Until the first decade of last century Cologne/Bonn/ Koblenz chamber maids and kitchen staff were very attentive not to sign employment contracts if it contained a clause obliging them to have salmon for lunch/dinner more often than three times per week.

As to Walmart in Germany, here is what the Economist writes:

"In Germany, Wal-Mart ended up with egg on its face. Even Mr Scott has admitted that the company's arrival was "somewhat embarrassing", although the situation is improving. Wal-Mart entered Germany, the third-biggest retail market after America and Japan, in 1997-98 by buying two local retail chains, Wertkauf and Interspar, for $1.6 billion. Whereas Wertkauf was well-known and profitable, Interspar was weak and operated mostly run-down stores. Wal-Mart has lost money in Germany ever since. Problems have included price controls, which prevent below-cost selling, rigid labour laws and tough zoning regulations, which make it extremely difficult to build big stores.

Wal-Mart also faced well-established rivals in Germany, like Metro, and hard discounters such as Aldi and Lidl, already comfortable with razor-thin profit margins. Many retailers in Germany are owned by wealthy families whose business priorities are not always the maximisation of shareholder value.

But there was more to it than that. Wal-Mart's entry was "nothing short of a fiasco", according to the authors of a study at the University of Bremen. At first, Wal-Mart's expatriate managers suffered from a massive clash of cultures, which was not helped by their refusal to learn to speak German. The company has come to be seen as an unattractive one to work for, adds the study. In part this is because of relatively low pay and an ultra-frugal policy on managers' business expenses."

When Walmart first came to Germany they asked employers to attend morning staff meetings where they were supposed to hold hands and sing the 'Wally hymn'. It did not work, the employees wouldn't do it. They considered it Kindergarten paedogogics. And still worse: They were derided by their friends, who made jokes about them. The next desaster was the Wally staff guideline on sex at the workplace. The unions sued the company and won the case. It was largely reported by the press as a prudish AngloSaxon attempt to de-humanise and illegally control inter personal staff relations at the workplace.

Moreover Walmart is seen by the public as selling cheap imported crap of low quality. They have not managed to compete with Aldi and Lidl, which also sell cheap stuff but which is considered of top quality.

I was curious enough to drive to one of the few German Walmart stores last summer. It looked very 'Russian' to me. I found that the hyper-market had the atmosphere of a soviet style supermarkt as I had seen it in East Berlin on Alexanderplatz before German re-unification. Huge piles of worthless cheap crap. It would have sold in Prague and Bucarest until five years ago. Since then people have ever more become acustomed to the West European aesthetic standard of product displays, which is less chaotic and more eye catching than the Walmart display.

Product display at Centrum supermarkt Berlin/DDR

 

"The USA appears destined by fate to plague America with misery in the name of liberty." Simon Bolivar, Caracas, 1819