FAZ Hauptwache: The Impact of Home Office, New Car Dealer Contracts, and the Passion of an Amateur Referee

Good evening,
“Too much home office is bad for your health” – why doesn’t a sentence like this pop up when you start up your computer at home to check your e-mails? Probably because this observation is a highly subjective assessment. But the fact is: if you stay in your home office, you don’t have to travel to work. For many, the only opportunity of the day to move at least a little bit. But the distances to the refrigerator and the coffee machine are short. And the dear colleagues? Those are missing too. Somehow. We followed up. Not what effects the home office has on the psyche and body, but on the office market. We also accompanied a referee who voluntarily goes into what he calls “hell” for 90 minutes weekend after weekend. And we spoke to operators of car dealerships who fear for their existence due to new contracts – or have already given up.

The quality of stay is crucial: Beloved home office. Hated home office. Anyone who can work from home knows the advantages. The commute is gone. And sometimes the home environment even offers the necessary peace and quiet to be able to “get rid of” something in a concentrated manner. At least when roommates, children, partners are out of the house. Which brings us back to the disadvantages: When the hut is full, it’s hard to think and work. The home office will remain, said Daniel Milkus, Frankfurt branch manager of the brokerage firm Aengevelt, at a discussion on the “renaissance of the office”. However, that does not automatically mean that the need for office space will decrease significantly. However, the areas are used differently than before the pandemic. Ulrich Oppermann from Deka Immobilien Investment thinks, for example: “The quality of stay in the workplace is very important.” Sufficient space for exchange must be planned. But design is also playing an increasingly important role. How a “feel-good atmosphere” can be created, the reasons why many employees are opposed to permanent home office regulations and what Germany can learn from other countries in terms of “office design”, summarized our author Günter Murr.

Contracts terminated: A good car dealer who also offers services is like a good dentist. Visiting at regular intervals is advisable, can quickly become expensive and requires an unshakable relationship of trust. The news that the car dealership Auto Nauheim in Eschborn will close at the end of June quickly got around. The company did something for this itself, informed 6,000 customers in writing and also published its motives online. The termination of the existing dealer contracts by the car manufacturer Ford is mentioned. The connection contract that the car manufacturer submitted “does not correspond to what we imagine as freelancers”, write the managing directors Stefan and Michael Nauheim. Not only the Nauheims are confronted with new contracts. Ford terminated its existing contracts effective March 31. Many dealers haven’t even gotten the chance to continue working together. The thinning of the distribution network does not seem to be a Ford phenomenon alone. The intermediaries are to go and a new distribution system is to be created – which can also offer opportunities. Our business editorial team has took a closer look at what’s going on in the car market.

Whistle in Hell: They must be very special guys who are on the country’s soccer fields Sunday after Sunday. No, not the ones kicking. But the ones who whistle. Who should decide whether a goal counts, a player was offside or the “little bump” is not worth at least a yellow card. Ian Plenderleith is one of them. And he writes about what he experiences again and again on Sundays on the pitch. This can sometimes be entertaining, but often frightening. Plenderleith, who comes from England, learned a lot of swear words on the pitch – in a wide variety of languages. Our author Matthias Trautsch has the 57-year-old Referee accompanied to “Hell”.. That’s what he likes to call his Sunday assignments. Plenderleith, along with a small group of other local judges, have put together a list of demands and suggestions on how Hell could be made a little more bearable. One of the demands: Association proceedings against players and those responsible should be transparent so that referees can track whether insults and assaults are actually punished. Our author from Plenderleith wants to know why he keeps whistling voluntarily. He doesn’t think twice: “It’s a shit job, but I fucking love it.”

And also said many landmarks and public buildings illuminated again from April 16th become +++ we introduce Thomas Guggeis, the new one Frankfurt General Music Directorbefore +++ ten weeks after the end of the submission deadline in Hesse, there are still around missing 400,000 property tax returns +++ Let’s repeat our little call again and thank everyone who has already contacted us: The Hauptwache should become even more informative and useful. That’s why we want to talk to you about it: What do you like about this newsletter, what do you miss in it? We gladly accept praise, but criticism and suggestions for improvement are even better. If you like, please register at: [email protected]

Stay healthy,

Marie Lisa Kehler

more on the subject

You can also read current reports from the region in Skyline-Blick, our live news blog for the Rhine-Main region, and on the Rhein-Main-Zeitung website.

The tip for the weekend

Even off the beaten track in Frankfurt, there are bartenders in the region who bring convincing and creative cocktails to the glass – for example in the “Orientbar” in Hofheim. What is mixed and served there at the large counter with a mosaic look is not only worthy of all honor, but also stands up to any comparison with what is offered in the nearby metropolis. In addition, there are impeccable snacks from the small kitchen, from nachos and wraps to soups and salads, sandwiches and bowls.

“Directional”, Kirschgartenstraße 15, Hofheim, telephone 0 61 92/9 77 23 74, Internet www.orientierbar-hofheim.de.

The Wetter for Friday

Sometimes the sun is shining, sometimes it’s more or less cloudy. It mostly stays dry. Highs between 14 and 16 degrees.

Birthday have

Friday April 14th

Gerald Haugpaleoclimatologist, director at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Mainz, president of the Leopoldina National Academy (55); Alexander GemeinhardtManaging Director of the Schader Foundation, Darmstadt (50); Nino Haase (independent), Lord Mayor of the state capital Mainz (40).

Saturday April 15th

Jürgen Jeskehonorary member of the Frankfurt Society for Trade, Industry and Science, former editor of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (88); Hans Burkhardt Ullrichfounder and director of the Rheingau Gourmet and Wine Festival (75); Thomas LindnerChairman of the Management Board of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung GmbH (58); Christian Schmidboard member of Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen, chairman of GWH Immobilien Holding GmbH, Frankfurt (55); Coskun Yurdakulhead chef at the Tigerpalast in Frankfurt (47); Christoph Manjura (SPD), outgoing department head of the city of Wiesbaden (41).

Sunday April 16th

Rainer WeisbeckerFrankfurt dialect poet and songwriter (70); Hans-Jörg FriesePresident of the Rheinhessen Chamber of Crafts, Mainz (56); André Schellenberg (CDU), treasurer of the city of Darmstadt (54).

You can find information about events online.