So, here I am. On the train, just coming from the airport after having spent an amazing two weeks in the UK with my dearest friends. I've been on a high, still positive and full of optimism.
I got on the train, found myself a seat and got comfortable, listening to an ecclectic exciting music mix on my mp3-player. In the seat opposite me on the other side of the aisle sat a young bloke who has helped me drag my suitcase on the train. As the conductor came, I obediently showed her my ticket and my credit card which she used as an ID. Then the bloke next to me showed his ticket and what I recognized as a British passport. For, when you book your ticket for the German Deutsche Bahn, you have to enter some form of ID on the webpage.
As the rather large lady looked at his passport and then the print-off of the ticket, her grimace darkened as she annoyantly told the young man that 'zis is no good'. Well, I couldn't over-hear this and I did feel obliged to help him as he was the only one who helped me with my suitcase.
So, I softly barged in on that one-sided conversation and inquired what the problem was and whether I could offer my help as I spoke English. All the while the young bloke looked very innocent and confused, I tried to convey to him that Germany is the 'big brother state', where you are not allowed to walk around without your ID card and where data protection doesn't mean anything to the people who are supposed to protect your data, when at the same time your personal data means everything to them.
To put this more clearly: when you are a non-national without a German ID card or a credit card, you cannot make use of the online-service of the Deutsche Bahn AG and book your ticket (and online offers) on the web but rather you will have to go to the counter everytime you need a train ticket, where you won't be able to make use of the cheaper online offers. According to the Deutsche Bahn AG, it is against the law (their law) to have your German friends book the tickets for you by, say, using their credit card and their German ID card number, for any foreign passport number won't fit the appropriate box, and use your name (you, the visitor) at the same time. To them this is fraud and can be reported to the authorities. Am I the only one thinking that this is wrong and clearly impedes equality rights and the rights of privacy and travelling freely in this country????!!!!
I was already emotinally charged discovering this absurd discrimination and complete lack of a sense of customer service, when a man in his fifties barged in in defense of the large lady whilst I tried to put the absurdity of the situation across to her. He blurted out that the law was the law and if the law wasn't there then anybody could travel on the Deutsche Bahn trains. Well, isn't that the point??!! That anybody can travel on those damned trains?
The young bloke was forced to get off at the next station and despite of having had already paid the full fair of 70 odd Euro for his ticket to Erfurt, he had to go to the counter and buy a completely new ticket. Anonymously, of course, when paying in cash.
So, as long as you buy your tix at the counter you won't be discriminated against. You have to pay more but you can remain anonymous. You choose.
This weird sense of order that the Germans have instilled into their being, living and functioning in the world is something that I despise for it leaves no room for flexibility or creativity. Without it though, they will fall apart. I won't.
