In Loriot’s cartoon sketch Feierabend, one of his Szenen einer Ehe (Scenes from a Marriage), a husband sits in his armchair while his wife cleans the home. He wants to do nothing at all. The line appears in collections of Loriot’s best-known quotations: Ich möchte nur hier sitzen! I just want to sit here!
God Rested on the Seventh Day
Genesis 2:2 in the Luther Bible (2017 revision) reads: Und so vollendete Gott am siebenten Tage seine Werke, die er machte, und ruhte am siebenten Tage von allen seinen Werken, die er gemacht hatte. And so God finished his works on the seventh day, and he rested on the seventh day from all his works that he had made. The verse names the completed work first, and only then the rest.
Eight of Fifteen Missing
In August 2013 the signal box at Mainz main station could not be fully staffed. Of its 15 employees, five were sick and three on holiday, according to Bild am Sonntag. For about two weeks, trains had to be rerouted or were canceled. A labor lawyer explained to the legal portal LTO: Eine rechtliche Verpflichtung der Mitarbeiter, vorzeitig aus dem Urlaub zurückzukommen, gibt es aber nicht. There is no legal duty for employees to return early from holiday. Deutsche Bahn’s chief executive, Rüdiger Grube, apologized in public. A railway spokesman said: Zusätzliche personelle Kapazitäten gibt es nicht. There are no additional staff.
The Holiday List
The career site Karrierebibel advises German teams to settle at the start of the year who will take leave when, and suggests a public holiday list on the notice board or the intranet. The law sets the order of priority. Under Section 7 of the Federal Leave Act, the employer must follow the employee’s wishes, unless urgent operational needs stand in the way, or the wishes of colleagues who deserve priority on social grounds, such as parents of school-age children. A works council has a say over the principles of holiday planning. In 2021 the Federal Labor Court confirmed that an employee who takes leave that was not granted can in principle be dismissed without notice.
Eight Hours of Work
On 1 May 1890, workers in the German Reich demonstrated for the eight-hour day for the first time, together with workers in other countries. The public broadcasters’ knowledge program Planet Wissen gives the old slogan of the eight-hour movement, first raised by construction workers in Australia in 1856, in German as Acht Stunden Arbeit, acht Stunden Erholung, acht Stunden Ruhe, eight hours of work, eight hours of recreation, eight hours of rest. In 1894 Rosa Luxemburg wrote: Der 1. Mai verkündet die Losung des achtstündigen Arbeitstages. May Day proclaims the slogan of the eight-hour working day. In November 1918 the Council of People’s Deputies introduced the eight-hour day by decree. Employers’ associations and unions had agreed on it beforehand in the Stinnes-Legien Agreement. In December 1923 a new decree kept eight hours as the norm but allowed many exceptions.
No Duty to Answer While Sick
An employee in Germany who is on sick leave must report the illness to the employer. He does not have to stay available. In September 2026 a legal expert of the insurer ARAG explained that there is no general duty to be reachable by phone or e-mail at all times during sick leave. A legal-advice portal adds that a short piece of information can be required in special cases. Long handovers, long calls and video conferences are, as a rule, not owed.
Overtime as a Warning Sign
Some German career and business media describe regular overtime as a sign that something is wrong in the organization. In January 2023 the tech magazine t3n called overtime ein Warnsignal, a warning sign. Now and then it is acceptable, the author wrote, but dauerhaft ist das ein Zeichen dafür, dass Dinge schieflaufen. Over time, it is a sign that things are going wrong. In July 2025 the HR magazine Personalwirtschaft wrote that many experts see overtime as a sign of poor leadership. The same article also noted: In vielen Chefetagen gelten Überstunden noch immer als Ausweis besonderen Engagements. In many executive suites, overtime still counts as proof of special commitment.
Thirteen Days Away
The Reiseanalyse, the annual study of German holiday travel, counts trips of five days or more as holiday trips. In 2024 it counted 68 million of them. On average they lasted 13.0 days. That was almost as long as in 2023, and longer than in 2022, at 12.6 days, or 2019, at 12.4 days. The study also counted 94 million short trips of two to four days.
Short trips now outnumber holiday trips, but the average holiday trip still lasts about two weeks.
The Evening Stanza of the Song of the Bell
In Friedrich Schiller’s Das Lied von der Glocke (The Song of the Bell, written in 1799 and first printed for the year 1800), the bell has been cast and the metal must cool. The work stops for the evening: Bis die Glocke sich verkühlet, / Laßt die strenge Arbeit ruhn, / Wie im Laub der Vogel spielet, / Mag sich jeder gütlich tun. / Winkt der Sterne Licht, / Ledig aller Pflicht / Hört der Pursch die Vesper schlagen, / Meister muß sich immer plagen. Until the bell has cooled, let the hard work rest. As the bird plays in the leaves, each one may take his ease. When the starlight beckons, free of all duty, the young journeyman hears the evening bell. The master must always toil.
Feierabend as a Full Stop
Feierabend is the end of the working day. Duden also records the word in a wider sense. Für mich ist Feierabend means that the speaker cannot or will not go on, and that for him the matter is over. Damit ist bei mir Feierabend means that a matter is closed and done. In everyday speech, Jetzt ist aber Feierabend! means that is enough now. A phrase from mining says the same thing. Schicht im Schacht, literally shift in the shaft, means that something has come to an end.