If you have to live in Germany, live in Bavaria. If you can’t live in Bavaria, then live anywhere north of there, but avoid living in Baden-Württemberg at all costs, lest you be forced to deal with the dreaded Kehrwoche. There doesn’t exist an English translation of this word, because no other culture would choose to self-inflict itself with this absurdity.
If forced to live among the Schwabs, you may be tempted to live in a house with multiple families to save some money, thinking it will be something like an apartment in America. This is not the case, because in Schwabia, each family takes turns sweeping, mopping, washing windows, cleaning out the garage, doing yard work, or any other work your condo fees would take care of in a civilized society. This Kehrwoche is perfect for the Schwabs, because not only do they not have to pay a cleaning lady or maintenance crew to handle the upkeep of common areas, they also have the chance to nit-pick about the quality of work done by the neighbors, which can be used to add some extra much needed complaining to the local gossip.
If you do end up in a Kehrwoche situation, be prepared to receive a note like this one on your door to reinforce all the stereotypes about Schwabs.
Note here that this letter is an almost friendly reminder that all the information contained in it is posted elsewhere in the house, so obviously you aren’t doing a good enough job of following the rules. You will note that there is a small and a big sweep week, so that you can alternate between disappointing just your floor mates and the entire house with a cleaning job not up to their standards. Maybe that’s because you don’t like the idea of cleaning the trashcan used by 20 other strangers as instructed here.
Another interesting point about the note you will receive is that you will be thanked in advance with an exclamation point (In the German language, the exclamation point indicates a command), and that the note will be written on paper stolen from a tropical resort hotel, furthering reinforcing stereotypes about these people.
If you don’t want to be bossed around by neighbors who don’t know whether to capitalize a verb or not in their own language, please don’t move here.
deutsche Übersetzung für Astrid ein/ausblenden
Gruß Gott Astrid,
dahanna hogt de Übersetzung:
Blitztipp – Kehrwoche
Wenn Sie in Deutschland leben müssen, leben Sie in Bayern. Wenn Sie nicht in Bayern leben können, ziehen Sie irgendwo nördlich von dort hin, aber vermeiden Sie es um jeden Preis, in Baden-Württemberg zu wohnen, damit Sie nicht mit der gefürchteten Kehrwoche konfrontiert werden. Es gibt keine englische Übersetzung für dieses Wort, denn keine andere Kultur würde sich diesen Unsinn selbst antun.
Wenn Sie dazu gezwungen sind, zwischen Schwaben zu leben, überlegen Sie eventuell, in ein Mehrfamilienhaus zu ziehen, um Geld zu sparen, mit der Vorstellung, dass es ähnlich ist wie eine Wohnung in Amerika. Dies ist nicht der Fall, denn in Schwaben wechseln sich die Familien ab mit fegen, wischen, Fenster putzen, Garage säubern, Gartenarbeit verrichten oder jeder anderen Arbeit, die in anderen zivilisierten Gesellschaften durch die Nebenkosten abgedeckt wird.
Die Kehrwoche ist perfekt für Schwaben, nicht nur, weil sie nicht für eine Putzfrau oder Hausmeistergruppe für die Instandhaltung der öffentlichen Flächen bezahlen müssen, sondern weil sie auch noch die Chance haben, die Qualität der Putzarbeit der Nachbarn pingelig zu beurteilen, was zu mehr dringend gebrauchtem Beschweren beim lokalen Klatsch benutzt werden kann.
Falls Sie in einer Kehrwoche-Situation landen, bereiten Sie sich darauf vor, eine solche Notiz an Ihrer Tür zu finden, die alle Stereotypen über die Schwaben bekräftigt:
Siehe Abbildung 1!
Bitte bemerken Sie, dass dieser Brief eine fast freundliche Erinnerung dafür ist, dass all die aufgeführten Informationen auch an anderen Stellen im Haus aushängen, also machen Sie offensichtlich einen schlechten Job im Regeln befolgen. Sie werden feststellen, dass es eine kleine und eine große Kehrwoche gibt, so dass Sie abwechselnd nur Ihre direkten Nachbarn oder das ganze Haus enttäuschen können, indem Sie den Putzjob nicht nach deren Anforderungen erfüllen. Vielleicht entsteht diese Enttäuschung, da Sie die Vorstellung nicht mögen, eine Mülltonne sauber zu machen, die noch 20 Fremde mitbenutzen, wie hier angeordnet wird.
Eine weitere interessante Tatsache über diesen kleinen Brief, den Sie erhalten, ist, dass man Ihnen schon im Voraus mit einem Ausrufezeichen dankt (in der deutschen Sprache weist das Ausrufezeichen auf einen Befehl hin) und dass die Notiz auf Papier geschrieben wurde, das in einem tropischen Ferienhotel gestohlen wurde, was die Vertiefung der Stereotype über diese Menschen noch fördert.
Wenn Sie nicht von Nachbarn herumkommandiert werden wollen, die nicht einmal wissen, ob man ein Verb klein oder groß schreibt, ziehen Sie bitte nicht dort hin.
Ade,
John
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June 2nd, 2008 at 5:39 am
That’s precious! ROTFL
But “Kehrwoche” does exist everywhere, not just in Baden-Württemberg, it might just be called “Hausordnung” instead.
June 2nd, 2008 at 6:25 am
@d: No, the “Hausordnung” [1] might forbid you to bring something like a dog to your appartment or smoke in the “Treppenhaus” [2], but seldom asks you to DO anything or give specific tasks. At least I never heard of that here in Berlin.
[1] http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hausordnung
[2] http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treppenhaus
June 2nd, 2008 at 6:41 am
Yes, it exists elsewhere, but I when I moved to Stuttgart I learned that Kehrwoche is taken muuuuch more serious here. I get these notes every time, because I forgot something. And the neighbour who writes them is very old and almost blind. When I’m done with Kehrwoche, I don’t find anything, why does she?
June 2nd, 2008 at 7:01 am
In no other part of germany you are forced to clean the trashbin.
About the stolen sheet of paper: It could actually be an advertisement-present (Werbegeschenk). But nevertheless it paints a more realistic picture of the habits of those Schwabs.
benjamin, living in Baden (the other part of Baden-Württemberg)
June 2nd, 2008 at 7:33 am
You do know that not all inhabitants of Baden-Württemberg are Schwaben, don’t you? To the west live the Badener. No Kehrwoche there…
June 2nd, 2008 at 7:55 am
I agree with the previous commenter. That’s something that exists even way up in the north
Although it was less organized where I lived so far.
The fun part is: If you don’t do it your neighbors threaten you, go to the landlord, etc. Usually that’s solved by calling people whose job is to sweep and clean and you have to pay for that, then.
June 2nd, 2008 at 8:06 am
The so-detailed Kehrwoche seems to exist only in southern Germany. Of course, there is in most houses a “Hausordnung”, but as I am used to it in Eastern Germany, the landlord pays a cleaning agency or even a janitor to do all cleaning - of course I have to pay for that within the “Nebenkostenabrechnung”. But it is much more comfortable. Just one example: During New Years Eve this year, some stupid kids thought that they had to vomit (yes, VOMIT) into the mailboxes and all around that. Stinky, smelling pieces of eaten pizza all around. And, five hours later - everything removed by cleaning agency. For Gods sake, I never would have touched or cleaned this mess, even if I could save money on that…
June 2nd, 2008 at 8:08 am
Ba-Wü, as the name implies is also home to the slightly-more-laid-back Badener, who view the Schwabian Kehrwohewahn with the same skepticism as foreigners. (Mir brauche Dreck zum putze.) You forgot to mention that completion of Kehrwoche tasks is announced to the rest of the building by making enough noise at 6:30 AM Saturday morning that the entire building is aware of the event. Banging the garbage can against the wall and hitting doors with the broom/mop ought to do the trick.
June 2nd, 2008 at 8:53 am
Mmmh i live in western Germany (Ruhrgebiet / Ruhrarea) and we also have a thing like the “Kehrwoche” here. As far as i know cleaning agencys are normaly only used at houses where the residents don’t care about their responsibilitys. So if they don’t do what they are meant to, they have to pay the price.
But yeah…..looks typicaly german, why pay for a thing that you can do on your own for free….
June 2nd, 2008 at 9:52 am
yeah, quite a few mistakes for a native speaker…
June 2nd, 2008 at 10:22 am
Let me guess, the note was written by an elderly lady, probably 70 or above? The handwriting sure seems says so.
And no, d, it’s definitely a local specialty, the typical “Hausordnung” is a lot more relaxed than that and - in most cases - involves cleaning agencies. Thank God…
June 2nd, 2008 at 10:36 am
Das gibt’s auch in Ostwestfälischen Mietshäusern. In unserem Haus heißt es z.Bspl “Flur” / “(Dach-)Boden” / “Keller”
June 2nd, 2008 at 11:52 am
I totaly agree. DO NOT under any circumstances move to Baden-Württemberg! This Kehrwochen-Thing does only exist in the south-western parts of Germany. It is so typical, that Mr. Armbruster wrote this message on a stolen piece of paper. If he had’nt a stolen one he’d use the other side of a already used sheet. Just to save some more money. And if you’d suggest to pay a cleaning lady instead of the Kehrwoche, he’d tell you, that you’re spoiled and that he can still remember the time after WW II, when nobody had anything and saving money was a virtue. WW II was probably also the time in his life, when he learnd to use four exclamation points in five sentences. He’s probably still used to order everybody else. If I had received that letter I would have turned the sheet around and wrote - if this side of the paper is not already used: “Please learn your own language, before telling me what to do! Danke!!” It’s not only the Capital in “Fragen”, there is also a grammatical mistake in these few lines: It’s “schwarzes Brett” not “schwarzen Brett”. Again: DO NOT MOVE TO SCHWABIA!
June 2nd, 2008 at 12:13 pm
According to the stereotypes, Swabs are basically the Scots of Germany!
June 2nd, 2008 at 2:57 pm
That was so refreshing to read, I love it…. I am from Stuttgart and I was one of the poor kids that was forced by his parents to do the Kehrwoche when i was still living at home. The best part wasn’t mentioned in the text. Swabians have kids so that they won’t have to deal with their Kehrwoche by themselves. That’s why nobody in the state is complaining about doing that work…
June 2nd, 2008 at 3:50 pm
As all Americans served in the military to fulfill their patriotic duty they must know how to clean their barracks professionally. You’re just being lazy. No excuses anymore!
Operation sweep week has just begun.
Grab the rags, support your Schwabs! Ooh-Rah!
June 2nd, 2008 at 6:17 pm
I grew up north of the ” Spaeztles Equator” and we had “Kehrwoche”. Ours included to take a street broom and sweep the sidewalk !!! Of course the neighbors would be out as well supervising the event. This usually happend on a Saturday afternoon, no chance of going to the pool or meeting with friends lol. No the sidewalk had to be swept first , come hell or high water lol.
June 2nd, 2008 at 6:37 pm
I agree, do not move to Württemberg!
…too many self-important foreigners here already…
June 2nd, 2008 at 7:23 pm
Well, as my ancestors provided me with centuries of experience about living in Suabia, there is one thing I always make sure of before signing the lease for an appartment: “Is there a Kehrwoche here?” If yes, I’ll just keep looking, for even some Suabians have by now realized, that a janitor might be a nice thing.
In our first appartment we were tricked though. At first we had a janitor, but after some months, the owners of ther other appartments (real owners, not just poor tenants like me) decided, that it wasn’t clean enough, when the janitor did the cleaning and so they introduced the Kehrwoche. Mark: it was not a question of money, but of quality! Anyway, the rules called for the staircase windows to be cleaned each week. Heck, I don’t clean my living room windows more than twice a year! So my neighbors on the same floor and me, we agreed to clean the staircase window only ONCE A MONTH! That’s what’s called a revolution in Suabia! *g*
June 2nd, 2008 at 7:24 pm
I live right in the heart of Oberschwaben in a multy-floor-house, but there definitly is no Kehrwoche and never will be. Hehe. And I never had the idea of washing/cleaning our trashcan at all - what’s the point in that?
June 2nd, 2008 at 8:27 pm
You forgot to tell that sometimes neighbors place dust or small pieces of paper somewhere just to check that you really do the Kehrwoche.
June 2nd, 2008 at 11:27 pm
Never heard of Kehrwoche before, but fits in my prejudice scheme against Westgermans quite well: They fear dirt even more than drafts.
(btw: It seems that they don’t fear drafts in Dresden at all. I payed attention to how many windows were opened in busses and trams over the last few HOT days and in most cases every single one was opened, so that seems to be a problem of disgruntled Berlin-habitants)
June 3rd, 2008 at 11:33 am
@mr.gop/tschilai
Where I live (Northern Bavaria) I have to do “Hausordnung” every other week, so don’t tell me it doesn’t exist. You might have a “Hausordnung”, i.e. the written thingee that tells you what you may or may not do in your house, but you also have to do “Hausordnung”, which is the regular cleaning. Calling it that might be a local thing, but then I’ve never heard anyone hear call it “Kehrwoche” either.
June 3rd, 2008 at 11:33 am
@mr.gop/tschilai
Where I live (Northern Bavaria) I have to do “Hausordnung” every other week, so don’t tell me it doesn’t exist. You might have a “Hausordnung”, i.e. the written thingee that tells you what you may or may not do in your house, but you also have to do “Hausordnung”, which is the regular cleaning. Calling it that might be a local thing, but then I’ve never heard anyone hear call it “Kehrwoche” either.
June 3rd, 2008 at 12:55 pm
I was a little bit amazed reading you all are angry with the “Kehrwoche”.
Ok, it’s not funny to clean the hallway by fixed deadlines, I agree.
But it’s the waste of all occupants inclusive mine!
Why I’m not able to remove the own dirt alternately once a month?
Am I a princess and need an inferior to do this? Other people are good enough taking away mine and others waste?
I don’t want to live wiht trash all around me and I know nothing would clean itself so I have to do this.
Everybody wants a chic an neat neighborhood and nobody wants to do anything for this… let the others do. What would be if “the others” is e.g. your mum and not an anonymus person or cleaning company? That would’nt be funny for the most of us. Why nobody is able to take care for his surroundings? Good old times… never me, always somebody else….
And for your eyes: I’m 27, my friends don’t call me a bourgeois and I’m from Cologne.
June 3rd, 2008 at 1:57 pm
Praise Jebus we don’t have Kehrwoche in our Munich apartment building!
June 3rd, 2008 at 4:40 pm
Well, not only strangers forced to live in Baden-Würtemberg are victims of this stupidity. I had to live in Rüsselsheim (in Hessen) - and my Landlord lived in the flat above mine. Bad luck indeed. When it was my turn do do “Kehrwoche” I always got “well-meaning reminders” or - if he didn’t manage to catch me face to face - post-it-notes on my door on Tuesday (because I hadn’t done it right away on Monday). I mostly did it in Sunday anyway, because that was my only regular day off.
Not to mention, the the stairs I had to sweep and mopp where always as cleen as if the cat had licked them, anyway. I don’t mind cleening dirty things - but why sweep cleen surfaces that can’t be cleener?
I grew up in Sachsen-Anhalt, and it’s called “Hausordnung” there too (one word, 2 meanings - not very unusual @ Mr. Gop), but is not taken so seriously. You do it, if it’s nessesary - not because a certain date arrived… (Sweeping Sidewalk was included - about once in 6 weeks, and we kids loved to run around with the giant broom).
But cleening the garbage can - OMG! I’d never do this (I’m quit short, and I had to climb in literarily to reach every corner) *brrrrrrrrr* *shiver*.
Now I live in Schleswig-Holstein and we have an agency doing all that stuff. I’d do it, if I had to - but cleening that old wooden staircase without professional equipment, would regularily take a whole afternoon of my desperately needed weekend - every weekend. So I’m glad to pay for someone doing it the right way, much better and faster than I could. Btw: Someone earns his money, sweeping “my” staircase. If he was unemployed I had to pay for him anyway through the social security system.
@ Lale - my mother-in-law was a cleaning-woman - there’s nothing to be ashamed of. It’s a job like any other and she was certainly glad to be able to do this, and she liked it.
Beeing aware to make these persons job not more icky than nessesasary e.g. by avoiding spitting your bubblegums or cigarette stubs around the floors is a matter of course.
June 3rd, 2008 at 6:08 pm
“Never heard of Kehrwoche before, but fits in my prejudice scheme against Westgermans quite well: They fear dirt even more than drafts.”
Yeah, well, when you live in dust and dirt for nearly forty years there is plenty of time to adapt
“I payed attention to how many windows were opened in busses and trams over the last few HOT days and in most cases every single one was openedso that seems to be a problem of disgruntled Berlin-habitants”
No it’s not, because most busses in Berlin actually have aircondition
June 3rd, 2008 at 6:48 pm
Alter, du tust mir echt leid!
Mit dem Mist wird man aber nicht nur in Schwaben gepiesackt, sondern findet sich in ganz Deutschland….
June 3rd, 2008 at 10:11 pm
This sign is hung out in Berlin to let you know that is is YOUR TURN:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/63662135@N00/2153574589/in/set-72057594083616928/
June 4th, 2008 at 6:46 am
Hi,
I’m from “schwaben” and i know the Kehrwoche but i never had to do it.
But you are totally right on that point :).
You might enjoy this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_jsW9TygsI
I think on “Day 2″ or day 3, he talks abaout the kehrwoche as well.
June 4th, 2008 at 11:40 am
@LaLe: sure we like it clean, but I’d prefer to pay someone to clean up. If i have to sweep the yard it takes me two and a half hour of the weekend. As I’m away more than twelve ours on weekdays spare time is precious.
June 20th, 2008 at 10:58 am
The only exception in Baden-Württemberg is Freiburg.
In fact, it is the best place in Germany.
June 21st, 2008 at 1:07 am
@Zahl
Er, no, when I lived in Freiburg, my building definitely had Kehrwoche. I know, because we got a nice note on the landing written in block capitals with a red pen - never having heard of “Kehrwoche” before, it never once occurred to me that I was meant to sweep the PUBLIC SIDEWALK in front of the building as well, because let’s face it, that’s just crazy talk.
Here in Dresden the landlord has a cleaning company take care of all the communal spaces. Now the exclamation mark dotted notes come from one of my roommates instead of the neighbours.
August 24th, 2008 at 9:07 am
dear john, we are called schwaben in german or swabians in english, the schwabs i believe are the immediate family of one mr. charles schwab.
rotating schedules for house cleaning are common if not ubiquitous throughout germany.
the difference being that until fairly recently the kehrwoche was actually a requirement by way of municipal ordinance in most communities in württemberg, the first such being issued 1529 in stuttgart.
kehrwoche was originally meant to keep the streets clean and not much else, cleaning indoors is just landlords offloading work they ought to do themselves or pay someone to do onto their tenants.
but it nicely lampoons the extreme anal retentive hardcore protestant “national” character of the locals.
by the by, württemberg being a rather impoverished area until the late 19. century supplied far more than its share of german migrants to america. one wonders why the midwest got to be the way it is …
September 27th, 2008 at 9:23 pm
I live in Schwab an as i could say, all stereotypes are true.
November 1st, 2008 at 9:30 pm
How to tell you’re in Germany: Call directory assistance and ask for the ORDNUNGSAMT. (Try not to vomit into the receiver, please.)
November 2nd, 2008 at 2:54 am
I’m from Munich and I remember living in an apartment house in the early 90s with a Kehrwoche too. In my early 20s back then I had pretty different things in my mind and finally the landlord ordered a professional team (surely we had to pay for it but that was fine) to end the continuing argues
Now, a bit more grown up, I think different. Lots of people dont have left-over money and are trying to save whenever its possible. And it makes a difference counting over a year if you pay monthlywise 45 Euro for cleaning stairways (5 levels and 1 window every 8 weeks). If I’ll knew now somebody in my house who cant afford this, I would gladly join the “Kehrwoche” and pay this amount to somebody in the house for doing the job for me.
Back to your note, I’d pretty much the same and a whole bunch of reminders starting nice, becoming not so nice and ending up pretty harsh
Jede Medaille hat zwei Seiten…
November 3rd, 2008 at 1:50 pm
Sure, the “Kehrwoche” is one of the most curious things about us Swabians and we are laughed at by the rest of Germany and maybe by the rest of the world, but it’s jealousy only
: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKfIQWGoc9M (sorry only in German)
November 15th, 2008 at 8:51 pm
Kehrwoche is particularly funny if you have to remove a 30cm layer of snow before sweeping the sidewalk. Baden- Württemberg has a bit more of that stuff than other Bundesländer…
Kehrwoche is perverted. Period.
BUT:
BaWü has the Bodensee (Lake Constance in english, right?) and the Schwarzwald and Allgäu and and and… It’s paradise for anyone with a motorbike. Here in Münsterland, there’s no Kehrwoche and no strange dialect, but when i think of my riding my motorbike it makes me cry.
BTW i cleaned the stairs in houses outside BaWü. This was not only once.
February 4th, 2009 at 11:35 am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ka2LfkAWdA
*nuff said
March 16th, 2009 at 5:15 pm
So i live in Baden-Württemberg and i’m swabian. But a Kehrwoche have only this people who live with others in seperate apartments. People with their own house here don’t clean up that often.
Kehrwoche seems hard but not every swabian is this tidy
And an exclamation point is no command it is just for clarification.
May 1st, 2009 at 8:55 pm
Svabians:
“Schaffe schaffe, raffe raffe, Haeusle baue und dann verrecke.”
It’s enough to make me puke.
May 2nd, 2009 at 7:51 pm
I know a different version:
“Schaffe, schaffe, Häusle baue, Hund verkaufe, selber belle!”
June 15th, 2009 at 2:50 pm
Wer solche briefchen schreibt, sollte 24-7 zum tragen von zipfelmützen verpflichtet werden
Eine solche blockwartmentalität habe ich auch außerhalb vom Schwabenländle (was ich zum glück nicht kenne!) erleben müssen. Jedoch habe ich solche “netten” briefchen erfolgreich jahre lang schlicht ignoriert. Blockwarte empfinden es unerträglich, wenn die treppe nicht gereinigt ist und erledigen das halt irgendwann von selbst. Und beschwerden eines ständig nörgelnden mieters beim vermieter über einen denkbar unkomplizierten stillen mieter verlaufen IMMER im sande *hehe*
July 10th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
You have to live in Switzerland. They can teach the Germans a lesson or two when it comes to Kehrwoche.
August 16th, 2009 at 9:03 am
Kann Micha nur zustimmen.
Ich wohne in Halle, und auch hier muss man nicht so peniebel sauber machen.
Wenn man eine Eigentumswohnung hat, liegt es natürlich an einem selbst, ob man bei der Hausordnung (wo jeder der in dem Haus wohnt mal damit dran ist) selber Besen und Wischlappen schwingt oder eine Putzfrau damit beschäftigt.
Dabei muss man nicht etwa die Mülleimer putzen, sonder nur z.B. das Treppenhaus putzen, Fenster wischen, und wenn vorhanden z.B. Laub vom Hof fegen beziehungsweise im Winter den Schnee zusammenschieben und etwas streuen, damit Jeder ohne gefahr zu laufen auszurutschen das Haus verlassen kann.
November 9th, 2009 at 9:04 pm
If you live in an upper scale appt., a janitor or professional cleaning service is included in the Nebenkostenabrechnung. I’d rather pay for the service than having to clean the stairs myself - and I’m not fond of snow shovelling during the cold season.
November 10th, 2009 at 7:37 am
I have Kehrwoche here in the north of Germany. And I promise I will never forget. Otherwise I´d be an outlaw for life in my neighborhood.
November 16th, 2009 at 3:28 pm
“If you have to live in Germany, live in Bavaria.” -
Horrible idea! Why should anyone want to live on the Balkans?
December 3rd, 2009 at 4:21 pm
The Kehrwoche don´t there is only in baden
i live in sachen anhalt an i´m civilized, darling
we have in our house a kehrwoche, too an this is underdone uncivilized
December 26th, 2009 at 12:47 am
Yeah, I am from Ba-Wü. Thanks to my parents I never had to live in a house with multiple families. Maybe because they hate “Kehrwoche” as much as I would hate doing it.
Now I live in a dorm and think maybe it would be better having “Kehrwoche”^^…
In the 2nd floor (3rd floor for an american) they already have this beautiful self-made sign “putzdienst” even though we are not forced to clean anything. maybe swabian people have that in their genes. even though they hate doing kehrwoche, they cant abolish it.
but you americans: come to swabia! it’s beautiful, we have nice castles, cute historic city centres, you will meet lots of americans and we can be quite nice even if you might not notice at first
February 11th, 2010 at 8:59 am
I live in Stuttgart and I’m American so I didn’t know all the “rules” to Kehrwoche. I was cleaning the stairs in our building. I began with the landing on my floor and swept to the landing on the lower floor. While I was sweeping the lower landing a lady came out of her apt. and started yelling at me that I shouldn’t be cleaning her landing.
1st of all in America when somebody cleans MORE than they are supposed to people will definitely thank them first and then tell them that next time they don’t have to clean xyz….
But here she yelled at me to be SURE that next time I stop at the last stair and not to touch her landing.
March 4th, 2010 at 9:41 pm
You’re not getting the concept. This is not about cleaning. It’s mostly about making everyone believe you are cleaning. So, make noise, leave water on the stairs, show off.
July 15th, 2010 at 8:55 pm
I never heard of “Kehrwoche” and I’m German and live in Berlin!
July 23rd, 2010 at 12:03 pm
I’m an American living in BW near Stuttgart. And yes we have the “Kehrwoche”. No big deal for me. I was used to cleaning and mopping in the Army. But I’m sometimes quite suprised at the fact how lazy the Germans in my building are. “Kehrwoche” is sometimes not done and the people just hang the sign at the door of the person who is responsible for it the folowing week. It gives a true reflection of what the person is like who does this. No pride, no self-astim, selfish….
November 4th, 2010 at 7:37 pm
Q: Why don’t swabian women wear g-strings?
A: because you can’t make a cleaning cloth from them….
Warum tragen Schwäbinnen keine Tangas?
Weil man daraus keine Putzlumpen machen kann….
April 27th, 2011 at 2:12 pm
Wunderbare Darlegung aller Gründe, weshalb wir Badener nach wie vor nicht sehr begeistert davon sind, mit den Schwaben zusammengelegt worden zu sein. Und das ganze wird natürlich noch schlimmer, wenn wir seitdem mit denen in einen Topf geschmissen werden!!
Tja, mit dem schwäbischen Dialekt haben wir auch so unsere Probleme, wir sprechen reinstes Allemannisch…
Nicht böse gemeint…
June 6th, 2011 at 10:21 am
Hallo Osterhase,
als Ex-Schwäbin und nun Wahlbadenerin kann ich voll verstehen, warum alle die Augen verdrehen wenn ich sage wo ich herkomme. Ich wusste gar nicht, wie friedlich das Zusammenleben mit Nachbarn sein kann. Im Schwabenland muss man ständig mit Angriff rechen (siehe oben der arme Ami, der die falsche Ecke sauber gemacht hat). Mich hat in Baden auch nach 10 Jahren noch nicht einer so blöd angemacht. Und geputzt wird erst, wenn es dreckig ist. Da haben die zwar unterschiedliche Vorstellungen, aber zu Reibereien führt das trotzdem nicht.
Und keiner kontrolliert mehr, ob ich meinen Müll richtig sortiere. Auch toll.