German Bureaucracy at its Finest

One thing that is very annoying here is the amount of paperwork, or “procedures” you must go through in order to accomplish even the most mundane tasks. One example, which sparked me to write this post, occurred tonight as I was trying to go to my first fitness class at the university. 

Today was the first day of classes at the university, so I took the 20-30 minute journey to the school and got in line for a class. Well, when I got to the front, a not-so-very-nice-I-like-having-power girl told me I needed my student card to get in. Reasonable, but I didn’t bring anything because I was told by my tutor that these were public classes so I figured I wouldn’t need it. I did have my OTHER student card though, that had no identifying factors on it, which wasn’t good enough. Ok, fine. 

So I make the 20-30 minute journey back home, turn around and come back, and am back in time for the next class. I get to the front again, and the same not-so-very-nice-I-like-having-power girl was still there, and told me “Oh, you’re from the Fachhochschule and not the University? Oh, then you need a SPECIAL, DIFFERENT student card that says the university on it.” Whattttttttt the heck. Okay, whatever dude. Where do I go and what all do I need to register? She told me all I needed was the Fachhochschule ID. Okay. 

So this guy shows me where to go, and I stand in line for about 20-25 minutes to get this SPECIAL ID card. Well, it’s finally my turn and the guy tells me, “Oh, you just have your Fachhochschule card? No, you also need a passport photo to put on this new ID.” Thanks not-so-very-nice-I-like-having-power girl for NOT telling me this part. Just waited in line for nothing. Awesome. Oh, and this place is only open during random hours Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays only (just like other German Bureaucratic places), so I can’t even go back tomorrow. 

To make this even worse, my British friend, Steph, was with me during the entire time, and the only work out she got to have was the trip to and from our apartment complex twice. So I felt really bad she had to go through all that with me. Hopefully Wednesday will prove more successful.

Thanks German bureaucracy, for once again proving that the stereotype about Germans being efficient is completely untrue!