I’ve been a server at multiple types of establishment in multiple countries. The only time anyone ever fucked with someone’s food/drink, it was because the customer had jumped one of the servers in the restaurant the week before and beaten the shit out of them.

Then I probably wouldn’t go, but I don’t go and not tip because the menu is expensive.

Sounds lovely.

They still put the effort in. If it’s sloppy or poorly made and the bars not busy, I don’t get another one.

Plus, I’ll tip $1-2 for a fancy cocktail even if the service is crappy, because those take time to make, so I don’t really need to know what the service is like ahead of time unless it’s incredible. This sounds like it wasn’t though.

Pistachio ice cream was never red afaik, just the plain/salted nuts in shell. They also used to be way more expensive, so I only remember seeing them a couple times. I mostly just remember the color of my fingers after eating them.

It’s also about ten years out of date, 25 year olds today probably wouldn’t recognize this

I always just assumed it was hard for the rest of your penis’ life, and after a certain point without adequate blood flow…

You can do that at a regular restaurant, too (without being an asshole), if you’re working on something or an EMT on duty or something like that. Just tell them what’s up ahead of time, don’t do it on a Saturday night if possible, and be prepared to tip a lot on a relatively small bill.

I can’t imagine that working out great for Gazans. Maybe Russia?

I’d probably choose the cane over the shoes, too

No, that was the one example that I had considered and that was the rest of my original comment, but the production of defensive chemicals to the smell of damage in neighbors isn’t (afaik) universal among plants, and I’d be interested in whether the plants that we eat have that ability.

Yeah, but spending a bunch of calories on something that doesn’t bring you a benefit.

I actively struggled with trying to describe this without ascribing intent to either natural selection or plants, but I’m just making my point badly. I independently conceived of it, though assume it’s not an original thought, so maybe if I get the time I’ll try to look for it.

But what’s the point (in a manner of speaking, I know natural selection isn’t guided by intent) of pain? It’s there to provide negative feedback and train you to avoid the painful thing. What purpose would pain serve in a sedentary organism?

I’m aware that evolution doesn’t only preserve positive traits, but where in the history of plant development would using the calories to perceive and process pain have helped an ancestor survive?

ugh, I inadvertently deleted the edits, but things came up on my end and I’m not as motivated anymore

That’s some Žižek shit right there

It’s that they try to CTRL Z real life situations

I’m very body positive and pro nudity for an American who grew up Catholic, but moving to Germany unleashed similar hangups for me.

Fun story: the first time I used the communal shower at the pool naked (like everyone else here), a child pointed at my nipple piercing and loudly asked “mommy, what’s that on her nipple,” so everyone turned to stare at my tits. I was doubly overwhelmed, because it was the first time I’d heard the vernacular term for a nipple in German: “Brustwarze,” which literally translates to “breast wart,” which is fucking horrendous.

If it weren’t for the fact that I remember that every time I encounter the word “Brustwarze,” I think I’d have blocked it out.

Her torrid freshness became an underground legend among the talent set. Producers literally held their breaths, waiting for the remarkable Brooke Shields to reach a reasonable age of fuckability, not yet legal, but oh, so sweet. Welcome to the end of innocence, Brookie.

Multiple people had to okay that. How? HOW???

I think there’s a parallel with other social clubs, too.

My medication kicked in while writing this and it shows. TLDR: in Germany, there are various social clubs including international cultural exchange groups (generally composed of immigrants/children of immigrants and Germans in a roughly 2:1 ratio) and clubs based around specific countries open only or mostly to immigrants from those or neighboring countries (whether openly or simply through convention, selection bias, and social pressure). The former are fun and the latter tend to be toxic unless there’s currently a large wave of immigration/refugees from the country they represent in Germany, in which case they can help coordinate resources and support, as well as help people deal with culture shock and the trauma of needing to flee their home country.

I’m an American immigrant in Germany. I love international groups and being able to bond with people about dealing with German bureaucracy as a non-native. I have zero interest in American emigrant groups.

In international groups, we do make fun of Germany, but it’s not mean spirited. We also commiserate about the actively negative aspects of living in Germany as an immigrant. In American groups, I suspect it would turn into U-S-A chants or something similar.

International groups here welcome Germans as a rule, whereas for groups for specific nationalities, it tends to be limited to people who can speak the language.

There’s a real need served by national groups for brand new immigrants who are overwhelmed by everything being different (often significantly more different than Germany is for an American), and they’re great for creating a sense of community that can be helpful for short term immigrants (though they can hamper long term integration).

I suspect I’ll warm up to American groups as a way to give new immigrants a crash course on German culture if we get a wave of American refugees in the next couple of years, because those are the demographics (large groups of people temporarily displaced from the same country who all come at once) that tend to benefit from these type of groups.

I’ve been told that national groups for Arab countries tend to be full of either bitter, unpleasant people and/or gay people and blatant alcohol drinkers, because everyone else just meets at the mosque. Although given that I have no first hand experience and the person telling me about it only has experience with a handful of cities, it may not be accurate for the rest of the country.

I recognize that that type of comment is supposed to be a joke (and I’ll react accordingly, because I’m not a buzzkill), but it absolutely isn’t actually funny (ha-ha) for me.