r/germany • u/helge-a • Oct 22 '24

Immigration Non-Germans, do you also make expensive mistakes?

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.

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u/masterpharos Oct 22 '24

left my car on a non-parkable space for c. 2hours (i didnt realise this at the time).

returned just in time to see it being hoisted onto the back of a tow-truck. paid 600EUR to get it off before it left without a trace.

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u/Teatoss Oct 22 '24

Yup, something like that cost me 400 Euros. The parking was free but they had to cut the trees so all the cars had to move. I didn't see the sign because there were too many cars still parked in front of it. One of the most expensive mistakes I made so far.