How punctual are Germans for REAL? | Your Inner German
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- Опубликовано: 8 июн 2024
- Germans are punctual. That’s the widespread stereotype, anyway. But is it true? Euromaxx reporter Josephine Günther aims to find out just how punctual the Germans really are on a daily basis. Josephine herself is confronted with her own conscience, her inner German, which scolds and keeps watch. Like an angel and devil in a diabolical dance, she evaluates everything according to typical German standards despite having a few issues with some. So how typically German is a typical German, then?
How punctual are you? Let us know in the comments!
CHAPTERS
00:00 Intro
00:39 At work
02:18 Meeting a friend
03:06 At a party
04:04 At the train station
04:56 Outro
#Germans #GermanVirtues #punctuality
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CREDITS
Host: Josephine Günther
Report: Shaheen Welling
Camera & Edit: Florian Mettke
Supervising Editor: Mirja Viehweger
Special thanks to The Barn Coffee Roasters Berlin
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Развлечения
I worked for a sales office of a German chemical company back in the 90's. The Boss (or his deputy) would open the door at exactly 8am (seriously!!!) and the door was closed at exactly 5pm (seriously!!!). One Friday the Boss even threatened to lock me inside the office for the weekend if I didn't get my butt out in 30 seconds because he intended to see his wife in front of him and not the door he was trying to lock!!! His said (absolutely correctly): "I give you the proper amount of work that challenges you but that you can finish on time. If ever you are unable to, it is MY fault for giving you too much work". One of the hardest but fairest bosses I ever had in my life!!!
Reminds me of a boss I once had in London. I raised the issue with him that I wasn't able to leave the workplace at 5 because there was so much work to do. His response was "I'm not standing by the door stopping you from leaving." He seemed surprised when I found another job and left the service a few months later.
Where can I find such a boss?
Kinda true! Future idea: let’s make an experiment in a way of like „I invited a 100 Germans to see if they are actually punctual“
I try to keep myself punctual. And I don't like to wait for someone either.
A couple of years ago I travelled 5:21 from Cologne to Utrecht NL.
Arriving in time at Cologne Hbf I caught the S-Bahn to Köln - Ehrenfeld. It was not the train that I had planned, but an earlier one that was running late. So arrived at K - Ehrenfeld a bit earlier than planned. There I boarded an ICE train bound for Amsterdam that was 1 hour and 45 minits behind schedule. This was instead of the ICE train that I booked and that was due to leave in about 15 minits. Travelling with Deutsche Bahn is always an adventure.
I remember living in Spain where the trains always ran on time, then going to Germany and getting a bunch of late ones. It really ran against the stereotype.
This is very interesting, since on the other side of the Mediterranean in another relatively relax culture, Turkey, trains are alway on time either. And had a similar experience in Germany and got confused myself.
This has nothing to do with germans being punctual or not. It comes down to outdated railways, damaged trains, not enough workers etc. I dont know what the average german person can do against that.
The challenge is to be punctual without punctual public transport.
trains on time.. but no one else hah
🤣@@ncuco
i grew up in portugal, and as someone with a very pragmatic mind, i had to learn to be late, because being on time in portugal just means waiting longer. If they even show up. Being 1h late in portugal is usually met with a "its fine, we're all here now right? relax, enjoy"
I'm Pennsylvania Dutch (German) and in my family at least, our house clocks were set 15 minutes ahead to minimize being late.
I am surprised to hear that German trains often do not run on time. I'm guessing that most Germans are not very happy about that! 🤬😡😫
Tbh it's f**** annoying! And one of the best starters for smalltalk, complaining how the trains were late again. Would our goverment(s) not have decided the Deutsche Bahn, the company running national train transportation should be privatized and after that run everything with as little investments as possible to make it look attractive for investors, we would have a completely outdated and wreck public transportation system now.
@@kaiser5910 I know of a German (Austrian) who kept the trains on time.
You are guessing totally right! The Deutsche Bahn sucks.
We are indeed not happy.
My German ancestors (Leinberger) influenced my desire to always be punctual. When they immigrated to the USA in 1735 the Americans changed our last name to the phonetic English. I am retired now, but I was always twenty to thirty minutes early for work and also worked later, as needed. Even now, I like to be early to appointments. In my opinion it is a good habit!
How is working more, a virtue?
@@val-schaeffer1117 I agree with your comment. I live in the United States where employers do not respect their employees like in other countries! So, if you do not work extra hours, employers in this country are more likely to fire you. It's a sad situation and I'm glad that I am retired!
@@tomlineberger And after doing already overtime, you are still expected to go together for drinks and smile smile smile.
@@krollpeter Genau! :)
I am from Denmark and my husband is from Germany. Honestly, I noticed I am way more punctual than my husband in both work, private, and public contexts. In fact, Danes tend to arrive 10-20 minutes earlier for important business meetings and I bet most of us would get angry or frustrated if the train is 20-30 minutes late in Germany. I am at least, while my husband is just accepting it lol.
Not German but Dutch friend, we were invited to a party where the host was Spanish (so I am), I had spent the day with my friend and the party was let’s say at 20:00 so closer to 19:00 my friend said, okay we have to get going to be on time. I agreed but with no stress (and I was driving), traffic jam and stuff so we were getting “late” as in closer to 21:00, my friend was all freaked out, shouting in anger and swearing at me for my belated cultural mindset… we arrive at the party just to be the first ones, indeed food and other stuff still being prepared and the following guests to arrive almost 2 hours after our arrival. My Dutch friend had to understand the concept of Spanish time 😂.
Loved the discussions with the inner German conscience! 😊
Great one ... !😊
I absolutely hate it when someone else is making me wait.
That is why i am NEVER late to anything. If i am late i am probably dead
I grew up doing theater as a kid. Ontime meant 15 minutes early. Now in my 50s, I'm just starting to learn to be a little bit more "relaxed" and show up 2-3 minutes early, except for work, where I look to get their 10 minutes early so I can relax a little before clocking in.
I love being on time. It shows respect and values someone's time.
About the trains in Germany always (expected to be on time): I was visiting Germany and was catching an U-Bahn (subway). The time display counted down until the train was expected to arrive ... NOW. I could see the train approaching down the tracks, only a few hundred meters away, and it came to to a stop at the platform right after. But - for those brief seconds - there was visible and audible consternation amongst the people on the platform that the train had not arrived on time.
I'm very German. I hate it when I have to wait for others, they waste my time. I could have had an espresso while I waited!😡
Unpunctuality is disrespectful to others!🤷♂️
Arnoux!
@@sisuguillam5109 Sisuuuuuuuu 🤗
@@arnodobler1096 🥰 Schönes Wochenende, lieber Arno! Hoffe Du hast Pläne (Kaffee und Kuchen; Sonne genießen; Ausschlafen).
@@sisuguillam5109 In umgekehrter Reihenfolge! Und du? Schönes WE
@@arnodobler1096 Wäsche waschen und auf Vorstellungsgespräch vorbereiten!
Can I just say, that train problem is a fairly recent one.
While I have German ancestry my desire to be time is driven more by my father’s time in the Air Force than ancestry. “If you’re 5 minutes early you’re on time. If you’re on time you’re late.” Or put more simplistically, “Be standing tall” at the designated time. If you’re not going to make it, or there’s a good chance you won’t make it let others know ASAP.
my question is, if you arrived late to work or meeting because the train or bus, is still apologized by colleague or boss?
I am two generations removed from steerage (but my immigrant paternal grandsire married a local, as did my father). But I do try to be on time, whether for court or for Mass or for whatever, and I hate being late. But I am rather forgiving of my priest when his running late was due to his getting delayed hearing confessions.
Being on time is not as efficient as you might think, it might be just a cultural thing in Germany but in other countries people really enjoy the comfort and flexibility of not having to worry about time
Being on time is a thing of respect. So: 5 minuten for der Zeit ....
It seems that there are two epitomes of punctuality in the world: the Germans or the railway. «Or»! Not «and»!
German punctuality is relative. My friends from Latin America are shocked how punctual Germans are. My friends from East Asia are shocked how unpunctual Germans are.
wow... the reporter is goregous. Love her face type!
Filipino Time be like:
Meet me at 8:00.
Arrives at 10:00 and still okay.
der Zug: No
Oh yes we are - our trains however....
Ich bin Deutsche (Mein Vater war Kubaner).. Ich bin üblicherweise 10-15 Minuten zu früh. Wenn es sich um Einladungen handelt, warte ich dann eben vor der Tür.
Well, you should be on time for work regardless of the culture. With family and leisure, it’s different.
Apparently their trains did not get the memo.
💔
Of course everyone is different. Not each and every German is punctual. But my experience is, that they are more likely to be punctual and talk more about punctuality than many other nationalities. I would, therefore, consider punctuality as a stereotype but not as a cliché.
And the trains are indeed not punctual at all. But everyone's constantly complaining about it - smalltalk topic number one!
I am definitely more punctual than the Deutsche Bahn 😅
Not the Germans I know!! Lol!!
I am usually on time and I am not German. lol
ich hasse unpünktliche menschen. wenn es freundschaftliche kontakte sind und die sind auch nur 1 minute zu spät, mache ich mir schon sorgen, ob etwas passiert ist :)
aber bezüglich bahn:
verspätung der bahn ist auch typisch deutsch. ich frage mich aber ständig, warum die verspätung sein muss. letzte woche im ICE fuhr dieser ganz normal immer on time an jedem bahnhof (ich saß drin). und auf einmal stand in der online-verfolgung "35 Minuten verspätung". wir standen mit dem ice ohne grund in erfurt für 35 minuten, obwohl alles zuvor pünktlich war. mein zug (nach münchen) stand am gleis, gegenüber am gleis fuhr ein anderer ICE nach münchen ein und fuhr vor uns weiter (er hatte keine verspätung). in münchen sodann habe ich natürlich meinen anschlusszug verpasst (münchen hbf ist auch ein sch... bahnhof - weite wege)
Das kommt mir bekannt vor. Aber ich war die Tage tatsächlich das erste Mal in meinem Leben mit einem ICE zu früh dran. Und das war, als gefühlt das halbe Land geflutet war. Da, wo die eine solide Ausrede hätten, kam der ICE mal zu früh an, auf der gesamten Strecke von Niedersachsen nach Bayern. Das muss mir mal einer erklären 😂 Glitch in der Matrix oder so
Die Verzögerungen und Ausfälle sind in ganz großen Teilen der genialen Idee zu verdanken, das die Bahn privatisiert werden sollte und gewinn abwerfen muss. Wenn der einzige Gewinn, den die Bahn liefern müsste, pünktlich und angenehme Beförderung wäre, wäre das ganz was anderes.
Ohne Grund wird es ja wohl nicht gewesen sein. Entweder musste etwas am Zug untersucht werden (bspw. eine Flachstelle) oder man musste auf verspätetes Personal warten oder das vorhandene Personal musste seine Arbeitsschutzpause durchziehen. Es kann so viele Gründe geben.
DB answers: ...thank you for your patience.
Germans i know are not on time.. Realy strange thing for me to understand…
I think Germans secretly like the trains being late. That way they get to complain about how terribly awful DB is while still believing it's the best train system in the world.
Josephine is lovely 😍
I take pride in being punctual. And communicating my eta if it changes more than 10 minutes.
That said, a soon as you rely on public transport, all bets are off.
While this notion these days usually only counts for ppl past the mid-age and civil servants, others being way more relaxed 😡 , my friend's prof lambasted him for entering the room 2 minutes early, he had to wait for exactly 2 minutes outside till he was allowed in.
Also, our grandmother made us set all clocks 5 minutes earlier 😅
Thats said, German trains, the new privatized post, any plumbers and the lime...useless!
Ñ falo inglês.
yeah unfortunately DB exist in this country 😄
I want to be honest: the unpunctuality of the trains is a damn, un-German catastrophe! Where does she come from? It is the consequence of DB's attempted privatization, the turbo-capitalist derailment of an institution that must exist for the general public and not for the private interests of a few investors!
By the way, the saying goes: “Fünf Minuten vor der Zeit ist des Deutschen Höflichkeit! Five minutes ahead of time is German politeness!”
Not all true. My German teacher always arrive 5-10 mins late. I arrive 5-10 mins earlier and ended up waiting up to 20 mins. So in the next classes i also arrive 10 mins late. It is unacceptable and yet you can hear them saying "kein Stress, alles Gut" so it is kinda vague whether punctuality in Germany is real or just a cliché.
Das akademische Viertel...
I've been late once in the last 10 years. In my opinion, that was one time too many. Being on time is a matter of respect for others.
There was only one other occasion where I had to cancel the appointment completely. I had planned about 90 minutes extra for the journey, but the road was blocked and I couldn't get out of the traffic jam. It took another 3 hours to get out of there and then I drove back home. I canceled the meeting 2 hours before the appointment, so I wasn't late.
I guess, that's typical German
😉
And of course I don't take the train. Never.
Germans are really good at spreading positive stereotypes about themselves. Even negative ones are twisted as positives, like rudeness = directness.
Germans are incredible, but well they are still human beings.
What's punctuality, we don't know
Just ride Deutsche Bahn a few times and you'll see if Germans are actually punctual.
So what exactly has a bad infrastructure to do with the average german mindset? Sure you can tell the awesome leaders to invest in a better railsystem. But thats about it.
Both Germany and Japan have this stereotype. But it's also true that both countries were deprived of having major armed forces for half a century, and that their governments were thereby able to invest more heavily in infrastructure in a social democratic way - perhaps this, rather than culture, might have a little something to do with it.
I don't see why good social services would make people more concerned with showing up for appointments on time.
@HeadsFullOfEyeballs The point is that the stereotype largely owes to people's public transport experience, whereas when it comes to appointments the Germans and Japanese are no more punctual than most developed nations.
German people are punctual and even arriving often ahead of time.
Their trains, though, are not punctual!
Excellent program. Allow me a question, the journalist's sweater is beautiful. Where can I get it?🫣😍
Idk why the Germans let their tax dollars be wasted on a joke like DW?!
Das Problem ist doch, das die USAler, die sich da immer so drüber wundern, sicher auch nicht unpünktlich zur Arbeit kommen oder zum Meeting mit ihrem Boss. Nur bei "Freunden" da sieht man es anders, die sind eben einfach nicht soviel Wert wie die heilige Arbeit, und deren Zeit kann man lustig verschwenden in dem man sie warten lässt.
Letztlich finde ich diese Einstellung nur absolut zum Kotzen und kann auf solche "Freunde" gerne verzichten, denn im Endeffekt ist das einfach nur respektlos.
Germans always punctual? 🤔 Well.. who knew that Germans can be so funny as well? 😍😍😄
Brits are hardly on time.
Germans are late just as often as everyone else. Germans just talk about punctuality a lot. Thats my experience anyway.
Not definitely as indians😂
Yes, Germans are punctual. It's ingrained in the culture. One of the Prussian virtues.
speak for yourself.
Germany ≠ Prussia. Prussia existed mostly on the northern half of today's Germany and the southern parts have a totally different culture and were rather opposed to Prussia.
Being from Schleswig-Holstein I also do not identify with "prussian values".@@Tspetri
@@Tspetri
Sorry, but Lower-Saxony, Bremen, Hamburg aren't really Prussian...but Brandenburg etc was.. .
@@saba1030 yes, you're both right, it's really mostly the North-East. But my point is that people equate Germany to Prussia a lot of times while most of the country has a complete different mentality and culture.
The Germany could donate 3,000,000 Germans aged 16 to 65 to Zelenski as a volunteer population?
??
Pity nobody will donate a few brain cells to you
I am German but from the Rhineland. Its not so prussian. We have the academical quarter. It is very common. s.t.: sine tempore- on time. c.t. cum tempore- with time- a quarter later. Business meetings and appointments are on time. Friends and family c.t. and in university (where it comes from) or if it is unclear you ask. I like it.