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> but especially that it's more proactive this was my main shock moving to work in the US. americans sell the image of workaholics. but... from dmv, cafe bari

by gcb0 13y ago

> but especially that it's more proactive this was my main shock moving to work in the US. americans sell the image of workaholics. but... from dmv, cafe baristas, to VPs on the fortune 500 companies... nobody, bloody nobody will move a finger to do something that is not strictly what they are being paid to do. sometimes i think that if any of my coworkers would drop a pen during a meeting, it would be socially acceptable as an excuse for not taking any notes, since it is not his job to pick up a pen.

midas007 13y ago
Spoiled children -> learned selfishness.
- fauigerzigerk 13y ago
  In my experience, it's the people who fear that they are going to be taken advantage of the moment they do anything they don't absolutely have to. It seems unlikely that getting spoiled as a child causes that kind of distrust.
yardie 13y ago
That's just the power in the word "no". It's easy to say no, requires little thought, and no effort. This is not endemic to the US, I encounter it all the time in France as well. So you learn not to ask, just do it. Or use a bit of reverse psychology to get to why it can't be done.
- gcb0 13y ago
  True, it is the very same I get in France. But french people does not sell themselves inconsistently as the americans. ;)
Shivetya 13y ago
if your looking for charitable people amongst those in cafes and such your looking in the wrong place. People who tend to those locations are more concerned about themselves than others. You want to find the people that care, go to the Goodwills, Salvation Army stores, and the like. Its not hard to find the charitable people if you would bother to look where they are instead of where you are comfortable. Besides, based on personal experience, many of the very higher ups in the companies I work for put more time into charity than the techies ever did.
- gcb0 13y ago
  i wasn't even slightly referring to charity. Well, i was replying to one comment about social workers doing their job, but my comment was 100% about doing a job, regardless of field. e.g. the baristas in the US will not pick up a napkin to you if you ask for the napkins, he will usually nod in the general direction of the pile of napkins.
pessimizer 13y ago
>nobody, bloody nobody will move a finger to do something that is not strictly what they are being paid to do. That reads as an excuse for not paying somebody to do something. I certainly don't do anything for my job that I'm not being paid to do - why would I expect a social worker who is being paid a third of what I get paid to work for free? It's easier to think of societal problems as moral problems rather than problems of governance, but it's not productive, just bikeshedding.
- gcb0 13y ago
  if you simply says "it is not here" instead of saying "it is not here, it is at window 7, down the corridor to your left", are you really destroying years of unionized workers fight? or just not being an ass at your expected job? not saying that you should clean the office before you head home :)
TheCoelacanth 13y ago
That's just part of the workaholic culture. You get rewarded for putting in long hours, not for doing good work, so people put in long hours but don't bother with actually doing a good job.

by gcb0 13y ago

midas007 13y ago

Spoiled children -> learned selfishness.

fauigerzigerk 13y ago
In my experience, it's the people who fear that they are going to be taken advantage of the moment they do anything they don't absolutely have to. It seems unlikely that getting spoiled as a child causes that kind of distrust.

yardie 13y ago

That's just the power in the word "no". It's easy to say no, requires little thought, and no effort. This is not endemic to the US, I encounter it all the time in France as well. So you learn not to ask, just do it. Or use a bit of reverse psychology to get to why it can't be done.

gcb0 13y ago
True, it is the very same I get in France. But french people does not sell themselves inconsistently as the americans. ;)

Shivetya 13y ago

if your looking for charitable people amongst those in cafes and such your looking in the wrong place. People who tend to those locations are more concerned about themselves than others. You want to find the people that care, go to the Goodwills, Salvation Army stores, and the like. Its not hard to find the charitable people if you would bother to look where they are instead of where you are comfortable. Besides, based on personal experience, many of the very higher ups in the companies I work for put more time into charity than the techies ever did.

gcb0 13y ago
i wasn't even slightly referring to charity. Well, i was replying to one comment about social workers doing their job, but my comment was 100% about doing a job, regardless of field. e.g. the baristas in the US will not pick up a napkin to you if you ask for the napkins, he will usually nod in the general direction of the pile of napkins.

pessimizer 13y ago

>nobody, bloody nobody will move a finger to do something that is not strictly what they are being paid to do. That reads as an excuse for not paying somebody to do something. I certainly don't do anything for my job that I'm not being paid to do - why would I expect a social worker who is being paid a third of what I get paid to work for free? It's easier to think of societal problems as moral problems rather than problems of governance, but it's not productive, just bikeshedding.

gcb0 13y ago
if you simply says "it is not here" instead of saying "it is not here, it is at window 7, down the corridor to your left", are you really destroying years of unionized workers fight? or just not being an ass at your expected job? not saying that you should clean the office before you head home :)

TheCoelacanth 13y ago

That's just part of the workaholic culture. You get rewarded for putting in long hours, not for doing good work, so people put in long hours but don't bother with actually doing a good job.