I love complaining. I just love it. Sometimes I wonder if it’s because of the fact that I am German or because of my upbringing (my dad also likes to complain A LOT.) Not sure. But it is surely one of my biggest passions.
It’s also one of the reasons, why I come up with so many business ideas: Because I often see the things that are missing. Sometimes it’s a blessing, sometimes it’s a curse.
I thought it would be fun to write down all my “Should have’s” for the world. Ready? Go!
1) Restaurants should have pictures in their menus. This is a huge one. Each time I am in a restaurant where the menus only have text, I hate it. Sometimes you just want to go out and eat and RELAX. Why would I want to force my way through endless texts? This is one of the main reasons why I like Asia so much. Sometimes I don’t understand a single word in their menu, but I am still able to pick much faster because EACH single dish has A PICTURE.
2) Public bathrooms should play music & Have scent sprayers. Play whatever you want… maybe some hip hop?… but play music. Why the heck would anybody want to make their “business” in a bathroom where the neighbor is likely to hear EVERYTHING? And which type of neighbor would wanna hear your business? And … WHY ARE THERE NO FLOWERY SPRAYERS IN BATHROOMS? It’s a mystery. Or rather: A stinkery. When a bathrooms stinks like hell, this is the first impression we get and we just want to get our of there as quickly as possible.
3) Account-Deleter-Software… Please! If you are a smart programmer, please invent something so that we can delete all our unused accounts around the internet with a quick click. It terrifies me (also because of my digital OCD maybe) to think about the hundreds of accounts I had to create or voluntarily created and never deleted although unused for years. Not sure if it bothers anyone else to think about that, but if you are a smart person, please create something to delete accounts. I will pay you. Thank you.
4) Hangers in bathrooms I think you can tell by now, that bathrooms are one of my favorites. So here is another one: they should all have hangers for your jacket, purse, whatever you might be carrying. It happens quite a lot, that you go to a public bathroom and you thinking “finally!!!!” and all of a sudden? Damn! No music, stinking like hell AND nowhere to hang your purse, jacket or whatever you are carrying. The floor is dirty and you’re just thinking: Where the H*** am I going to put my stuff?
5) Every country should have FREE toilets. This is an obvious one for most people, but not so much for Germans. During my recent travel to Peru, I also noticed that “Un sol, por favor” is quite common.
6) Every country should have FREE water. Another one that’s common sense in most countries, but unfortunately not in all countries. Again: My lovely home country is one of these bastards. Sometimes you pay more for a water than a coke in a restaurant. How can such an essential thing NOT be for free?
7) “Butt-sprayer” aka Bidet. Bathrooms (…yes again ;)) should have the little “Arsch Dusche” aka ass shower. And please get the pressure right, if you decide to install them! Not too hard, not too soft… Just about right.
8) Roofing… How wonderful. I liked many little things in Australia a lot. One of these things was the fact that there was roofing next to buildings almost everywhere. The two benefits:
1) First, you don’t get wet when it’s raining.
2) And second (and I think that’s actually the reason why Australia has so many roofings) you can walk in the shade when it’s super sunny. I found that always super practical and wondered why other countries usually don’t have them.
+ Another benefit: You can sit outside at a table even when it’s raining.
Roofing in Sydney, Australia
9) STOP TAGGING! “Tagging” is the ugly graffiti you find in cities, for example Berlin. It’s everywhere: On storefronts, normal houses, even cultural monuments. And it’s dead ugly. It’s not like the beautiful street art you find in South America for example. No, it’s simply ugly. I think the government should make the fines for tagging so high, that people will stop doing it. Just stop making beautiful places into ugly tagged sh*t.
Peru VS Chile.. which one you prefer?
Streetart in Lima, Peru
“Streetart” in Santiago, Chile
10) Seats that flip in trains
Australia has these amazing seats in trains that you can flip depending on in what direction you’re going. Germany doesn’t have them, so often passengers face the opposite way of the direction they’re going in.
11) Fines for people who eat super loudly … or stink. I have Misophonia. It’s a disorder in which certain sounds trigger me to get very frustrated. Such sounds include people who smack or sup when eating. I also can’t stand people who stink. I once sat next to a guy who stank for a 10-hour flight. Kill.me.now.
12) That’s yours. Let me know in the comments: what is something that you’ve seen somewhere around the world and you always wondered: Why the heck is that not everywhere? Why the heck doesn’t my country have that??