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Comment by polm23 | Hacker News Reader

I saw this article shortly before a trip to Berlin in 2019 and went by the button shop. It definitely felt like the guy was some kind of button philosopher, or lord of a button empire.

I hadn't brought a picture, but I told him I was looking for some square buttons and he seemed upset - "buttons should be round, you might as well have a square wheel!"

I didn't find the buttons I was looking for but it an amusing experience.

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Funny enough, first time I was in Berlin, I was meeting with a friend and one evening we went to a random currywurst stand to grab some food. There was no one else around and the guy came out to talk to us. I generally avoid interacting with people so the guy started talking to my friend(who is the complete opposite) and when my friend told him he was French, the guy entered some strange mode and began a lecture on French potatoes, and 10 minutes later he asked if I was French too. I said I was from Bulgaria, at which point the guy gave an even longer lecture on Bulgarian potatoes, incluing regions, villages and whatnot. I guess by the time he finished I had my wtf face on and he paused for a few seconds and said "Haha, I'm the potato master, I know everything about potatoes".

Hey, which one was the shop exactly? At this point I'd like to give a try to his fried potatoes (not sure if calling them french fries would be always appropriate :) )

Pfff that was in 2014, hell if I remember. All I can remember is that it was 15-20 minutes walking from the Estrel hotel but that's as much as I can narrow it down.

It wouldn't, call them just Pommes. Pommes mit Mayo.

Sounds like someone should start an even more specialized specialty shop (on the same block, of course) selling only not-round buttons.

Guess that merchant never heard of toggle buttons (whose cross section is not the main feature).

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