![[1096] Incident At McDonalds Restaurant](/comics/2019-07-08-1096-incident-at-mcdonalds-restaurant.png "[1096] Incident At McDonalds Restaurant")
“German revolutionaries occupy a station only after buying a platform ticket.” – German saying based on a similar statement by Stalin.
This strip is also a tribute to the last page of the Donald Duck’s story “Incident at McDuck Tower” by Don Rosa, one of the best comic pages of all time.
I posted my report about my visit of the Comic Con 2019 in Stuttgart:
- Sandra: Uh, the traffic light there is broken. It never turns green. You have to cross the street when it’s free.
- Refugee: I have to cross against the signal?!
- Sandra: Yeah.
- Refugee: But… But!!
- Sandra: Maybe… I can be of help…?
- Refugee:This red light! It’s so bright! I’m getting vertigo! Oh! Oh! Help!
- Refugee: Help me over… Easy… Easy… Whew! There! Finally!
- Sandra: I’m afraid the integration of the Germans into our society will be more difficult than expected.
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AHAHAHAHAHAHHAAAHAHAHAH
I’m glad we are returning to the fun.
Awww, what a helpful raccoon! You don’t see one everyday!
He won’t survive in Russia. We have perfectly working lights where you’ll never get a chance to cross on green, because guess what? Your green is also green for some cars to drive over walkway! Nope, it’s not mistake! Yes, it’s working as intended! Yes, guys who planned traffic flow are dumb!
Wait until they find out about German humor. It’s certainly no laughing matter.
Well if you consider that Hitler passed the law which was “death sentence for riding a bus without a ticket”… Germans are like that for a reason…
EvilGremlin wrote:
Are you entirely sure? Link to a particular crossing please? Because that’s the one thing that is particularly bad in Russian GOSTs: it’s totally NOT allowed to cross traffic phases. And it’s what make a lot of crossings so tricky to pass through. ANd it’s something that everybody wants to change for quite some time now (to allow traffic crossing).
By the way, in US it’s allowed. Car can turn right any time, but if there’s Green light for pedestrians, pedestrians get a priority.
There’s a story about some Australian Lady who supposedly spent “an entire week” at a broken traffic light until she was rescued (and then taken to a hospital to treat for dehydration).
@ Trimutius:
I’ve lived in Germany for almost 30 years and I’ve never heard about that one
I’m pretty sure that would have been mentioned in history class (seeing how Nazis were the topic every other year)
I know this is supposed to be poking fun at Germans, but in America I almost never see a light that’s broken for more than a day, especially after LED’s became widespread. Yes, the infrastructure is underfunded, but it’s not so bad they can’t keep traffic lights working.
@ Nonsens:
Pretty much any crossing where you want to cross and the guy on the car going from the same direction as you wants to turn right; or the car going from the opposite direction wants to turn left.
In civilized cities, you start crossing, he gets partway into the crossing, waits for you to cross, finishes his turn. In not-so-civilized cities, you start crossing, he starts turning, you jump back to safety.
@ clickbait:
Austrian maybe – but certainly not Australian.
My goodness! A Don Rosa reference? A truly blessed strip.
I live in the US, and I’ve never actually seen a light where the walk signal was broken. I DID once have to press the button to get a light to change though.
I was at a restaurant and the only way out had a light with turn signals, that forbade turning on red(it was right next to a freeway). After the light had turned green for people driving IN several times, but not for me or the others driving out, I got frustrated, ran out of my car to press the pedestrian button, and the light FINALLY changed.
@ Vercalos:
Funny story, most of the pedestrian buttons for crossings in The Netherlands are not linked to the traffic regulation system. The system has a fixed cycle or is regulated by a city-wide system. The button is still placed, because it gives people the illusion of control. It stops them from crossing before the light turns green, because if they get frustrated they just push the button a few more times thinking that actually speeds things up.
Trimutius wrote:
can you show actual proof?
Once in Germany, me and some classmates crossed the street during red light. And got a comment: it’s seldom you see four blind persons at the same time.
@ MFvGeel:
In the UK, people cross when they judge it’s safe to do so, whatever the lights are showing.
AFAIK, it’s perfectly legal, so long as it is safe to cross.
Sllimkered wrote:
Australian. (I’m German myself and Österreicherin doesn’t sound one bit like Australierin).
And ONE single case never enough to qualify as a rule anyways.
Source: I did spent several minutes at a failed traffic light once (driving). But since it was in the dead of night and mine was literally the only vehicle for about a mile in any direction I decided to break the law and risk that death sentence that was mentioned above.
So like a Netherlander in Belgium..
They can’t read the signs, let alone find them.
They don’t understand if your light to turn left is green, so does the light from the turning left of the oncoming direction.
If the light isn’t on, that doesn’t mean it is broken. It just means it isn’t busy enough to be needing lights, follow the signs and regular traffic laws.
It is perfectly normal and legal (in belgium) if you can’t turn left, to take a right and then do a 180 (if no sign disallows that).. Stop screaming at us for blocking the road for 20 seconds..
Vercalos wrote:
Most likely an induction coil under the street should have detected your car and changed the signals, but it wasn’t working. At some intersections the lights never change unless either a car triggers the sensor or someone presses the button. It can be very frustrating for people riding motorcycles, which the sensor might not detect.
To anyone interested in understanding Europe’s rolling migration disaster I strongly recommend The Strange Death of Europe, by Douglas Murray.
Murray spends a great deal of time talking about the evasive and opportunistic arguments that Europe’s feckless elites, wracked by guilt over the wars and the Holocaust, have made to excuse their failure to deal with the problem, and how no promise they have ever made regarding migration has ever come true.
“Don’t worry, there won’t be that many.” “Don’t worry, they’ll go home eventually.” “Don’t worry, they’ll assimilate.” “Don’t worry, Rotherham and Cologne don’t really tell us anything about the migrants. (You shouldn’t have found out about them anyway).” “Don’t worry, the numbers may have increased again, but they won’t go any higher. We promise”
This comic has been exploring one of the many “don’t worry” arguments that Murray analyzes: “Don’t worry, this has all happened before, so we know it will all work out now. (Trust us. You can trust us because we aren’t bigots. Why won’t you trust us? What are you, some kind of far-right neo-Nazi!“)
Angela Merkel invited over a million migrants (mostly young and male) from one of the most culturally backward and repressive regions on Earth into Germany, and as a result German women are going to be less safe at night for a generation to come. But hey, at least Angela Merkel got to feel good about herself and how compassionate she is, and in the end, isn’t that what really matters?
If you think I’m being over the top about this, well, read the book.
@ Agarax:
Which is why some states have “dead red” laws that allow motorcyclists to turn against the light if it’s safe to do so. Some states specify a minimum waiting time, others only call for a “reasonable” time. Either way, it beats waiting indefinitely for a car going to the right way to trip the light.
From my own time in Germany, I have to say that law-abiding Germans are VERY law-abiding, and not-law-abiding Germans are scary and have to be watched at all times. They only come in those two variants.
(And no one ever explained why they dig holes in the beach instead of bringing a beach chair. I never understood that.)
Wait, the German is in shock at having to cross a street without waiting for a green light?
The German?
@ jb:
Over the top? No.
A tad vicious? Definitely.
@ jb:
I still fail to see where the big deal regarding refugees should be. Small and poor countries like Lebanon, Libya and Greece bear a much heavier load than a rich country like Germany. And it’s not like every single one of those who come is allowed to stay here. And it’s not like Europe hasn’t sealed her borders years ago. Right now there’s discussions to track down refugees within Africa to stop them before they even reach the the coast (which is all kinds of weird, if you ask me).
An old but hopefully amusing story: I spent the mid 80’s in Africa. One vacation to Mombasa the place was packed with German tourists. The first day a sign at the pool said “Dive training at 1000 for those interested.” No one showed up. The later that day it was changed to “Dive training at 1000.” Every German in the place was there. it all depends on the wording.
My time in West Germany (yeah, that date’s me) I can concur with the comic.
At a tiny village a few dozen kilometers (about 3 1/2 Leagues for the non-metric. Non-French Leagues, which ARE metric, just to confuse) from Worms, there was a crossing with Germans waiting at both ends. No traffic as the cows were milked much earlier and the afternoon commuters were a long way off. Basically grandmas, housewives, and little kids. All queued up. Then me. I look both ways twice and cross.
Such looks I got, and a frightful look from a German boy of about three, whose Grandma then explained “Ein American” is a hushed, whispered tone.
I smiled and said a hearty “Ja” with a terrible accent to confirm her suspicion and continued on my way.
Matthew H Iskra wrote:
It is considered rude to cross at a red light when children are present. It sets a bad example.
Other than that of course you can cross a red light.
jb wrote:
Well, I want Saxonian independence ^^ Honestly, between 1990 and 2001 you had something like the paradise & our greatest problem was how to distribute the wealth justly. Then 9/11 happened and now we have war crimes by IS in Europe.
clickbait wrote:
A very factual wiki here https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_migrant_crisis
Explains the big deal.
The immigrants are mainly from third world “tribal” societies.
They are overwhelming the existing welfare support systems.
Many have no real ID, or false ID.
A disturbingly large number have been identified as known terrorists, a much larger number are criminals.
Sweden has accurately documented a huge spike in violent and drug crimes due to migrants. Germany has been reluctant to publish the data.
See https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015–16_New_Year%27s_Eve_sexual_assaults_in_Germany
https://time.com/4607481/europe-terrorism-timeline-berlin-paris-nice-brussels/
https://cis.org/Cadman/Europe-Still-Struggling-Intersectional-Issues-Crime-Terrorism-and-Mass-Migration
Fewer than 5% have even a complete grade school education, and are therefore unemployable. None of those understand why they can’t get work. Nearly all of them don’t understand why they have to follow EU laws that they don’t even understand and nearly all persecute or repress women.
And yeah they also don’t understand common customs and laws and don’t think they should have to follow them.
Basically, the immigrants vastly overwhelmed the systems and then the “new hell” started for the locals.
Here’s the comic page mentioned in the description…http://www.homeforducks.com/collection/page_4_2006/art53a_m.jpg
@ Wizard:
Bicycles in California have similar issues – there’s a ‘broken sensor’ exception in the CA Vehicle code for that very purpose – though technically you have to wait an entire traffic cycle before you can cross against the red.
There’s also the “Idaho Stop Law” in some places, to try to keep bicycle traffic flowing, which allows cyclists to treat red lights as stop signs, and stop signs as yield signs. A lot of drivers don’t like this, but cyclists in San Francisco demonstrated how much more dangerous street traffic gets when cyclists follow the letter of the law. The demonstration showed that traffic patterns were severely impacted, and that more drivers, frustrated by the new traffic issues, actually broke traffic laws more and performed more dangerous actions when the traffic laws were being followed to the letter by cyclists. (Examples of cyclist activities during the protest – foot down at every stop sign, crossing stop sign intersections individually rather than as a group, taking the entire lane (as legally allowed), etc.)
mersharr wrote:
Of course it was exaggeration… But capital punishments were handed left and right for minor stuff:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_Germany
Especially as definition of “treason” was very lax…
Trimutius wrote:
Of course it was exaggeration… But capital punishments were handed left and right for minor stuff:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_Germany
Especially as definition of “treason” was very lax…
Newsflash: the 3rd Reich ended some 75 years ago. To cite the first sentence of your wikipedia article: “Capital punishment is prohibited in Germany by constitution.”
Even a “life sentence” usually means less then some 15 years or so in prison.
Not crossing a street at a red light is more about common sense and MUCH more about not setting a bad example for kids. Even though it happens frequently enough. But if you do ignore a red light and cross a street with small children around you shouldn’t be too surprised if their mother gives you a death-glare.
By the way, if you go back in time just one tiny century further … in the early 19th century you could be sentence to death in the UK for offenses like “being in the company of Gypsies for one month”, “strong evidence of malice in a child aged 7–14 years of age” and “blacking the face or using a disguise whilst committing a crime” (source https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_the_United_Kingdom)
Well, I guess this rules out any possibility of me being part German…
…my life is one long series of traffic infractions as either a pedestrian
or a cyclist… ^_-
I’m surprised Novil doesn’t know Babylon 5…
@ apaperscout:
Depends on what you mean by “broken”; Around here almost all the LED traffic lights have a significant fraction of the LEDs out or blinking. (It gets HOT here in South Carolina, and the heat sinking on the LED drivers is really substandard.)
But, working well enough to get by? Yeah, they all do that, or get replaced VERY quickly, generally within a couple hours. We take our traffic lights seriously here in the US.
This upholds the German maxim, “What is not allowed, is forbidden.”
interventor wrote:
In most other places it’s “What is not forbidden is allowed”. It’s also the original meaning of the phrase “The exception proves the rule”. For instance, a sign that says “No parking 11:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m.” implies that parking is permitted the rest of the time.
Make sure to read what the guy says with a German accent 🙂
Agarax wrote:
Here it’s more: if it’s forbidden AND there is a policeman standing next to you, you wait till he goes away. Otherwise it’s allowed.
I find it a bit odd that you would mock Germans (and as I understand it, most Europeans) for never jaywalking, rather than question why Americans frequently do so… and you had to manufacture an unrealistically malfunctioning traffic light in order to fabricate a situation where the German person seems like the more the insane one.
Next do a comic about German with a plate of 30 cheezeburgers in front of him, who eats one burger, has a beer, and then…. DOESN’T CONTINUE EATING! OH those WACKY Germans! Hee hee!
@ Mysterious Dark Lord v3.2:
That is called making a sand fortress – it is mostly done by families with little kids to keep the kids busy with playing in the sand and decorating the fortress wall around the seating blankets and towels with shells.
@ Hinoron:
You’ve never heard of prussian discipline, have you?
The one country in the world, and I’ve travelled all over the place now, where no one would dare to cross a red light is Japan. Even if there is no car within a km both sides.
Mr. Spock wrote:
While it is true that the felony of using services in a sneaky way without paying the fee (which includes riding public transport without a ticket) was introduced with the 1935 change of the Reichsstrafgesetzbuch to close the gap that was left open by the felony of fraud (which has the prerequisite that an actual person has to be deceived, which doesn’t happen if you e.g. just sneak by and automated revolving door where you should have inserted a ticket o trick a vending machine with a false coin), the part with the supposed death sentence isn’t true. There is some grain of truth in it, because the Nazis introduced the infamous so called Tätertypenlehre (the theory about types of criminal offenders), which basically said that some people are notorious criminals by their genes and will always go back to committing certain types of crimes without any chance of changing them for the better. If a 3rd Reich judge found that the accused was such a type of notorious criminal, which was to be judged based on the whole personality of the person including his criminal record, not only the crime he was currently charged for, he could sentence him to death. So riding a bus without a ticket might have contributed to a death sentence for being a notorious fraud, but not even the Nazis killed people for one case of riding a bus without ticket.
Agarax wrote:
There is no such German maxim. In fact article 2 section 1 of the German constitution explicitely states the basic right to do whatever you please as long as it doesn’t conflict with other people’s Basic human rights and as long as there is no law against it. Which means:
1. What is not forbidden is allowed.
2. If any stately authority wants to forbid something, there needs to be a parliamentary law that gives him the power to do so in that particular case.
Jaywalking actually IS forbidden in Germany (as in most countries with sane traffic laws) and can be punished with a small fine. It’s just that the cliche Geman is supposed to be less inclined to break such minor laws in a case where there obviously won’t be any consequences and stubbornly sticking to the law doesn’t seem sensible.
Something I read in a newspaper column once. The writer was visiting Los Angeles, and while taking a walk she was stopped by a cop who started interrogating her about why she did what she just did. The writer was baffled and asked what the problem was, but the cop wasn’t buying it, and wasn’t particularly interested in explaining. The cop was black and the writer was white, and she began to wonder if this was maybe some sort of racial harassment, when suddenly the cop asked where she was from. When she said New York City the cop’s attitude suddenly changed, and he sent her off with a warning after explaining that “here in Los Angeles jaywalking is taken seriously.” Apparently the writer had just casually wandered across the middle of a busy street without even it even registering.
Jaywalking is actually illegal in New York City, but I can tell you first hand that the rules are totally ignored. When Rudy Giuliani was mayor he tried to crack down on jaywalking, and ordered the police to ticket jaywalkers, and the police ignored him. Jaywalking in NYC is a cherished cultural tradition!
@ jb:
The cop probably stopped her for walking – why would you walk when you could drive?