Perpetual Gratitude Ordinance Turns Wedding’s Spätis Into a 24/7 Civic Religion

On Thursday at 6:13 p.m., the Mitte district assembly’s Wedding-focused committee approved what it called the “Perpetual Späti Appreciation Ordinance,” a measure that effectively designates every day as “Späti Appreciation Day” across parts of Wedding.

The 31–22 vote took place in Meeting Room 2B of the district office near Karl-Marx-Allee, but the policy’s practical impact is concentrated north of Leopoldplatz—where, officials insist, “the Späti is not a shop but a stabilizing institution that penetrates the gaps in public services.”

What the vote actually requires

According to the ordinance text (dated Jan. 15), Späti operators in Wedding may apply for a blue-and-yellow “Appreciation Compliance” sticker and, in exchange, residents are “strongly encouraged” to perform one daily act of gratitude at a participating store. The recommended acts include:

• Saying one “specific compliment” to the cashier (“Your fridge organization is exemplary” is listed as compliant).
• Purchasing at least one “symbolic item” (suggested: a single banana, a lighter, or “one small water, cold”).
• Maintaining “eye contact of civic duration” (defined as “long enough to feel something, short enough to deny it”).

A pilot list released at 9:02 a.m. Friday names 17 participating stores, including Späti Lichtermeer at Müllerstraße 127 and Kiosk Seestraßen-Eck at the corner of Seestraße and Guineastraße.

The first morning: immediate field evidence

At 8:47 a.m. Friday, residents outside Späti Lichtermeer formed a loose line that witnesses described as “like airport security, but with more shame.”

“I came for rolling papers,” said Felix Kroll, 34, of Antwerpener Straße, holding a receipt for a single tangerine. “Now I’m being asked to ‘name one thing I appreciate about fluorescent lighting.’ It’s hard to swallow before coffee.”

Inside, owner Samira El-Masri, 41, said she supports the measure “in theory” but questioned the new municipal checklist. “Yesterday I sold three energy drinks and someone recited Walter Benjamin at me like it was a password,” she said. “I’m flattered, but also—please, I’m working.”

Officials insist it’s about “urban resilience”

District councilor Torsten Wappler (Independent, “Local Supply”) said the ordinance is a response to what he called “a measurable collapse of informal infrastructure.”

“People treat the Späti like it’s a vending machine with a soul,” Wappler told reporters at 7:05 p.m. after the vote. “We’re simply acknowledging the reality. If the city is a panopticon of rules, the Späti is the blind spot where you can still breathe.”

When asked if daily mandated gratitude resembles a Kafka-like obligation disguised as kindness, Wappler replied, “No. Kafka would have required an appointment.”

Consequences: compliments, audits, and a ‘cucumber reserve’

The most controversial clause creates a neighborhood “Emergency Cucumber Reserve,” requiring participating Spätis to keep at least six cucumbers “for residents experiencing late-night existential salad needs.”

“It’s absurd,” said opposition assembly member Birgit Hahn (Greens), 52. “We’re legislating intimacy with a cash register. It feels like Baudrillard—simulated community, scanned at checkout.”

Police were not involved Friday, though one patrol car briefly stopped at Leopoldplatz at 11:26 a.m. after a complaint about “stiff resistance” from a customer refusing to compliment a cashier’s cardigan.

By late afternoon, the district’s new hotline—staffed from a back office on Rathausstraße—had logged 63 calls, mostly from residents asking whether gratitude can be “banked” on weekends.

“Look,” El-Masri said, gesturing toward a shelf of gum and phone chargers. “I’m happy people appreciate us. But if appreciation is mandatory, it stops being appreciation. It becomes a performance. And I already have enough theater in here after midnight.