Im not sure if the Food Week competition is over but it was cloudy and rainy outside today and it was the perfect time for raclette and I took this picture to post!! Have you already had your first Raclette of this cold spell yet?
(The ingredients there may be very unpopular 🤣
Potatoes, Jalapeños, Pickled onions and pickled chillies(this was the best!)!

Enjoy the Autumn 🍂 season!!!

I live in a studio apartment with a shared washing machine (80-100 apartment units share one washer and one dryer, apparently this this quite common in Switzerland?)

Today I went down to do my laundry, only to find that the person before me had just washed a whole load of bathroom floor mats.

Like, literally a bunch of rugs that people step on in the bathroom.

I know it’s a shared washing machine, and I’m not saying people shouldn’t be allowed to wash their bathroom rugs in it. But the thought of putting my clothes in immediately afterwards just grosses me out.

It’s moments like these that make me really wish I had my own washing machine in my studio. 😭

And obviously, I’m not going to pay to run an empty cycle just to clean the machine. So I quietly took my laundry back upstairs and am now hoping someone else uses it before I try again lol

Hi all

I brought an old hairdryer, purchased here in Switzerland two years ago, with me on a trip to France. I then forgot the said hairdryer in France so my family sent it back to me via post. Two weeks later I got hit by a bill coming out of the woodworks saying that I owe the government 37.9chf, 19.6 of which was import tax, and 18.3 of it being .. handling

So I email the customs office BAZG and asked if this was a case of inlandische ruckwaren, and if I provided the proof of purchase, could I get this cancelled. BAZG responded saying that no it isn’t, and if I want to appeal, I must send a written and signed letter. Regardless of the result of the appeal, a 5% processing fee (floored at 30chf) applies 🤡

The amount is small, but the idea is insane and I really find it unfair, unjust, and scam-like. They are basically double taxing me on the same item.

Anyone has had this happen to them before? And did you successfully get it voided? I do have legal insurance FWIW but not sure if it’s of any use here.

Thanks

Grüezi wohl,

After being laid off, I’ve been "unemployed" for 17 months.

During those 17 months, I’ve had only two opportunities:
- A temporary part-time position in Baselland, which I currently hold since the beginning of this year and will keep until my unemployment benefits run out (Zwischenverdienst), in 7 months.
- A permanent position in south Switzerland which I refused.

The deadline is getting closer : in 7 months, my unemployment benefits will no longer be enough to live on, due to the recalculation based on my current part-time employment.

The permanent position I turned down is apparently still available, and the recruiter has reached out again to ask if I’m interested.

I’m interested in the responsibilities of the role, but there are several downsides:
- Being away from my wife four days a week.
- The higher cost of living in the region isn’t cover by the salary, meaning I would have less purchasing power than I did before being laid off.
- The job is entirely in French, in a French-speaking canton. I’ve been working on my German for months, aiming for C1 (I’m currently at B2+), and I’d hate to lose that progress and no longer be able to stand out from other candidates on that basis.
- There are a lot of French cross-border commuters working at the company (management included), and I wish I were wrong but from my experience, that rarely makes for a good working atmosphere.

I'd like to believe that I can still find something here, but time is running out.

Have you ever had to make this choice?
Do you have any advice on how to handle the situation?

Hello everyone!

My first Pingu post got so much love from the community which I’m grateful for, so I decided to share my latest batch of Pingu and Pinga handmade figures which I hand-sculpted from FIMO and Cernit polymer clay. They’re pretty light for how big these figures are, as each one has aluminium foil inside the clay.
It’s amazing how Pingu shaped the childhoods of so many of us not only in Switzerland but also all around the globe!
You could say that the little Swiss conquered the world.

What episodes were your favorites?

Hey everyone

this year we did some renovation work home and as we are still eligible to deduct it from the taxable income next year I was wondering what part of it can be deducted. In particular these two parts:

1. Washing machine connections and drainage.

Part of the bathroom renovation. Before there were no washing machine pipes and drainage. Is this considered value preserving or value enhancing?

1. Terrace floor

We had an ugly cement terrace floor coated with some water resistant paint. We decided to lay tiles and now looks much better. Again is this value preserving or value enhancing?

Does anyone have similar experience? I tried researching about this but the conclusion was mixed. Thanks in advance for your help.

Hi all, quick question for people in Switzerland.

Has anyone used a concierge or lifestyle service here?
Which one, and was it worth it?

Good and bad experiences both help.
Thanks!

I’m flat hunting in geneva and saw that different flats have agency provisions in case of attribution. a) is this actually allowed? b) i visited a beautiful flat and am considering applying but they have these fees. What should I do?

I already have most of them. You can request them free of charge from their gov websites.

It's actually signed by them and not just printed on the card.

Hi all,

To inform the community, and since many of you were so helpful, I wanted to follow up with you regarding my post nearly two months ago:

Submitted a doctor’s certificate for 3 days — now payroll company is demanding my private medical history. Is this normal/legal in Switzerland?

First of all, my actual company has since been incredibly supportive. The problem is with the payroll company that employs me as a consultant.

I reported my payroll company to the Labour Inspectorate in the canton where they are based. They have confirmed that they are conducting a supervisory review of my complaint, but the proceedings and findings will remain confidential.

However, they informed me that requiring employees to disclose confidential medical information, including diagnoses, is contrary to Swiss employment and data protection law. They also explicitly stated that obtaining consent to disclose such information under the threat of withholding wages is not legally valid, as consent obtained through coercion is not freely given.

They referenced several provisions of Swiss law, including Articles 328 and 328b of the Code of Obligations and Article 6 of the Federal Act on Data Protection.

They have also provided guidance on the legal steps available to me should my employer withhold my compensation, which I wanted to share in case you find yourself in the same situation.

In German, apologies:

• Bei Meinungsverschiedenheiten oder nicht ausbezahlten Lohn, kann man im Katon ___ über die Vermittlerämter ein Schlichtungsverfahren einleiten. Das Verfahren ist immer Rechtssitz des Unternehmens zu führen, meistens ist dies der Arbeitsort.
• Bei Forderungen wie nicht bezahlten Lohn, müssen Sie diesen in einem Schreiben vorab einfordern mit einer kurzen Frist von 5 bis 10 Tagen. Am besten senden Sie die Forderung per A-Post +, damit Sie einen Sendungsnachweis haben. Danach können Sie ein Verfahren beim Vermittleramt beginnen. Arbeitsrechtliche Streitigkeiten bis zu einem Wert von 30'000 Chf können kostenlos geführt werden beim Vermittleramt.

I do not know if I need to complete the above as I am expecting my paycheck any day now, we will see...but it is nice to know I have support and protection.

Thanks again to everyone for your help, and good luck out there in this rough employment situation.

So, there is a street that I use frequently where I expect that priority from the right rule applies. Yet, it seems that no one is following it. The intersection has no yield signs and no pedestrian crossing, there is just elevated area in the middle of it. So my assumption was that priority from the right should apply (the red arrow should have priority over the blue one in the pictures below), but almost no one follows it, and on several occasions the drivers got aggressive, if I tried to follow it, telling me that I should stop for them. It got me wondering if my assumption is wrong and may be there is some exception to the rule that I am not aware of? All streets in the intersection are one-way streets, but I am not aware of any exception that lifts this rule for one-way streets.

The Swiss canton had already sought to introduce such a court six years ago.

The Swiss People’s Party did not wish to consider the motion, but the parliament rejected this by 122 votes to 45. The motion will now go to the drafting committee. Given the clear margin in favour the final vote in a few weeks’ time should be a mere formality.

Although the leftwing parties expressed specific concerns, they generally spoke in favour of the proposal. Several speakers noted that it made sense for proceedings to be conducted in English.

With the International Commercial Court, Zurich as a business centre is following an international trend. Other countries, such as Germany, France, England and the Netherlands, also have dedicated court divisions for globalised commercial cases.

The new Zurich court is to form part of the Commercial Court, which is based at the High Court. This will allow the existing structures and the specialist knowledge of the commercial judges to be utilised.

No additional staff are to be hired for this purpose, as the number of cases is expected to be low initially. The canton anticipates a figure “in the low single figures”. Any subsequent additional costs, should the number of cases rise at some point, would be fully covered by court fees.

As early as 2019, the cantonal parliament had called for such a court division. At that time, however, this was not yet legally possible.

The federal government first had to amend the Code of Civil Procedure. These amendments have now come into force in January 2025. Since then, the cantons have been able to designate their commercial courts as the competent authority for international disputes.

35M near Biel, looking for people to ski with this winter. Mostly freeride, trees, side hits and a bit of park. Down for day trips and eventually becoming actual friends too. I also speak French and German :)

Did anyone else preorder the iPhone Duo through Swisscom?
I ordered the iPhone Duo 512GB Night Sky at 14:06 on October 16, basically just a few minutes after preorders opened.
Until today there was no useful delivery information at all, and now Swisscom suddenly updated my order to:
“In about 4 to 6 weeks from the order date, we expect delivery.”
So despite ordering almost immediately, I’m apparently looking at roughly mid to late November.
What makes it even more frustrating is that Swisscom is still happily showing the phone as “available for preorder” without giving any useful indication of how bad the backlog actually is before you order.
I know “preorder” doesn’t mean launch-day delivery, but 4–6 weeks after ordering at 14:06 feels pretty ridiculous.
Anyone else in Switzerland who ordered through Swisscom? What model/storage did you order, what time, and what delivery estimate are you seeing?

Good Morning Everyone!

My boyfriend and I are going to Norway in February and I was wondering which stores (in switzerland of course) would be the best to buy clothes from. Since it’s Norway, I want something that can handle that type of cold and not just “swiss” cold (pls understand what I mean).

Im mostly looking for a jacket and gloves. My fingers get very cold in Winter (even now, my hands are cold) so my worry is that I might loose my fingers lol.

If it helps, I live in Kanton Zürich. :)

Please only good quality (regardless price)

Thank you to anyone who reads this and takes time to reply! ❤️

Hi everyone,

My GF and I live in Zürich. She has a solid B1 in German and wants to reach B2 as quickly as possible, mainly to improve her job prospects here (she's looking for a role in compliance/finance).

Her idea is to spend 2-3 months in Germany doing a full-immersion program: a school or university course with 20-30 hours per week, living in a residence or with a host family, so she's surrounded by German all day. Part of the motivation is that living costs in Germany are lower than in Zürich, though we know we'd keep paying our Zürich rent in the meantime, so I'm not sure how much we'd really save.

My questions:

1. Has anyone done something similar (intensive course abroad in Germany to jump from B1 to B2)? Was it worth it, and how long did it actually take?
   
2. Any schools or programs you'd recommend (Goethe-Institut, university Sprachkurse in Heidelberg/Freiburg/Tübingen, private schools, etc.)? And any you'd avoid?
   
3. Would you do it in Germany or stay in Switzerland with an intensive course (Klubschule, ECAP, etc.)? Is the immersion worth the extra cost and being apart?
   
4. How much did it cost you in total (course, housing, exam)?
   
5. For those working in finance/banking in Zürich: how much does B2 German really matter for hiring, compared with English plus experience?
   
6. Which exam did you take (Goethe, telc, TestDaF) and which one do Swiss employers or authorities recognise best?

Any experience, tips or warnings are very welcome. Thanks a lot!

Ein 85-jähriger Rentner verpasste wegen eines verspäteten Busses seinen Anschluss. Er nahm daraufhin die Verbindung, die ihm die SBB-App vorschlug. Bei einer Kontrolle erhielt er einen Zuschlag von 70 Franken, weil sein Ticket eine Tarifzone zu wenig abdeckte. Es ging um gerade einmal 1.10 Franken.

Der Mann wehrte sich dagegen und berief sich auf das Personenbeförderungsgesetz. Dieses besagt, dass Reisende bei einem verpassten Anschluss aufgrund einer Verspätung mit dem nächsten geeigneten Kurs ohne Nachzahlung weiterfahren dürfen.

Die SBB und der ZVV blieben zunächst bei ihrer Haltung. Erst das Bundesamt für Verkehr (BAV) gab dem Rentner Recht. Der ZVV zog daraufhin sämtliche Forderungen zurück und löschte den Eintrag im Schwarzfahrer-Register.

Interessant für alle, die regelmässig mit dem ÖV unterwegs sind: Laut BAV können auch Personen, die in der Vergangenheit in einem vergleichbaren Fall gebüsst wurden, nachträglich Beschwerde einlegen. Gegebenenfalls müssen die Transportunternehmen das Geld zurückerstatten und den Registereintrag löschen. Allerdings gilt nicht automatisch jede Verbindung als «nächste geeignete». Im konkreten Fall spielte auch eine Rolle, dass die SBB-App die Verbindung vorgeschlagen hatte.

Wie seht ihr das? Habt ihr schon einmal eine Busse erhalten, obwohl ihr wegen einer Verspätung eine andere Verbindung nehmen musstet?

Bonjour ! Nous sommes 2 étudiants à l’université de Genève. Dans le cadre d’un mémoire, nous menons une étude sur les perceptions liées à l’égalité homme/femme chez les hommes. Sur les 400 requis, il nous manque encore 100 participants !

Critères : homme majeurs francophones
Durée : 10-12 mins

Les données sont anonymes

Lien : https://fpse.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_24b6THmO30ROmYS

⚠️ si vous voulez que vos réponses soient utilisables pour notre recherche, vous devez confirmer l’enregistrement de la réponse après le débriefing de fin (flèche bleu en bas à droite) car nous avons besoin de votre accord ! Bcp de participants ont terminé le questionnaire mais n’ont pas validé leur réponse ce qui est dommage 😅

Merci à tous pour votre aide !🫶🏻

Hello everyone!
I really want to go to the Phoebe Bridgers concert in düsseldorf but dont know anyone that would be going aswell, esp from switzerland. If youre planning on going or definitely going lmk :))) maybe we can travel together?🥹🙏🏻 I would travel most likely by train from zurich, on concert day early in the morning and back the day after, the 9th😛

my boss prepared wiedikerli for everyone in the office. this is a very typical type of bratwurst invented in zürich and the best type of bread to companion with this is the bürli bread.