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Accountability sinks

(aworkinglibrary.com)
493 points l0b0 | 21 comments | 19 Oct 24 23:39 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source | bottom
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rougka ◴[20 Oct 24 05:35 UTC] No.41893123[source]▶
I remember experiencing this in one of the German airports/airlines and having that exact thought.

It was this fully automated airport, where the checkin is self serviced and you only interact with computers.

Eventually, when I inserted my boarding pass I had a printed piece of paper back that said that they had to change my seat from aisle to midseat

I then tried to find someone to talk to the entire way, but computers can only interact in the way the UI was designed, and no programmer accounted or cared for my scenario

The ground attendant couldn't have done anything of course because it wasn't part of the scope of her job, and this was the part of germany where nice was not one of their stereotypes.

Eventually I got a survey a week later about a different leg of the flight, so could I really complain there? that one was fine? I had a paranoid wonder if that was intentional

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eloisius ◴[20 Oct 24 06:41 UTC] No.41893412[source]▶
I had a similar experience in Germany about a year ago. Train stations are mostly self-service now. The ticket kiosk ate my €50 and promptly rebooted. It didn’t print a receipt or anything. The only human I could find was a security guard. He told me to call the number on a sticker on the machine. The person who answered couldn’t speak English. My €50 is out there somewhere but it would cost me more than that to track it down.
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jhrmnn ◴[20 Oct 24 08:57 UTC] No.41894023[source]▶
> The person who answered couldn’t speak English.

It sounds like this was the main point of failure. I’m not sure it can be considered an error in the system. I’d consider the risk inherent in traveling in a country without knowing its language.

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1. scrollaway ◴[20 Oct 24 09:02 UTC] No.41894054[source]▶
Germany is the only country in which I’ve had 112 (emergency services) hang up on me because they couldn’t speak English.

It’s worse than France in this regard.

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2. jhrmnn ◴[20 Oct 24 09:08 UTC] No.41894075[source]▶
Sure, that’s bad, and a service dealing with train ticket machine failures not available in English isn’t as bad.
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3. aziaziazi ◴[20 Oct 24 09:26 UTC] No.41894157[source]▶
Yes, but it’s still fine to have a customer service only answering in the official language. The chance are high that a random German speaks english so you’ll probably be good but if that’s not the case, blaming the company seems unfair to me.
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4. kleiba ◴[20 Oct 24 10:53 UTC] No.41894512[source]▶
> The chance are high that a random German speaks English

Not sure how random my selection process was, but that certainly wasn't my experience when I lived in Germany a few years ago. Maybe in big cities, yes. But even in the burbs, chances are you have to look for the metaphorical needle in the haystack to find someone speaking English. Your best bet might just be teenagers and young adults.

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5. f1shy ◴[20 Oct 24 11:12 UTC] No.41894578[source]▶
Yes sir. A friend of mine, the girlfriend passed out, being pregnant. In the moment of total stress, we called 112, and said “passed away“ instead of „passed out“. The guy on the other side “well, if she is dead, why are you calling?!” Very rude. He went on to explain, it was an error, an instead of just dispatch an ambulance, had to hear a 10 minute lesson in english (from a german) after which the ambulance was dispatched. When the ambulance finally arrived, she was “ok” so they had to pay couple of thousand Euros for a “negligent dispatch”…

The level of arrogance and lack of empathy and service is beyond limits.

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6. f1shy ◴[20 Oct 24 11:13 UTC] No.41894583[source]▶
Go to any museum… just brutal.
7. f1shy ◴[20 Oct 24 11:16 UTC] No.41894589[source]▶
Please look my comment to the parent comment. If you do find a german that speaks understandable english (that you can differentiate “think” and “sink” or “g” and “she” or “zoo” and “sue” then may be the arrogant crap that got my friend. For that they receive years of “Ausbildung”…
replies(1): >>41900410 #
8. f1shy ◴[20 Oct 24 11:18 UTC] No.41894603{3}[source]▶
Absolutely. There is a big myth that “germans (all?) speak good English“ and nothing can be further from the truth. There are good ones, sure, maybe even more percent than other places, but go out of Berlin, Hamburg, Munich… and good luck!!!
9. yxhuvud ◴[20 Oct 24 11:59 UTC] No.41894773[source]▶
Ticket machines are still something foreigners can be expected to interact and need help with.
replies(1): >>41895507 #
10. bryanrasmussen ◴[20 Oct 24 12:58 UTC] No.41895077[source]▶
>The chance are high that a random German speaks english so you’ll probably be good

What does high mean in this context? I experienced what I would call the inverse Danish maneuver, the German obviously understand English because they often answered our English questions correctly - In German.

In Denmark if a Dane understands what you said in Danish but you have a definite accent they will often answer your question in English.

Maybe Germanic cultures are geared towards the rude.

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11. HighGoldstein ◴[20 Oct 24 13:26 UTC] No.41895233{3}[source]▶
This sounds like a language education issue. It's easier to understand a language than to express yourself in it, so possibly Germans on average have good enough knowledge of English to understand you but not enough to adequately reply in English. Conversely, Denmark has some of the highest English literacy in Europe.
replies(1): >>41896526 #
12. aziaziazi ◴[20 Oct 24 14:14 UTC] No.41895507{3}[source]▶
People visiting a foreign country can still expect to have to interact with local not speaking their language.
13. bryanrasmussen ◴[20 Oct 24 16:32 UTC] No.41896526{4}[source]▶
I mean sure, that sounds plausible, until I point out in Germany that I don't speak German and they continue trying to explain to me in German the answer to my question.

If I'm talking to an Italian and trying to explain to them in English and they don't understand then I try with a combination of my broken Italian and hand signals, not obdurate sticking to English because that's being a jerk.

At the same time, yes Danes have a high English literacy, but switching to English when someone is talking to you in Danish is rude no matter how you slice it.

14. chgs ◴[20 Oct 24 18:17 UTC] No.41897351[source]▶
I tried speaking German to a random security guard in Arizona and he just walked off.
15. bmicraft ◴[20 Oct 24 18:45 UTC] No.41897563[source]▶
> When the ambulance finally arrived, she was “ok” so they had to pay couple of thousand Euros for a “negligent dispatch”

That part seems really hard to believe for me. The only time you should get charged at all is for prank calling. In fact, if you call and tell them and decide you don't need EMS after all they will in fact come anyways because they need to check on every call. And you will not get charged for that.

replies(1): >>41905484 #
16. bmicraft ◴[20 Oct 24 18:49 UTC] No.41897591{3}[source]▶
They might have been rude, but that's besides the point. Even if they could speak English you shouldn't expect them to be comfortable doing so. That actually seems pretty rude in itself to me.
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17. bryanrasmussen ◴[20 Oct 24 21:22 UTC] No.41898579{4}[source]▶
right, if I'm trying to get information from a guy at a train ticket agent and I don't speak German but he obviously understands what I am saying in English it is me being rude for expecting him to make some sort of attempt to explain to me where I need to get off at in a language we both evidently understand instead of me just learning his language in a couple minutes.
18. LargoLasskhyfv ◴[21 Oct 24 03:25 UTC] No.41900410{3}[source]▶
Jaa. Vell. Trai zamm Turkish or Arabic zen?

What THE FUCK is it with the expectation that everybody has to understand and speak in-glitch? Employ a local guide. Too expensive? Bad luck. Entitled little .....

replies(1): >>41905501 #
19. f1shy ◴[21 Oct 24 15:56 UTC] No.41905484{3}[source]▶
Believe me, it was charged. I could not believe until I saw the papers. This is noones land.
20. f1shy ◴[21 Oct 24 15:58 UTC] No.41905501{4}[source]▶
Well... who won and who lost the war?
replies(1): >>41910464 #
21. LargoLasskhyfv ◴[22 Oct 24 02:04 UTC] No.41910464{5}[source]▶
Voult juh äsk zät in China, tu?