German tipping and the movie theater experience

2 posts in one day? Well, jet lag and no good tv will do that to you... also no books in English...

As promised in the earlier post, a spiel about German tipping etiquette. Since I work as a waitress, server, whatever you want to call it, I am entirely interested in the tipping practices of another country; I'm hoping possibly to find that Americans are not the worst tippers in the world. Pretend you're a german server: a bill comes to $15. If I were an American server, I would expect a minimum of $3 tip, as a 20% tip, especially on a bill so low. As a german server though, I'll be happy if they round up to $16. Why is this? As an american I would go in the back of the restaurant, out of ear shot of the customers, drop my cheesy smile, and swear my head off about how out of touch these people are and how they don't understand that a dollar and change are an unacceptable tip. As a german server, I get paid a good hourly wage and receive benefits in some places. I have no need for tips. I am also, therefore, less attentive but less stressed and frazzled. I think I might enjoy the security of being a German server more than being a server in the us... While 10% is common at Perkin's, Perkin's is in America and America doesn't seem to understand that.

Today, after a wonderful run in 50° weather along the Rhine river, I went to a movie with Lydia and her friends. I didnt expect to be over or underwhelmed by the idea of seeing a movie when I was first invited, though I later considered 'right, its probably in German...'. Seeing as the movie was Shutter Island, a horror drama, I wasn't too worried about hardly understanding what was going on. In fact, I thought I'd prefer it that way.
We arrived at the theater and parked in the parking garage, walked a few stories up, and into the theater itself which was located on multiple floors (3 ish?). In the middle was an open staircase and an elevator with a giant spiderman perched on top of it. Perched isnt the right word... crouched? in a spidery manner?. You get the idea Im sure. If not, look at the DVD cover of spiderman 1 2 or 3.
We got our tickets from a machine on the wall where Lydia slid her credit card and was given 5 pre bought tickets. Normal enough. The tickets however had a row and seat number on them... I found this strange as I normally like to be in control of these things, like finding a seat in the theater that isnt too close or too far or too near other groups of people, especially not too near loud and sticky children. I was row 5, seat 8. No choice, no changing... What? Really? Guess there's nothing I could do about it, so I went along for the predetermined ride.
We next stopped at the concession stand, where I was going to buy popcorn and a soda, maybe some candy. The candy selection was bare bones compared to the Majestic in Brookfield and I wasnt in the mood for either Haribo or M&Ms. Interesting dichotomy. Jenny, one of Lydia's friends whom I had met years ago, snuck an entire galloon tub of popcorn in so I didn't buy any but really, the black canvas bag she carried next to her purse was apparently entirely unsuspicious. Like I said, along for the ride. I shared this popcorn.
Steffen, Lydia's boyfriend, bought the soda for me (nice of him but I'm sure most of you know how I feel about things being bought for me). The Cola Light (aka diet coke that tastes depressingly like coke zero) came without ice. I knew it would but I was still taken aback by the lack of swishing sound in my cup when I jiggled it or how light it felt and how I was left with nothing to chew on once my soda was finished. Also, they were sold in sizes as follows: half liter, full liter, liter and a half, or something ridiculously even larger.
On to the movie theater: row 5 seat 8 was covered by a plastic bag and the seat felt wet, so we all moved over one seat. Thank god this did not create problems because the Germans probably would have insisted on me sitting in the seat my ticket dictated if it had. Once seated, the popcorn was opened. I grabbed a handful, popped some in my mouth, and was left missing any sensation of movie popcorn. The popcorn here is apparently served like kettle corn, a very sweet snack. I didn't realize until then, but the theater didnt have the buttery smell I always loved. How upsetting this realization became. Next time I'll be prepared though and will order the nachos with salsa. Apparently, to get nachos like we have in America, one must say nachos with cheese sauce. Nachos here mean tortilla chips, which are seasoned and not just salted. Interesting difference, to say the least. The others laughed when I told them, ordering nachos in American means, without question, a lot of cheese will be piled on top of plain salted chips.

In general, I found the movie easier to understand than I expected. Not having subtitles allowed the simultaneous effort of listening and reading to fall apart and required only listening. I may have missed some details which remain lost in translation but I feel I could write an adequate summary of the plot and character analysis. German may even be a better language for dramatic and thought provoking movies... it has an elegance to it that many people dont understand but when I can see what the english phrase is via lip reading and hear the (more verbose) eloquent German translation, I must admit I think I prefer the German.

Sorry for the gratutitous use of passive voice, I have no energy to edit it out tonight.
Bis Morgen,
Debby