Servicewüste, service desert, is the standard German complaint about unhelpful customer service. The management professor Hermann Simon is credited with coining it in 1995. By 2001 a management yearbook called Servicewüste Deutschland a widely voiced cliché. In 2024 a GfK survey for the Foundation for Future Studies found that only 27 of 100 Germans think Der Kunde ist König, the customer is king, still holds. In 2019 it was 48. The foundation offered an explanation. Wenn die Dienstleistung zur vollen Zufriedenheit vorhanden ist, wird dieses als Normalzustand gesehen. When a service is delivered to full satisfaction, it is seen as the normal state.
Criticize the Work, Not the Person
Hart in der Sache, weich zum Menschen — hard on the matter, soft on the person. A common German rule for criticism. The SPD’s party school uses the variant Hart in der Sache, fair zu den Menschen, hard on the matter, fair to the people.
sachlich bleiben — to stay factual, to keep to the matter
sachliche Kritik — criticism of the matter
Kritisieren Sie immer die Verhaltensweisen — always criticize the behavior, never the traits, as a management guide for dental practices advises
The first motto is the German form of a principle from the Harvard negotiation method of Roger Fisher and William Ury, published in 1981 as Getting to Yes.
How Crooked a Wall May Be
The German standard DIN 18202, Toleranzen im Hochbau, sets how far walls, floors and ceilings may depart from the plan. It measures the gap under a straightedge at set distances. A homebuilders’ guide gives the table. For a finished wall, the gap may be 5 millimeters over one meter and 10 millimeters over four meters. Erst wenn die in der DIN 18202 festgelegten Toleranzen überschritten werden, liegt ein Mangel vor. Only when these tolerances are exceeded is there a defect. If the contract says nothing else, the DIN values are the minimum the builder must meet.
When Work Is Free of Defects
Section 633 of the German Civil Code says when a commissioned work is free of defects: a repaired car, a renovated bathroom, a written program. Das Werk ist frei von Sachmängeln, wenn es die vereinbarte Beschaffenheit hat. The work is free of defects if it has the agreed quality. Only where nothing was agreed does a second test apply. Then the work must suit the use the contract assumes, or ordinary use. A different work than the one ordered counts the same as a defect.
Hurz!
In July 1991, Radio Bremen’s comedy show Total normal aired a hidden-camera prank by Hape Kerkeling. Kerkeling played a Polish tenor, and Achim Hagemann played his pianist. Before an audience that suspected nothing, they performed an excerpt from a so-called progressive opera. A recited text with atonal piano was broken again and again by a squeaked Hurz! Some listeners could not hide their amusement. Others then sought, seriously and with feeling, a dialogue with the fake artists about the meaning of the work.
Anyone Can Be a Management Consultant
The title Unternehmensberater, management consultant, is not protected in Germany. The chamber of commerce for the Palatinate says it plainly: jeder – ob qualifiziert oder nicht – kann sich als „Unternehmensberater” bezeichnen. Anyone, qualified or not, may use it. The chamber in Wuppertal tells firms to obtain and check references in every case, to compare at least three consultants, and to check whether the consultant’s experience fits the problem.
No Exam for Estate Agents
Since 2018, German real estate agents and residential property managers must complete 20 hours of further training every three years. The government draft had also planned a Sachkundenachweis, a proof of expertise, before anyone could enter the trade. Parliament dropped it entirely during its deliberations. The agents’ own association, the IVD, said the result fell well short of its expectations.
Testing the Advice in the Store
The German Institute for Service Quality in Hamburg sends hidden testers into retail chains to rate the advice they receive. For a study of furniture stores published in May 2026, testers made 140 visits to 14 chains. The criteria included advisory competence. The institute praised das Fachpersonal in der Beratung, the trained staff, for answers that were always correct, easy to understand and friendly. The criticism was also plain: Über ein Drittel der Bedarfsanalysen fällt zu oberflächlich aus. More than a third of the needs analyses were too superficial.
“How, Where, What: OBI Knows”
For years the German home-improvement chain OBI advertised with crowds of eager staff and the slogan Wie, wo, was, weiß Obi. How, where, what: OBI knows. In 2015 the agency Jung von Matt replaced the slogan with a new campaign. The trade paper Horizont wrote that the slogan had long defined the brand.
Words for Saying “I Don’t Know”
Da bin ich überfragt. — That question goes beyond what I know.
Da muss ich passen. — I have to pass. The phrase comes from card games.
Das ist nicht mein Fachgebiet. — That is not my field.
Da kenne ich mich nicht aus. — I don’t know my way around that.
Davon verstehe ich nichts. — I understand nothing about that.