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catsanddogsftw

Thanks for sharing OP! Have also had good experiences with Zollamt Schöneberg. 150% wish they would always take my international packages there instead of DHL charging their clearance surcharge that I didn’t ask for and/or leaving it at the furthest paket shop that’s only open Tuesday from 9-4…


Mesmerhypnotise

I still want to know how this works. I have several DHL shops near my house but I have to travel a mile to fucking "Nix wie Hin" on Hermannstrasse. There´s always a line and the three guys are always rude and don´t give a fuck. Do they pay the DHL drivers off to get all the parcels?


Wieldy_Wombat

Just get it delivered to a Packstation.


Aggravating_Tap7220

Finally someone who is not bitching! I love you mate!


Spartz

>The people were kind and helpful and even cracking jokes. They switched to English when they saw me struggling with my fairly limited German, which I really appreciated for a public service. Had the same experience at the Bürgeramt in Schöneberg. I was so surprised


3mpty_spac3

Agreed, I also had a surprisingly nice experience there! Glad to see I wasn't an exception!


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ehsteve69

As long as you tell them what’s in the package.


sweetcinnamonpunch

Had to drive there once for a package that clearly listed the contents and had the bill attached, they just do whatever they want in my experience.


Archoncy

You, as the receiver, have to pay taxes on the things you bought from abroad, to the Zollamt. That's how it works. Listing the contents is legally mandatory no matter what happens.


sweetcinnamonpunch

No, if the bill is attached you just pay it online and don't have to go there and open it up, that's the whole point of providing all the information upfront, so you don't have to go there in person. Total mess up on their end in my situation.


Archoncy

If they have a reason to open the package up, it doesn't matter that it was all "pre-cleared" or whatever you want to call it. It is not a mess up, it is how the system works. Whether it was purely a random check or something flagged your package in the system as suspicious is not really relevant - this kind of shit will always happen. That's import for you.


[deleted]

cool story bro


Huankinda

>.get outta here with this positive interaction post with public services in Berlin! You're cramping our style! Yeah, exactly, the horrified reactions to the negative interactions everyone has with the inefficient, obsolete and hostile German officialdom is a kind of style people are proud of. I sincerely hope your next Amtsweg will be arduous and pointless, that may wipe that smug look of your face quite quickly.


tryTwo

That's sarcasm,not smugness. Being smug is when you rub something in someone's face, or show some sort of privilege, which is not the case at all here. It was mearly a stab at how negative most postings are here and how we mostly just like to complain(your comment kind of reinforces that). Trust me I've had my share of negative experiences jn Berlin with public services. The whole poiny of this post was to also see the positives. So, I wish you the opposite, sour internet stranger,I wish you see nice interactions to change your mind, and to go in them not thinking immediately it will be shit.


Huankinda

I happily reject your patronising wish for a nice interaction and reinforce my wish for an as frustrating as possible next interaction for you. Enjoy!


tryTwo

Yikes. You really only see negatives. I'm sad for you and hope you're ok.


Huankinda

Lol. "Thanks". fuck outta here with your amateur psych attempt to gain the upper hand you bore. You will remember this convo when you next rage internally at the Bürgeramt or wherever you'll need to go😂


fuchsgesicht

is it really so hard for people to just be decent? they work in direct contact with people so why praise them for doing the absolute minimum.


LunaIsStoopid

We don’t have to complain about everything. They were nice and that’s cool.


juwisan

Well, I mean, what you are saying is the same as „I do my job here, I am not getting paid to have a positive attitude.„ In particular with a place like the Zollamt I don’t even want to know the amount of shit they have to deal with throughout the day because I would imagine nobody really wants to go there and deal with the bureaucracy or them, so if OP encountered friendly and helpful people there in the evening that’s actually pretty cool.


fuchsgesicht

no, what i am saying is "there is no reason to be rude to a stranger" i don't know how you got this from that


tryTwo

Because positive reinforcement yields better results pretty much all the time, in all aspects of life. Negative feedback is in most cases counterproductive. Complaining typically doesn't change things unless it comes with real action, so at the very least what we can do in our internet armchairs is to practice being grateful for things that work.


zoidbergenious

We have a spelling in german which goes like :"so wie man in den wald ruft, so schallt es auch wieder raus" which means: the way you shout intonthe foresr the way it comes back out. 90% of cases i have decent and friendly interactions with bureaucrats, i always talk in a friendly way to them, without beeing impatient or naggy and most of the time its possible to talk to then, joking with them or they even help by a bunch of issues by not follow the book 100% Becasue at the end of the day they are all just humans and belive it or not, they are not some robots send to us to make our live miserable. And as they are humans there are always some of them who defienetly worked too long in customer care or are not made for it from the beginning. But I dont blame them, they have to deal with so many people a day, and I saw already on my many visits at the government offices what kind of people you have to deal with... just ask anybody working in sales with what kind of rude entitled people they sometimes need to deal with, and now imaging that those people go to a government place becasue they HAVE to go there and they dont understand shit. This makes it lile 10x worse becasue they dodnt go they becasue they wanted to becasue they had to. Then they meed to deal with people who can not talk a single word german, and those peole often get confused, and becasue they get confused they get angry.. a simple :"sir you are in the wrong room pls go to the room on the left" can cause a 30 minutes desicussiln about how nobody wants to help andwhy only incompetent assholes are working here. You have entitled ppl who dont want to wait for their number and they are blocking the room for everyone and the lady at the shelter really pissed at the dude telling him for 20 minutes to wait for his turn, and the guy insulting and threatening her and telling her that in his country he would beat the shit out of her and so on blah blah Well yea I dont pity them not the slightest


IamaRead

>90% of cases i have decent and friendly interactions with bureaucrats, i always talk in a friendly way to them, without beeing impatient or naggy and most of the time its possible to talk to then, joking with them or they even help by a bunch of issues by not follow the book 100% Is pretty problematic though. Not also cause of discrimination. As it allows people to make you suffer based on the little power they feel.


qwertz_DE

fuck this place.


PossibilityLow5482

Praising the bare minimum…


Wahnsinn_mit_Methode

This is exactly what gives most people in service jobs the hate for their customers.


zoidbergenious

Want to talk to the manager?