Germans have an unusual relationship with their telephones. whenever a phone rings in the vicinity of a German, they are required, by federal law, to answer it (not a joke, check out a description of said law here: http://www.textlog.de/35444.html ...might need a chrome auto translate to read it). Regardless of how much sense it does not make to just let the phone go to voicemail, if you call a German they will respond. At work, this results in conversations such as:
Coworkers is talking on his landline when his cell phone starts to ring:
Coworker (to landline): hold on, my phone's ringing. Picks up cell phone. Hallo. I'll call you back. Bis gleich. Returns to landline. blah blah blah, ok good talking to you. Bye. Hangs up. Calls cell phone caller back. Hey, what's up? I was on my other line...rest of conversation.
or:
Multiple coworkers are talking to each other. One of their cell phones rings.
Coworker: Hallo. I'll call you back. Bis gleich. Hangs up.
Resume rest of conversation.
or:
German being mauled by a bear. His phone rings.
German: Hallo. I'll call you back. Bis gleich. German dies from spending too much time talking on phone and not enough time being worried about imminent bear threat.
This all just feeds my theory that Germans either do not understand or do not appreciate nonverbal communication.
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