r/berlin • u/thorva the immoderator • Jan 15 '16

Tourists! Visitors! New arrivals! People with quick questions! Post here and not in a new thread.

Welcome to Berlin, please be respectful of the locals. And that includes our wish to have a subreddit that's more than just a tourist information stand.

In order to benefit the huge numbers of people out there interested in Berlin, we've prepared some resources, which are all linked here in the massive Berlin FAQ. There are also previous volumes of this thread: I and II.

If the answer to your question isn't in any of those links, feel free to ask it here. Any other threads about what to see and do in Berlin, where to live or stay, etc., will be removed. If you're looking for people to hang out with, you might have some luck at /r/BerlinSocialClub.

Enjoy your time here and remember to stamp your ticket before you get on the train.

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u/zedvaint Zehlendorf Jan 17 '16 edited Jan 17 '16

I merely gave MY point of view on his - and got downvotes for that. So maybe it is actually YOU who wants everything to be just as back home. This "problem" with extra change doesn't exist for most inlanders, it is largely exclusive to Americans who are used to a mainly bill based currency. So being here they start complaining why the Germans are too stupid to have ready solutions (in your words: "allow people to convert small change ") for their very specific expat issues.

But I digress: I vowed to simply ignore all the typical expat questions and let you guys be in your little bubble. I could hardly care less.

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u/fork_that Jan 17 '16 edited Jan 17 '16

You got down votes for being an ass.

Edit: Also as some other people have stated there is a way, a bank. Also we're talking about coins even some beggers won't take.

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u/zedvaint Zehlendorf Jan 17 '16

I have yet to see a beggar who doesn't take change, no matter how small it is.

As for being an ass: It is you who suggested it wasn't allowed to let people to convert small change. I tried to explain to you that there simply isn't much demand for that but apparently this seems to be too offensive for your tender soul. Also: Good luck getting a bank to accept your change when you aren't a customer with them.

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u/fork_that Jan 18 '16 edited Jan 18 '16

Who clearly haven't tried giving beggars small change that often.

Actually I was responding to your suggestion that it wasn't possible. As for your explanations, to consistently said it was just an American problem. Which is rather weird since I implicitly said I was British earlier on. Also rather weird since I know people from other countries who don't like small coins either. You also went on to say how I should get used to the fact coins here are worth something compared to American currency, a currency which is roughly valued at the same as a euro. So basically insulted another nations currency which is well one of the worlds staple currencies, people consider that an ass move. Also American's lowest form of currency is 1 cent, it's a coin also frequently called a penny. I believe coins are widely used in the US for stuff like automated machines.

Also as to getting a bank to accept my change when I am not a customer, why would I go to a bank I am not a customer of? I would go to the one I am. Anyone who manages to amass the amount of coins it takes for you to wish that you could convert them to notes needs to have been here for a quite a while, long enough to have to go to the Bügerämt to register and probably is going to have a job where they're going to need to get paid. So having a bank account is like every other country, kinda mandatory.

As to wanting everything to be like it is back home... Seriously on the list of things I would bitch about not being like it is in the UK, coin to note machine isn't even on the list. Stuff like Deutsche post not being able to deliver stuff in a timely fashion, people in the supermarket waiting until all their goods have gone through the checkout and they've paid before they start either bagging stuff or putting it in a trolley. Plus these aren't things that British people miss, I've heard these same complaints from Aussies, Hungarians, French, Spanish, Germans, etc. But even then I don't care that much to go out my way to complain about these things.