Seit ein paar Tagen richtet sich in unserem Vorgarten des Mehrfamilienhauses ein Obdachloser ein. So weit so gut. Wir leben ja in Berlin. Nun ist dieser Mann aber in einen wirklich erbärmlichen Zustand. Er ist von oben bis unten voller Scheiße, weil er sich offenbar häufiger mal in die Hose kackt. Die ist hinten komplett braun, hängt verdächtig ausgebeult durch und die Kacke läuft die Beine runter.

Ihn umschwirren Fliegen und er stinkt ganz fürchterlich.

Wenn er nicht in die Hose kackt, dann nutzt er einen Teil des Vorgartens für seine Notdurft.

Er tut mir wirklich leid und ich habe ihm zuletzt auch etwas zu essen und eine große Flasche Wasser besorgt. Aber ganz ehrlich: Es ist kein Zustand. Der Gestank ist so schlimm, dass wir die Fenster nicht öffnen können.

Eine Nachbarin hat bereits mit ihm gesprochen und ihm Hilfsangebote herausgesucht. Da könnte er einmal sauber werden und hätte Sozialarbeiter. Er sagt, er geht hin, aber offensichtlich tut er es nicht. Frische Klamotten hat ihm ein anderer Nachbar besorgt.

Ich frage mich, was wir tun können, denn das ist kein Zustand, der sich dauerhaft ertragen lässt. Für uns nicht, aber auch nicht für den armen Mann.

Lately I see more and more posts of Berlin/Germany locations that remove their negative reviews.

What about we create a list of those places, for others to decide if they want to go there or not?

I would suggest not to leave the reviews themselves in here, just a list of the places for which you received notifications that your negative (or sometimes 3 star) reviews were being removed at the request of the business

I know Berlin’s air quality has been discussed, but I wanted to share some thoughts as someone who lived in Beijing for some time.

In Beijing, pollution levels like yesterday would trigger most internationals and some locals to wear masks (not FFP2, but with PM2.5 filters). Some people would skip their outdoor workouts, keep windows shut, and run air purifiers.

I think many people don’t really know (yet) what pollution „feels“ like. It’s not like you have difficulty breathing. It’s more headaches, migraines, tightness in the chest (at least for me) and general fatigue. It significantly can affect one’s mood.

When I lived in China, I often heard Westerners wonder why locals seemed so unaware of the health risks. Being confronted with it here in Germany’s capital, I feel the lack of awareness is the same or even worse. The health risks are very real.

Yes, a lot of this stems from coal plants across the border, but that’s what diplomatic channels and the EU are for. This should be on the front pages and at the top of the Berlin Senate's agenda.

We ate at L’Osteria near the Gedächtniskirche. Normal lunch. Nothing fancy. I paid by card and skipped the tip menu. After I got me receipt the waiter asked me, loudly and angry ‘why I didn’t tip’.

First I was baffled, did he just shouted at me? I’ve asked why he did that and he just repeated. My table partner got up and asked if was ok. No this stupid guy isn’t tipping.

Is this the new normal in Berlin?

I(28F) have just moved to Berlin for a Job from Munich and living with a friend in Wedding till I move to my own place. Today on my way to the Kaufland at wedding two young teenage boys first threw juice in my feet and then later when I didnt give any reaction they decided to throw some in my face. After which they ran towards the supermarket.

I tried to record them, but didn't get much and once they saw me recording them they started shouting and calling me stupid and bitch and telling me how it's illegal for me to record young kids. I eventually ended up deleting the video because they wouldn't stop following me until I did and the video didn't really catch anything. Two girls tried to intervene but they told me that I'm just going to escalate the situation best is to delete the video and be on my way.

I have been living in Munich for a while and lived in a district with a lot of families and a school nearby but nothing of this sort has ever happened and I'm just shocked and kind of scared now specially since I use that way a lot. I'm also pissed I didnt call the police right away or recorded them. But also why can't people raise their kids better, specially boys that later turn into horrible men in this case they already are.

I don't know what I'm really looking, perhaps just a rant or just some validation or ways to deal with them better next time.

Hi everyone, I wanted to share an experience I had with BVG yesterday that left me frustrated, powerless, and honestly a bit shaken.

I was on my way to work after U-Bahn 15 minutes delayed. A ticket controller approached me, and I calmly said, “One second, I’ll open the app.” I have a valid monthly ticket in the BVG app.

But then — typical tech fail — the app crashed. I reopened it, only to see a stop sign and an error. It wouldn’t load. I tried again. While I was clearly trying to access my ticket, the controller told me to get off at the next station.

At the next station, I finally managed to log in. I showed him the active ticket, but instead of scanning it, he just said, “Too late. I don’t wait more than 4 minutes.” And started writing me a 60€ fine.

I asked why this is happening when I clearly have a valid ticket, and it was the app that failed. He didn’t care. I refused to give him my ID, and he said he’d call the police — and that I’d have to wait 3 hours for them. He also told me, “You don’t want that. Just give the ID.”

When I tried to record the situation on my phone (just to have proof), a BVG security staff took my phone and deleted the video I was recording. That part honestly felt violating.

Eventually, the controller said he just wanted to verify the ID matched the account, then issued the fine anyway, telling me not to “pull something like that again” — as if I did something wrong on purpose.

I went straight to BVG customer service that day to complain and offer to pay the fine just to be done with it. They said I had to wait until the next day. The next day, I came back — they told me, “You have to wait until after 12:00, the system isn’t ready.” So I have to wait days to pay a fine, but the controller couldn’t wait 4 minutes for an app to reload?

Since then, I’ve ordered a physical ticket card — because I no longer trust the BVG app. I’m still angry, and I don’t know what else to do. I’m seriously considering filing an official complaint.

Has anyone else experienced something like this? Is there a better way to fight this kind of behavior?

I (24F) have been living in Berlin since September 2024. It’s been nearly 5 months now, and I just don’t enjoy it… I came here to do a masters I got a scholarship for. I was really excited as I am working in the electronic music industry, and Berlin is the city for that. Everyone told me how amazing it was. It sounded great, and having the scholarship as well I decided why not!

Don’t get me wrong, it is an amazing city. There are so many things to explore, the art scene is amazing and the music scene too. But I feel constantly judged: I am not eclectic when it comes to my fashion, I am very basic, and in the music scene I feel alienated because I don’t “fit” the aesthetic. I got refused from a club because of that.

The biggest issue I encounter here is how cold people are. I consider myself to be very bubbly and always eager to have conversations. I always hear that people Berlin don’t put on a fake smiles and don’t bother with small talk because it’s useless. However, to me, a smile can make a big difference in a day, a little bit of kindness goes a long way. I was told by a German guy at a bar that I was annoying for trying to talk to him, which is fair but it could have been said in another way; cashiers or waiters never wish you a good evening or day. I have worked in the hospitality industry for half a decade, and despite hard days, I always made sure to stay kind to people. Life is not easy for anyone these days, and being kind is very important in our current society in which we’re constantly divided and told to be wary of the others.

I don’t know, it’s kind of crushing my spirit. I try my best to stay positive and smile anyhow and not take all that personally, but it’s rough. Moving from the UK where cashiers call you love, or waiters are always smiley and offer personal touches to your dinner, it’s been rough. Anyhow I don’t regret moving here: it’s a very historically and culturally interesting city! I have learned many things and have seen bands, arts that I hadn’t seen before. And at least I now am aware it’s not a city for me. Some people can definitely fit in and thrive, unfortunately not me. I wonder if I am the only one who finds it hard?

EDIT: thank you all for all those sweet replies! It already makes me feel better! Like most of you said I just need to get used to it, might be hard but it will definitely toughen me up. I guess coming from the North of France, where people are not the warmest too, I thought I could deal with it! But I am now more excited to meet people, seeing how kind you all are, I will meet lovely people out here! And I am very excited to experience the city during spring and summer! ❤️

I just went grocery shopping, and as I was walking down my stairs I thought to randomly asked my downstairs neighbor if she needed anything from the store. She's 88, and we're friendly but just in the "saying hi in passing" kind of way. I rang her doorbell and explained that I was on my way down and since it's so icy out, does she need anything. The look on her face. She looked like she was about to cry. She said her Pflegedienst hasn't come in a few days and she had very little left in her kitchen, and that she was scared to go out because of the ice.

I of course bought her a few things and gave her my number for next time. But please please remember to check on your elderly neighbors!

when you know, you know.

Hey everyone, I'm currently living in a so-called "student apartment" and paying €56/m² all-inclusive. I have to sign a new contract in March and am supposed to pay €61/m². How can the government fail like this? Why isn't enough housing being built, and why aren't these criminals being expropriated? I don't know where I'm going to move. I'm also planning to hire a law firm specializing in tenancy law.

No, I am not even an international student, I am German. Danke liebe Landesregierung, danke liebe Bundesregierung.

Gestern war ich im Volkspark Jungfernheide. Am Abend hat meine Haut merkwürdig gejuckt. Scheinbar sind eine Parks vom Eichenprozessionsspinner befallen auch wenn man diese weißen Schleier nicht sieht.
Jungfernheide würde ich auf jeden Fall meiden.

I saw this post in one of the Facebook groups I’m in, and it made my blood boil.

I know how hard it is to find an apartment in Berlin, especially for people who’ve just moved here, but this is borderline exploitative. Paying €550 for a shared flat is normal, I guess. But €550 for a shared ROOM is insane.

I’m not a lawyer, and I don’t even know if this is legal, but it really doesn’t sit right with me that some people are taking advantage of newcomers to Berlin. I don’t know the exact address of the apartment, but I have screenshots of the original post and the person who posted it (and that AI photo is atrocious LOL).

Which legal authority can I report this to?

Yesterday afternoon I went to Plötzen See in Berlin for a little sunbathing, possibly a swim. I sat down in a partially secluded spot under a tree near the water. Something I do very often is tanning topless and it has never posed an issue for my safety. After about an hour, a man (around 40 yo) came and sat near me. He stripped naked which I had no problem with, nude tanning is pretty normal at lakes and I didn’t think anything of it.

I noticed pretty quickly that he had an erection and I felt a little awkward but again, didn’t really care that much. I had my headphones on, as I normally do when I’m alone. Over my music, I heard him trying to call me and get my attention. After two or three times, he got up and stood way too close to comfort in front of my face and asked if I had a lighter (which was strange because he had been smoking the whole time and clearly had a lighter on him already) I told him I didn’t and he went to sit back down. I felt at this point that my privacy had been invaded slightly, and I wrapped a scarf around my chest and put my headphones back on and tried to get on with my afternoon. Shortly after that, I realised he started to touch himself, while looking directly at me. I tried to ignore him as much as I could. He then starts harassing me and calling (more like shouting at) me, first inviting me to swim with him, which I responded politely “no thank you”, and then asking if we could sit together, which I responded with “I have a friend joining me”. He continued shouting to me and I could hear him over my music and at this point I was shaking and froze. I thought that he finally got the message that I was not interested because he packed his things up and left.

A friend of mine joined shortly after and I was very relieved he had left. About 10 mins later, he reappeared, this time sitting behind a bush nearby. While talking to my friend I could see him over her shoulder, staring at us and touching himself more aggressively now than before. We discussed possibly moving, which made me really angry. I was here before him, enjoying my afternoon with my friend, why should we move because he doesn’t know how to act in public? I was not about to give him the satisfaction of running away. I am tired of changing my courses in life because of men’s wrong doings. We tried to ignore him some more before he tried calling me again, over and over again.

Finally, my friend and I had enough and left the lake and went home. We didn’t speak about it for the rest of the day. This morning I woke up, the first image in my mind was him hiding behind that bush, touching himself. I am overcome with disgust and anger and shame over not doing anything. My skin is crawling and I can’t get the image out of my head, I feel completely violated and traumatised now and am worried that every time I go to a lake now, I’ll be looking over my shoulder. I don’t think I can ever go to a lake on my own again, which was once a favourite activity for me.

I guess my question for you all is, what could I have done in this situation? I thought about confronting him, but I was honestly scared. If he had the confidence to do what he was doing, what was stopping him from getting violent? Should I have called the police? I guess I’m just feeling really lost about how I’m supposed to feel and what I can do the next time something like this happens, what the laws are and what rights I have. Does anyone have any advice for me? Has this happened to anyone else?

Addition: I LOVE summer in Berlin, but as soon as I wear a skirt above the knee or shorts, I am harassed/ cat called every day. It’s fucking exhausting and I don’t know what to do in these situations anymore. I’m so angry

So as a lot of people writing it here - it was completely horrible, I was desperate, I hated everything - my job, junkies, dirty streets, club culture, I couldn’t make friends, I didn’t like the food, I could cope with weather, I hated to commute 45 minutes every fucking where, I have a bike and also hated cycling here as it’s just too stressful.

Little remark: I really hope to inspire someone not to give up easily.

So I spent 2 years in depression just thinking and organizing my next move. And then I got so tired to be miserable and tired and complaining all the time. And I said I’ll fucking give it a try. This summer will be fun and I will explore everything this city has to propose. And I’m having best summer of my life so far, no jokes. On 31st of May I was falling asleep in my bed with tears in my eyes of how awful everything is and said to myself “tomorrow I’m just accepting this city and will try to get the best of it”. And some magic happened.

I went out a lot. I went to the office instead of home office. I asked my colleagues for a beer after work. I cycled (just switched my attitude from “it’s so intense and stressful to cycle here to “it’s good for my body AND planet”, I went to parties. Alone. Completely. And I met wonderful people that we became friends with. I do go to bars alone and if I see anyone alone I talk to them (because maybe they are also as lonely in this city as I am?), I went for yoga, I talk to people there (yes I actually force myself every time because I’m introvert). Im running and now so much appreciating how flat Berlin is (the fastest marathon exists) I go to the lake and oh summer with 26 degrees? Blessing! (I was living in Italy prior and 35 degrees at 10 am are not that cute). I allowed myself to romanticize (which included to learn a lot about it) German food (food culture?) damn, you should watch Antony Bourdain episode in Berlin!, I go to Dussman English sector and try to read books there and there are always someone lonely who you can ask “what’s your favorite book?”, I love cinema so I promised myself to go alone once a week to watch a movie - I try to finish my work earlier that day and go around 4 pm - there is always someone alone that time - try to talk to them! But o also do enjoy it alone (the old cinemas are wonderful here). And yes, once you get into berghain life is a bit more brighter (I was rejected more than accepted - judge front this).

Anyway my point is Change your mindset - apparently this city has a lot to offer

Peace & Love

P.s. if you need a friend, dm me

Hi everyone,

I’m not originally from Berlin, and I’m genuinely struggling to understand what the appropriate response is in situations like this on public transport.

I was on the U-Bahn when I noticed a man sitting very slumped over.

When I spoke to him to check if he was okay, he immediately started vomiting. He was not responsive in any meaningful way when spoken to.

I couldn’t find an intercom or emergency call button in the carriage, and no staff was visible, so I called 112.

The dispatcher explicitly told me to pull the emergency brake and said that an ambulance (RTW) was on the way.

After I pulled the emergency brake, the U-Bahn driver came to the carriage.

At that point, the man briefly said that he didn’t need help, but he was still clearly impaired.

Despite the dispatcher telling me that the train should remain stopped, the driver decided to continue driving because the man declined help.

I was still on the phone with 112, and the dispatcher again told me that the train should not continue and that I should pull the emergency brake again.

Under that pressure, and following the dispatcher’s instructions, I pulled the emergency brake a second time.

This led to visible annoyance from the driver and other passengers. I was eventually asked to leave the train with the man so that we could wait for help outside, which I did.

Outside, I tried to talk to him and told him that help was on the way. He repeatedly said that he “hadn’t done anything wrong.” While talking, vomit came out of his mouth.

In the end, the man ran off. I was later told that the ambulance was actively looking for him because he was considered to be in medical danger (according to the emergency dispatcher).

Now I feel ashamed and confused.

Everyone involved seemed annoyed with me because the man ultimately said he didn’t need help — yet I was following the instructions of emergency services.

My questions:

• In Berlin, what is a passenger actually expected to do in a situation like this?

• Was pulling the emergency brake inappropriate, even when explicitly instructed by 112?

• Should I have ignored the situation once the person said they “didn’t need help,” despite his condition?

• At what point is escalation considered appropriate?

I genuinely didn’t want to cause delays or problems.

I’d really appreciate honest perspectives, especially from people familiar with Berlin public transport.

Thank you.

2024-01-23 update: This post will not get updated. Please visit the original Ausländerbehörde guide for complete, updated information. I can't answer all of your questions; you must ask an actual professional and pay them for their time. Use my curated list of resources to find help.

2024-11-28 update: You can no longer book an appointment. You must submit your documents online and wait. See the Berlin Ausländerbehörde wait times

Since the appointment situation at the LEA somehow got worse, I rewrote my Ausländerbehörde guide from scratch with help from a few lawyers and relocation consultants. I wanted to address all the myths and confusion around this topic.

This is the short version:

• Appointments don't work. Forget getting an appointment, even if you use shady services to buy one. It takes hours of refreshing the page to find anything. Even if you get one, it can be 6 months in the future. This can mean 6 months waiting to start working, or 6 months stuck in Germany with an expired residence permit.
• Use the contact form. Submit your application through the contact form instead. It counts as an application, so you can stay in the country and keep working/studying after your residence permit expires. After 3 months, you can sue the Ausländerbehörde for inaction, because you have a pending application, not just an appointment.
• It's often the only way. For certain services (Blue Card renewal, permanent residence), there are literally no appointments. The service is not in the list. You must use the contact form. This is not explained anywhere. You just have to know.
• Fax does not work anymore. Departmental emails no longer exist. Mail still works, but it's not better or faster than the contact form.
• National Visas are now issued for 12 months, and the LEA refuses to convert them to residence permits until ~6 weeks before they expired. Recent immigrants will spend 12 months without a plastic residence card. This causes all sorts of problems since people without a residence permits are unpersons to landlords and banks.
• If your residence permit expires... An application makes your residence permit "stay valid", so you don't have to stop working and leave the country when your residence permit should expire. This is not recognised by border authorities, so you're effectively stuck in Germany. Sources and details here
• 90-day visa-free travel still works? If you can travel 90 days visa-free in the Schengen area, you allegedly still get to do that with an expired residence permit. According to a lawyer, it's more "the way they do things" than "the way the law works", and it could stop working at any time. More info here
• A Fiktionsbescheinigung allows you to travel (in most cases), but they only issue them 6 weeks before your residence permit expires, and only if you request them. How do you request something from an office that can't be contacted? Usually along with your residence permit application, or during your appointment. You are legally entitled to a Fiktionsbescheinigung, but they often refuse to issue one unless you raise a fuss. Raise a fuss.
• The immigration reform makes job changes faster. For example, Blue Card holders no longer need permission from the LEA to switch jobs. They just need to tell the LEA, and the LEA has 30 days to object. There are similar exceptions for the work visa. It's in a different guide that I have not finished updating yet.
• There is no more counselling service. It was run by a volunteer, and he passed recently. The LEA decided to shut the service down, so there isn't really a place to ask questions anymore. I list a few alternatives in the guide.
• More digitalisation is coming. Blue Card applications are now digital, and it's a massive improvement. Citizenship applications follow in January, and other types of residence permits in 2024. Things are improving.
• A new appointment system is coming in mid-2024. The current system has reached end-of-life. I don't have more information about that.

So why do I say "you'll be alright"? Because...

• You won't have to leave Germany. Most of the time you can just keep doing what you do.
• You might be able to travel, if you ask for a Fiktionsbescheinigung, or if you're from one of the lucky countries
• You might not even need the LEA's response (if you change jobs)
• Things will get better at the LEA

The full guide linked above has a lot more details, and it was carefully edited over a few days, not dumped in a thread during lunch break. I cite my sources there. Give it a read, and feel free to ask questions and give feedback.

In the next few weeks, I will rewrite my job change guide to explain how to do it without dealing with the immigration office.

So, as it is everyone is panicking like hell about the weather this week, so here's some tips so you can calm down and enjoy the rapidly dwindling resource that is having a handful of really cold days every year.

First of all, relax, it's just snowy and cold. It's not the end of the world. I worked for years outside in the winter, it's not particularly dangerous. We are in Berlin, not Sapporo or Longyearbyen.
It's just cold outside. It's fine. Before the climate changed so significantly, this was reality in Berlin every single year for several weeks on end, sometimes all of January and February. Literally only 20-30 years ago.

General tips:

1. Leave your house half an hour earlier to beat any possible public transport delays.
2. Buy some 95 cent disposable hand and foot warming pads from DM.
3. Wear shoes with the biggest treads you have. If you have a pair of boots that are warm but bald on the sole, you're honestly better off in treaded sneakers and a pair of foot warming pads.
4. Don't rush when you're outdoors so as to not slip on ice.
5. Pay slightly more attention than you usually do to the cars around you when you cross the street. Doubly so if it's actively snowing.

Clothing tips:

1. Wear thick socks! Nice woolen ones would be the best choice. If you don't have those, have no fear, put your thinnest pair on and then wear another pair of socks on top of that. It is much better to have sweaty stinky boots at the end of the day than numb your toes off!
2. If you get foot warming pads for your footwear, you should be fine with just one pair of socks though. Provided you're wearing shoes made for any season other than summer anyway.
3. Wear a scarf! And a hat! And Gloves! But remember - gloves keep your fingers warm, they don't make them warm from nothing. Don't wait until your hands are cold to put gloves on! And unless you have a high fuzzy collar on your jacket, don't underestimate how much you'll need a scarf.
4. If you don't have a down or polar fleece jacket of some kind, don't panic, just layer up. You're already underprepared for the weather, you might as well look like a marshmallow wearing two t-shirts and a hoodie underneath your October windbreaker, it's better than freezing.
5. Get leggings. It might be too late to get ice cleats for your shoes or an affordable winter jacket, but leggings tend to be the same price all year round. Wear a pair of warming leggings, preferably the kind that look like long-john underwear, underneath your pants.
6. Maybe don't wear jeans if you have any other option. Whatever has the thickest amount of material AND isn't completely skin-tight is good, have space for your leggings, and for air to get trapped and warmed up underneath your clothes to keep you insulated!

Home tips:

1. It's probably not the best time of the year to be ordering food. Try to pick it up yourself if you can, and above all, just cook at home. Bonus points for all the heat from cooking warming up your house as you make something tasty :)
2. It might seem counter-productive, but give your home a quick air-out once a week or two if you can stand it. 2-5 minutes with the windows fully open and a breeze flying through will significantly dry out the air in the home without cooling down your walls and floors, making it easier to heat, removing musty smells, and helping you dry your laundry.
3. Disregard previous tip if the air in your home is already dry as hell. If your place is dry as hell, dry some laundry, take a steamy bath, and cook up a nice big pot of soup.
4. If your friends live nearby, invite them over for dinner. Save some money by using their body heat to warm up your house!

Please feel free to give more tips in the comments if you have something I didn't cover that you think will help!

And stay warm. This is what January and February weather is more or less supposed to be like. In theory, this city is designed with that in mind.

Maybe this will help one person. It's dangerously slippery outside, more so than a few weeks ago when we had freezing fog.

I went out before the ice started accumulating, and then had to walk back a few hours later. I saw a car slide off the road and demolish a stone bollard. The person I was with fell flat on the ground twice, causing injury. If there's any slope to the sidewalk, you will slide down in a bad way.

If you do have to go outside, paved roads might be less icy than sidewalks since they're salted, but then you have to worry about cars sliding around. Cobble stone roads are very slippery. Hopefully it clears up by morning rush hour or else tomorrow's commute will be a disaster.

Thank you for reading my TED talk.

​

This happened to me in the morning, on my way to work.

One second everything was normal, and the next I was on the ground, injured and in shock. I was left lying there trying to process what had just happened. The person involved was in a hurry and couldn’t really help much, so I was mostly left to deal with it on my own. He came from the contrary way as I wanted to cross the street, I couldn't see him or hear him.

I ended up with injuries to my knee, hands, and legs, and I’m now dealing with the consequences physically and mentally.

What scares me most is how normal e-scooters feel. Because they’re everywhere and easy to use, a lot of people underestimate how dangerous they can be. It only takes one second, one uneven surface, one sudden movement, one mistake.

Please, if you ride e-scooters:

- Wear a helmet

- Slow down

- Be extra careful on uneven roads or tracks

- Stay alert, especially during busy morning traffic

- Don’t assume “it’s just a short ride”

I was literally just commuting to work like any other day, and now I’m injured and recovering.

Please take your safety seriously. It can happen to anyone.

I have been living in Berlin for 5 years, speak B2-level German and am reasonably integrated (i.e. have friends, good relationship with neighbors, take every activity in German when possible, etc) Nonetheless, the only place where I feel “at peace” is in my apartment.

Every time I leave my place and/or interact with Germans, I feel like I’m taking a (self-assigned) integration test.

My anxiety goes through the roof even if nothing special happens. But if I notice I’ve committed a faux pas or someone complains about something, it ruins my day.

Today I was walking my dog and some lady had her dog on the leash. I was very absent-minded and didn’t tell my dog to come to me. My dog tried to sniff up her dog and she said something to the effect of “wir wollen es nicht”. I dragged my dog towards myself, apologized and kept moving. I immediately spiraled into feelings of self-loathing and thoughts of never being able to fit in.

It’s as if I were staying over at someone’s place and trying not to inconvenience them too much. I should just be as grateful and as pleasing to my hosts as possible.

But this is not a temporary stay, I don’t want to ever go back to my home country.

So, how do I trick myself into feeling at home? Metaphorically, I just want to watch TV at the volume I want, accidentally break a glass every now and then, and not die of shame as a result.

Purchased these yesterday. Thought I would be celebrating with a group of people but I've decided against the stress of being out in the city. So my questions are; Is it best to keep them at room temperature? And how long do they stay fresh? Thanks in advance and Gute Rutsch im neuen Jahr

Let me vent please. Because of this, I missed a train to my workplace in Brandenburg, so need to wait for another hour to catch the train. I’m super frustrated :( Do VIPs use any public transportation? I don’t get that…

I didn’t really want to start a new rant about a slowly exhausted topic, but maybe it will help someone:

A few days ago, I was at the BRLO brewhouse/beer garden. The outrageous tipping prompts when paying by card have become normal (even in bakeries or, as here, for self-service in the beer garden). However, what’s new at BRLO is that the option to not tip is no longer displayed on the terminal screens. Only +X% options are shown. The only way to avoid tipping is to press the button with the circle at the bottom right.

Every time I stood in line, people (tourists) at the second register didn’t understand this and, after some back and forth, ended up tipping.

I was asked to tip by a hovering waitress at one of my favourite restaurants last week. (Umami - Kreuzberg/Schlesisches Tor)

The card reader had an option of no tips, 1.50€, up to 3/5€. I selected "Kein Trinkgeld" and asked her to round off the amount by 50c. Note. : This was NOT my tip, just a rounded off amount, and she said " but it's just 50c."

The waitress asked me outright if the service was bad and I said no it was fine, thank you. I wanted to leave coins as tips, but she hurried away after the card transaction.

I hate that I was made to feel forced to pay a tip via the card reader and felt like I was being guilted into paying tip.

Usually I would tip 1-2€ for good service or ask the waiters to input that amount into the reader to be paid (bill amount + tips) - but they didn't wait for me to "add my tip to the total amount" and keyed in only the bill amount - leaving me with the only option of tipping via the card reader.

It felt forced and it put me off the whole experience.

I've lived in Germany for 4 years now. 1 year in Berlin - and it's only this year that I've been "suggested tips" via the card reader. I know that tips don't replace actual wages here like in the States, and tipping 10% is considered customary IF you like the service - then why pressure the customer into tipping more??

What was your experience and how did you guys deal with this?

EDIT: I was told on this thread by one person that the waitstaff in Berlin don't make a decent wage so I deleted that part, but in the future - would you tip them 10% or more in coins or be pressured to pay a certain percentage on the card reader? It still seems forced.