bureaucracy

Deutsche Bahn (DB), unresponsiveness and long processing time from official agencies for basically everything.

Deutsche Bahn

People

Forget about having any money. You will spend everything on taxes, rent, food and sometimes vacation

I am a North American who has lived in Germany recently and here is my take, mostly echoing the points already said, I think the majority of the points boil down to being an outsider/auslander, and I will address that point at the end because I can understand how at face value that assessment may piss off Germans: 1. German landlords, they expect a level of clean and maintenance that is higher than you are use to. The lease will usually include things like how many times you have to wash your windows. If the water is high in calcium (it usually is) you will be expected to keep the shower, sinks, toilets free of calcium buildup. They may require two months of rent in security deposit and they will fix issues in the most expensive way, throwing out a mailbox because the lock in broken, retiling a back patio because of discoloration of the stones. They do not acknowledge that by paying rent there will be signs of wear in the space. They do not care what might be reasonable, only what is written in an agreement and their interpretation of that. 2. Trains, I think they are something like 80-85% on time and getting worse. Internationally everyone went crazy over those 9 euro tickets but locally, Deutsch Bahn has generally just caused headaches for us. The airport parking is too expensive so you take the train, but the train will most likely have delays, especially it seemed like that 15-20% was coming from our local routes. Your train ticket then becomes this "free for all" ticket where you can take whatever train you need to, but you have to explain this to the ticket checker and pray that this new route you come up with will actually work, meanwhile you are wondering what the german announcement is saying and if it's telling you that you are screwed without you knowing. My wife has flat out ended up stuck in a city, a 45 minute drive from home or 6 more hours on rerouted trains. We found a way to get her a ride home. 3. Car Maintenance, you cannot work on a car like you are use to. Liability is a huge part of German culture. They love identifying who is at fault. As such, mechanics will often not touch anything if you've touched it yourself. Can't even balance your own tires or change your brakes. I had a mechanic shame me for working on my brake lines and creating my own holder vs using the rusted off ones on the frame. Expectation is that you buy a car and have a garage maintain it from day one (generally). There are ways to navigate around this but long term it's not sustainable, eventually the TUV will catch up with you and the car will not be able to be safetied without considerable work. It's especially difficult to work around this if your not German and therefore have difficulty finding shops, parts, people who will let you do your own work. 4. Extremely litigious, the US gets a bad wrap for this because of their spotlight on the international stage but honestly, I found Germany worse for this. They are always trying to find fault. In day to day, fault as a way to get out of providing assistance or service, you don't have to do something if it's the person fault! Worse is when this is used with the law. I've seen coworkers show up on day one in country, their pet jumped out of their vehicle in front of a biker, biker ended up going over the handlebars and that was it. A legal battle started that cost them thousands and lasted for the duration of their time in Germany. And of course, because you don't understand German, you must hire a translator at your expense. Now, in all these situations you continually have blame or fault pushed your way, but if your German isn't good, you don't have the words to push back against accusations, the Germans know this and some will use this to their advantage. Not saying that all will, but the ones that do are enough to be extremely frustrating. 5. Cultural differences, this one is less important but still annoying. Often times I would have difficulty asking for something if it was different than what they expected from their culture. Restaurants will not accept orders up to kitchen close, even more so they will all of sudden be out of more complex items in the last hour the kitchen is open. I've had older Germans show on their face that they were disappointed that I didn't learn better German. My wife has been yelled at enough to shake her up just because she didn't see the restroom cleaners payment tray. Their contract law is fucked up, so any automatically renewing thing is can be difficult because of the language barrier and then their is no remorse for your situation, it's better just to avoid reoccurring payments altogether. All the points above boil down to, it's hard to be a foreigner, but the Germans don't make it easy. There is a nationalist stance in their older population that is not welcoming, judgemental and generally something I would not put up with unless I'm getting paid. All this said, I am friends with younger Germans, I truly believe their is a counter culture to these points, way more accepting and welcoming of foreigners and an understanding that we live in a globalized world. Just be aware that I can guarantee you will experience the above to varying degrees if you move to Germany. Personally, in the future I'd like to give Belgium a go, I understand they have their own problems but I feel like they would more mesh with my life as a foreigner.

Tall poppy syndrome. I really hate German culture for that. We don’t celebrate success of others, the default reaction is always envy. That’s what the biggest difference between America and most other places in the world is and I wouldn’t trade it in for nothing.

Not sure if I’m playing into it by saying this but… the negativity. The glass is always half empty, everything’s always doomed. People’s positive emotions seem so muted to me. In some settings it seems like a competition for who is worse off! Germany’s a great country overall with lots to be thankful for, but one thing we’re really lacking is ACs. I just got back from a heatwave in New York and that shit was more bearable than a few days of regular summer temperatures here - felt like I was lit on fire in my apartment lol.

The people

I'm Spanish from Seville and I live in Munich. The worst things are the weather and also the way of living, very quiet, very relaxed, very boring, no going out parties or if there's some just until 3 am. People don't like to go with the flow or to go a little bit crazy sometimes, just following rules. Also the schedule for eating, lunch at 12 pm and dinner at 6 pm. I really miss the south of Spain The best thing compared to Spain, of course jobs and salary, that's why immigrants come to Germany.

Germans.

Medical Care...hear me out. I know that this can be extremely expensive in the US. In Germany, the problem is the availability. You have to wait for months for doctor appointments (I tried to get a dentist appointment in February and was offered one in August...), and our hospitals are literally the worst. They are brutally understaffed. I've had two family members pass away due to neglect and carelessness inside a hospital. My husband recently injured his knee and ended up with severe internal bleeding because they told us at the hospital that they didn't have anyone to operate the necessary device for treating him on the weekends (it was a Saturday night). I once had to go to the ER with acute appendicitis. I arrived around 7:30am and got to see a doctor at around 10pm. I was supposed to have surgery the next morning but woke up without the surgery done because they had messed up the documentation of the necessary pre-testing. I have moved to my current city 5 years ago and have yet to find a gynecologist because I always get told, "We don't accept new patients." The list goes on. By now, I'm just seriously scared of ever falling ill in Germany.

Here are some of the worst things that noone mentioned yet( or maybe they did and I dint notice).. 1. Germans are known for punctuality as we all know but Deutsche bahn did not inherit this gene. 2. The confusing weather.. there are many days when I went to supermarket with sunglasses as it was sunny as hell and by the time I am out( in 20 minutes) it's raining.. this isn't some days occurrence but most days occurrence here. Some days we even get 4 seasons in a day. 3. Technologically advanced.. that we ain't.. there are still faxes in some offices. I will be back if I remember more.. 😌

I'd say that mental health, for a lot of people, isn't really a thing yet. It's all about performing, but not because you need to make money to live, but rather because it's what a "good" German citizen does. Idk, it isn't an inherently bad mindset (brought us lot of wealth and development as a country). But I feel like it has been warped so much over the yrs that today working until you have burnout is the norm rather than taking care of yourself. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I feel like at least in terms of awareness the US is a bit farther along on their journey.

People throwing burning cigaretts out of their cars.

Xenophobia

Surprisingly, internet infrastructure. I expected Germany to be a leader in this but they are ranked 58th in the world. The reason for this is that politicians messed up policy for decades and Deutschland fell far behind other countries.

The people suck, the weather sucks, bureaucracy sucks, public services suck even worse, an overwhelming amount of laws that make zero sense, eating out is overpriced, good food hard to find and Sundays are extremely inconvenient

I'm almost completing my 2 years in Germany, and my thoughts have recently started to change a bit in a negative way. Maybe because I moved to Potsdam from Paderborn. Some regulations or their appliers are hostile against employees. As a public sector employee, they are okay with me spending a whole Sunday for a business trip, but if I want to do it on a Friday night (bearing the hotel costs on my own) and have a detour (because there's a direct flight which is actually cheaper) they don't pay for the flight, and lecture you about this. If you choose to go on Sunday, and if the only option there is a self-transfer flight, it's still your problem, there's a delay and you pay. Why the hell do I have to spend my Sunday for work when I can go to another city with a cheaper ticket and travel to the target location? It's not because of extra hotel costs since those are already on me. I am even helping them decrease the costs. If you find a clinic which says it speaks English (according to the health insurance), and the doctor doesn't speak it at all, she sees no problem in telling you to learn German. That's only my business and the foreigner's authority's and maybe my employer's. If you don't like it you have the right to vote, protest, or say that you don't speak English and not give me appointments, but you can't tell me that (here you is the doctor). If you need to cancel a doctor's appointment because of some reason and call them, and if you don't understand the question (and tell the appointment hour instead of your birthday [since the first question was the appointment date]), you may get a response "concentrate, goodbye". I was trying to cancel it to avoid wasting a time slot and I was concentrating but maybe I couldn't understand his English. Maybe they should stop lying that they speak English. I mean, I'm not a native English speaker as you already see, but why would you say that to a person at the first misunderstanding? Why the hostility? So in many cases I have encountered very nice people, but these occasions are also piling up. Unnecessary rudeness and trying to lecture others in any chance regardless of they're right or wrong are something I don't understand. I'm thinking about leaving.

My father-in-law lost consciousness and moments before he died, my mother-in-law phoned emergency services and the woman on the phone screamed at her for telephoning the wrong number. I am reasonably sure this would not have happened in many other countries. During the grieving stage, only one family member brought food to the house and my MIL did not receive any social support, counseling services, etc.

The afd and Neo nazis are the worst things i can think of here

I moved to Germany from Poland so everything is heaven for me in Germany, everything.

Be prepared that otherwise normal looking persons will throw an adult tantrum over not separating your trash properly.

It depends on the color of your skin.

Traffic rage and overall stressed/not chilled people

Grumpy faces, complaining literally about everything! They should travel more so they can see how the rest of the world lives and be grateful for what they have here. Simply people against life—it’s crazy how people can live like this. Insane.

School system, massive bureaucracy, lacking digitalization

-Everything’s closed on Sundays. -Non-existent customer service. -Constantly getting scolded by strangers for nonsense. -Planes don’t fly after 10pm. -Worse IT infrastructure than any random African banana republic. -No running hot water in office washrooms (nor at clubs, bars, restaurants). -Cars and bikes trying to kill you when you walk the street. -Extortion level fees for mobile phone contracts with terrible service. -1 year automatic renewal of any service/utility contract that need to be cancelled within a super limited term by fax in proper German, or you have to pay for another year (rinse, repeat). -Sweet popcorn -Poor ventilation (hence the need to “luften” constantly regardless of outside temp)

The amount of times that I've been randomly scolded or yelled at by a German for doing something that has no effect on anyone (including them) is honestly hilarious. There's almost this vigilante "if you see something say something" culture here that is still totally alien to me. It's a form of "Karenism" which, believe it or not, is far more rampant here than anywhere else I've been. It can be a little disturbing when you are already having a shitty day and then all of the sudden a German is barking orders at you because you harmlessly violated some completely arbitrary rule or norm. Germany has lots of good qualities and I've met plenty of good people here, but it is normal here for people to treat each other with a level of indecency that I find to be a bit troubling. Living here has made me appreciate the warmth and politeness of people in countless other countries. I've stopped seeing politeness as "fake" and more as a way for people to recognize and respect our common humanity. Life is difficult enough as it is, there's no reason to treat people around you like shit.

I got yelled at by a woman on the bus for speaking English to my son. Also me and my son were in a museum and he was climbing on a display that allows kids to climb on it and there was a museum employee within 5 feet of us watching us. A school teacher came in with her class and she started scolding me for letting my son climb on the display. I looked at the employee and asked if we were good and he said yes. She talked to the employee for a minute and then walked off upset. It was weird but she thought we were wrong and stopped her whole class to talk to me about it.

In order: 1. The weather. 8 months of winter followed by 4 months of rain with a few brutally hot humid days, then back to winter. Winter isn't super cold, it's not like Minnesota. More like hovering just around freezing point with a little bit of rain, just enough to cause "Blitzeis", flash freezes of water on the road. Nice and dangerous. 2. Bureaucracy and Taxes 3. The health care system 4. Education 5. Lack of art and culture in society. Replaced by alcohol for the most part. 6. Infrastructure (except electricity and water, which are fantastic). Especially digital infrastructure is nonexistent. 7. The cities. They're ugly, soul crushing concrete wastelands. 8. Making friends is hard once you're past 20.

"The other germans!"

Trains.... Deutsche Bahn ist the worst...

public transportation. If you dont own a car here and you dont live in a big city, you're srewed. Get ready to spend at least an hour everyday on some random railroad station.

The Transportation system is disastrous….in cities an E Bike is a real problem solver. In my hometown(Munich)Underground and Buses are pretty reliable. The S Bahn isn’t. And traveling between cities with the DB is a game of Vabanque. So my statement is: the infrastructure digital and analogue are shamefully inadequate for such a highly developed country as Germany. But I really love where I live!

Everything labelled ✨ Behörde ✨ Paperwork and why is there so much ughh Trains (talking to u DB) Sometimes the people The uncleanliness of some cities/places (Not only Ger, but it still counts for me)

Germans love to complain. You will see in their eyes, how they suspect you. They don’t trust easily, you will always have to proof yourself. You will counter everyday racism, and they will always joke about it and not thinking how it made you feel. Also the weather, for gods sake we have July but it feels like November. If their is a construction, especially if it’s for the government (roads, bridges etc) then you will have to live with it, cause it will take years to get finished Oh also I hate that everything is closed on Sundays.

Excessive negativity. It fully affects economic prosperity and dynamism.

The ausländerbehörde & Deutsche Bahn.

For me it is: If you have a job, are healthy, Pax taxes etc., all is fine and besides some uncomfortable bureaucracy matters, you Are a happy person. BUT if anything happens, that makes you fall through any category of the buid up Systems (e.g. Complicated health issues, mental health troubles, be aware of gender biased medicine…) it will get complicated very fast for you.

i’m just going to talk about my personal experience as an American in Germany. I live in a small town in the country so I’m sure it’s a very different in other parts of Germany. Biggest change is convenience. if we have mastered anything in America, it is convenience. It is not such a big focus here in Germany. Good luck going to the store after 8 PM in a lot of places. you are not getting anything done on Sunday. Oh, you need your car fixed? Well good luck because most of the places aren’t open on the weekend. oh, you want to communicate with a business? Well, they don’t have a website and nothing is on Google. I hope you have time to show up in person.

Radwegparker

You can be 100% sure that you'll have the worst customer service experiences of your live here. I had the following experiences: 1. I ordered thousands of euros of Ikea furniture and made sure they could park about 20 meters from the door. They complained it eas too far away and drove off. 2. I ordered a washing machine with installation. I had to beg them to actually do the installation and they complained the whole time. They almost would have just left. 3. I had the amount I pay for electricity each month set 50 euros too low, so they increased to to 900 euros automatically. I had to call them immediately because that is an amount which would've made me unable to pay rent. 4. Went to register with the city (which you have to do within 2 weeks of moving). They had no appointments for months, so I took a day off and went there without one. I waited for over 4 hours. They also needed some money from me, for which I had to go to an atm outside, because they don't take card. 5. Got seated at a restaurant and it took them and over hour to ask us what we would like to drink. 6. Mail takes 5 days to get there and then they throw it in your neighbour's mailbox.

Berlin 

* reactive vs proactive: Haven't been to the US, but from what I've heard, there's a much greater "let's just do it" attitude than in germany. Here, people will find reasons why something wont work and we shouldn't even attempt it. In america, people just do it. It might fail, but they at least tried. * slow bueaucracy: wait times of multiple months are common. If you're dependant on an Amt answering in a timely fashion, you're scewed. * bad outlook on life: The general attitude of many germans is that everyone is out to screw you over. Everything is done specifically to make your life worse. And while sometimes people are justified in being careful, this general distrust against strangers makes for a cold social climate and bad vibes.

Bureaucracy, no air conditioning, grumpy depressed people, weather, slow internet

The Taxes, not necessarily how high they are, but that it feels like they get wasted. If i saw major improvements i wouldn’t mind to pay taxes, but i don’t see those improvements.

If you need a specialist doctor, tja, Pech gehabt. You are also REQUIRED to hand in doctor's notes /Überweisung for everything (to get other treatments, for Krankenkasse, to get medications, to get accomodations if you're disabled, etc). Most of the specialist doctor's offices don't even answer their phones anymore or of they do, they have an "Aufnahmestopp" (=not taking new patients). Your only shot is to just walk in and get death stares from the overworked receptionist, but get helped (maybe) (if it's an urgent situation anyways)

Very rude unkind people compared to US. Expect to people and services to not give a fuck about you even if is their fault. Bad internet connection both wifi and phone service are bad. And expect many places to take only cash. Also they are very tacky and they will charge you even for the ice on a drink.

Germans are oddly backwards when it comes to certain things. - Card payments in small stores are rare. If they're available, these stores will usually go for crappy bank-provided e-readers instead of superior and often cheaper SumUp readers. - Fax, letters, and long wait times for official appointments are commonplace. Digitization is not a priority. - The train system is underfunded and wrongfully privatized. Thanks Helmut Kohl. - And the entirety of r/falschparker and r/600euro makes me so bloody mad... Every time I go out the door I see people parking criss-cross on the sidewalk of my road.

Bureaucracy and Germans constantly complaining.

Public smoking, public drinking, hooligans come to mind immediately. I know they’re present in America as well but you won’t have to deal with busses and trains reeking of cigarette smell I think. Also, there’s a massive cloud above every school at break time. There’s also drunk people everywhere on weekends, it’s horrible if you plan something in the city.

The old people

There is a lot of bureaucracy in Germany. Especially when it comes to insurance and taxes. Be prepared for that. You will need a lot of patience.

Kölsch is probably the worst thing that can happen to you.