Unpleasant encounter on the bus in Berlin

I don't think you can extrapolate one random comment of one person to every resident of Berlin. Who knows what the bus driver's deal was. Maybe he was simply in a bad mood and he misinterpreted your comment. Life is full of unpleasant encounters once in a while, even on vacation - better to let it roll off your back and enjoy your trip. I grew up in Poland and recall many surly train staff (and others across many types of bureaucracies) in my childhood, but I just ignored it and figured they get snarky sometimes having to deal with the public.

Berliner Schnauze?
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Berliner_Schnauze

There is some truth to the cliché of rude Berliners (and Germans in general tend to be a lot more direct than the British or Americans); but the wording you cite is way out of line, not just for anyone in customer service, but in any civilized conversation.
You should definitely complain to the bus company. Sorry you had this experience. Even in Berlin, I have mostly encountered helpful and polite staff, be it in hotels, restaurants, or buses. There just seem to be a few more exceptions in Berlin than elsewhere in Germany.

I don't know. I would have just handed the stuff to the driver and said I found this on my seat. Are you sure the comment about keep the windows clean was not a little passive/aggressive?

None of us where there, but no matter what your intent, and actual words, the driver may have interpreted your words as "You need to clean the windows."

Hope the damper didn't last too long.

You encounter one angry & rude tour bus driver and wonder if he's the face of "the proverbial rough Berliner"? Why not wonder if his obnoxiousness is representative of ALL tour bus drivers and then kick yourself for not saving money by seeing Berlin by the extensive local bus/tram network? ;-)

I think everyone is being hard on the poster, and I wonder why people can't sympathize a little?? It is unacceptable for people in the tourist industry to be rude to customers, and it is also not acceptable for tourists to be rude to staff. Leave your troubles at home...don't bring them to work with you.

Most Germans I know are very proud of the position they have and the job they do. The driver may have interpreted your comments as suggesting he was more suited to being a bus cleaner than a bus driver. Most bus drivers feel they are in a superior position to someone who cleans.

A better comment in a similar situation might have been simply to say you found these items in your seats without adding any comment as to who they belonged to or their actual use.

Fuhgeddaboudit.

I think everyone is being hard on the poster, and I wonder why people
can't sympathize a little??

Sympathize? When one offers a negative stereotype to an entire city of people based on one bus driver, I find it hard not to point that out. We travel to expand our knowledge -- not paint wide stereotypes based on one encounter.

I assume the bus was still stationary (and loading other passengers?), but certainly once it's moving they would have rules about not getting up and talking to the driver.

Yeah, the OP was a bit odd/rude with his interactions with the Driver, but the Driver was way over the top with his answer. Using the word Maul is super rude. It isn't just "shut your mouth", it is "shut your animal mouth". If someone said that to me, I would be very, very upset, so you have a right to be angry too.
Next time though, put the towels and spray bottle on another seat.

I am interested in knowing what kind of day trip is it, that you get reserved seats on a bus? Have never seen that before.

I would have expected the driver to say, " Halten Sie die Klappe." I would have left the 2 items on the seat or moved to another seat. The Driver did not interpret your words to be either humous or helpful but saw them as an example of "Frechheit." (impudence).

Someone who cleaned the bus prior to this guided bus trip obviously left the two items.

Did you speak to the bus driver in German?

Yes - I spoke in German to the driver.
Thinking about my remark to the driver, I agree, there may have been a hint that he should keep the bus clean.

Sometimes comments don't come out exactly they way we mean.

Good for you for reading these comments and realizing there was another way of hearing your remark--and returning to the thread.

It is kind of funny " shut your animal mouth and sit down"

Sometimes I worry that I know just enough German to be impolite.

Well Jazz, my German ex-husband used to say Halts Maul to me all the time. There is nothing funny about this phrase at all. It is rude, it is crude.

Thank you for all your replies. I am quite certain, you all had pleasant experiences with bus drivers and tour operators while travelling Germany. One incident won't let me get in the way of taking a guided tour again.

I learned a long time ago to be very neutral when approach cultural situations when I do not know the cultural. And it doesn't have to be a foreign country. My first job was interacting with the steel workers unions in NW Indiana. I learned very quickly that a single, miss-spoken word could be a land mine. That experience has carried over to our foreign travels where we try to be very neutral in action and words until we have a good feel for cultural differences. IMO this was potential a cultural miss-understanding.

As I posted earlier I would have said to the bus driver. "I found this on my seat. Where should I put it?" I still think that referring to keeping the windows clean was a little passive/aggressive. But that is just my opinion.

In my years of travel I have found that humor is interpreted VERY differently in other countries. I have become hesitant to make any kind of remark intended as a joke or lighthearted comment because not all people appreciate such things or take them in the spirit in which they are intended. What is considered humor and a friendly jab in one culture is an insulting remark in another.

I'm curious as to why the OP assumed the items were the drivers, that the spray bottle contained window cleaner and why he/she used the words "here are your 2 items to keep the windows clean". Wouldn't a "I found these on the seat" be a better choice of words?

Frankly, this post is quite amusing.... first that it's posted and secondly the drivers response.
The OP stepped off the line with the way that the driver was approached and he provided her with a very picturesque sampling of "real" German language. I love the gruff German slang and relish the chance to use it when the opportunity presents itself. It's as unexpected to a German from a tourist as it is from a German to someone used to speaking and hearing Hochdeutsch. If you speak German then the correct response to his gruffness should have been in kind (maybe drop a little Arschloch on him, or better if you've got it).... assigning blame to every bus driver...hmm....no. that dog don't hunt.