WANT to break up with your lover but haven't got the guts? Enter Bernd Dressler, head of the Separation Agency in Germany, who will calmly and efficiently do the dirty work for you.
Das boot ... Bernd Dressler of the Separation Agency in Germany. Source: The Daily Telegraph
"I knock on the door. I introduce myself and I say that my client no longer wishes to continue the affair," Dressler says. "It's very simple. It takes two minutes and it happens on the doorstep." As Valentine's Day approaches, Dressler, in his 50s, remains unemotional. No tears. No hysterics. Just business. "I'm just the messenger. It's not me breaking up the relationship. The person breaking it off is the person that hired me to do it." Originally in the insurance trade, Dressler has offered his unromantic services for more than three years. "Dating agencies have been around for decades. I'm doing the same for break-ups," the Berliner says with a smile.
Giving your partner the boot is a serious business. Dressler's clients pay in advance and sign a contract detailing reasons to finish the relationship. "I can also show this to the person concerned to show them this is not a gag," Dressler says. He offers four levels of break-up service. With "let's be friends" ($46), the bad news is communicated dryly over the phone. But "Leave me alone", for the same price, leaves the ditched lover in no doubt that Dressler's client does not want to hear from him or her again. For another $15, the unhappy Romeo - or Juliet - can opt for the "break-up by letter" which, as the name implies, involves Dressler drafting a "Dear John" or "Dear Jane" letter on the client's behalf. Finally comes the deluxe service, the "personal break-up" at $99, which sees Dressler himself turning up unannounced on the doorstep. In Germany, where 57 per cent of marriages end in divorce, the business of separation has flourished to the point where the country's first divorce fair is set to take place this year in the western city of Dusseldorf. The fair is expected to draw specialist divorce lawyers and financial consultants but also representatives of dating websites and even nutritionists. As for Dressler, he says there are worse jobs. "The woman who works next door to me is a bailiff. When she has to kick people out of their houses or take their furniture, that's much harder than what I do," he says. "Personally, I could never imagine hiring someone to announce on my behalf that I wanted to break up with them. But I'm from a different generation. I think the young people of today feel less responsible." A typical client ranges in age from 18 to 35 and is predominantly female, Dressler says. "We live in a throwaway society. You drink a can of Coke and you throw it away. You don't fancy your partner any more, you go out and find another one," he adds. But Dressler is nothing if not an imaginative entrepreneur and he is already branching out. He has pioneered another website - http://www.verzeih-mir24.de - or "forgive me".
If you have committed some awful act or said something you regret, guess who you can hire to go and say sorry in your place? | 
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