Germans Work Around a Match
The first World Cup match for Germany’s team to take place in the afternoon local time was Tuesday, and it was a big challenge for the professional world.
While listening to radios was allowed by law at many plants, workshops and offices, television screening had to be permitted by employers. Harald Prokosch of Siemens engineering group told Berlin newspaper Tagesspiegel his company’s policy: “Whoever wants to watch the match will find a way.”
Anybody who doubted that productivity nationwide would slow from 4 to 6 p.m. Tuesday during the Germany-Ecuador match, only had to look at German lawmakers. The parliament this week has been dealing with the national budget debate. But Tuesday, - lawmakers stopped debating at 3:35 p.m., allowing enough time to reach a screen for kick-off.
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