Taking a break from my workload for a minute...I received a package today through the mail which looked very familiar. It turns out that it was the vitamin order I placed a while ago from an English company. Vitamins, supplements and medicines are extremely restricted here in Germany, and I've heard horror stories from other expats who received a nastygram in the post saying that the allergy medicine (or whatever) that was sent to them from their well-meaning relatives back home was destroyed by German customs inspectors. Because Britain is part of the 27 country European Union (EU), any orders for similar products are supposed to pass through customs with minimal--theoretically zero-- hassle. When I placed this vitamin order from the company it did not show up in the allotted time, which prompted me to contact them again... 4 days later, I received the order with the return address of this company's German subsidiary on the box and didn't really think much of it at the time (for reasons that escape me, it's actually cheaper to order the same exact products from England, even factoring in exchange rate and shipping costs). So I just received what is obviously the original order complete with mangled packaging, and the telltale German Customs adhesive tape holding it together. Good for me I guess-- I get a double order. The infuriating part? The initial order was placed on April 17-- meaning that this package has been in a warehouse somewhere for the last 5 months. On the face of it, I'm surprised that the English company is willing to deal with this sort of nonsense but I guess they consider it a cost of business.
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