Defeckt

Back in the late 70's when I arrived in Germany...you might see a sign up somewhere...maybe twice a week, with the term 'defeckt' on it (meaning: it's broke).

It'd typically be a urinal in some public restroom, or some ticket-machine at the train station.

In the past five years, on average, I'll see a 'defeckt' sign up now about forty times a week. A logical guy would ask....are things breaking that much in Germany?  Well....no.  What you have is a very technology-drive society and thing simply break.

I'll walk into a bakery a couple times a week, and the coffee-espresso machine will have a sign up.  Most bakeries and cafes don't buy their coffee machines anymore.....they lease them.  And with that comes the little free maintenance deal. 

I'll walk into some public bathroom with sensors on the urinals, and it'll have a sign up indicating 'defeckt'.

I'll use some ATM machine and discover it has a 'defeckt' sign.

I'll try to return bottles to some deposit machine at the grocery and find a 'defeckt' sign.

I'll find some ice cream freezer at the grocery empty....with a 'defeckt' sign indicating why it's empty.

The list goes on and on.  Germans, I think....are getting used to this dilemma and don't whine much about it.  Me?  I'm looking at the amount of technology now part of daily life events, and wondering where this will go in thirty years.