Dear 20 Percent,
I wrote an opinion piece for The ̶E̶x̶b̶e̶r̶l̶i̶n̶e̶r̶ Berliner about changes to Germany’s tipping culture thanks to credit card machines. The suggestions are pretty clearly based on the US tipping standard of three different tiers depending on your satisfaction, which annoys me. Why import one of the worst US habits?
It was based on a reel I did and both the reel and my ̶E̶x̶b̶e̶r̶l̶i̶n̶e̶r̶ Berliner piece got an abnormal amount of heat — one Instagram follower went on a tirade in my DMs. I’ll spare you the details but I was accused of knowing nothing about, well, anything.
Let us know how you feel about the new tipping culture in the comments.
Have a good weekend!
Andrew
PS: 100% Funny, our English-language comedy night, is back at 6pm Thursday at Downstairs Comedy Club. Tickets! And Deutschlandfunk did a piece about touring comedians in Germany that I feature prominently in, if you want to practice your German listening skills.
🎤And if you haven’t listened to the lastest episode of the 20% Berlin Podcast, here it is!
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OK, who voted for the fascists?
While tipping culture is changing in Germany, the conservative CDU’s culture of dealing with the right-wing AfD also appears to be changing. The AfD’s Martin Tretzer was nominated to become one of two vice-presidents of the Berlin Abgeordnentenhaus (the Berlin parliament) in October and received 40 votes in favor. It wasn’t enough to win the post. The AfD has only 29 members and all other parties had supposedly refused to work with the right-wingers so where did the votes come from? The 11 extra votes likely came from the CDU, according to rbb24, which is problematic. The CDU’s firewall — the metaphor for its refusal to work with the AfD — will be the only thing keeping the AfD from taking power in Germany in the near future. The AfD is expected to be the strongest in the next federal election in 2029 and should the firewall crumble and the CDU be willing to enter a coalition with (or support an AfD-led minority government with its votes) the far-right would again govern Germany.
Anyone have 200 mil laying around?
About 300 people are negotiating the coalition agreement for Berlin’s next government and we already know one key detail — they want to spend an additional €220 million to fulfill promises made during the campaign, according to rbb24. The money will go to keeping rent increases low on state-owned housing, expanding cycling infrastructure, the return of free museums one Sunday a month, cheap neighborhood canteens and reduced public transport passes for low-income Berliners, among other things. The negotiators know Berlin is broke so they’re next going to try to find funding. One humorous key detail is that negotiators specifically say they won’t spend any time looking for cash for programs the previous CDU-led administration started that it didn’t like. Deliciously petty.
Murder suspect was already under investigation
A 22-year-old man suspected of kidnapping and murdering 13-year-old Lisa T. from Marzahn had been under investigation for possession of child pornography since early 2025, leading interior minister Iris Spranger (SPD) to call for more resources and the use of AI to speed investigations, according to Tagesspiegel. The man kidnapped Lisa on her way to school early last week and officers found her body and the suspect in a house in Brandenburg near the Polish border Sunday. The suspect had attempted to commit suicide as police closed in and eventually died from his wounds Wednesday. The internet has sparked a rise in child pornography cases, further hampering investigative efforts — the number of investigations jumped 54% from 2024 to 2025 to 1,954 cases.
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Factoid
More Berliners visited an emergency department last year per capita than any other of Germany’s 16 states, according to the federal statistics nerds. Last year, 221 of every 1,000 Berliners visited an emergency room for out-patient treatment, passing perennial champion Hamburg, which had 212/1k Hamburgers. Leafy Brandenburg surrounding Berlin came in 13th with 136. Cities usually have a higher ratio because of commuters and aging residents as well as established drug scenes that lead to more hospital visits.
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I absolutely love tipping in Germany. Honestly, one of the greatest things about this country!
Not only do we have a minimum wage, but we also get the privilege of showing our appreciation for the exceptional customer service you can only experience here.
Where else can you walk into a restaurant and spend half an hour desperately trying to catch the attention of a waiter who clearly has better things to do than serve you?
And God forbid you drop your fork! You absolute moron! How dare you inconvenience the staff? Need a new one? Good luck getting the waiter's attention. Better get off your backside and fetch it yourself.
But thankfully, technology has come to the rescue! Thanks to modern card terminals, we've upgraded from choosing a modest 5–10% tip to being generously offered 10%, 15% or 20%. How convenient!
And the best part? Even self-service shops are joining the tipping revolution! No service whatsoever, but still an opportunity to show your gratitude.
And dare you press "No tip"? You stingy Scrooge! How dare you expect to pay only for what you've actually bought?
At this rate, I can't wait for the day my unsmiling, hyper-efficient Lidl cashier asks for a 20% tip while my groceries pile up at the end of the conveyor belt and I'm desperately trying to stuff them into my bags.
After all, I'm clearly the bottleneck here, and surely they deserve a reward for their legendary Teutonic efficiency!