Another example why Germans are obsessed with phone calls and refuse to use e-mails: They can be rude and lie to you without any documentation (unless of course you record the phone calls, which I should have done yesterday). One of the many reasons I keep my phone on silent and never answer it when it rings.

However, @Global Reparaturservice, https://waschmaschine-reparatur-berlin.com/, mostly refuses to use e-mails but keeps calling and yesterday I finally gave in since they have had one of my kitchen devices for repair and I was looking forward to receiving it back.

After the time slot they had given me had passed, I e-mailed asking whether I should still stay at home and wait, and as usual, they immediately called me and stupidly, I answered. First of all, they claimed they had been at my door, but I had not opened. A downright lie (a local sport – not sure if it is national or just a Berlin thing, but I can no longer count the times I have been lied to after I moved here) since I was at home all the time, and my doorbell works.

Secondly, there was a lot of noise on the line, and they spoke very quickly (another national sport the minute they hear that the customer’s German is far from perfect) so I had to ask them to speak a little more clearly. They then almost shouted, and very, very slowly, completely exaggerating, as if I am both deaf and dumb, gave me a day and a time slot. (Which they subsequently, by e-mail, surprisingly, denied having given me).

And yet, people wonder why I prefer to conduct all such exchanges by e-mail and not by phone.