Obergerichtsvollzieher - Yet another strange incident

Recently I got a letter from ‘Obergerichtsvollzieher’- Law Prosecutor stating I have to pay certain amount of money otherwise I will be prosecuted. I was shell shocked by that letter because I was wondering I never had any debts and never took any credits. There was an appointment in the letter that Obergerichtsvollzieher will come to explain the reason why should I pay that amount and so on. Unfortunately it was Christmas time and I had to wait nearly two weeks for that appointment. It was always lingering on my mind what could be the reasons for it? In meantime, I checked with my Bank, housing agents and everybody declared that I had no debts and credits.

So the day arrived when old fat guy with gigantic look entered my house. He said I need to pay around 950 euros to Institute for Statistic Department, Aurich, Niedersachsen. I asked the reason why should I pay such an amount of money to them? He said it’s related to Micro Census and he asked me to contact that department for further queries and he left the house. The statistics department said I didn’t answer the questions which they posted to me by letter and it’s mandatory that every person living in Germany after receiving this letter must answer this question. There is a law that if you neglect to answer, necessary legal actions can be taken.

Now I remembered that I got so many times letter from Statistic Department with some questions. I neglected them simply because I thought it’s not mandatory to answer those questions and it’s left to the discretionary of the person whether to answer it or not. The questions were like how much sq m2 is the apartment and how much is the income in the family and so on. It seems the Statistic Department chooses 1% from the total population randomly and sends these letters. It seems there was a big protest in Germany in 1989 that it should not be made mandatory to answer those questions. Law was passed in 2009 that it’s a must to answer those questions.

I was just wondering Germans are so introvert people that they can’t allow the Google maps to publish their houses and streets, then how come they allow to give all the information about the income, size of the apartment and so on. That was the main reason why I simply neglected those letters. I called the Statistics Department and explained the situation that I was not aware of the fact that those questions have to be answered mandatorily. Sorry for neglecting those letters. I can give the information straight away. They were so kind enough to accept my offer and one can give information also by telephone and I gave all the information what they needed.

Regarding the fine, they said they can reduce the price from 950 to 200 Euros because 200 Euros is for the processing fee for Obergerichtsvollzieher. I felt really bad why I should pay even 200 Euros for giving my information to the state. I was consulting my mentor Harald and he advised me to talk to the Statistic Department and also gave an idea if they are so adamant say you will go to Hamburger Abendblatt, famous newspaper in Northern Germany. I adopted the same strategy and called the Statistic Department and they said they will get back to me in few days. After few days, they called me and said we will close this matter and please don’t neglect these letters in the future and provide all the information.

Thank god I was totally escaped from paying first 950 Euros and then 200 Euros. I can understand Census plays an important role in measuring the growth of the nation. As a responsible citizen, I don’t want to shy away from Census. But what wonders me is how can 1% of the Population give them a good picture of the nation. Whatever little statistics I have learnt, how come 1% of the sample population be effective. It really puzzles me to the core. Why can’t they do it more transparent and do it to all 100% of the population.

Lessons learned out of this situation:
1. Never ignore the official letters from the state.
2. Taking proactive measures in diplomatic way always helps.
3. Most importantly learning and speaking German in German society helps a lot.

Cheers,
Sathish Kumar S

Fahrerflucht (Hit and Run) - Incident which I wont forget in my life...

Recently a strange incident happened to me. I thought its good enough to document in my blog. One fine afternoon, the receptionist from my office called me and mentioned the driver of the car LG-AS-XXXX has been accused with hit and drive case (Umfallflucht) on 26th Jan at 18.26. I was shocked and perplexed to the core after hearing that news. I was given the number of police to contact directly and sort out the issue. Unfortunately, the concerned police work only half time and she already left the office.

I was asking myself when did I do some accident and when did I run away. It was a terrible night for me asking myself how could this happen and I was rewinding all possible actions on that day. Nothing came to my mind. I was googling around all the articles for this mistake (Fahrenflucht) what could be the penalty? Who should pay the cost to the damaged car? Will my hard earned driving license be in threat? I was asking all my German friends what I should do in this situation. Everybody advised me to go to the Police and collect the information. If things are complicated, then we can go to the lawyer. Next morning had appointment with the police, thanks to my good friend and colleague Henrik who came along with me to police to help and ease out the situation.

The police was very polite and explained the situation in a relaxed manner. One old German lady saw me parking my car. During the parking, it seems my car touched the other car. The old German lady called to police that I damaged the other car and I didn’t take any necessary action and she gave both the car numbers. Police examined my car and found no damages in my car. Police called the damaged car owner and asked for whether there was any damage to your car? Police could only reach the mother of the car owner and said they can’t make any decision unless and otherwise the owner of the car gives a statement that nothing has been damaged. The police gave the following possibilities.

Case A: If the owner of the car says nothing has been damaged, then I am completely safe. The case will anyway go to the city traffic attorney but he will simply reject the case because there was no damage done. The best ideal case which I was longing for.

Case B: If the owner of the car says, “yes damage has been done”. Then the police will inspect both the cars and estimate the damage caused and I will be penalized and there might be a chance that I can lose my license. The worst case which I was praying for not to happen.

The police clearly stated that she can give her decision only after talking with the owner of the car. I was totally frustrated and asked why didn’t the old lady didn’t come directly to me and say that you touched the other car, please inform police or concerned person. Why the heck she reported this incident to police. Because everything is insured here. Had she informed me, I should have taken necessary actions to inform police or inform the owner of the car. I was really disappointed with the action of the old lady.

I requested police that I wanted to meet this old lady and want to give some flowers and gifts ;) Police denied that it’s not possible to give this old lady’s information and said may be they can ask that I wanted to meet her. Then we came from the police station to work hoping that the owner of the other car would say that nothing has been damaged. I was very confident that I didn’t damage any car. There was an ethical discussion whether what the old lady did is right or wrong, does it make sense to meet that old lady and give some flowers ;)

After all the discussion, I received the call from police and they stated everything is fine. Nothing to worry and no damage has been done to the car. I was finally relaxed. The police also apologized for all the hardships caused to me and said it was not the old lady who gave this complaint but it was driving school teacher who was driving lorry gave them this complaint lol. The police asked me do you still want to meet this guy and give some flowers and presents. I paused for a while and said lets close this matter and thanked Police for all the cooperation.

I would like to compare similar incident which happened to me in Chennai, India. Anita was driving the car in Chennai. Suddenly one motorist tried to overtake our car; unfortunately, the motorist slightly collided with our car and auto (Tok-Tok). After the entire tussle between the auto (Tok-Tok) driver and the motorist, nothing happened. We just had to proceed with minor scratch in our car. No police complaint, no reclamation and nothing. Just wanted to give a comparison of how different society functions in different parts of the world. When society functions so organized and structured without much crime and robbery, I can expect what kind of cases the police has to deal in Germany ;)

I would like to pose the following ethical questions to the readers of this article.
1. Do you think what the old lady or the guy did is correct of giving the complaint without properly assessing the situation?
2. Do you think giving some flowers and gifts to that old lady or the guy makes sense ;)?
3. Do you think the old lady or the guy should have informed me directly?

Looking forward for your thoughts to have healthy discussion. It’s definitely one of the most memorable incident which has happened to me in Germany. Thanks to Henrik who helped me in this tough and crazy situation to bail me out.

Life is bit adventurous sometimes! Now I understand the phrase from my German friend, you can even touch my wife or girlfriend but not my car ;)
Sathish Kumar S