It would be easy to start this text with a joke about the unreliable Deutsche Bahn. But maybe that couldn’t be more unfair, because if the state of emergency is the rule, there’s no point in complaining anyway.
That’s what cult writer TC Boyle thought too, who is currently presenting his new book “Blue Skies” on a reading tour and announced on Twitter that, like many others, he had become a victim of the train’s unpunctuality.
Boyle posted a photo from one of the many DB lounges in the country (the islands, so to speak, where the well-heeled passengers are stranded when connecting trains are missed) and wrote: “What a surprise – the train is late! Three train journeys this week and Deutsche Bahn set a perfect record: all three trains arrived late. I guess they got tips from the airlines.”
The lounge for Deutsche Bahn. What a surprise—the train is late! Three train trips this week and Deutsche Bahn has achieved a perfect record: all three trains arrived late. I guess they’ve been taking tips from the airlines. pic.twitter.com/OzoeaxUd3I
— TC Boyle (@tcboyle) June 19, 2023
After all, the social media editors of Deutsche Bahn reacted with the humor of a defiant child who was reprimanded by the teacher for the thousandth time for their own laziness and wrote under the tweet: “Dear Mr. Boyle, we are doing everything we can, to give you enough time to write.”
Dear Mr Boyle, we’re doing all we can to give you enough time to write. /ig
— Deutsche Bahn passenger transport (@DB_Bahn) June 19, 2023
Incidentally, many users found this embarrassing – and more than one pointed out that the Berlin transport company (BVG) would have done a much better job of hiding their own inability behind clever punch lines. Or as one user wrote: “Something like that only seems authentic with @BVG_Campaign!” Correct:
oh dear Nothing seems more inauthentic than the use of the term inauthentic.
— Because we love you (@BVG_campaign) June 20, 2023
Perhaps the next novel by the American author with the sharp sense of humor, who is still very popular in Germany, will be a satirical journey through an unknown country with a large number of officials and travel vouchers for free coffee in the on-board bistro.