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I find that people often put on rose colored glasses when talking about the "old country," myself included. It is a little ridiculous to think that Greeks don't
by bayareateg 2y ago
I find that people often put on rose colored glasses when talking about the "old country," myself included. It is a little ridiculous to think that Greeks don't prioritize making money over some nebulous "community happiness"'
You should have asked her why she came to the US
- hobs 2y agoPretty much every Greek that I have met (my father included) did it for a better future (money, no future with the military junta, american base left later.) Plenty of Greeks have no interest in going back because they want the "American" life, but there's no question you ate better in the village, had more community, or had a sense of history - what you didn't have was more than ~35k euros a year, if you were lucky.
- mikrl 2y agoA philosophical question is whether one could have it all? Maybe the relative poverty fosters that kind of culture, and a high earning society necessarily becomes atomized, or perhaps atomized societies fosters high earning.
- wordpad25 2y agoBeing poor fosters comradery and social connections Everyone knows everyone in a ghetto. Gated communities often don't know their next door neighbors.
- keybored 2y ago> You should have asked her why she came to the US People sometimes have rose-colored glasses about emigrating to the US.
- WalterBright 2y agoMy dad was in the AF, and we rotated back and forth between the US and Europe. A friend of his married a British woman while stationed there, and took her back to the States when the tour was over. She endlessly complained about the US, and how Britain was so much better. Eventually, they were rotated to Germany. As soon as they arrived, she was off to England. 6 weeks later, she was back, and did not complain about the US again.
- keybored 2y agoLegend has it that Walter can smell anti-Americanism in the water, in fact all the way to Germany.
- WalterBright 2y agoMy family did two tours in Germany (tour as in being stationed there by the military). If you're a military family, the military will move you all around the world.
- keybored 2y agoYes I guessed that AF meant Air Force.
- randomdata 2y ago> It is a little ridiculous to think that Greeks don't prioritize making money over some nebulous "community happiness"' She said that the people of her community prioritized happiness, not that the people prioritized community happiness. That might, for example, mean working less to enjoy more free time at the cost of maximizing profit. And, indeed, we can see in the data that the average worker in Greece takes 9 more vacation days each year as compared to their American counterparts.
- em500 2y agoAccording to OECD data Greece workers work the most hours in the EU, and in most years also more than American workers[1]. So by that metric they prioritize happiness less than most others? [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_average_annual_labor_hours https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_average_a...
- randomdata 2y agoOr, perhaps, it isn't the happiness the person was referring to. After all, it was explicitly marked as an example, not what the person said. It could be that workers in Greece choose fun, but low paying, jobs to maximize happiness. Or maybe it is something else entirely.
- nanomonkey 2y agoI'd assume that is because they take on jobs that they'll be happy with, instead of what ever job makes the most money. If you're content with what you do, you can do it sustainably for the rest of your life, if your only motivation to do your job is the money, then you'll burn out and retire early.
- victorbjorklund 2y agoNot the case. People working in say fast food in Greece have 6 workday weeks (their weekends are just 1 day per week). Doubt people are more happy cleaning restaurant toilets in Greece vs the same toilets in US.