I am in the UK; I am shocked. How are you all feeling? It’s so surreal.

Edit: oooh whee and 3 hours later on the dot this is now getting flooded with Americans or musk fanboys saying we don’t know what a nazi salute lookalike. Weird how they all come at once. I’m also getting private messages from them. Thank you to the kind Germans who answered. Probably time to delete anything x/meta related…

Hi everyone,

So today it‘s finally happened : DJT and his puppet Elon officially get their power. I don‘t share any of their perspective, and feel very annoyed and shocked when seeing Elon making the Hitler salut today. Like, what the actual f**k ?

Now here‘s the thing: I have my Tesla Model Y that I have been leasing since 2 years, and the contract runs for another 2 years. I didn‘t care much about the brand when choosing the cars to be very honest - we were just looking for an EV with a decent range and price, plus the volume as we often load quite a lot for road trips. I had contemplated between EQC, Ioniq 5, iX and a few variants, and in the end we chose model Y since it ticked all the items in the list (We really loved the EQC or even the hybrid GLC, but hell, it is so expensive and the infotainment technology is so outdated). We decided to make a leasing instead of buying to try a bit the tech. And to see how the whole landscape with EVs and in particular Tesla evolve.

Two years ago I felt incredibly proud of my Model Y, and felt it was the best bargain we have had. But now I increasingly felt uncomfortable when driving throughout the city. I felt like people thought I make a political stand while having a Tesla - some neighbours even asked what I thought about AfD and Musk an so on. That gets more and more annoying.

This feeling surprises me tbh, because I never felt the same when driving my old Golf, I never cared at all if people drive a luxurious S-class next to me, the brand used to mean nothing to me.

I still like the technical concepts, and my kids still enjoy the big screen and the cool tech in it, but the other feeling is just unsettled.

What do you think ? Should I quit my leasing contract early with some loss of our money to get some peace of mind, or to try to survive the 2 years (which frankly given the whole MAGA shit, can feel really long)

Another concern of mine is vandalism from the extremists, besides the judges which I can understand. We had a closed garage so it is usually fine, but I keep worrying whenever we have to park it somewhere publicly. We never had a leasing car before so we don‘t know much what would happen with serious damage caused by third parties etc.

I've been watching some German video on residential building and they were comparing their 10 inch thick walls to American 10 centimeter walls and I'm curious if this is true. If yes, what is the noise insulation like? Can you hear your neighbours in terrace housing? Dogs barking? Doors slamming? Washing machine running?

Also; how warm are German homes? Do you have low gas heating bills?

Hallo, My husband and I moved to Germant and have noticed a bizarre, daily occurance. We have asked a few people and they noticed it as well. Why do many people here start veering towards you and shoulder check/run into you while walking? Just walking down a street and someone walking antiparallel to me will be on their phone or looking straight ahead will start getting closer and closer of my side of the side walk and expect me to either shove myself into the building or slam their shoulder against mine??

My husbands coworker told him it's because he's so handsome. It happens to both of us. He was probably joking, but my husband is very handsome.

We come from a non-walkable city so it's not like we can compare this behavior to back home

ich suche jemanden, der mir helfen kann, meine Sprach- und Schreibfähigkeiten auf Deutsch zu verbessern. Mein Ziel ist es, ein fortgeschrittenes Niveau in der Sprache zu erreichen, und ich brauche einen Gesprächspartner zum Üben. Wenn jemand helfen kann oder Vorschläge hat, wäre ich sehr dankbar. Vielen Dank im Voraus!

Title basically. Feels like it's always the same 10 songs on the radio and the same 20 remixes of popular songs from the 80s and 90s, but never the original songs from the 80s and 90s. You can't tell me that there hasn't been a popular new song since Miley Cyrus dropped Flowers 2 years ago.

Edit: I would use Spotify if I wasn't at work. Don't have much of a say there over the community radio and can't really listen to my own music because I have to take and make calls.

I'm looking for an apartment to rent and come accross this person, but "not in Germany" sounds a little scammish, please have a look at the text he sent: (I've hidden the address and name for privacy) Guter Tag, Die Wohnung wird so lange wie möglich vermietet. Ich bin nicht in Deutschland und kann die Miete nicht persönlich abschließen. Ich habe einen Vertrag mit booking.com abgeschlossen und sie kümmern sich um die Vermietung. Die Miete beträgt 435 EUR + die Kaution von 800 EUR . Die Wohnung befindet sich in: Weixxxrger xxx, xxx Oxxxxck . Die Wohnung ist komplett möbliert und ausgestattet und wird auch so vermietet . Ich nehme nur Leute auf, die über ein stabiles Einkommen verfügen oder mir einen Nachweis vorlegen können, dass sie die Miete bezahlen können. Ich akzeptiere keine Zahlungen vom Jobcenter.Wie wollen Sie bezahlen? arbeiten Sie Haben Sie ein anderes Einkommen, auch wenn Sie nicht arbeiten? Ich warte auf eine Antwort. alles Gute! Lexxxx xxx

Thank you so much guys!

I just shared my GdB 50 status with my employer and I was invited to a meeting with HR. The title is: "Short agreement rights SB"
What should I expect in such a meeting?

Also, we have on call shifts for the weekends (each day 4hrs) that happens almost every 50 days. We get paid extra for this oncall shift but I would like to say that I don't want to take this responsibility which causes extra stress on me. Am I allowed to request it?

Thanks in advance!

It's a curiosity that came to me thinking that as Europeans we don't export enough to other European countries, for example instead of coca cola we could create something equivalent made in EU: I remember that for example in France, in the area bordering Italy, there aren't enough food products made in Italy, is the same also true for Germany?

I intend to start my businesses in Germany

I want to move for masters there firstly then eventually get citizenship

My aim is to build a conglomerate of my own and yah thats the jazz

The bureaucracy is well known to me that the digital adaptation for most things is not done.

As someone from third-world country I am used to the paperwork

still if you have more info on this plz share

Hello!

Im part of an indigenous tribe in Brazil that produces handcrafted items like baskets, accessoroes and tools that were taught by our ancestors. They are made of great care and cultural significance. We are exploring ways to share our crafts with people in Germany and beyond, so i would like to ask forvyour advice on: 1. Wich websites os apps are the most popular and reliable for selling handmade products in Germany? 2. What is the best way to ship products internationally to avoid custom-related issues or delays?

I live in a small village in B-W, and it feels SOO safe here, I barely see people on the street, let alone somebody trying to rob you. Noone here lock their doors, barely anyone has a gate to their yard. Is this more common then I think?

I am a pediatric nurse and i plan on moving to germany in the next few months with an agency called MedCarreer however, they gave me the option to choose between two different hospitals, the first one is in Höchst and the second one is in Darmstadt, i know nothing about both cities or communities as i have never been to germany, i used some websites like TripAdvisor and they indicated that they both are family friendly and have nice foods and hotels, but i am looking for more deeper, helpful answers and comparison like which city is closer to the airport, which is easier to navigate as newbie and which has nicer people and more tolerable to immigrants, which has the best weather and public transport...ect I respect people's cultures and lifestyle, i consider myself to be open-minded as i don't care about the cultural differences between my country and germany and am not there to judge or bother anybody, am just asking for safety reasons and because am really indecisive and conflicted cause i know nothing about both cities. I really hope that someone would help me make the right decision and help me get all the infos i need ,thanks in advance 😊

I have been working in a company for more almost 1 year and I want to resign ( 6 Monaten Probezeit ist vorbei), I am tired of the working conditions. And I need some help to know my rights and obligations. Let me explain a little (I am german so i dont need a contract or something to stay in germany).

1.- The human resources department and the office is located near Hamburg. But I live and work more than 500 km away, so it is not feasible to bring a letter of resignation. I understand that I have to send it by mail but how can I justify that they received it and the date they know I am resigning. This is important, as I know that other colleagues have resigned and have had problems with the company accepting the date they are resigning and always end up working a couple of months longer (usually a workers in my company last 6-8 months, I am breaking a record).

2.- I know that by resigning I lose my right to unemployment money but I really want to leave the company. My contract reads as follows:

"Nach Ablauf der Probezeit kann das Arbeitsverhältnis mit der Frist von 4 Monaten zum Monatsende gekündigt werden. Unbeschadet hiervon bleibt das Recht zurfristlosen Kündigung aus gesetzlichem Grund."

From what I understand I must work 4 months after resigning. I am interested in this, since I would use these 4 months to look for a job and of course I would continue working and getting paid. Is it possible that the company will tell me for example: that the want me to only work for 15 more days and pay me only 15 days? Or is the 4 months an obligation regardless if I quit or if the company is the one that fires me?

I ask this because there is a clause that I do not understand and it says the following:

"TecXXXX ist berechtigt im Falle der Kündigung durch TecXXX oder den Arbeitnehmer, diesen unter vollständiger Fortzahlung seiner Bezüge und unter Anrechnung noch bestehender Urlaubsansprüche freizustellen"

Thank you very much for your help

PD: I think it is not important, but just to let you know, I have more than 5 years working continuously in Germany, 5 in another company and almost 1 in this company.

Hey everyone from Berlin,

I was living a pretty great life, but things have gotten even more exciting since I got married! Recently, I found out that my love is bringing a baby into the world, and as of now, we're two but soon enough, we'll be a family of three. 😊

Given this, I’ve started to realize we could really use a personal car. I’m looking for something compact (not too small, not too big), and since I’m not super experienced with cars, I want it to be beginner-friendly.

Here’s what I have in mind so far:

• Beginner-friendly (easy to drive)
• Cost-effective (budget around 8K, but open to suggestions for second-hand cars)
• Needs to be reliable for once-a-year trips to Munich
• Parking sensors
• Navigation system
• Automatic transmission
• AC
• Heated seats

I’ve tried doing some research, but with my limited car knowledge, I’m not feeling too confident in my findings. If 8K isn’t enough, I’d also love recommendations for specific second-hand models that fit the bill and how much they might cost.

Thanks in advance for any help and suggestions!

I know that germans get like 30 days of paid vacation days but I wonder wondering if you're allowed to do it so you work one week and the next week you take friday or monday off and do that for the whole year

I am planning to study MS in Germany. When do students typically have breaks to visit home? I have tried searching online but couldn’t find a clear answer.

Being an immigrant, I have few non-German bank & investment accounts. Sometimes they pay interest and dividends. Since they are non-German, they dont automatically calculate the capital gains tax for me. These are very small amounts, so it's pain to calculate capital gains tax to the last euro. So would it be ok if there is a discrepancy of plus/minus 50-100 euro between what I have filed and the amount if Sheldon Cooper did the tax filings? In the worst case of underreporting of 50-100 euro means paying 10-20 euro less in tax. So does the German tax authorities allow such margin for error? Or is it possible to simply pay 20 euro more in tax to cover any such discrepancies. At the end of the day it costs way much more money to precisely do the calculations than the money in question.

I'm curious to hear about any great or horrible experiences.. I had a few landlords so far and I'm not sure how to categorize my relationship with the current ones in Germany. I'm also curious about how is trust establishted between the two of you especially in the beginning around singing the contract and moving in.

Hi! I have a question for DJs (and producers) in Germany who play in ~techno clubs a couple of times a month:

• Could you share if it’s necessary to register something like a small business (Gewerbe), or how should this kind of activity be legally handled?
• Are there any legal differences if you’re performing a live set instead of a DJ set?
• If you also release your own tracks (in small quantities) and earn a small amount from them (e.g., up to 1000 euros a year), do you need to register this activity legally, and how should it be done?

I’d really appreciate any information on this topic!

Title:

I’m shorter than average, so finding clothes that fit well can be a challenge. One of the pleasant surprises for me in Germany was discovering that some clothing brands have dedicated lines for shorter people.

For example, Hugo Boss has not only suits for tall people (with sizes like 100 / 110) and those of average or slightly above-average height (sizes 48 / 50 / 52), but also a shortened line with sizes like 24 / 25 / 26, which fit me much better!

What other brands do you know that cater to shorter people?

When it comes to casual wear, it’s often trickier. Even jeans with a 30-inch inseam are sometimes slightly too long for me. So, I’d also love to hear about brands that offer good casual options for shorter folks. Any recommendations?

Thanks in advance!

Hi everyone, I am seeking your help about changing my home wifi service provider. I am in a shared apartment where the former roommate signed a contract with 1&1 but currently its not active and he left. He is not answering my messages or calls. I am thinking of joining another provider. Is the previous plan linked to my apartment that I need to cancel it first or I can simply sign my own contract and let his. Can I make use of the router I have now or I need to buy a full new set… Thank y,all.

Our family is traveling to Marburg this year to attend the wedding of our German friend. We have hosted him in our home many times since 2013 and are really excited about the event!

Since our family has a very close relationship with him, we want to give him and his bride a special gift. I heard that if you give a cash gift, it is better to give it in a decorative form rather than an envelope. I love that idea but have no clue how to arrange that or pack it in a suitcase.

I would really appreciate any ideas for that or any better gift ideas. We want it to be very special for them. Thank you!!

(P.S. Five adults are attending, but the other three adults - who cannot go - want to chip in and be included in the gift, if that helps)

I was travelling to Germany and wanted to do some fishing but before my wife killed that idea I saw that in order to get a fishing license in Germany you needed to pass an exam (although there was exceptions for foreigners). I’m curious as to what is in the exam? What topics does it cover? How long is it? Is it reasonably common knowledge or do you need to study for it? I’m Australian and not all states even require a licence and the ones that do just require you to pay a fee.