Something to learn from the Germans

No matter how hard we try to drive in the message about humans everywhere are equal, the truth is we are all different. How different is a German? If you are wondering why I am talking about German, this is because I was in Frankfurt airport recently. I was there in transit. So that makes me technically in German soil while in reality I never stepped in the German soil. Even the three hours spent inside the airport was itself was an eye-opener.

To be truthful, this is not the first tryst with Germans. A few months back, I was going from one station to another in Paris with a German friend. We were in a hurry and was on an escalator which was blocked by the passengers ahead of us. I told my friend we could just say "Pardon" which will make people make way for us. She looked back at me and said "It is not like this in Germany". When I look questioningly at her, she replied. "In Germany, we wait till they get off from the escalator". I nodded and exercised self control in order not to roll my eyes. So we stood there till the elevator slowly took us to the other end. Of course, I silently cursed the people in front.

Now here I am trying to get to the gate of my connection flight from Frankfurt. I have to go through the security screening. Like always, I rushed to the conveyor belt queuing up behind the person who was loading all his stuff on to a tray. Then, I grabbed a tray to load my stuff. At this point, the security told me to wait till the person in front has finished loading his tray. In unspoken words, he told me to go further behind, wait till everything is cleared for the person in front as they will only process one person at a time. I ate a big piece of the humble pie and waited.

Like me, you may also have traveled to different parts of the world and seen many airports during transit. Have you noticed the mad rush to catch the connecting flight? Everyone is running and they are impatient to clear the security screening. In fact, it doesn't take much to process one person and these guys can be efficient without creating a claustrophobic environment by people pressing against each other. In order to do that, either security personnel can direct you or you can develop discipline yourself. In either way, this is a good lesson from the Germans.

Tags: Travel,Frankfurt,Germany


-->

Comments

  1. Replies
    1. Now onwards, take a deep breath and wait for the others to finish. :)

      Delete
  2. Reading your post i was wondering this sort of disciplines may get implemented in other parts of the world but then i thought of we Indians ... Will this ever happen in our national airports ! spare a thought !!!

    Nice read !

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, be positive. One person can spearhead a change. So we change one by one. :)

      Delete
  3. Ah.. Another one for the culture workshop!

    Suddenly the saying "Bahujanam palla vidham" comes to mind.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. :) But a lesson to learnt from different cultures too

      Delete
  4. World has a lot to learn from them :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. It is very interesting to me how each country is represented by their airport security. In Switzerland any manual down is done behind a partition, which affords privacy but does not allow you to watch your articles on the belt. At CDG (worst I have to say) the set up to have a manual search is always set up so that your back is to your articles. And the level of politeness varies greatly from one country to another.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am always scared to leave my laptop and mobile on the tray. Worse than that, sometimes they ask you to keep your passport on the tray. That is something I hate to part...especially in a crowded airport.

      Delete

Post a Comment