Today was another day of “I have no clue what’s going on”…”I don’t understand”…”can you explain”. Maybe everyone was a little slower today because of last night’s game.

I thought I knew about all the taxes I had to pay here (including the still puzzling Catholic tax), but today proved I was wrong.

I received an email from the relocation company saying I had to register with Deutschlandradio to pay their tax. I replied that I don’t have a radio, so I’m all set. I remembered getting a letter from them in German, but I threw it away thinking it was a solicitation (reference post about ignoring mail until after vacation).

The reply I received was a two sentence explanation: “The tax is for all the TV stations, radio stations and multimedia usage, but each household in Germany has to pay this tax. Even if you have no radio, no TV and no internet.”

This literally made me laugh out loud.

So, I inquired among my co-workers, who tried to explain to me that the tax is unavoidable. Our conversations went around and around. “But I don’t even have a TV! Or a car with a radio! Or a radio!”…looks like I’m going to lose this fight.

Knowing that I will have to pay this tax, I decided that I might as well go ahead and sign up for Internet with the local Internet provider. I went online to check out their prices, but of course the web site was all in German. My co-worker helped me and then advised that it would just be best to go in person.

Going to talk to someone in person has become my new hobby. From the bank to my cell phone, I’ve found that it’s so much easier to go in person than to try to maneuver web sites. The next time you go online to access an account, think about if you couldn’t do that…if you had to go during the week to speak to someone in person. Someone who only explains half of what you need to know because “it’s so easy”.

I went to sign up for Internet, just dreading how long the process would take. I talked to a nice salesman who offered me an Internet/TV bundle in case I wanted to get a TV. When he entered my address to see if I could get service, I heard him say, “Oh.” At this point, that was pretty much what I expected.

He explained that if I wanted to get TV, I’d have to pay a cable fee of 20€ a month in addition to his company’s monthly fee. I said, “But you’re the cable company.”

He said, “Now you know why Germany has so much money.”

Looks like I’m just getting Internet for now.

The process of signing up was actually quick and he was such a nice person. It was really a great experience. I’m learning to appreciate good customer service here when it happens. I had a similar experience at the cell phone store. I let both of these salesmen know how much they made my day, turning daunting tasks into small victories (I’ll take them whenever I can get them).

I’ll get a router in the mail in one week (minimum) for my Internet. If I’m not home, which I’m 100% sure I won’t be, then I have to go to the post office and pick it up (blog post imminent). I am also 100% sure the instructions of how to hook it up will be in German. So expect blog posts to cease until about August when I have it figured out.

I’m really looking forward to getting furniture from Ikea where the instructions are in pictures (did I really just say that? I know I’ll be cursing those instructions halfway through furniture assembly).