Memoirs from Deutschland II

One thing that I admire the most in Germans is their sense of respect for the rules and regulations. On my first day, my buddy took me around for administrative works to be completed before I could join as an intern. I was totally awed by their administrative process. They had loads of paperwork to do before an international student joins. But still, there was one thing that impressed me. It was their efficiency. Paper works, loads of them were completed in a matter of minutes.

Another impressive train is that people rarely jump traffic signals and they never do in the presence of small kids. When asked why, my buddy told me that he did not want to set a bad example for the kid.

Unlike in India, no matter what the social status of a person be, when it comes to queues, he has to stand in line. There is no quicker way. But, normally one doesn't need to wait for more than fifteen minutes to get something done in public offices. This is unheard of in Indian government offices.

In Mensa(canteen), professors stand in the same queue as the students and get their food billed. There is no show of power or any such thing. There is no show of influence nor money. They seem to follow one very simple rule "Respect: Give it to get it". Quite true.

So coming to the reason for writing this post, today I had one awful day with someone trying to use the influence for self, which might lead to complications to others. I had a hard time convincing the person not to do so and to make the person think of the greater good for God's sake. My evening was totally spoiled and I was reminded of Germany where I never encountered such a problem, where rules were followed to the last dot and where the quickest way to get things done is to follow the rules.