Day 16 (Mittwoch; 1.10.08)
Look, you know how much I hate to complain.
And how much I love bureaucracy.
And how little I care about money.
And how patient I am.
But really, BERLIN? Really?
I didn’t get paid today because I didn’t go to the chief cashier’s office by 13:00 to get my check. I had no idea I was supposed to.
And I can’t go tomorrow because, like most offices in Berlin, this one is only open for half a day, three days a week. Seriously. Berlin, as far as I can tell, has a 12 hour work week. But those twelve hours are scattered across the calendar like a sneeze across the back of your neck, so no matter when you want to do something during the business week, there’s a 75% chance the office is closed. And of course absolutely everything is closed on Sunday. Not because anyone’s religious. It’s just because it’s Berlin, Jake.
Anyway, I can’t go the next day either, because even though Friday is one of the three days per week they’re open, Friday is a Unification Day, which is a bank holiday, so no one will be there. Hooray, unification!
So now I have to wait another five days to get paid. Because I was an hour late. At 2:00 in the afternoon on a Wednesday.
On the bright side, I met six new people (two from IU), we all spoke English to each other, and one of them ended up sleeping on my floor, on my yoga mat, using my blanket.
Oh, and I went back to the Frisko Getränkemarkt and bought seven new beers.
Are you sure you were supposed to get a cheque? Because we don't use those in Germany. ;) They should wire transfer (Ueberweisung) funds directly to your account. All you have to give them is your Kontonummer and your BLZ (Bankleitzahl).
AntwortenLöschenFor my first payment, I had to go to the Hauptkasse (which I did yesterday, Gott sei Dank) to get a Barscheck. Then I had to take that to the Berliner Bank and get cash.
AntwortenLöschenBut the next payments will be direct transfers into my account, or so I'm told.
I'm glad to see that I didn't really recognize any of the beers in this group. I confess that it was a bit disappointing to see the results of your first beer run and to recognize almost every beer there as one available in the US.
AntwortenLöschenYeah, the first time I went I tried to get Berlin beers and beers I had had before, like the Franziskaner and the Krombacher. I figured I'd start slow.
AntwortenLöschenBy the way, I knew that's what you were going to think! I'm posting the beer pics mostly for you. I'll try to post reviews later, but so far I'm drinking to relax, not to analyze.
Do you find Berlin beers in the states, Dr Koss? The other ones on the last photo set were major beers, so that would be less surprising for me.
AntwortenLöschenOn this set, Schneider's is a pretty popular beer (which it totally deserves). From the others I just know Greifenwalder and Moenchshof. The latter is one of my favorites.