If a single dollar doesn’t move the needle for you, that’s great! It reminded me of a book I read where the whole premise revolves around “how much does a single dollar more per day change your life?”

They built an interesting site: dollar street (https://www.gapminder.org/dollar-street).

If all the world lived on a single street, with low income left and high income right - where are you?

When he was finally done, he approached us and I said “Hi how are you?” with a smile.

There’s probably the problem. Don’t ask a german “how are you”, they will interpret it as the start of a conversation, not a greeting. You might either get weird looks or a detailled personal and medical history of that person. In food service, you get to the point. A “Excuse me” or “Can we order please” is a way better way to initiate an order.