Pete's Log: beer drinkin' street cred
Entry #1502, (Life in General)(posted when I was 29 years old.)
Germans have this amazing ability to open a beer bottle using just about anything. And in a quick, smooth manner. I mean, if need be, I can pry a bottle top off with a key or a coin, but it takes a little while.
For whatever reason, twist off caps on glass bottles do not appear to exist over here. I suspect it might have something to do with the reuse of the glass bottles, but a brief google search did not turn up anything immediately promising.
There do seem to be many expats that carry bottle openers in some form with them at all times, be they key chains or sandals. But I feel I should hone my skills in opening bottles without a bottle opener. It's not easy though.
At a customer site last month, I grabbed a soda in a glass bottle, but neglected to use the bottle opener at the cash register. One of the customer's employees had also grabbed a soda, and very casually pried the top of with his knife. It was a motion that took a second or less. I tried the same. After 15 seconds of poking and prying, my soda was open, but it had not been pretty.
The next day, I remembered to use the bottle opener at the cash register, but on day three, I forgot again. Again, I watched the other guy smoothly open his soda with his knife. I asked him what the trick was to doing it so easily, and he grabbed my soda, popped it open, and said "you're obviously not a beer drinker."
I've never been so humiliated in my life.