My cousin and I were traveling around Europe. We met up with a German girl who I’d hosted during her year in the US, and we ended up staying in Berlin for a couple of nights. We were traveling cheap, so we chose to go with a hostel. When we were checking in, I decided to ask the front desk clerk a few questions, but this one was the best.

Me: “Do you have a code for the front door?”

Clerk: “No.”

Me: “So, it doesn’t lock after a certain time?”

Clerk: “Yes. It locks at 11:00.”

Me: “My friends and I were hoping to go out tonight. Would we be able to get back in? Is there a key we should take?”

Clerk: “We have a night attendant who can open the door. But you should come early because he takes his nap and does not like to be disturbed.”

Me: “?!”

I’ve stayed in plenty of hostels, and they’re all pretty good. This was my first experience with a hostel that didn’t run so smoothly.

Eighteen months ago, I bought a new tablet from [Massive Online Retailer]. It worked absolutely fine until one day when the screen started flickering. I hadn’t dropped it or anything; in fact, I had taken obsessively good care of it. It just randomly started fritzing out.

I contacted support for the company that made the tablet, and they told me that they don’t do repairs only replacements, and as it was over a year old, this would cost me 350 euros.

I tried taking it to a repair store anyway.

Me: “[Tablet Company] says they will only replace it, but is there anything you can do?”

Awesome Repair Dude: “Where did you buy it, and how long ago?”

Me: “Eighteen months ago from [Retailer].”

Awesome Repair Dude: “Under German consumer law, it is guaranteed for two years. We can administer that for you at a cost of 29 euros.”

While I could have handled it myself, having someone else deal with it was well worth the cost to me, so I forked it over.

Two days later, I had a brand-new replacement tablet.

The moral of the story: check what local laws apply rather than just believing the manufacturer!

Related:
It Pays To Know The Law

I’m a young, female apprentice cook in a hotel in Berlin, and as such, I have to work the super early morning breakfast shift for half a year. “Super early” means service starts at 6:00 am, so the kitchen has to start at 4:00 am to prepare everything. I have to get up at 2:30 am to get to work — a time when, on the subway, I usually meet party people going home or moving on to their next club.

It’s a good fifteen-minute walk from the subway stop to the hotel, and since it’s an area of business buildings, it’s basically empty of human life when I walk through — except for a small camp of homeless people sleeping under an overpass that I go through, trying to be quiet so I don’t wake them up.

One week, I get three very random days off in a row — I think it was Wednesday to Friday, instead of the usual Sunday/Monday — and when I tiptoe past the camp on Saturday morning, I’m surprised to see all four of them awake.

Homeless Man #1: “There she is!”

Homeless Man #2: “Hooray!

Me: “Uh… Sorry to disturb you?”

Homeless Man #1: “Oh, no, no, no, no.”

Homeless Man #3: “We were worried about you!”

Homeless Man #4: “Yeah! You walk past here every morning, and then you didn’t show up for three days! What were we supposed to think?

Homeless Man #2: “Yeah! This isn’t a very safe area for a girl like you! We were worried something had happened.”

It turned out that even though I thought they were asleep, they’d always noticed me and actually looked out for me, worried because the area was so empty in the mornings. I started bringing them all kinds of leftovers or drinks after my shifts to say thank you.

Related:
Homeless Is Where The Heart Is, Part 13
Homeless Is Where The Heart Is, Part 12
Homeless Is Where The Heart Is, Part 11
Homeless Is Where The Heart Is, Part 10
Homeless Is Where The Heart Is, Part 9

This story is part of the Best-Feel-Good-Stories Of-2023 roundup!

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When I was a little kid, my father’s friend took his pet bats with him everywhere. He kept them sleeping in his military trench coat. As we were in route to the CCCP (the Soviet Union)/Berlin the border guards said that no such animals were to enter the People’s Republic.

Father’s Friend: “No worries. My darlings need their night exercise anyway.”

And he let them loose. I protested.

Me: “They will never find you on the other side of no man’s land!”

But when we arrived on the other side, he whistled a tune, and the bats joyfully flapped to his arms.

When we reached the border on our way home, [Father’s Friend] did the same, and the bats returned once again.

In early 1979, I was in the US Army stationed in Berlin, Germany. I had a room in the barracks that was designed for two people. I used the lockers to divide the room in half and set up the back half for my own comfort to live in. I bought a small refrigerator and would buy cans of Nehi Grape Soda by the case and stock my fridge.

Eventually, I ended up with a roommate. She seemed nice enough, and I didn’t see much of her. But I noticed she would occasionally help herself to one of my sodas.

One day, we were both in the room and I was drinking one of my Nehi Grape Sodas. Out of the blue, she had the audacity to ask me:

Roommate: “Would you buy another flavor? I’m tired of drinking grape.”

What the f***?

Me: “Those are my sodas. If you want something else, you can buy it, and I will let you use my fridge to keep them cold.”

Thankfully, she complained to the first sergeant that I was rude and insensitive and refused to get along with her. This confused the first sergeant since he had never had any problems with me. When I explained the fridge and sodas to him, they moved her to another room.