In September 2022, during the energy crisis, Economics Minister Robert Habeck was asked on the ARD talk show Maischberger whether bakeries and other small firms faced insolvency. He answered: Und dann sind die nicht insolvent automatisch, aber sie hören vielleicht auf zu verkaufen. Then they are not automatically insolvent, but they may stop selling. The trade paper Deutsche Handwerks Zeitung wrote of the Unkenntnis, the lack of knowledge, that the minister partly showed. Two days later the president of the Leipzig chamber of crafts said the minister was not familiar nicht einmal mit dem kleinen Einmaleins der Betriebswirtschaftslehre, not even with the basic times table of business administration. The chamber offered to put together a training course in insolvency law for him.
The Workshop Order With a Cost Limit
The automobile club ADAC tells drivers to write down every job in the repair order, together with the completion date. Je genauer der Werkstattauftrag schriftlich formuliert ist, desto besser lassen sich Streitigkeiten vermeiden. The more precisely the order is written, the easier it is to avoid disputes. It also advises setting a written cost limit. A court case shows the limit holding. A customer asked a workshop to find and repair an electrical fault, with an agreed limit of 2,000 euros. The workshop claimed the limit had been raised to 5,000 euros orally. In August 2013 the Higher Regional Court of Karlsruhe ruled that the customer owed no more than 2,000 euros. A note on the order without his countersignature proved nothing.
The Worker Checks His Own Part
In German manufacturing, Werkerselbstprüfung means worker self-inspection. Der Werker, der das Teil produziert, prüft es selbst. The worker who produces the part checks it himself. One definition states the rule in four words: Kein Weitertransport ohne positives Ergebnis. No onward transport without a positive result. The worker is to sign the check with his name. The method arose in the mid-1960s, and the trade journal Produktion calls it disputed.
The Claw Left on the Track
In the night before 12 April 1999, a crew worked on the track of the Wuppertal suspension railway. A steel claw fitted for the work was not removed. The first train of the morning struck it and fell into the river Wupper. Five passengers died, and at least 37 were injured. Before the line was released, three supervisors each had to check on their own that the track was clear. The regional court convicted them. It acquitted five other defendants. It reasoned that each worker could rely on the others, under the Vertrauensgrundsatz, the principle of trust. On 31 January 2002 the Federal Court of Justice overturned four of these acquittals. Where the danger was obvious to everyone working there, a worker had to make sure that his colleagues had done the work given to them.
Every Unit Signs for Its Part
In a German federal ministry, every matter has one lead unit. The Joint Rules of Procedure of the Federal Ministries give the lead to the unit that is mainly responsible under the distribution of business. In case of doubt, the ministry’s organization division decides. The lead unit then decides which other units take part. Co-signing, the Mitzeichnung, is reserved for matters of importance. Durch Mitzeichnung wird die fachliche Verantwortung für den vertretenen Aufgabenbereich übernommen. By co-signing, a unit takes professional responsibility for its own area. The file must show which units worked on the matter, co-signed it and signed it. If ministries still disagree after a personal attempt to settle the matter, the cabinet paper must set out the dispute, together with proposed solutions.
Judged by Number, Not by Name
In a German public architecture competition run under the federal Guideline for Planning Competitions of 2013, the jury does not know whose design it is judging. Under the guideline, each participant marks every part of the entry only with a Kennzahl, a code number. The entries stay anonymous until the jury has decided. The jury assesses the shortlisted designs in writing, and the decision is recorded in minutes. Afterwards all entries are exhibited in public with the authors’ names, together with the minutes.
Our Cover Is Not Good
Germany opened the 2018 World Cup on 17 June with a 0:1 defeat against Mexico. Right after the match, the defender Mats Hummels named the fault in public: Unsere Absicherung steht nicht gut. Oft sind nur Jerome und ich hinten. Our cover is not good. Often only Jérôme Boateng and I are at the back. When seven or eight players attack, he said, the attacking force is greater than the defensive stability. He had already raised the point inside the team: Das, was ich intern oft anspreche, fruchtet anscheinend noch nicht so ganz. What I often raise internally is apparently not quite working yet. Germany lost its last group match 0:2 to South Korea and went out last in the group.
The Rapporteur’s Recommendation
Why do the members of a parliamentary group usually vote the same way? In 2022 Jakob Blankenburg, an SPD member of the Bundestag, answered this question from a citizen on the platform abgeordnetenwatch.de. The members have divided the committees and topics among themselves, he wrote. No single member can study every topic in detail. Dementsprechend geben die sogenannten Berichterstatter:innen … in der Fraktionssitzung eine Empfehlung zur Abstimmung ab. Accordingly, the so-called rapporteurs give a voting recommendation at the group meeting. He also named shared values as a reason.
The Captain as the Team’s Envoy
On 2 September 2024 the national coach Julian Nagelsmann explained why Joshua Kimmich would captain the German national team. He described the role this way: Er ist ein Abgesandter der Mannschaft und platziert die Meinung des Teams bei uns. He is an envoy of the team and brings the team’s opinion to us. He also gave a reason for the choice: Wenn Josh etwas anders sieht, dann spricht er das offen, ehrlich und direkt an. When Josh sees something differently, he says so openly, honestly and directly. According to Nagelsmann, Kimmich had set a benchmark at the European Championship on home soil. Kimmich, Antonio Rüdiger and Kai Havertz formed the team council, the Mannschaftsrat, together with four other senior players.
135 Minutes
In 2008 an administrative employee with 17 years of service recorded arrival times that did not match when she actually arrived. Over seven working days in a row, the difference added up to about 135 minutes. Her employer dismissed her without notice. In 2011 the Federal Labor Court upheld the dismissal, even without a prior warning. The court wrote: Der Arbeitgeber muss auf eine korrekte Dokumentation der Arbeitszeit … vertrauen können. The employer must be able to rely on correct records of working time.