Health Care: Germany’s health care system ensures that all of its citizens have health care. It is illegal to live in Germany without it.
Religion: When you belong to a certain religion you will have to pay taxes to the church that you belong to. Marrying in a church will automatically have you paying taxes for that church.
Taxes: Workers in Germany pay a lot of high taxes on their wages. This goes towards all social benefiting programs, like social health care, roads, and unemployment. Workers pay up to half of all their income towards these programs. A post I wrote earlier includes a tax calculator to figure out exactly how many taxes your will pay based on your salary.
Technology: Germans enjoy technology, but not to the extent of a country like the United States. In Germany everyone seems to have the newest and best handys (mobile phones), but they do not make it priority to have large televisions. Almost no one has an air conditioner, though many shops have it.
Credit: Germany is not a fan of bad credit. Most residents don’t even have a credit card, instead they use a special card called “EC”. EC stand for electronic cash. This works like a debit card, but poses less fees for shops than Visa or Mastercard. Most shops do not allow purchases with Visa or Mastercard, instead you have to use cash. When traveling in Germany, it is always important to have cash on hand, otherwise it will be very difficult to buy anything. This is why citizens in Germany have such a good credit record.
Bureaucracy: Bureaucracy in Germany is very strict when it comes to rules. They won’t break any rules for you. The opening hours are also terrible. If you work a normal job, it will be almost impossible to find a suitable time to take care of anything.
Shopping: Shop owners tend to treat their customers as if they are doing you a favor by selling the products. It would be more appropriate for you to thank them for buying the product, then for them to thank you. The whole attitude is that you have a need and you wouldn’t be able to fill it without them. However, this is slowly changing as some shops have begun to slowly adopt the US system of thanking the customer for their purchase and making sure that they have found everything ok in the store.
If you would like to make a comment, please fill out the form below.
