The Germans

Shenshen wrote: »

Well, to give a bit of balance, 5 Euros would buy you a very decent bottle of wine in Germany. Or about 2 kilos of chocolates.
Germans do tend to be shocked at prices when they come over here, most things are about double the price.

And when you pay half your income in taxes, you like to think you've given plenty to charity already

most of my German mates would be happy if I gave them a bottle of beer as a present. with Irish people I feel as if I have to spend a massive amount.

bluewolf wrote: »

what
give her a kids bible and let them fcuk off

or rosary beads. it would have pissed off the father no end. He is an atheist who attends church. I agree with a poster here who said that we try to buy love, buy a kid an x box to shut him up. otherwise you might have to talk to him.

I sometimes receive homemade gifts from Germans. here that would be considered scab.

prinz wrote: »

Or it could be they just don't feel the need to effectively 'buy' respect and friendship, or the need to prove themselves to others by spending.

And that has what to do with refusing to chip in a euro or two to a charity collection?
I remember meeting one German girl in Australia, she asked me if the local (free) internet cafe was open. I told her no, but that the one down the road was only a dollar for a half hour, if she wanted to use that instead.

She responded that she wouldnt- she hadnt paid for internet in 6 months and would rather wait until the morning and the free place re opened. Even in the pay net cafes you get two or three of them sitting around the same computer, having went halves on the dollar cost. It is just a bit too much for me. What is the point in coming to visit a foreign country and living a lower standard of living than most people on the dole?

Fuinseog wrote: »

I sometimes receive homemade gifts from Germans. here that would be considered scab.

+1. One of the things I love about the Germans tbh is the general 'down-to-earthedness'. I've gotten the homemade and non-bought gifts too and tbh it means more to me than getting a predictable bought present.. I always think twice about mixing Irish friends with German just two different cultures and attitudes I suppose.

Father Damo wrote: »

And that has what to do with refusing to chip in a euro or two to a charity collection?

Perhaps they have doubts about where the money is going. Perhaps they're not used to charity whip-rounds like tends to happen in Ireland. Just reflecting on it now... I don't recall any of the more public charity collections in Germany, for example I've never seen chuggers, bag-packers in the supermarkets, that kind of thing. I don't know if they do the same with charity collections etc in the workplace. Maybe they prefer to contribute to charity on their own terms in more privacy. I don't like the work collections either, especially when it comes to sponsorship cards and the like. Again ineviatbly there starts some oneupmanship.

Father Damo wrote: »

It is just a bit too much for me. What is the point in coming to visit a foreign country and living a lower standard of living than most people on the dole?

What's a lower standard of living? Not wanting to spend more than €5 on presents for people who you probably don't even like? Waiting for the morning to use a certain internet cafe?

prinz wrote: »

What's a lower standard of living? Not wanting to spend more than €5 on presents for people who you probably don't even like? Waiting for the morning to use a certain internet cafe?

If you are trying to argue that you think there is nothing remotely odd about refusing to use the internet when one wants to use it because it causes one dollar, or 70 European cents,.....like.....really. As for people you dont like, unless you are some sort of gun toting social outcast with dreams of dying in a SWAT shootout having taken out half your office, it is rather unlikely you are going to dislike every single one of your colleagues. It was nothing to do with likes or dislikes- the point is that for a 5 euro limit the whole exercise is meaningless and should have been cancelled altogether. You cannot buy anything giftwrapped that is of any use to an adult for 5 euro. I got a crappy alarm clock that died after a few weeks- tbh at five quid I would have rathered a fiver note and buy a pint out of it.


The typical German backpacker in Australia survived on about 150 euro a week. about 120 euro on hostel rent, 10 dollars for 4 litres of cheap, horrible, high strength wine to be sipped to mild nightly inebriation over the course of a week, and trips to nightclubs that gave a free beer or two on arrival (some of the girls would hunt out some drunk lad to scab a few beers out of). Food consisting of horrible one dollar noodles and daily eurosaver McDonalds deals.

Most Irish lads would spend a Germans weekly entertainment budget in the space of 2 hours, and have an infinitely better time for it. If you are going to have the same weekly budget for your trip to a rich country as you had for your backpacking through Laos there is really no point in coming that far.

Father Damo wrote: »

And that has what to do with refusing to chip in a euro or two to a charity collection?
I remember meeting one German girl in Australia, she asked me if the local (free) internet cafe was open. I told her no, but that the one down the road was only a dollar for a half hour, if she wanted to use that instead.

She responded that she wouldnt- she hadnt paid for internet in 6 months and would rather wait until the morning and the free place re opened. Even in the pay net cafes you get two or three of them sitting around the same computer, having went halves on the dollar cost. It is just a bit too much for me. What is the point in coming to visit a foreign country and living a lower standard of living than most people on the dole?

why pay for something if you can get it for free?


you do not have constant charity collections in a German office where you feel compelled to give something. I only ever give to these things for the sake of a quite life and cos I know the guy asking will take umbrage if I d not. you do however make contributions to a social committee.

aaronjumper wrote: »

The only German interaction I have had is a friend I made on Xbox live.

Aside from that I have not met or interacted with any Germans and so don't have a positive or negative thing to say about them.

I had interactions with a quite pretty but very hairy german lady. I found the whole experience quite positive:D

I've been to germany a few times and i think they are generally quite nice, friendly people. Granted they do have a slight tendency to try and take over the world, (attempt no 3 is fully underway at the moment) but sure nobody is perfect.
I'd go back to Germany no problem. Germans have a bad rep for being boring that is a little bit undeserved in my opinion. They also have a rep for being rather unhelpfull, which is wrong, in my opinion. Their rep for being frugal though is absolutely spot on in my experience.

I will be cheering them on tonight

RVP 11 wrote: »

I will do it for him, he's a racist.:pac:

calling folks racist is not not helpful.maybe he has a point to make and unless he is trolling he will come forward and make it.

Deus Ex Machina wrote: »

I find them a scruffy, violent people. A nation of scruffs. I was hanging out with a few of them in a hotel in Portugal once and when I told them that I had dropped out of college they looked at me quizzically and asked me if that was wise given Ireland's economic situation. A fight almost broke out and the whole situation turned very ugly.

sure there are German scruffs, just like there are here. Ireland seems to be magnet for German hippies.

violent is something they are not. they will talk and reason with you before they fight.

Fuinseog wrote: »

sure there are German scruffs, just like there are here. Ireland seems to be magnet for German hippies.

violent is something they are not. they will talk and reason with you before they fight.

Do you not have the history channel or what?

Shenshen wrote: »

Notice the grammar, the poster was using present tense, not past.

They've been involved in roughly 25 wars in the past 200 years.
They've tried twice to take over the god damn world. TWICE.
They tried to erase another race of people from existence by industrialising and mechanising the murder of millions.
I'm gonna err on the side of caution when people tell me they've changed.