German Culture

Health

Wearing a scarf permanently around the neck when they have a cold - also in the office and in meetings
They will never become dehydrated - the are always prepared with refreshments in meetings which go longer than 1,5 hours
When they move house, they take their kitchen with them
They are relatively sporty - keep healthy - but many smoke
They love their processes - anything which doesn't conform to a process is a non starter
They will usually buy one house in their life
They are very much into recycling - 5 different bins being the norm
They work very effecively together as a community
If your wife goes for a scan during pregnancy the person doing the scan seems to think it is their right to tell which sex your baby is without asking first if you want to know. Seems to happen often!

Holidays

The Germans love their holidays - 6 weeks per year not uncommon
If a public holiday lands on a Thursday or Tuesday then the Friday or Monday are taken as a holiday called a bridge day.
On a public holiday you will be frowned upon if you make a noise in your garden e.g. cutting your grass, sweeping the street etc. A public holiday should be a quiet day for all. This would be a shock to the British who often look upon these days as a day for DIY or sorting out the garden.
There are laws when the grass or hedges may be cut. Such as NOT ON SUNDAY. Not between 12:00 and 15:00 and not later than 19:00. This is to have respect for your neighbour. Having lived here over 4 years I've come to really like this law. Maybe it is because we can sit out often in the eveing on the patio and enjoy it without having a lawnmore or hedge trimmer buzzing away.

Organising

The Germans are renowned for being well organised and they are. This can be a pain sometimes when some flexibility is desired.

Food and drink

Transport

Punctual!!! When the s-bahn or tram is a couple of minutes late they become distinctly unhappy. 10 mins late is a small disaster
They have cycle paths everywhere. They may only have one family car - but probably 10 bikes in the garage.
It is not unusual to see the pavement marked out with a whilte line to show how much of the pavement you can park on
Caught driving through a red traffic light - automatic driving ban for 1 month
One is not allowed to wash their car at home - they must go to a car wash
One must clear the snow from the public footbapths around your house before 7:45 in the morning for the children going to school
The main cycle paths will be cleared by a small snow plough
It is not uncommon to see people of all ages cycling though the snow - with a 'I'm cycling no matter what' kind of attitude
Autobahns - the only country in the world with motorways without speed limits

Customer Service

Mostly customer service is pretty dire - Deutsche Telekom being among the worst. It reminds me how bad British Telecom used to be before serious competition came along and they realised that the customer was actually quite important.

Education

If your school work for a test or assignment is not 100% correct your mark will drop immediately from 100% to 83% for only one error e,g, a lowercased letter instead of an uppercased letter when writing a noun. They still haven't discovered how to encourage children in the school.

Misc

Corners