Status: 13.10.2023, 21:00 PM
By: Wolfgang Schörner
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Farewell as building yard manager: Christian Eberl will have his last day of work in October. © Wolfgang Schörner
Christian Eberl has been in charge of the municipal building yard in Penzberg for eight years. Now the native of Penzberg, who was previously a train driver and worked in a workshop for the disabled, is retiring. His "shock moment" as a building yard manager was when the Christmas tree fell in the city center in January 2022. The "changing room affair" was almost curious.
Penzberg – "It was brutally frightening," Christian Eberl recalls of that Sunday morning in January 2022 when he received the call that the 19-metre-high Christmas tree in the city centre had fallen over. His first question was whether anything had happened to people. No, thank God not. There was no other damage either. Nevertheless, it was a "shock moment". A squall had knocked down the spruce at that time.
Changing room affair: Like at the Royal Bavarian District Court
Another unusual experience was the "locker room affair". In the summer of 2016, a woman from Munich had broken her tibia at the Eitzenberger Weiher, according to her account, because she had fallen over along with the mobile changing room. The matter went all the way to the Higher Regional Court. Eberl and his colleagues carried out the test at the time: "We tried to fall over with the cabin – that didn't work." He himself had sat on the witness stand for almost an hour. It was like the royal Bavarian district court. The woman had said that the area was hilly, he had asked her how she defined hilly, whereupon the judge reprimanded him. In the end, the Munich woman failed with her lawsuit for compensation for pain and suffering.
In fact, you experience a lot as a building yard manager. After all, he and his staff are constantly outside. For example, in 2019 at the city's 100th anniversary, when it felt like there was an event every weekend. "Stressful, but great," says the 62-year-old.
Christian Eberl took over the management of the building yard in June 2015
Christian Eberl, who has lived in Iffeldorf with his wife for almost 40 years and has two grown-up daughters, took up the position of building yard manager on 1 June 2015. She was orphaned for half a year after the departure of Susi Bichlmayr. His first task was to "get the ship back on a stable course," he says. It is important to him that employees are taken seriously and that they have a say and a right to information. As a building yard manager, he had to be a manager with knowledge of human nature. "And you can't let yourself get upset," he says. At that time, the building yard had 33 employees. When the municipal caretaker's pool was added in 2016, the number rose to 45. Today, there are 55 employees from various disciplines, from locksmiths to landscape planners and mechanics to carpenters and electricians.
Several apprenticeships: from train driver to electromechanic
Prior to this, Eberl had already gained a wide range of experience. Fresh out of secondary school, he trained as an energy system electronics technician at Deutsche Bahn. After his military service, he wanted to work in medical technology, but was hired as a junior train driver by the railway. At that time, it was not easy for young people to get a job. The baby boomers pushed their way into the labour market. The training as a train driver was to bridge the gap, according to Eberl. After all, he was once allowed to drive an Intercity. "But it wasn't my dream job." He then enlisted in the German Armed Forces. In Murnau, he was responsible for the electrical maintenance of the vehicles as a squad leader. In his last year of service, Eberl caught up on technical college and then completed an apprenticeship as an electromechanic, which he completed at the age of 31.
Operations management in a workshop for the disabled
From 1993 he worked in a workshop for the disabled in Machtlfing, first for two years as a group leader in electrical assembly, then twelve years as operations manager of the workshop with 35 employees and 130 disabled people. "That's when I really immersed myself in the responsibility." It was "insanely interesting".
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Nevertheless, he was drawn on. After a stopover as technical manager at the Garmisch Children's Hospital, he applied for the then vacant position for the Penzberg building yard management and was awarded the contract. "After commuting for 37 years, it was the first time I had a job that I could cycle to."
"I've always felt at home at the building yard"
He has always felt at home at the building yard, he sums up. The cooperation with colleagues is great. The city is also a very good employer. "I've met a few, the city is already at the top of the list." October 20 is his last day of work. The leave of absence period begins on 1 December, followed by official retirement two years later. Eberl's successor will also be a Penzberger: Michael Nitsch, who works at the Tölz city planning office.
What does he do with his time then? Eberl says that he gave up motorcycling years ago and is now a "convinced e-mountain bike rider". In addition, he and his wife have recently acquired an apartment in South Tyrol. "We're really looking forward to it." And in Iffeldorf they have a large plot of land with chickens, pig, dog and cat. "It's a little ranch," he says. "But I'm more of a stable boy."