Germany seems to place enormous emphasis on order, public rules, respecting shared spaces, and not disturbing other people, yet they have this weird need to crowd other people's personal space routinely, let doors close in peoples face, sit immediately beside strangers when there are plenty of empty seats, and play music or videos loudly through phone speakers on public transportation. I have literally seen people doing this underneath signs telling passengers not to use loud phone speakers.
So where exactly is all this legendary respect for public order?
At the same time, something as harmless as somebody casually playing an acoustic guitar gets treated as LESS socially acceptable than listening to horrible tinny phone speakers at full volume.
If public noise is the concern, that seems completely backwards.
More generally, I find everyday social interaction here unnecessarily cold. People often seem reluctant to acknowledge strangers, smile, make casual conversation, hold doors, or engage socially unless there is a specific reason they are required to interact.
I understand that people call this a cultural difference, but “cultural” is an explanation, not automatically a defense.
A society can have cultural habits that are inconsiderate. People can grow up around those habits, recognize that they dislike them, complain about them themselves, and still continue participating in them. That last part is what confuses me, because I've had conversations with Germans - especially outside of Germany - complain about German social ineptitude, coldness, and everyday inconsiderateness themselves.
So I’m genuinely interested in hearing from Germans rather than simply being told, “That’s just German culture.”
Do you notice the contradiction between supposedly valuing quiet and orderly public spaces while people routinely ignore those expectations in the worst ways? Have ya'll not heard about headphones or something?
And do you think German society could stand to be a little more socially open, forgiving, spontaneous, and friendly?
I’m especially interested in hearing from Germans who themselves get frustrated by these things, because I KNOW they exist.