Typically German: Punctual?The power of stereotype

Have you heard the following sentence before? “Women decide perceptually, men rationally” or “Germans are punctual and efficient at work”. Stereotypes persist, especially in work and life. But we should learn to be aware of them in order to get rid of them. But what are stereotypes and how do they arise?

Stereotypes are our impressions of individuals or members of certain social groups. People or groups of people are reduced to personal characteristics – we take into account that people are naturally more complicated and our preconceived thinking does not reflect all the nuances. Stereotypes are necessary, unconscious and largely automatic. Like templates, they are used to reduce the complexity of reality. In this way they help us to position ourselves in the world and in coexistence with others. For example, “Men are not interested in facial care” is a well-known cliché.

German stereotypes:

Germans are always on time, love their sausage, work hard and go to Oktoberfest in lederhosen and clothes. People from other countries have stereotypes about us Germans. There is some truth in many clichés, but they often do not match reality.

(1) Diligence: “The most sacred thing for a German is work,” said the satirist Kurt Tucholsky. The image of hardworking Germans is fragile: According to OECD data, every employee works 1,356 hours per year, well below the OECD average of 1,759 hours.

(2) Rules: People who like order need rules to keep order. This is observed. Time and again, foreigners were surprised to find that the Germans actually stopped at a red light, even if they couldn’t see the car from afar.

(3) On time: Germans are always on time. There is no paler stereotype than this. The best example: Deutsche Bahn. In the first half of 2018, only 77.5% of long-distance trains were on time. However, according to the state-owned company, the long-distance trains of Deutsche Bahn rarely appeared at the end of 2019 because they have not appeared for 15 years. Also due to the decrease in capacity during the Corona crisis, 81.8% of the ICE and IC / EC trains were on time. The Germans’ compliance with the rules is also reflected in their “unpunctuality”: the party arrives too late at the agreed time – that is a social rule, not a punctuality rule.

Even if the Germans and Deutsche Bahn are not always on time, it is of course very important to have a certain sense of time. Perhaps your friend needs a watch as a daily necessity – be it an electronic watch or a quartz watch, as daily costume jewelry. They can be easily combined with clothing.

The watch can destroy and enrich all equipment. The style of the watch must match the occasion. Digital or analog? Casual or elegant? A gentleman in a suit and leather shoes, a watch with an LED screen looks a bit inconspicuous, a child wearing a complicated and unwieldy mechanical watch makes people strangers – perhaps a cute children’s watch suits him better. Dealers have developed different types of watches for special occasions. Therefore, it is important to make sure to choose the right watch for the occasion and not to commit a fashionable faux pas.

①Business-For formal and business occasions (wearing a suit) a simple, classic silver or gold watch is ideal. A thin and not too messy dial with a plain leather strap is perfect here.

②Casual – Once a watch has a metal strap, it becomes less formal. Therefore, the metal wrist watch is more suitable for casual or business-casual clothing. On the other hand, leather straps are suitable for almost all occasions.

③Sport-The status of formal watches in sports is as low as aviator watches. In this case, digital watches are actually more likely to be used, which are robust enough to absorb one or the other influence and to save the data required by the athlete. Of course, this goes beyond the simple time display, and other directions are: measuring pulse, displaying distance, checking heart rate, etc …

What kind of watch would you like to choose? What kind of watch can you choose? Please check AliExpress listing to find the best watch for you!

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