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However, this does not mean that there is a lack of bureaucracy: In institutions like the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), red tape is rampant, worse, yes worse than in Germany. Many Germans do not realize this, assuming that everything in America is more efficient and less bureaucratic.
A similar rule applies to time arrangements. If you show up to a casual party at the agreed time, you'll be greeted by people with curlers in their hair, looking at you in confusion. Naturally, the food isn't ready yet, and everything is terribly awkward. So: Always arrive an hour late. Oh, and if you confirmed your attendance a week in advance but don't call the day before to reconfirm, no one will expect you to show up. If you then actually arrive as promised without reconfirming, there won't be any beer in the fridge.
When AOL bought Netscape in 2000 and our workforce moved onto the campus, two worlds collided: At Netscape, it was common to arrive 15 minutes late to meetings. Sometimes it happened that I was sitting alone in the meeting room, discussing everything with the counterparts in Dulles over the phone and sometimes even finishing the conversation by the time the first Netscape people trickled in. Naturally, I made a point of jokingly saying, "Everything's already done, meeting over," and marching back to my cubicle. However, it didn't help much.
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