Time Archives - Page 7 of 14 - understand-culture

Appointments With the Employment Office

Anyone in Germany whose job or apprenticeship is ending must register with the employment agency as a job seeker at least three months before the last day. This duty is set in Section 38 of Social Code III. A person who learns of the end later has three days to register. Registering late has a price. Unemployment benefit is suspended for one week, a Sperrzeit, unless the person had an important reason. The same one-week suspension applies to a person who does not come to an appointment at the agency after being told the consequences.

For basic income support, run by the Jobcenters, new rules have applied since 1 July 2026. Official Jobcenter information sheets describe three steps. A first missed appointment brings no reduction. A second missed appointment in a row reduces the standard benefit by 30 percent for one month. After a third, the standard benefit is stopped, although housing costs are paid for one more month. Before any decision, the Jobcenter checks whether there was an important reason, such as illness or an emergency.

Patients Who Do Not Show Up

In 2023, 70 percent of medical practices in a survey by the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KBV) reported patients who book appointments and do not come. KBV chief Andreas Gassen estimates that 10 to 20 percent of booked appointments are not kept. He has called for a fee, paid by the health insurers. In 2025 a spokesman for the pediatricians, Jakob Maske, demanded up to 100 euros per missed appointment. Es ist nicht mehr zu akzeptieren, dass Patienten Termine verbindlich vereinbaren und diese nicht wahrnehmen. It is no longer acceptable that patients make binding appointments and do not keep them.

Late, But You Came

Friedrich Schiller’s play Die Piccolomini, first performed in Weimar on 30 January 1799, opens with a greeting. Spät kommt Ihr – Doch Ihr kommt! You come late, but you come! The line became a common German saying. It is said, half as a reproach and half as a welcome, to someone who arrives late.

On Time Matters as Much as Quality

In a survey of 1,008 people for Bosch Power Tools, reported in February 2025, respondents said what matters most when choosing a craftsman. The quality of the work was important or most important for 86.7 percent. Termintreue, keeping agreed dates, followed with 86 percent. Transparent costs came next, with 83.3 percent.

Punctuality on the Curriculum

In a 2019 study by the Allensbach Institute for the Roland Berger Foundation, Germans ranked what secondary schools should teach. Spelling and grammar came first, with 80 percent, and general knowledge second, with 76 percent. Pünktlichkeit, Zuverlässigkeit, punctuality and reliability, came third, with 66 percent. English followed with 63 percent.

Three Days, Until Sunset

In Friedrich Schiller’s ballad Die Bürgschaft, published in 1799, a man condemned to death asks the tyrant: Ich flehe dich um drei Tage Zeit, I beg you for three days’ time. His friend stays behind as a pledge and will die if he does not return. On the way back, floods and robbers hold him up. He keeps going, because the bloody tyrant must not be able to boast daß der Freund dem Freunde gebrochen die Pflicht, that the friend broke his duty to the friend. Und die Sonne geht unter, da steht er am Tor. And the sun is setting as he stands at the gate. Da bin ich, für den er gebürget! Here I am, the one he stood bail for! The tyrant concludes: Und die Treue, sie ist doch kein leerer Wahn. And loyalty is not an empty illusion after all.

Duty Is Duty

Dienst ist Dienst, und Schnaps ist Schnaps. — Duty is duty, and schnapps is schnapps. The dictionary DWDS explains: duty and pleasure must be strictly kept apart.

Feierabend machen — to make the evening of rest. Duden: to stop the day’s work.

nach Feierabend — after the end of the working day, in one’s free time

The Referee’s Report

In amateur football in the Nienburg district of Lower Saxony, the referee must complete and release the online match report at the latest one hour after the end of the game. Every sending-off requires a special report within 48 hours of the final whistle. A referee who fails to file is penalized without further inquiry. A late report must give the reason for the delay.

The Timetable Change

The German rail timetable changes once a year, at the Fahrplanwechsel in December. The date is set by European law: the second Saturday in December, at midnight. Requests for train paths close up to twelve months before the change. Deutsche Bahn usually publishes the next year’s timetable in mid-October. A second change in June is possible where an adjustment is needed after the winter. When storms or strikes disrupt service across regions, Deutsche Bahn runs an Ersatzfahrplan, a substitute timetable.

Leave Cannot Be Recalled

Once an employer in Germany has granted an employee statutory leave, it cannot call the employee back from it. The Federal Labor Court ruled so on 20 June 2000. Even an agreement that allows the employer to recall the employee is void, because it violates the mandatory law on leave.