Wednesday, July 18, 2018

The 25,000 Euro Story

German commercial TV shows are always hunting for the newest reality show angle.  RTL started up this new show...."Payday!".  The theme is.....some star moderator takes these four German Hartz IV families (on welfare) on a venture deal....giving them each 25,000 Euro to start a new business. 

Last night was the first episode.  Three of the families appear to be on a slow path to some type of business.  The 4th?  Well....it was apparent about halfway through the first hour that the boyfriend of this gal (she was the recipient of the 25,000 Euro) was reaching in and using the money for the apartment (new couch, new carpet, new furniture, etc).  In fact, she reached some stage toward the last 15 minutes of the show where the guy had apparently spent half of the 25,0000.  The business idea....yet to take off.

There was some big blow-up at that point, and the guy went out to the car and just sat there for a long while.  Then he came back and she wasn't going to let him back in...or at least the show ended with this drama at the door.

It's a weekly show....so they will be back next week to tell the next segment.

The problem with this 25,000 Euro business deal is that most people just don't have experience at planning or being in the middle.  The RTL folks did provide experts to help you along but beyond that....a lot of Germans on welfare just don't fit the angle of private entrepreneur.

The curious thing is that just about everybody in Germany wants to do something for the welfare crowd and get them into real work, and a satisfied income.  This 25,000 Euro 'test'?  It's hard to say if any of the four will succeed or not.  I would probably guess that the gal who has seen her start-up money 'disappear'.....probably will not make it.  But she's got other problems as well. 

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