>I trust the Germans to at least be somewhat efficient.
They're eficient at creating more bureaucracy as a universal solution to all problems.
Having dealt with Germany I have come to realize that excessive bureaucracy is basically a jobs program and a way for people to cover their ass whenever the shit hits the fan.
Something goes wrong and you're the big boss? Add more bureaucracy as your attempt to "fix" the problem and your justification to why your job is valuable to the company.
Something goes wrong on your watch? It's not your fault if you followed all the bureaucracy conjure by your bosses.
For some reason, _fear_ seems to be an important emotion in Germany that steers the collective.
Fear of the boss to be caught with a error on his (hence he adds more bureaucracy), fear of the general public to look racist (hence low policing in high crime area with many foreigners), fear of the case worker to get sued (hence applying the rules literally, to the detriment of the applicant),.etc
Pretty much. I feel like the whole fear drive German conformism comes from the Prussian times where strict hierarchies were enforced and respected, where your superior is always right so don't question it, and the same top-down leadership culture can be seen today in big traditional German corporations.
> They're [The Germans are] eficient at creating more bureaucracy as a universal solution to all problems.
Never ever confuse Germans with the German government (except if you are looking for trouble :-) ). It is well-known that what are "lawyer jokes" in the USA are "politicians jokes" in Germany.
I didn't confuse anything I meant exactly what I said. To whit:
1. German companies are equally as bureaucratic because the people and society in general are culturally so into it.
2. German government is formed by German people voted by other German people, they aren't ruled by some aliens that came from of the sky, therefore are representative for them.
German government just reflects the German society, which is happy to come up with an incredibly bureaucratic non-digital process on any random occasion. I was once told by a lawyer assistant in an email, that I need to call them to make an appointment for another call to discuss a billing issue. Needless to say, the matter could be clarified in a few emails, and those are the people who charge 150-200€ per hour. This is the essence of how the things are often done here by businesses which are supposedly rooting for efficiency and profit margins.
> Something goes wrong and you're the big boss? Add more bureaucracy as your attempt to "fix" the problem and your justification to why your job is valuable to the company.
This literally applies to big orgs as well with red tape, etc
They're eficient at creating more bureaucracy as a universal solution to all problems.
Having dealt with Germany I have come to realize that excessive bureaucracy is basically a jobs program and a way for people to cover their ass whenever the shit hits the fan.
Something goes wrong and you're the big boss? Add more bureaucracy as your attempt to "fix" the problem and your justification to why your job is valuable to the company.
Something goes wrong on your watch? It's not your fault if you followed all the bureaucracy conjure by your bosses.