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> People that reach for this kind of decisions occasionally seem to still have a colonialism point of view, like "they will do as told and we still stay in cont
by vanderZwan 6y ago
> People that reach for this kind of decisions occasionally seem to still have a colonialism point of view, like "they will do as told and we still stay in control", except that isn't how things work and eventually they stand on their own feet and are able to even outperform their "masters".
Oh man, the amount of Dutch "we're going to build a knowledge economy" news articles I've seen in the last decade that barely hide their colonial mindset is staggering, and the implied assumption that "we" are smarter than "them" is so blatantly racist that I'd almost feel offended if I didn't know that they'll reap what they sow with that attitude soon enough.
- varjag 6y agoIt's not just Dutch but been a prevailing tune in most of the Western Europe (outside perhaps Germany) for a couple decades now. And yes it stinks of "we'll live with the hard part of telling other people what to do".
- ChuckNorris89 6y ago>outside perhaps Germany You clearly haven't dealt with German managers at their companies operating in Eastern Europe ;)
- vanderZwan 6y agoTechnically that makes it a German company outside of Germany :p Jokes aside, "behaving badly abroad while showing their best behavior at home" is basically yet another proud colonial tradition, isn't it?
- ChuckNorris89 6y agoLike how the Swiss are considered the most civilized people in Europe ... until they go driving in Germany or go partying in Mallorca/Prague.
- eecc 6y agoI can’t count the times I was greeted Maestro! by the typical blond middle-aged manager from Amsterdam... (I’m Italian, so I guess we’re all Pavarotti even without the waistline.) I’ve been toiling 10years in NL and I’ve yet to see anyone in the executive suite who’s not a Heineken buddy from the Universiteit
- ChuckNorris89 6y ago>I can’t count the times I was greeted Maestro! As an Eastern European immigrant, I can think of worse things you can be called in the West than Maestro!. You have no idea how good you have it.
- vanderZwan 6y ago> I’ve yet to see anyone in the executive suite who’s not a Heineken buddy from the Universiteit I wish this didn't ring so true. It is so prevalent that for those who were raised locally and who went through said university schooling it is still painfully easy to distinguish from which student union in which city these guys originate based on how they treat each other, even when they graduated decades ago. Which ironically means that they are guilty of the kind of primitive tribalistic nonsense that they project onto other cultures. ... actually, now that I wrote that out, I guess that could partially explain a few things as well. (and I'm well aware that this is not a problem unique to the Netherlands, but it still sucks)
- ChuckNorris89 6y agoThanks for pointing this out. I was working for a major Dutch electronics company and it was interesting to watch how whenever colleagues from their US/German brach would come visit the Dutch managers would treat them like equals and invite them to drinks and dinners but whenever colleagues from their Czech/China/Singapore branch would visit, the Dutch managers would politely pretend they don't exist.
- gspr 6y agoThis is so sad. Would you say the same treatment was given by the lower-downs?
- htkibar 6y agoOut of curiosity, could you share some of them?