ZombiepirateWhat's your favorite joke that doesn't translate to English very well?
LumidaubI thought I might make a joke about the Deutsche Bahn but I don’t think it would go over well.
Tap for spoilerEdit: I should add explanations. “To go over well” in German is “(gut) ankommen”. “Ankommen” also means “to arrive” - which Deutsche Bahn trains are notoriously bad at doing in a timely manner.
corsicanguppyDidn’t the German trains have such incredible reliability that they issued apology notes for workers when they arrived late, because bosses wouldn’t believe that’s why someone was tardy?
It’s also is Germany (and France, Malaysia, and Singapore). At least according to Wikipedia.
It’s possible Wikipedia is relying on outdated info though.
Not because our trains are usually so very reliable though. On the contrary, if DB has actually managed to implement a mechanism like that (I personally haven’t heard of it), that’s because they get so many complaints and people kept demanding some kind of documentation to show their higher-ups to explain why they’re always late.
My husband just reminded me what this actually is. It’s not for people being late for work, it’s for people demanding their money back from DB. And it’s only issued after the train was late for a certain time, an hour at least, iirc - because if they did this for shorter delays, they wouldn’t get around to doing anything but issue delay certificates. (Note that you only get the entire cost back when the train was delayed significantly, for several hours, otherwise it’s a partial refund at best.)
And in true German fashion, they privatized it only half-way, combining the disadvantages of a privately run enterprise with the drawbacks of a state-owned company.
There is a traditional saying in Germx’an: punctual as the railway. It’s meaning has shifted quite a lot after Deutsche Bahn was transformed from a public service to a private company. So yes, the reliability of DB is indeed incredible. They’d have to issue notes when they’re on time nowadays, though.