September 17, 2017

When we were still living in Germany, a colleague of Burcu’s once made her this “compliment”: “I am really positively surprised by you. I always thought all Turks were lazy and slow.” The colleague was apparently not at all aware at that time how discriminatory her comment actually was.

We Germans tend to feel (and let others know) that we’re the most industrious and productive people in the world. Not to mention we know everything … better than others (and most of the time let them know or at least feel it).

So let me set it straight for the German überworkers: The Turks I’ve got to know are in fact more industrious, more hardworking than most of the Germans or Austrians I’ve seen. Plus they work longer hours and have significantly fewer vacation days per year.