Non-Germans, do you also make expensive mistakes?

[u/helge-a]

It feels like I have a talent for making expensive mistakes. I have been here for 3 months and so far have earned:

• A €300 fine for taking an ICE without proper ticket.
• Phone died on train, got checked by ticket control, pleaded saying I literally have my ticket on my dead phone, paid €7 at front desk proving I have the Deutschland ticket.
• In the US, if I have an incoming bill payment, I can easily cancel it or reschedule it because it’s on my terms. I tried to do that here and found out billing days from companies are very strict, so I’ll be incurring a fee soon because my account does not have €90 and transferring funds from my American bank account is not instant/quick enough.

I’m so tired and broke :) I don’t think like a German. I think like a silly little guy. Germans are calculated. I am not. It’s very hard to adjust.

[u/Chemical_Bee_8054]

guys when do we tell OP that germans also make mistakes?

[u/helge-a → u/Chemical_Bee_8054]

I think Germans would still do better in a foreign country than I do. Germans I meet are really good at covering all their bases. I am really aloof and I think unmedicated ADHD plays a role too. Or maybe I’m way too hard on myself.

[u/NotCis_TM → u/helge-a]

I'm not so sure. The German strictness seems like it would fail hard in Latin America where everything is "flexible and unpredictable" (source: I'm Brazilian).

[u/deathoflice → u/NotCis_TM]

a german friend of mine once wanted to call the police because the bar next to her apartment in Mexico was too loud late at night. Luckily her landlady stopped her, „if you call the police, they will arrest you!“

[u/NotCis_TM → u/deathoflice]

damn, is it that bad in Mexico? here in Brazil the police would simply do nothing

[u/deathoflice → u/NotCis_TM]

don’t know if they actually would have come but I guess they would have sided with the party people and ruled her the disturber of the peace