> You can’t just buy NyQuil [at the Apotheke/pharmacy], you have to go up to a person, do a little song and dance, and hope that you’ve convinced them enough th

> You can’t just buy NyQuil [at the Apotheke/pharmacy], you have to go up to a person, do a little song and dance, and hope that you’ve convinced them enough that you get the product that you want. German here. Kinda surprised to hear that, it hasn't been my experience at least. I never had any trouble asking for a specific product. What they do pretty systematically since a few years ago is to ask you whether you're familiar with a medication, if you understand how/when it's supposed to be used, etc. I suspect this is some new directive/regulation to prevent accidental misuse of off-the-shelf medication. You can usually cut this discussion short by just answering that you already know how to use the medication and are aware of the risks. > With most non-freelancer jobs, if you get sick you’re allowed to take off work for a few days, but on the third day you’re required to go to a Hausarzt and get krankgeschrieben (“written off sick”). That process itself is kind of annoying – most practices won’t give them out over the phone, so you usually have to go in person while having a cold, just to get a piece of paper saying you have a cold. Getting the note by phone should currently be possible - but it's completely unclear if it will stay that way. This is regulated by law, not a thing the practices can decide individually*. There is also no technical reason for it, it is 100% political. During Covid, the government (grudgingly) permitted sick notes to be issued by phone to reduce infection risk. Since then, the regulation has been rolled back and reintroduced several times. The issue mostly follows the same trajectory as the "work from home" debate in the US, with progressive parties wanting to make the rule permanent and conservative parties being on an eternal crusade to abolish it. We'll see who wins in the end. (* at least with current legislation, practices are allowed to do it, I'm not sure how required they are. So maybe OP's practice was opting out)