Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Fanfic Related What if Clark was from Germany?

Some time ago, someone suggested a story in which Clark's ship landed in another country than the United States of America, Kansas.
Since I'm German, I naturally wonder what it would be like if Clark was German, like me. While I've been to the US, I never visited an American family.
There is a video on German habits produced by the Goethe-Institute on what visitors might find strange about German habits. Most of the things mentioned there are accurate.

Dos and Don'ts of Germany

So, with that in mind, imagine a German Clark coming to the US for the first time, meeting Jimmy, Lois and Perry.

What would he be surprised about?

Hi Bakasi,

That was an interesting video; thanks for sharing it.

I (an American) follow almost all of the same customs. The only things that seemed to me to be different from what I am used to are:

- Politeness regarding promptness differs with respect to the context. For parties, it is definitely inappropriate to arrive early, and some (not myself) consider it more appropriate to arrive fifteen minutes or so after the stated invitation. (My own thoughts: If you don't want me there until 8:15, then tell me to come at 8:15, not 8:00.) In other situations (e.g., business gatherings or meeting a friend at a restaurant), one should arrive either right on time or else a few minutes early.

- Small talk being frowned upon and politics and philosophy being topics. Here, the reverse is true. Politics and religion/philosophy tend to be topics that most here tread lightly on, since they are topics that people can be passionate about and discussions can easily turn into emotional arguments (as opposed to remaining pleasant discussions or even polite debates).

- It sounds like credit cards aren't accepted anywhere near as widely in Germany as they are in the U.S.

- Depending on the situation, when a group dines at a restaurant here, sometimes each person pays for their own food and beverages, but more often the check (bill) is divided equally. I've personally always thought the latter to be unfair, but I never say anything about it because doing so would seem unsociable, stingy, or both. (I never order a beverage or desert, and my portion of the check is usually much less than other people's.) Whether or not the check is evenly divided, usually one person gathers all of the money (including the theoretically-optional-but-in-reality-mandatory tip) and puts it on the little tray on which the check was delivered. The waiter or waitress then comes to collect the tray. If the group does decide that each will pay for what they ordered, the waiter/waitress should be told at the time of ordering that there will be separate checks.

Your weather sounds very similar to what I grew up with in upstate New York. I often joke that I love the spring, summer, and fall where I grew up, but then there's the other half of the year...

The no-belching made me think of L&C's Superman's debut.

Joy,
Lynn

Hi Lynn,

thanks for your reply. When it comes to being on time - that's not so strict anymore, particularly an invitation to a party. People around the age of twenty or thirty almost never arrive on time when their invited to a party. Of course, it's different with dinner or lunch. I read once, that the Ambassy of the US gives their employees a heads-up that an invitation to dinner at 8 pm in Germany may mean anything between 7:59 pm and 8:00 pm. I thought that was very funny.

And I wouldn't say that philosophy is a common topic during dinner talk - unless you're eating with a professor. But politics definitely is a common topic or what you do for a living. But I don't think that politics or religion are nearly as controversial here in Germany as they seem to be in the US (from what I could gather from our news, regarding the Tea Party and the Democrats). And it wouldn't be strange for a conversation to turn into a discussion or even an argument as long as it doesn't get personal or even aggressive.

Credit Cards are accepted in some restaurants and most hotels, but you can't go into just any shop and expect to be able to pay with a credit card. Most of the smaller shops only accept cash.

In my opinion, the speaker should have recommended to bring an umbrella rather than a scarf and gloves. In my part of Germany, it doesn't get all that cold. It hardly ever snows, but it rains most of the time. But in eastern Germany or the South the winters are a lot colder than in the western part, where I live.

I believe the no-belching rule is only at the dinner table. In some cultures, it's considered rude if you (if you're male) don't belch at the dinner table. It's never appropriate -- i.e. good manners -- for a woman to belch in any culture that I know of. It means that you didn't eat enough or the food wasn't good enough to stuff yourself. It's rude to belch at an American dinner table as well, but that doesn't necessarily stop people. I'm often saddened by the decline of table manners in America.

I must say that I prefer the German method of paying at the pub with the server as your cashier (carrying her change bag with her at all times). It makes the most sense to me.

Love this!

I wish tardiness wasn't considered the norm for parties here. I find it, as a host, extremely rude. I ALWAYS arrive on time. I'd rather have guests arrive 5 minutes earlier than a 1/2 hour late or not-at-all after saying that they would come. (Especially for kids parties, when little hearts can be broken so easily when nobody shows... or everyone's late.)

Nowadays, many people carry only small amounts of cash on them. I know people who only use credit cards and rarely use cash, even for small ticket items under $5.

No, I wouldn't say that. Belching in public is generally considered rude. Usually, the teenage boys in school belch just to annoy the girls (or their teachers, if they're asking for trouble).
People would not only frown upon you if you belched at the dinner table, but also if you were in a train or on the bus or at school or at work - unless you do it when no one else can hear you.

They do the same here. And here, too, belching is generally considered rude, regardless of the location.

I knew that in some cultures (mid-Eastern ones, if I'm not mistaken) it is considered polite for males to belch at the dinner table, and I had figured that the video was primarily addressing people from such cultures.

I'm one of those people who carries very little cash. I pay my credit card balance in full each month, and two percent of all I spend on it gets deposited into my retirement account. It therefore makes good economic sense for me to use the card any time I plan to purchase something. And since credit cards are almost universally accepted here, I have little need to have cash. Plus, if my purse gets stolen, I won't have lost a lot of money. About the only place I use cash on a regular basis is when I buy food at a nearby farm owned and run by an Amish family.

Joy,
Lynn

I've come across some merchants here in the U.S. who don't like it when customers use cash. Then there's some that won't take some credit cards (American Express, for example, can't be used everywhere). Then there's some who won't take checks (because they bounce way too often; I don't take checks for payment of fines in the library I run).

Curiously, I've found that some forms of payment that weren't used much for a long time have suddenly become more common (namely money orders). Though the district's official policy to is to take cash or money orders for the payment of fines (but not checks, because they bounce, or credit/debit cards because we can't process them), I'd never seen a money order before some parents brought me one this year. (I mean never, and I'm 38 years old.) I stared at it curiously before the principal's secretary assured me that it was real. Now, I've gotten half a dozen of them and know what to look for. Hardly anyone tries to get me to take a check anymore, and few people offer to pay by card, but I have to check every single bill I'm given to be sure it isn't counterfeit (even ones), and several people have gotten upset when I refused to accept counterfeit bills as payment.

One thing that make credit cards almost universally accepted in the U.S. (though not where I work) is that credit card readers can be attached to cell phones, which is handy for small merchants and traveling vendors (at the L.A. County Fair, I've seen the honey vendor take a credit card for a 25 cent payment for a straw of flavored honey).

I'd guess that since they don't use cash much they don't feel comfortable carrying is so they get a money order.