American Reacts To My GERMAN Culture Shocks as An AMERICAN 

Checkout this video American reacts To Wonders of Germany | The Most Amazing Places in Germany ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-8fHbqXd_wiw.html

What Americans don't seem to know is that we have ATM cards that can be used to pay almost anywhere. Anyone who has a bank account gets this card from their bank and, unlike Mastercard or other credit cards, you can pay with it EVERYWHERE (including gas stations, restaurants, shops...), except in some very small shops, street shops, etc. That's how you have to do it we do NOT have a lot of cash with us!

This video is 4 years old, made before Covid or during the first shutdown. Meanwhile credit cards are accepted almost everywhere in Germany.

30+ years ago in America, most places in the US had you pump gas first and then pay and people used to carry a lot more cash. People got annoyed/angry when they started making you pay or leave a credit card before pumping. But when they put the pay-at-the-pump credit card feature, they got over it. Back to the cash thing, I recently went into a McDonalds in the US and there were literally no cashiers working. You had to buy everything either on a phone app or at a kiosk. Cash was not accepted. That blew my mind!

Yes, in Germany there is an article in the constitution that refers to the right of personality. This is called the right to one's own image. The right to one's own image or right of likeness is a special manifestation of the general right of personality. It states that every person is basically allowed to decide for himself whether and in what context pictures of him or her are published. In the Anglo-American world, the right to one's own image is much freer than in the German legal area.[1] For example, the so-called Caroline judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) are of importance throughout Europe. The interesting thing about it is that it is not the depiction that is forbidden, but the publishing. Only as soon as someone else sees the picture, it is a publication.

You can film in public, just do not focus on ppl, focus on the sights, but be prepared that someone still might come over and ask you if you focused on them and/or tell you that you have to blur them out, if you want to filming someone like a street artist you might be save asking them beforehand.

we not just use cash we use EC-Cards. All you virtual money is on a EC-Card (electronic cash) and can be used without making debs. Most Americans tend to forget, that using a Credit Card is paying on debt and a LOT of americans only get their payment to tild the debts they made before so they can use their credit cards AGAIN to make DEBS...so its logical to not like credit cards.

14:30 gas and electricity is still expensive cause there is a bunch of taxes on it. But living nearby the border I go to Austria for refuelling cause it is cheaper there. And we try to save money by using electricity etc. only when necessary. So in the evening we switch off the light except in the livingroom where we are. Watching TV we light up some candles so they bring also warmth to the room and there is enough light from the TV screen. We switch off the plug sockets for all machines and tools that are not in service and that helps to pay the bill at the end.

The gas is used to pay for roads and pensions. The fuel cost 90 cents without taxes in Germany.

Congrats to 3500 Followers

Cash is freedom!

30-50% of the price for electricity and gas in germany are actually different taxes

Photography laws in Germany: Photos of public events You can take photos of parades, sports events and demonstrations without permission. That does not include photos of specific people in a crowd. Sharing photos of buildings and vehicles In public spaces, panorama rights apply. You can take, share or sell photos of buildings and vehicles without permission if they are visible from the street.For example, you can sell posters of a classic car parked on the street. You don’t need the owner’s permission, but it’s polite to ask anyway.

Well yes! It is not desirable to be filmed or photographed in Germany! The reason for this is the "Federal Data Protection Act" It seems more sensible to me that your picture is on your ID card, rather than on a server somewhere that you no longer have any control over! and that can be misused. Greetings from Germany Jürgen

I think, he ment a Therme, not just a small sauna. I have never seen a Therme in the States.

the worst thing is int he US people start filming if you get in an accident and nobody is helping.. shame on them. in germany you can get punished for not calling an ambulance.

No need for ac,the two hot weeks are to enjoy them!!!go to a Lake!Also,the houses stay cool.

4:50 Years ago I heard that a lot of shops refuse credit cards from Visa, American Exress and others cause for every sale they have to pay enormous fees to the credit card companies. That´s why mostly only EC card is accepted and maybe also Mastercard. I can understand this cause if you make a bill in a restaurant about 50 Euros and the the owner has to pay 4 or 5 Euros for accepting the credit card that is not acceptable. At least the prices for the menu will raise for compensating the fees. Still we use a lot of cash in Germany. In the meantime it is also possibe in some shops to pay via mobile but don´t ask me how this works. I don´t use this option cause I am a mistrustful person and I don´t know who might get access to my mobile with all its data ...

I like to pay with cards, but not every tiny thing. I usually have enough cash on me to pay my purchases in case the card system breaks down or something goes wrong. The moment you abandon cash you are screwed when the system fails or if you have a power outage. It is rare but it happens. I think it was last year when a hacker targeted Edeka's card system, Edeka is one of the biggest grocery chains in Germany and they could not accept cards for aa few days until the issue the hacker has caused was resolved. Cards are convenient, but they lure you into spending more than you have/need. Remember, we do not have the credit rating system like you have in the USA. Our CC bills are deducted from our bank account at the end of the months, not just a partial payment, but all of it. We Germans do not like to be in debt and a lot of us are taught from childhood on that we need to save before we make bigger purchases. If you do not have the money in your account, do't buy a washer, Dryer, TV, etc. save until you can afford it. The other difference is, in the USA you have a bigger Credit rating the more you are in debt but in Germany your credit rating goes down when you are in debt.

cash is freedom. love going back to german with cash. wish i could have cash in south africa.

Small shops and restaurants often don't accept credit cards, often not even debit cards. The same is it with farmers' markets. Big supermarkets and all gas stations accept all kinds of cards.

I love cash. I hardly ever use cards to pay.

Now guess why most people don't have an AC here. (Prices have only gone up since 2020)

7:50 why do you have to pay for using a public restroom in Germany? Well, mostly in front of the restromm there is a lady sitting who takes care for cleanliness and hygienics and the fee you pay is used for her salary and maintenace cost. Of course you do´t have to pay using the restroom in a restaurant or bar.

Keine Ahnung in welchem gottverlassenem Dorf er nicht mit Karte zahlen konnte aber normal ist das ganz sicher nicht bei uns ! Also meine erste Visa hatte ich so um 2004 und hatte eigentlich am Anfang nur in Centläden Probleme damit zu zahlen ...weil sich das für diese Geschäfte meist nicht lohnt den Aufpreis für so einen Service zu zahlen . Wenn jemand für 1 Euro die Karte zückt der Laden aber schon 70 Cent für jede Kartenzahlung abdrücken muss das sie den Service anbieten können ist das auch Verständlich ^^ Und ohne zu fragen alles Filmen was jemandem vor die Linse läuft sollte wohl schon alleine des Anstandes wegen schon klar sein , mal von den Gesetzen und dem Hausrecht abgesehen ! Ja Benzin ist Teuer sind ja fast die hälfte an Steuern , dafür überfallen wir aber auch keine anderen Länder wegen Ihrer Ölreserven =P Wir brauchen keine Klimaanlagen wir bauen einfach richtig , richtig isoliert hält es im Winter die Kälte draußen und im Sommer drinnen !

actually the Price is round 1,75 to 1,80 € per Liter (is arround 7,40 $ per Gallon)

He is a nice guy,no question.

Taking direct photographs of people without their explicit consent, especially if these images are to be published on social media, for example, is not only prohibited in Germany. The associated law - the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR for short - is an implementation of the European Union Regulation 2016/679 and applies in all EU countries. This contains rules for standardizing the processing of personal data by most responsible parties, both private and public, across the EU. In addition, however, there is also the Art Copyright Act, or KUG for short. This protects the person depicted as a natural person from the unauthorized distribution and public display of images. There are, however, various exceptions: The most important would be that images in which people appear as accessories next to a landscape or other location, or images of meetings, parades and similar events in which the people depicted have taken part, i.e. the people are not the focus of the photograph, may be published without the consent of the people depicted. For example, anyone who is in a popular tourist location or at a demonstration enjoys less protection under the Art Copyright Act (KUG). This means that it is entirely possible to take pictures of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Cologne Cathedral in Germany or the Colosseum in Rome with people in front of it and share the holiday experience on Instagram.

ok i dont want but i have to! he must be talking about a very small village because most restaurants cafe bars in germany even bakerys accept credit cards. and the small roads are not so small do u think a pick up truck is bigger than a semi and they drive their too.

Regarding the electricity: he should have done a comparism what amount of electricity he would even need living in northern germany. Our appliences surely need less. And if you dont have a dishwasher or a dryer, let alone no AC... thats a lot of energy saved. Maybe all of that together would level the plane field?

Hi, P.J.! Yes, german people don`t like it so much when they got filmed. We`re often skeptical and carfull. The younger generation are because of tiktok, instagram and so on a bit different nowadays. We have a saying in Germany: "Nur Bares ist Wahres!" means: "Only cash is true!" Think about it for some seconds. In the end it`s true. Your credit card is just plastic and it`s possible, that it maybe doesn`t work. (Could happen in theory). Germans love their cash. But the same like I said, it often depends on the generation.... In a restaurant you don`t have to pay for the toilet, especially when you`re a customer. Just at Mc Donalds they make you paying, if there is a cleaning person sitting! Sometimes they give you paper towels everytime someone washes his hands after toilet. So you get that feeling you need to pay! To be fair: some Mc Donalds braches are so busy (sometimes just to go to the toilet) that this behavior is understandable. Of course, it's not like that everywhere. Often you can just go to the toilet. At gas stations it`s free so far I know. But if it`s clean, that`s another story. Gas is expensive in Germany. It`s true. People don`t like it of course, but it all has it`s reasons.... 🥴 I`m not sure, but I think in Spain for example it`s much more "normal" to have air condition. Spain is hot in summer.

Cash is King, but many also pay with their bank card in stores.

Groceries are much cheaper in Germany though.

We usually don´t carry that much cash over here but we pay often with our bank card directly. Creditcards are not too much of a thing here from what I know.

4:58 The problem for small businesses, restaurants and stores with payment methods other than cash: accessing the payment systems cost too much money, and they require a better digital infrastructure than what actually exists especially in rural areas in Germany.

Technically it's allowed to film, just not to release that video to the internet. This also makes problems with Dashcams, which are in a bad law grey area. You can film, but not show it around if it contain any personal data (faces, documents, names on door bells, and yes car number plates!), and if anything happens, chances are police won't even look at the video because they deem it inadmissable in court anyways...

1:41 the problem with those statistics is that most European countries have much more restrictive laws/less freedom. Getting a drivers license is a much longer and more educational process. Not like the US/Canada where its basically "what is a stop sign" , and "can you put it in drive", congrats you get a license.

energy prices are pretty high here thats taxes and capitalisem we should get rid of the second

The rights of the private person, now these rights don't even allow to show a face in the dash cam, if it does you can be fined

i pay everything in first place with my apple watch ultra 2. there is only ONE delivery serice for pizza i use, that accept only cash on delivery. not inhouse, on delivery. so if you not use a mastercard or visa with an NFC Chip oder Apple Pay it will work

Cash is King people will literally protest for it.

The gas prizes makes the difference between german and US cars, german cars are always, even the bigger, smaller in the use of gas, it is very expensive to drive a big US car in germany/europe.

A big contributor to german road safety is also, of course, the driving schools. On average it takes one 2 months with numerous (mandatory!!) theoretical and practical lessons till you have the final driving exam. Again, both theoretical and practical. Failing one of them, and you don't get your licence. And then there is of course the costs involved. On average you're looking at 2700€ (roughly 3k$) to be spend on your licence (can be way less or even more, and the costs vary regional...) In general, european drivers are better "educated" and have more practice driving (typical german driving lessons include every possible scenario, lke inner city, overland, the Autobahn and night driving) when they finally get their licence, than their US counterparts. Remember: In some US states it isn't even mandatory to take those drivers ed after you're 18 years old.

Sure electricity is cheaper in the US but without air conditioning and with much more energy efficient stuff you need less electricity. About the food costs in Germany it's really cheap compared to the most other country's but of course there are very expensive crockery stores in Germany. And because he was in a small village he was in one of them. Most people in the countryside drive to the next big city once a week to buy grocery's in stores like Aldi Lidl etc. To spare some money

Current Gasoline price in Germany this evening: 1 Gallon (~3,8 Litres) are 6,84€, roughly 7,40 US$

verry nice but as customer mostly u dont have to pay for the Toilete , on the german AUTOBAHN its a different! xD ure welcome =)

That's why we don't have toxic gym girls.

98% of shops or restaurants will accept at least a debit card. It's 2024. Energy: You need a lot less, so it's not too dear. And as long as you don't drive a SUV, your car will need far less fuel. And you get back those taxes by proper roads.

Way cheaper than US.electricity is expensive,true.gas also,but not groceries or clothes or rent,comparatively.

the cash thing is not true anymore, you can pay almost everywhere with a german debitcard, but i guess not everyone will accept american cards here. also every one makes such a big deal about paying 50 cents for the toilet but you think its normal to tip 20-30% to your waiter, that seems crazy to me

If you're at home you don't need a right to privacy,do you?you ONLY need this right in public.

When it comes to smoking, Germany is following the US slowly but surely. A couple of years before there were advertisings (pro smoking) everywhere and you were allowed to do it as well everywhere. Nowadays it is much more restricted and it keeps getting on and on. Tabacco products get more expensive and it is seen more and more as a horrible thing. Well, I am a smoker but I like this development. My daughter and most of her friends didn't start smoking whereas in my youth smoking was a very cool thing to do. Anyone who was a self- respecting cool kid smoked. 😂 Fortunately the American impact hit. Not in every case, hell no, but in this regard surely. Thanks American!!!!😂

Moral of the story: please educate yourself about the local culture and laws before going to any country

You are allowed to film in public but when you put that content public you have to blur the people ....technically otherwise you can be sued for violating their personal privacy ...but usually people don´t care (= no plaintiff, no judge) and if they do they make you aware for not wanting to be filmed anyway. And a shop is no "public place" so you need owner´s permission in order to film.

why you don't ask, why the rpices of electricity and gas so high?

Electricity prices in Germany really shot up in 2022, and they're definitely going to skyrocket even more in the near future. That's what happens when you mix energy policy changes with sanctions against Russia. No more cheap Russian gas or nuclear power, and now they're losing money trading electricity with neighbors. To make matters worse, Germany's electricity production is now causing the most CO₂ emissions in the EU. Adding more electricity users like heat pumps and electric cars isn't helping prices either. More demand usually means higher prices - that's just how it goes. The fallout? Companies are already moving out, unemployment is rising, and energy-intensive products (like our daily bread) are getting pricier, which just feeds into inflation. If only sitting in a sauna could fix inflation - I'd be in there every day! 😅

Ok, I got just one question for that guy? What would you have to do to spend a thousand bucks for electricity per year at 6 cents per kilowat? That sounds insane. Before I installed solar panel, I never had more than 600 € per year with our 34 cents per kilowat. What do you have to do to use that much electricity?Oo

Filming people in public is illegal because we have a law in which "the right to one's own image" is protected. So in a way there is a copyright on oneself and unauthorized reproduction is punishable. However, nobody will complain if you clearly take a picture of a place as a private individual. The situation is different for people who take clearly recognizable pictures of the same place as influencers. Such inconsiderate fools like to have their smartphones/cameras thrown into the nearest fountain or destroyed in some other way..... and rightly so!

In Germany it is allowed to drive naked, but if you get out it is forbidden.

As a German I have to say I hate this cash only culture in some places in Germany. Though it has become much better since the original video has been released.

This toilet cleaner is called "Toilettenbürste" in Germany 😂and yes, it is everywhere. Fortunately, because otherwise I'd be so ashamed of leaving sth behind, cough.🙄 What do the Americans do in this case? Fleeing and after me the deluge?Or using toilet paper and your hands to clean?🤢 I am curious, please tell me.

You are allowed to take photos of people in public as long as there are more than 12 people. However, it is kinda unpolite

His electric Calculation is pretty BS (I pay 30€ a month) since he uses much less here than in the US. Same for gasoline. Hardly anyone heats with electricity here.

please allow me to clear up the misconception displayed in the original video... of course you are allowed to film/take pictures in public places in Germany.. you're just not allowed to film/photograph PEOPLE without their explicit consent.. as the right to personal privacy extends to and includes the right to be private even in a public space.. and in case of the supermarket, the case is even more clear.. as these are PRIVATE businesses..

Algorithmen 🍀

I like cash....

Smoking is from the devil,smoking weed is healthy. US logic.

CASH ! u see and have in hand before you spend it gives you feeling that u spend moneys credit card ? just swipe and bye bye moneys at the end of month i have still some cash but U look at your account and say wtf i dont spend this ! when ? where ?

the worst thing is int he US people start filming if you get in an accident and nobody is helping.. shame on them. in germany you can get punished for not calling an ambulance.