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Are people in Berlin rude, or misinterpreted?
I was asked to be quiet by the Uber driver because he was talking on the phone. I had a family member in the car with me, and we were discussing about our next stop. He was on the phone the whole time and started speaking louder as we started speaking as well. I notice that every single Uber driver here talks on the phone, and sometimes it's pretty difficult to understand if they're talking to me or to the person on the phone.
I was waking in a narrow street near Mitte and trying to avoid a group of teenagers blocking the sidewalk. This made me go to the left side of the sidewalk, which infuriated this man that was walking by. He started walking at me and pushed me back to where I was (behind the teenager group). He kept staring at me and gave me an elbow bump at the end.
I had to go to the hospital once (Charité), but no one there speak english. I tried explaining my problem using Google Translator, but the nurse said she didn't understand, started speaking louder and complaining something in German that I didn't understand, eye-rolled me and refused to admit me.
A supermarket attendant was asking me if I needed the receipt, but as I still didn't understand how to say that in German, I politely said (in German) "I'm sorry, but I don't speak German very well". She then asked me if I live here, to which I said yes, and then she said "you live here and no German?!", with her eyes staring at me with full rage. She said all that in German and I was happy because I understood everything she said to me, specially considering this happened during my 3rd day in Germany. (:
This is one of the many things that happened to me and it keeps happening every time I need to interact with people in Germany. I'm not saying that Germans are rude, which is why I asked if this is something specific to Berlin. I really don't know, because as I mentioned, I've been here for just 3 months.
I really wanted to share this here because maybe I'm doing something wrong, and would appreciate any help on what to do to make my interactions with the German society less miserable.
Maybe I'm not doing anything wrong and will just have to accept being mistreated on a daily basis.
ngl this is pretty standard for berlin, it's not you. the city has this thing where people treat strangers like minor inconveniences until proven otherwise. the uber driver thing is so common i just put headphones in now and pretend i cant hear them lol
the sidewalk thing is wild though, that guy was just an asshole. that kind of aggressive physical stuff isnt normal even by berlin standards. most people will just give u a dirty look or mutter something under their breath.
for the supermarket stuff, try going to a Rewe or Edeka instead of Netto or Aldi. the discount chains have staff that are way more stressed and rude. also if you can find a small spätkauf near you, the folks there are usually chill and dont care about language barriers
the hospital thing is rough but Charite is a massive institution with overworked staff. try booking a Hausarzt (general practitioner) in your neighborhood instead, they tend to be more patient. there's a site called jameda where you can filter by english-speaking doctors
The hospital thing is pretty standard for Charite honestly, even Germans complain about the admin staff there. Maybe try a smaller practice next time instead.
honestly, berlin just has a really specific vibe where people come off as grumpy but it's not personal. they're like that to each other too, it's not just you as a foreigner. the receipt thing is kinda classic, they get weird about it if you don't speak
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What is the correct spelling for a street name that appears differently on multiple signs in Charlottenburg?
Worth noting that Berlin street names have official umlaut and ß rules that trip people up, so a sign showing "Strasse" versus "Straße" is not actually a spelling error, just an older transcription. Same with "ue" versus "ü" (e.g. "Kantstrasse" vs "Kantstraße"), both are considered valid renderings and you'll see the ß version on the blue Schilder and the ss version on older plaques or in databases that predate Unicode. If the difference you're seeing is between those two forms, there's nothing to fix and both are technically correct.
if the signs u mean are the old enamel ones on the house facades those are often protected as Baudenkmal so nobody's allowed to correct them even if the spelling is outdated. the binding version is whatever is in the Berliner Strassenverzeichnis plus the entry in the Liegenschaftskataster, so if u tell me the street i can point u to the right Bezirksamt Mitte or Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf page. tbh the merged district thing is real but the facade signs are a separate story, theyre basically museum pieces at this point
honestly thats super common in Charlottenburg, the district offices were merged from older Bezirke and nobody ever fixed all the Schilder. if its a real street you can check the official strassenverzeichnis on berlin.de, that list is what the Burgeramt actually goes by. which street is it? some of the Kaiserdamm / Kantstrasse signs are notorious for this.