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Germany's red carpet welcome faces first World Cup test



 
 
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  #11  
Old December 8th, 2005, 04:37 PM posted to rec.travel.europe
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Default Germany's red carpet welcome faces first World Cup test

Earl Evleth wrote:
On 8/12/05 12:49, in article
1h7920s.v2zq151i6drs9N%this_address_is_for_spam@ya hoo.com, "David Horne,
_the_ chancellor of the duchy of besses o' th' barn and prestwich tesco 24h
offy" wrote:


The writer was confusing Paris with Berlin. I found Berliners very nice.
It's not an effusive friendliness- and I found them quite laid back-
which is not to say reserved.



Could be. I never had a problem there either. Nor in Paris! That did get me
curious, however, so I googled

Berlin "poor service" and got 23,100 hits
Paris "poor service = 137,000 hits
London "poor service = 235,000 hits
Rome "poor service = 87,000 hits
New York"poor service = 268,000 hits

So Berlin is low on this poor service test. Of course these
google test are unreliable, but I don't know another course.

Otherwise we are left with people's "ain't if awful" stories.


However, this might simply be because less people go to Berlin than to
New York and then talk about it in the Internet.. You'd have to google
the opposite to get a balance.
For what it's worth-

Berlin "good service" 128,000 hits
Paris "good service" 419,000
London "good service" 815,000
Rome "good service" 283,000
New York "good service" 940,000

Now, reducing that to percentages of total good and bad citations, we get-

City %total good
Berlin 85
Paris 75
London 78
Rome 76
New York 78

Berlin wins! (followed by New York)

T.
  #12  
Old December 8th, 2005, 04:39 PM posted to rec.travel.europe
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Default Germany's red carpet welcome faces first World Cup test


"Jens Arne Maennig" kirjoitti
...

It is? My German is modest, to say the least, and they were perfectly
pleasant to me.


It must have been a lucky day. Over 50% of my frequent visits to German
restaurants and shops are leaving me a negative impression.

This does not describe German restaurants nor shops but you.


  #13  
Old December 8th, 2005, 05:17 PM posted to rec.travel.europe
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Default Germany's red carpet welcome faces first World Cup test

george wrote:
Jens Arne Maennig wrote: It must have been a lucky day. Over 50% of
my frequent visits to German restaurants and shops are leaving me a
negative impression.


I agree that Germany is not very service oriented, but on my frequent
visits to German restaurants and shops very few leave me with a
negative impression. I just don't go back to places with poor service
if possible, and many places actually have excellent service.


I have recently returned from two months in Germany, and had only one
experience that was in any way negative.

I think home is worse than that.

--
Julie
**********
Check out the blog of my 9 week Germany adventure at www.blurty.com/users/jholm
Check out my Travel Pages (non-commercial) at
http://www.dragonsholm.org/travel.htm
  #14  
Old December 8th, 2005, 05:22 PM posted to rec.travel.europe
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Default Germany's red carpet welcome faces first World Cup test


"Jens Arne Maennig" skrev i meddelandet
...
Des Small wrote:
Earl Evleth writes:


Germany's red carpet welcome faces first World Cup test
Thu Dec 8, 2005 10:43 AM GMT

By Philip Blenkinsop


[...]

Although Germans can be quite friendly and helpful to tourists, some
observers have called the country a service desert.


Well, not just observers. It's somthing very popular to complain about
"Servicewüste Deutschland" among Germans themselves.

Berlin, where the World Cup final will be played, is notorious for
its surly, inattentive waiters and shopkeepers.


Not just Berlin.

It is? My German is modest, to say the least, and they were perfectly
pleasant to me.


It must have been a lucky day. Over 50% of my frequent visits to German
restaurants and shops are leaving me a negative impression.
Jens

----------------------------------------
As I can see from my travel log I've spend 154 days travelling in Germany.
For natural reasons including at least one daily visit to a restaurant.
I'm counting one bad experience so far (was in Mannheim ) rest have been
good to excellent. Best in north Germany somewhat less than so in South but
still very acceptable.
Much worse than so have been in Italy with poor service or in Poland with
cheating waiters. Rest of Europe o.k


  #15  
Old December 8th, 2005, 06:33 PM posted to rec.travel.europe
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Default Germany's red carpet welcome faces first World Cup test

Dunno... as I recall the retired German couple along the old Roman road
in Bedburg Hau I traversed looking for my old family manse; speaking no
English they called the local waldmeister in to help me find the
location. Coffee and Schnapps graciously offered to a stranger; of
course, seemed the attitude...

Then there was Mathias Claus and Family a few days later in Braunschweig
opening their doors and hospitality to me; a 'virtual' stranger known
only to them via e'mail...

As to the 'service industry' itself I will recount the proprietor of the
small Londghasthausen in the Hau who made up a room for me late in the
evening (no reservations), soup and a sandwich before retiring long
after the kitchen had closed, laying out a great breakfast buffet to
send me on my way in the Morning...

Then there was the busy sausage vendor in the Berlin Zoo HBF who took
great pride (and the time) to catalog all his wares as I made my
selection... not a single dirty look at this wide eyed and drooling
tourist (smiles rather) from the others waiting at the busy kiosk; a
spate of laughter as I compare the Eight Inch sausage to the provided
Two inch bread roll... g

Tim K

"Martin" wrote in message
...
On 08 Dec 2005 11:44:33 +0000, Des Small
wrote:

Earl Evleth writes:

Germany's red carpet welcome faces first World Cup test
Thu Dec 8, 2005 10:43 AM GMT

By Philip Blenkinsop


[...]

Although Germans can be quite friendly and helpful to tourists,

some
observers have called the country a service desert. Berlin, where

the World
Cup final will be played, is notorious for its surly, inattentive

waiters
and shopkeepers.


It is? My German is modest, to say the least, and they were

perfectly
pleasant to me.


Why do people keep posting crap like this about Germans?


--
Martin
http://tinyurl.com/8x2pz


  #16  
Old December 8th, 2005, 07:19 PM posted to rec.travel.europe
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Default Germany's red carpet welcome faces first World Cup test

I agree
Dumb like the original poster, but all he wanted was attention and he got
it, so nvm the facts.

"David Horne, _the_ chancellor of the duchy of besses o' th' barn and
prestwich tesco 24h offy" a écrit dans
le message de news:
1h796y0.v3ea8ftv5a5aN%this_address_is_for_spam@yah oo.com...
Earl Evleth wrote:

On 8/12/05 12:49, in article
1h7920s.v2zq151i6drs9N%this_address_is_for_spam@ya hoo.com, "David Horne,
_the_ chancellor of the duchy of besses o' th' barn and prestwich tesco
24h
offy" wrote:

The writer was confusing Paris with Berlin. I found Berliners very
nice.
It's not an effusive friendliness- and I found them quite laid back-
which is not to say reserved.


Could be. I never had a problem there either. Nor in Paris! That did get
me
curious, however, so I googled

Berlin "poor service" and got 23,100 hits
Paris "poor service = 137,000 hits
London "poor service = 235,000 hits
Rome "poor service = 87,000 hits
New York"poor service = 268,000 hits

So Berlin is low on this poor service test. Of course these
google test are unreliable, but I don't know another course.


It's not just unreliable- it's dumb.

Paris "awful city" get's half the hits roughly that London "awful city"
gets. So Paris must be half as awful, right?

However, Paris "excellent city" also gets half the number, so it must be
half as excellent, no?

Or perhaps, just maybe, one city generates more hits _in general_. But,
do go ahead, and use google hits as a test...

(London "excellent food" gets more hits that Paris "excellent food" too,
for the same reason.)

--
David Horne- http://www.davidhorne.net
usenet (at) davidhorne (dot) co (dot) uk
http://homepage.mac.com/davidhornecomposer http://soundjunction.org



  #17  
Old December 8th, 2005, 07:56 PM posted to rec.travel.europe
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Default Germany's red carpet welcome faces first World Cup test

On 8/12/05 14:36, in article
1h796y0.v3ea8ftv5a5aN%this_address_is_for_spam@yah oo.com, "David Horne,
_the_ chancellor of the duchy of besses o' th' barn and prestwich tesco 24h
offy" wrote:

Earl Evleth wrote:
Berlin "poor service" and got 23,100 hits
Paris "poor service = 137,000 hits
London "poor service = 235,000 hits
Rome "poor service = 87,000 hits
New York"poor service = 268,000 hits

So Berlin is low on this poor service test. Of course these
google test are unreliable, but I don't know another course.


It's not just unreliable- it's dumb.


But can you suggest something different?

Paris "awful city" get's half the hits roughly that London "awful city"
gets. So Paris must be half as awful, right?


Not quite, the cities are of different sizes. Paris is fairly small.

However, Paris "excellent city" also gets half the number, so it must be
half as excellent, no?

Or perhaps, just maybe, one city generates more hits _in general_. But,
do go ahead, and use google hits as a test...

(London "excellent food" gets more hits that Paris "excellent food" too,
for the same reason.)


Depends on how the question is asked.

"good cooking" London beats Paris 41,100 to 33,200

But on French google, Paris gets 97,200 to London's 9,660 using "bonne
cuisine".

If we rephrase our service question and get harsher by using "terrible
service" you get

Berlin "Terrible service" and got 581 hits
Paris "Terrible service = 378,000 hits
London "Terrible service = 374,000 hits
Rome "Terrible service = 356,000 hits
New York"Terrible service = 409,000 hits`


I would say that Berlin comes out ahead again. The other
cities are about equal. One can use other words
and I did,

Now if we get upbeat

Berlin "good service" and got 130,000 hits
Paris "good service = 419,000 hits
London "good service = 820,000 hits
Rome "gpod service = 285,000 hits
New York"good service = 969,000 hits`


All this shows that my method is reliable in giving
you whatever you want. Just fish around for a while
to find it.`

One might use a ratio of good/bad. But you know Berlin
ain't that bad.













  #18  
Old December 8th, 2005, 08:16 PM posted to rec.travel.europe
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Default Germany's red carpet welcome faces first World Cup test

I didn't find an excess of surliness and bad attitudes in Berlin, for
that matter I didn't find attitudes and surliness in Paris to be
especially bad.

Now, Munich, OTOH, seemed to me to be the unfrendliest place
in Europe - which makes sense if you consider what started
there ): Even many Germans complain about Bavarians'
bad attitudes. (of course there are exceptions, I'm speaking
in very generalized terms)

I also found bad attitudes in Brittany - but not of the same type.
The Bretons, as a whole, seem to be France's rednecks, and
seem to have a hostility to outsiders reminiscent of certain
areas of North America such as the American Deep South
and rural Quebec. (Of course, there are exceptions. )

  #19  
Old December 8th, 2005, 08:18 PM posted to rec.travel.europe
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Default Germany's red carpet welcome faces first World Cup test

On 8/12/05 20:05, in article ,
"Martin" wrote:

You are worse at statistics than weather forecasting.



My 10 minute weather forecasts are nearly without error.

I also forecast a Grunge post within 30 minutes.

 




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