German Punctuality

Germans are known for their punctuality, but to me punctual means showing up on time, give or take a few minutes, not 15 minutes earlier.

Today, a plumber came to fix our toilet. German toilets are more complicated than toilets in the US, because the internal workings are inside the wall instead of a tank behind the bowl. This appeals to my sense of minimalism, but it makes it difficult to fix on one's own. Anyway, he was supposed to come between 9 and 9:30, but instead he showed up at 8:45. What if I hadn't returned from dropping off Alex at Kindergarten? Would he have just left?

This is not the first time this has happened. Our building has a new heating system, so for a while the installers kept calling to set up appointments to check the heating in each apartment. They always showed up 15 to 30 minutes early. The same with deliveries. Our washer and dryer arrived 30 minutes early too.

But our schranks (portable closets--German homes do not have closets) arrived a whole hour earlier. I was expecting the delivery guys at noon and they showed up at 11. When I said You're early, they responded Yes, we hope you don't mind (in Deutsche, of course). I did mind, but I didn't say it. What if I hadn't been home? Would they have returned or left me a note telling me to reschedule?

Nevertheless, I now know to be home at least a half-hour before the predetermined time.