> Typical. It must have something to do with whatever they put in the water
> over there. I've become conditioned to cringe if I hear a thick German (or
> Austrian) accent whenever I have to resolve a problem with a piece of 
> equipment
> made in der Mudderland. If you think a mechanic is tough, try dealing with 
> a
> German engineer. He may certainly be sharp, but no matter how patently 
> obvious
> a mechanical screw up is, he accepts the realities of the situation only 
> after
> he hears the hammer start to fall on the gun you are holding to his head.
> 

Heh. My father is a German engineer. You are so very right. All points are 
argued as if proven fact, and no mistake is actually a mistake until proven 
100% wrong, and then it's just a circumstantially disadvantageous choice. 
Case in point: our toaster was full of bread crumbs. Instead of removing the 
crumb tray that formed the bottom of the unit, he turned the toaster upside 
down and shook it over the sink.This caused bread crumbs to be lodged behind 
the heating elements, which burned and filled the kitchen with smoke the 
next half dozen times the toaster was used. His analysis? The TOASTER was 
BADLY ENGINEERED because a) the existence of the crumb tray was not obvious, 
and b) the heating element wires were too close to their backing, allowing 
them to trap crumbs!

PS: only die Russen say "motherland". Germany is the Fatherland.