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Hello, Hola, Guten Tag, Bonjour, こんにちは !
Welcome everyone,
this is a podcast for those wanting to learn about U.S. culture through Standard American English, also known as General American. We talk about various different topics related to the U.S. and the U.S.'s relations with other countries.
My co-host and I would like to think of this as more of a journey because you never know where it’ll take us. Plus, since the journey’s more important than the end or the start, we hope that you’ll be willing to join us!
Let’s see where it takes us!
Hello and welcome.
My name is Christopher Chandler.
And my name is Chris Schauer.
And we are Generally American.
In our podcast, we discuss events,
culture, whatever else we want from a
generally American perspective.
From our differing viewpoints, our goal is
that we can offer others and ourselves
nuanced opinions on fascinating topics
related to the US.
We invite you to be part of the discussion
and we hope that you'll stick around to
see where the conversation takes us.
So let's dive in.
And...
we're live.
We are.
Hello, everyone.
Hello, hello.
Welcome back after two weeks.
I must just get to it and report that it
has snowed here now and I'm not happy
about it.
Really?
Yes.
I've already had the shovel snow and it's
October.
Like how much snow?
Well...
More than I think.
Less than it feels, I guess.
The ground is still warm, so a lot of it
melted, but it's eight degrees out right
now, so...
It's gonna get warmer in the next few days
and melt away, but this was like the
opening salvo to like, potentially five to
six months of snow.
Yeah, we definitely don't get that much
snow here.
We haven't had, you know, a single
snowflake at all.
Actually, for the most part, it's been
really, really rainy and really wet.
Um, technically it's fall.
I don't think it's actually winter,
although I don't pay attention to the
whole winter solstice, like any of that.
But I think within a couple of weeks we'll
probably be in winter territory.
But fall here is just super wet and super
rainy, and Christmas is just like that.
It's just an extension of fall.
That's how I like to describe it.
See, it's like the reverse for us.
We don't get an extension of fall.
We just get a sneak peek of winter.
But it's interesting because this year, it
actually was like really nice, and we did
get some rain that we don't normally get
very much of.
That extended pretty far, but then just
boom snow It just comes But yeah that I
think that is our Well actually yeah, you
said how it is that's our bi-weekly
weather report is that right?
Yeah pretty much
Although this isn't the topic for today's
episode, I would like to know what you
have, if anything, planned for Halloween.
Um, let's see, what day of the week does
Halloween fall on?
you know what uh...
it's a tuesday normally that's my dungeons
and dragons group but uh...
one of our players has to small children
so i will be doing the i'll probably stay
home and doing nothing uh...
well that sucks and i want to come okay
with that i'm okay with that for reasons
will discuss here in a bit i think i'll be
just okay with that on my part uh...
not really doing anything special for
As everyone knows, I'm in Germany, so
Halloween isn't the most important holiday
here.
I wouldn't even consider it a holiday
actually in terms of Germany.
But there are a lot of little kids that go
from like house to house trick-or-treating
and they're always so disappointed because
not a lot of Germans really participate.
So Halloween here I think is more for the
kids than it is for the adults.
And so you'll see like a lot of, you know,
empty houses, all of the lights turned off
so that the kids don't, you know, ring the
doorbells and bother the adults.
But I did go shopping, I bought some
decorations, and my wife and I might
watch, you know, a couple of Halloween
movies.
But that's the extent of my Halloween
celebration.
It's more than I'm gonna do.
I might sit upstairs with my roommates,
and I probably will, I shouldn't say this.
I'll sit upstairs with my roommates
and hand out some candy but that's about
it.
And watch Nightmare Before Christmas.
Probably one of the most overrated movies
but I love it.
It's still great.
I haven't seen it in probably 15 years.
Probably longer.
Yeah.
My my stepsister is such a fan of that
movie.
She had a Nightmare Before Christmas
wedding.
Oh wow.
And whenever you don't know what to get
her for Christmas, or birthday or
whatever, just 9 p.m.
before Christmas, blanket, t-shirt,
whatever, she'll be more than happy.
God, what was the director's name?
Tim Burton?
Yeah.
Yeah, I used to love all of his movies.
Caroline, Edward Scissorhands, I believe.
Not really into those kind of movies
anymore, but when I was a teenager, those
were really fun.
Anywho, that's it for the Bi-Weekly
Report.
So what do you got for us today?
So this one is coming a little bit more
personal and recent, but I have the
knowledge, so we're going to talk about
it.
And before we get going, I just want to
make it very clear that I am okay, and I
am secure, and things are good.
But I recently, the company I worked
for...
uh, went under about...
oh, mid-Mid-October, mid-early October.
So, I have had to explore the wonderful
world of unemployment, uh, recently.
Which is not something I was expecting to
have to do.
But it's been...
interesting, and, you know, I'm sure all
states have their little quirks and
everything.
And just so you all know, I actually do
have a new job lined up.
Probably by the time you're hearing this,
I will have already started.
So I'm actually pretty excited about that.
But for example, in the state of Montana,
you have to demonstrate that you have
applied for at least one job a week to get
your unemployment pay.
and what the unemployment pay is basically
part of the taxes your employer pays goes
into an unemployment account and if you're
you know
If you're not fired for cause or anything
like that, you have a right to file for
unemployment.
And obviously our company no longer exists
so they weren't gonna contest it.
So.
I will be getting payments of...
it's roughly 80% of what my salary was.
Uh, okay.
That was gonna be the first question
because...
So don't anyone quote me on this because I
haven't double-checked.
But here I think it's around like 70% give
or take.
So it's definitely not 100.
I don't think there's any system on earth
where you get 100% unemployment.
That would be awesome.
Yeah.
And...
yeah.
So it's the same here.
So if you...
don't get fired per se for like
negligence.
So if you're not at, so if you're at
fault, I believe you don't get
unemployment.
So like, I don't know if you steal from
the company or whatever, then it's really
hard to get unemployment.
You are basically blocked for three
months.
Three months is, for whatever reason,
Germans love three months.
So three months is pretty much true for
everything here.
So if you wanna cancel your lease on your
house, you have to wait three months.
If you want to cancel your cell phone bill
so it doesn't renew you have to do that
three months in advance for memberships
for work, so everything here is three
months and I don't know why and it's the
same for unemployment So if you know
you're going to get fired Laid off or
you're going to quit your job You have to
go down to the unemployment office Three
months in advance and say like hey, I'm
gonna lose my job in three months and
they'll be like, okay
come three months and you can collect
unemployment.
That's kind of a rough way they do it here
I would say.
Well it's good in a way because then at
least they'll have it ready.
So they basically told us when they when
they announce us to us they basically just
said go home and apply right now.
And because we're gonna be here for two
more two or three more days and we'll
approve it on our end because employers
can contest it.
So like, if you do get fired for cause,
and someone files for unemployment on you,
you can be like, no, I fired them because,
you know, they did something unacceptable.
They don't get unemployment.
Uh, they were just approving all of it, so
it was a little faster, but it's been
three weeks.
About, I'm actually, uh, after we, after
we get done recording this, I'm gonna file
for my...
or start doing some stuff to file for my
last time but it's been about three weeks
and I still haven't gotten a single
payment which is you know the government
being slow which again I'm okay it's
annoying but I'm okay I know some other
people who are not okay with that but it
has been uh
I was kinda surprised.
I heard they tightened up restrictions
after COVID.
I was surprised they made you apply for a
job week one.
I mean, it's not that hard, but...
You figured they'd give you a freebie
week.
Yeah, I don't actually know how quick they
are about unemployment here.
Luckily, I've never been in a position to
where I've had to actually file for
unemployment or have been laid off for
whatever reason and knock on wood, I hope
it never happens.
but I do think they're relatively quick
about it.
But as in the US, you need to file a
boatload of paperwork.
Maybe this is different in the US, I don't
actually know, but here you have to
basically prove that you need the
unemployment.
So if you live with other people and the
government is of the opinion that you guys
form more or less like a family community
or like a family system,
then they're kind of reluctant to give you
unemployment, basically.
So long-term unemployment.
So there's like short-term and long-term
unemployment.
And short-term unemployment is, I think,
if you lose your job and you're out of
work for like, let's say a year, then you
get that automatically.
They don't really contest that because why
would they?
But once you pass that one year mark, then
they start getting kind of nervous.
and they try to find a way to push the
responsibility onto other people.
And so if you're like living at home with
like your parents, then they could be
like, oh, well, you live with your
parents, so why should we play
unemployment?
Your parents can support you.
So that's kind of the tricky system here,
I would say.
That's interesting.
I'm kind of surprised it's harder in that
way over there.
One thing I was pretty surprised about is
it just told me up front, like, OK, you
can have unemployment for a year.
So, you know, I.
Part of the paperwork I have to file
online every week, they'll you know, it
makes me list the places I'm applying for,
and it asks if I've rejected an offer.
Bet, you know, if you're just applying for
one random thing a week for a year, I
wonder if you're gonna get a few offers
probably.
I do wonder if eventually they're like,
all right, you're getting all these offers
and you're not taking them, like, we're
gonna need some more information if you
want to keep these payments going.
Like, why are you rejecting them?
Are you just trying to live on
unemployment for a year?
Because I won't lie, it was a slightly
tempting thought to just do that.
I wasn't actually gonna do it, but the
idea that, you know, you could just...
hang out for a year...
and...
That was actually a similar system they
had here.
So if you lost your job, your
responsibility was to go to the
unemployment office and say, hey, I'm out
of a job, I need support.
And they're like, okay, we'll give you the
money.
And then depending on how much you earn
will determine how much you receive in
unemployment.
With the condition being that you had to
apply to jobs.
And so it could be like once a week,
or like once a month, but you had to apply
it.
And you had to prove that you did it by
submitting, I think either applications to
the unemployment office or rejection
letters.
So people would just, you know, on purpose
not get hired.
So they would send an application with a
cover lover saying like, hey, I don't
actually want to work for you.
So please just reject me.
And sometimes that was a bit too obvious.
obvious.
So they would just like write a really bad
cover letter with like poor spelling, poor
grammar, stuff like that to make
themselves look like they're idiots.
And then they get rejected and they'd
still get their payment.
I knew plenty of people who actually did
that.
But I never Wow.
Yeah.
I mean, I guess that's one way to go about
it because I was
I was thinking about it like if you're
someone with a very specialized skill set
but you need to keep applying to get your
unemployment if like say you're uh
You're a doctor, right?
And you're just applying at places to tick
a box and you accidentally automatically
apply at say Taco Bell and you get an
offer from Taco Bell.
That offer from Taco Bell is probably
gonna pay less than your unemployment is
paying now.
So you don't wanna take that.
And I'm sure that's justified, but man.
Eventually there's gonna be some questions
being asked.
The government does not like helping
people.
They do not like giving you money.
That's the same here.
So they revamped the unemployment system.
And so depending on where you work and if
you're like someone who earns minimum wage
or a bit more, you're better off getting
unemployment.
So, I mean, the government gives you a
decent amount of unemployment, and it's
just a little bit less or a little bit
more than what you would earn if you were
just working full-time.
Full-time minimum wage.
So they've been having a lot of trouble
getting people to work, getting people to
be motivated because you know, why work
when you can get unemployment?
For me it's more of a pride thing, you
know.
I like being able to earn my money, but I
guess most people don't care.
If I'm being blunt, so I think that's one
of the problems.
Yeah.
Well, I- and to be honest with you, um...
I didn't realize just how much pride I
took in what I did...
until I wasn't doing it anymore.
And I was sitting at home like...
Oh.
I'm not accomplishing anything.
Mmm.
Heh heh.
Like, I- I think I got used to how much...
stuff I was involved in before.
you know, moving like millions of dollars
of equipment all day every day and then
suddenly stopping.
It was uh...
definitely a good motivator for me to get
a job.
I ended up getting pretty lucky in my
search.
I didn't even really have to look that
hard.
Yeah, I was actually pretty surprised
because I, you know, some people are
unemployed for years.
The longer you are unemployed, the harder
it is, I would say, for you to actually
get a job.
Because then you kind of have to justify
the gaps on your resume.
And that's not really possible when you're
unemployed.
But no, I mean, you know, when one door
closes and another opens, as they say.
Yeah, and you know what the nice thing is
about my old company going out of
business?
Is our industry operates on a lot of
non-compete, non-solicit clauses that
basically says, Hey, if you work for us
and you go somewhere else, you don't get
to talk to our customers, you don't get to
talk to our contacts, like we own those,
you're just managing them.
that's you know the company doesn't exist
anymore so we're all good the uh...
So as soon as it went under, so someone I
used to work with went to work at a
company and they heard, he heard what
happened a few weeks later and he's like,
oh well I know a bunch of fantastic people
so he's actually got three of us jobs so
we're gonna be a new four person team on a
new division they're starting Monday
morning and we're gonna hit the ground
running and it's gonna be kind of
exciting.
I'm working with people I've worked with
before.
like very recently so mmm hopefully won't
be too much of a shift and i'm working
permanently from home now
Yeah, working from home, you know, was a
childhood dream of mine.
The, you know, the thought of just being
home, working in your pajamas, not leaving
the house.
Um, it was like, it's awesome.
But now actually having to work from home,
I don't have to work from home, I choose
to.
Um...
Mostly because I save a lot of money by
doing so.
It really gets to you after a while.
So I have to try and leave the house and
go out and do stuff and touch grass and,
you know, and see the flowers and stuff
like that.
Yeah, I've been warned about that too.
One person told me like, hey, I know it
doesn't sound fun, but maybe...
Get up every morning, take a shower, put
on like, not necessarily work clothes, but
get out of your pajamas, like put on
jeans, put on like a normal shirt, like
just so you can like trick your brain,
like, oh, it's work time.
And things like that have some separation
from.
Yeah.
And for me personally, I feel like that
works wonders.
Um.
If you just get into the habit of doing
that, at least if you go through the
motions, so you wake up, you brush your
teeth, maybe you take a shower in the
morning, you dress up, put on some perfume
or cologne, and then you sit at your
computer, I feel, for me personally, when
I do that, I feel so much better working
from home, as opposed to just rolling out
of bed, logging on, and then just sitting
there with whatever I slept in.
I noticed like a mental change.
So it's a trap, you gotta be careful.
Yeah, and this whole enterprise kinda came
at a bad time.
I'm moving in about a month.
One thing that I'm also hoping to keep
myself occupied is I've been researching
crockpot recipes and I'm planning on
cooking a lot.
So maybe I'll have something like an all
day cook.
that I'll kind of watch or babysit or, you
know, do some steps on all day.
Things like that, just to keep me occupied
and not.
100% in the.
You know, work is a miserable or home is a
miserable place because I work there, you
know what I mean?
Mm.
Yeah, you know how to separate that.
So I've I used to have everything like in
one room You know, and now i'm trying to
like separate out so that I work in one
room and I sleep in another room But you
know, it's kind of hard because you know,
you know space is at a premium here.
I would say Yeah Well, and I spend a lot
of my free time on my computer anyway, so
that'll be I'll have to i'll have to
figure something out.
But um
I will have...
I'll be living alone, so I'll just have to
learn to do other things.
Get away from the computer.
Use the space.
You gotta get a dog.
No.
No, that's okay.
But, uh...
Another thing I did want to discuss, which
is kind of in the same vein, because
unfortunately, this is something I'm
having to learn about too, is bankruptcy.
Mm.
So, I am not...
at the risk of asking a...
stupid question, or making a stupid
statement.
I am not sure...
how common of a concept bankruptcy is in
the rest of the world, like...
i don't know if everyone else has its i
don't know if just we have i have no idea
i can only speak of germany obviously but
we do have bankruptcy uh...
it's not something that people take
lightly as for the you know for those who
don't know bankruptcies basically when you
have so much debt that you can't be at all
uh...
that you go to the government or whatever
financial institution and basically say
like I can't pay my debt off anymore
please help me and the way it here is
basically you have to show all of your
accounts you have to show all of your
assets to prove that you have no money so
I don't know let's say like you have like
sixty thousand dollars in debt and you
have like zero income you would have to
prove that and basically all so I'm
talking about the German system not the
American system.
all of that debt would be quote unquote
forgiven.
And you're required to pay a certain sum
back each month.
for up to I think six years.
And after the six years, whatever you
haven't paid back is automatically
forgiven.
So let's say for example, you have $60,000
in debt and or 70,000 and the court orders
you to pay as much as you can per month
for six years.
So let's say you're earning, I don't know,
minimum wage, which here is about, I think
like $1,600
month give or take and they say okay
anything above that automatically goes to
your debt and so theoretically let's say
you do like overtime, you work night
shifts and you earn 400 extra dollars a
month doing that.
That money would go to the people you owe
for this period of like six years and then
afterwards after the six years if you
haven't paid it off well I mean you're
free, but the people you owe are just kind
of, you know, out of luck.
So that's kind of how it works here.
Interesting.
And they, I think they, yeah, and I think
they put that on like your credit report
or like their version of credit here,
which is referred to as Schufa.
It's an acronym for, don't ask me what it
is, I don't remember.
But it's an acronym.
Yeah, it's their credit system here in
Germany.
And they basically put that on your system
or on your report.
So if you go and apply for like a loan or
like a car or anything like that.
it'll be hard because they'll see that
you've paid or that you've filed for
bankruptcy.
So, but as I said before, I have never
been in that position to file for
bankruptcy.
One good way is to not live above your
means.
Yes.
So, I would say that's a good tip.
That's a little bit different than what
I'm learning about.
So the reason I've had to learn about this
is...
When they pulled us into our company's
boardroom like three weeks ago, they
basically told us, uh, company's out of
money, today's Tuesday, we're filing for
bankruptcy on Friday.
Uh, don't take anything from the building,
please.
Uh, basically everything has to go through
the bankruptcy court.
So the idea is, when you declare
bankruptcy, um, a court and an attorney
are assigned to you, and they look at all
your assets.
And they basically make you sell
everything.
And then they take that money, not you,
and they use it to pay the people you owe
money to.
And depending on the type of bankruptcy
you pay, the order is different.
They were gonna do chapter seven, and in
chapter seven you pay the government
first, like your taxes.
And then you pay your employees.
And then you pay everyone else.
and i imagine everyone else is probably
not getting much uh...
i don't want to get the too many specifics
but there's been a lot of drama on our
local face book pages around here uh...
they were supposed to file that friday
uh...
the word is they still have not filed and
we never got our last pay check uh...
yeah so
A lot of people are hurting because they
didn't get their last paycheck, and
unemployment still hasn't kicked in.
So people basically have been paid for...
basically exactly a month.
Which most people...
aren't...
okay with.
Most people aren't in a good position to
just not get paid for a month.
So it's, uh...
It's been interesting.
And I'm told...
Basically, we're gonna get a letter in the
mail when it eventually happens for us to
claim our wages and PTO and things like
that Some people have said it could take
years for that to eventually happen
So when you yeah, so it's kind of
different if you file as a company and you
file as a private person By the way, now
this is legal advice This is just a
general knowledge But the process is very
different and so
Obviously, you can kind of tell, talking
about a company, you can kind of tell if
your company's not gonna make it.
And so, you know, there are always signs
you're earning less money, you can't make
payroll, you can't pay your taxes, you
don't have as many customers or as many
orders as you used to.
And so, there are generally signs where
you could say like, hey, the business is
kind of dying.
And so, this is the context, by the way,
within Germany.
And so, if you reach that point, you have
to actually go to the government
say like hey listen revenues down I can't
pay my employees I can't pay my taxes and
you know I think we're gonna have to file
for bankruptcy as a company that's the
right way to do it which is you know legal
in the moral way the wrong way to do it is
what they refer to in Germany as
insolvenzverschleppung which basically
means like filing for bankruptcy at a
later date so while the
of going under, you just start selling
stuff off and then you hide the money and
then you go to the government and say
like, hey, my company is kind of dying.
And if, and so people try to kind of like
avoid that because if you file for
bankruptcy for your company, like, as you
said before, they liquidate everything and
they take the money.
But if there's nothing to liquidate,
there's nothing to take.
So it's kind of like hiding assets, which
you're not supposed to do, but yeah, I
don't want to get too accusatory, but the
rumor going around is that's what.
happening in our case.
Like our owner's spouse is selling all
their stuff and...
It'll, uh...
It's pretty not great.
i just don't think it in big legal trouble
for it because they deserve it yeah i
don't know how it actually works in the
u.s.
but here's if you basically in general
filing for bankruptcy is kind of like a
protection for yourself uh...
because otherwise you're on the hook for
all that money.
But obviously you can't pay the money
because you have no money.
And so by filing for bankruptcy, you
protect yourself from having to pay off
this debt.
That's kind of the promise.
Is, you know, go to big brother, go to the
government, say like, please help me.
And the government says, okay, we'll help
you, but you have to be honest.
And if you're not honest, which means
declaring everything, well, then you lose
this protection.
And so here, if you do that,
then they retroactively kind of go and
recalculate everything and say like, okay,
well, we were going to let you off the
hook for this debt, but because you lied,
you have to now own up for it.
So, which makes things a lot worse.
And then you go to jail.
So there's that part.
You have to go to jail.
I won't lie if the rumors are to be
believed, I'm kinda hoping that happens
over here.
But uh, I'm trying to think what else has
really come up in the last few days.
I will say, as awful as this has been,
it's nice to have some easy podcast
material from this whole episode.
Oh, by the way, before we get further
along and move on to the next topic, we
got a very nice email the last week.
So Chris and I both read it and we very,
very much appreciated it.
So...
I won't go into the content of the email
because I would say it's meant for us, not
for everyone here.
But it was very nice, it was very
motivating.
So Chris and I both really enjoyed reading
it.
So if you love what we do, or if at least
like what we do, then feel free to rate
the podcast anywhere you find it.
I think the majority of people are on
Apple Podcasts, as am I.
Or send us an email.
We love that too.
I just want you to know that edgewise.
Yes.
No, and I'm glad you did.
And for reasons we were just discussing,
it was very much appreciated for me
especially.
It's been kind of a downer a few weeks for
me.
So it was nice to get a little pick-me-up.
I really, really did need something like
that.
Yeah, I needed it too, because I've been
very stressed for a lot of private
reasons.
But yeah.
So, as always, if you like what we do,
please let us know.
Um, and anyway, uh, let's see what I'm
trying to think.
What else was involved in this whole
process I've gone through?
I, it's a, it's a little bit off the
topic, but I will say, so we were, we were
pulled into the boardroom Tuesday morning
and basically told the word.
And they're like, well,
You know, when it's time to claim your
wages, you can claim this whole week.
You can come in and work if you want,
because there was still, you know, we're
managing loads being transported and
they're still on the road.
So I came in for like, you know, a few
hours every day, but.
It was such a weird environment in there,
like, some people just left right after
that meeting and never came back, can't
say I blame them.
Uh, some people, you know, hung out for an
hour or two.
Some people came back for an hour or two
every day.
I was there five minutes on Thursday.
Like...
It's just such a bizarre atmosphere to
like- it almost-
It was kinda, do you remember like what it
felt like on the last day of school?
Like before summer?
Yeah.
And everything's just kinda, everyone's
kinda just wrapping stuff up and saying
goodbyes and stuff.
That's kinda what it felt like.
But in a much worse way.
Yeah.
Yeah, I guess that's actually a question
actually what to ask is do you have at
will employment?
Oh gosh, um...
I think so.
I know Montana is actually unique for...
Let me see...
Excuse my typing.
Montana has a unique work...
uh...
no montana is not at will uh...
it's actually i think montana has some of
the believe it or not has like the
strongest uh...
worker protections at least in that regard
in the country uh...
i am going to technically be an employee
of a florida company starting monday so
it'll be a little bit uh...
different but
Uh, it is really easy to get in trouble
for wrongful termination in Montana.
So I guess for those who don't know...
So, and feel free to correct me if I
misrepresent those.
But outlaw employment, as far as I've
understood, is basically you go to a
company and you say, hey, I would like to
work here.
And the company can just say, you know
what?
All right, we like you, you can work here.
Obviously it's not that simple, you know,
you have to have an interview, but skip
that.
And they can just hire you on the spot and
you can just start working the same day.
Likewise, you know, they could come to you
the next day and say, you know what?
It's not really working out.
Thanks for coming, but you know, you're
fired.
As long as they don't fire you for
anything quote-unquote illegal then they
can just fire you on the spot So you can't
like say like, you know what?
You're gay so you can't work here anymore.
That would be illegal But if you say, you
know what your work isn't really that
great.
You should probably find another company
So that's more or less at will employment
But that kind of like unemployment system
doesn't exist at all here in Germany
you have like a work, like everyone has a
work, has a work, workers contract for
like everything here.
Everyone has a contract.
So everything's in writing.
There's nothing like oral, it's all
written.
And if someone does want to fire you, then
they have to wait three months.
Ha ha ha.
So it takes a time for them to like
basically fire you.
Or you can just basically say, you know
what?
I don't wanna work here.
You don't wanna have me here.
So let's just go our separate ways.
So if both parties agree, then you can
just leave your job the same day.
But if one party contests and says like,
no, I'm not okay with this, then there's
legal trouble.
So.
That's...
I'm glad there's so much in writing,
because...
Maybe that's something I'll have to
explore trying to, uh, do...
..in the future of my new employer.
If there's anything, if there's any
takeaway that anyone gets from this
episode, it's that Germans love to have
everything in writing.
Everything.
So if you do anything here in Germany,
either you should get it in writing or you
will get it in writing.
So everything is written down.
Like my, my...
contract, my rental contract, my phone
contract, all that's in writing.
So technically you can do oral contracts,
you know, like I give you my word, but you
know, have fun when you go to court.
Yeah.
That's the problem with, you know, giving
someone your word.
So.
Well, I will say I think I covered
everything I've learned the last few
weeks.
Did you have anything else or any
questions?
Mmm...
no i pretty in past weeks that pretty much
been pretty much been it's uh...
i will say that like i said they have
reformed
uh unemployment here i guess this is a
cultural note i'll touch on before we go
so unemployment has at least in germany i
think been around for like a hundred and
ah like 120 something years maybe a bit
longer in its current state and it used to
be referred to as um hats via which
basically means so hats is the guy who
created the system and fia is just four
iteration and this whole like unemployment
system had like a really bad reputation so
it's different in the u.s.
like if in the u.s.
if you say like oh I'm unemployed there's
no like negative associations with that
necessarily you're just like oh the person
doesn't really have a job whereas in
Germany if you said like I'm unemployed
there were automatic like
that like maybe you're uneducated maybe
you're lazy maybe you're I don't know
you're not really like a team player, like
you don't really care about society,
you're like leech.
So like unemployment here had like a
really bad reputation for a lot of people.
And the majority of people who were
unemployed weren't necessarily like
burdens on the system because they were
lazy.
They were just people who were like down
on their luck, you know, they were just
having a hard time in life.
But they got lumped into like one bucket.
And so because of this whole fiasco, they
changed the whole name of the unemployment
system to Bürgergeld which basically means
like money for like, for citizens, I
guess, like a loose translation, or like,
like civil money, if you want, to make it
sound more, I don't know, palatable,
basically, to make it sound more...
reputable, but it's still the same thing.
So they just changed the name.
They literally just changed the name and
added two or three things to make the
system more modern, but it's basically the
same thing, just with more steps.
And yeah, and because of this new system,
because of this new system, a lot of
people have gotten more unemployment.
So now there's less incentive to work than
there was before, so.
But yeah, so that's pretty much my last
point.
Uh, yeah, me too.
I mean, it wasn't a horrible time.
Alright, so thanks so much everyone for
listening.
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