Ben worked for an American company on a telephone project in Switzerland a couple of years ago. He found the work and the people extremely interesting. For a little entertainment someone hung a description of the qualities a multinational employee has on the info board. Stereotypes galore!Ben copied it to show me.
Every nationality has their own set of special quirks and this is just poking fun at that. And interestingly enough, they all pretty much hit the nail on the head, unless, of course you are Italian.
Italian Precision
We saw firsthand what Italian electrical precision looks like when our Swiss electrician just shook his head in disbelief. In general, Italian work ethics are a bit different than the Swiss.
Another example were people who rented an apartment in the building where we lived. They were of Italian descent. They put in a new bathtub themselves. Instead of filling the empty space under the tub with sand they added their trash as fill. After all, it was already there and they didn’t have to carry it upstairs. The landlords saw this after the Italian tenants moved out. Yes, there is a lot of room for improvement in the Italian precision section.
Dutch Generosity
What is it called when you’re at a restaurant and you split the bill? ‘Going Dutch’. It’s not that they are greedy but more like they like to keep a close watch on their money.
Belgian Road Manners
Belgian was one of the last, if not the last country to initiate taking a test to get your driver’s license. Until 1977 it was possible to purchase and hold a license without a test. That’s why I assume the bad road manners didn’t develop from nastiness but just from the lack of education. Nowadays I guess that only Belgians older than 60 or so are really dangerous on the roads.
Scandinavian Ready-Wit
Well, it’s got to be tough to be a witty Scandinavian when your stereotyped as rational and boring.
Australian Culture
Australians have no culture? It seems Australians have heard about this stereotypical characteristic too. They try to counterbalance it by saying they are a ‘young’ country with no time to build ‘culture’. Maybe the over 150’000 convicts that were sent to the ‘penal colonies’ from England have something to do with it. But wait, aren’t they forgetting something? What about Australian Indigenous culture?
English Internationalism
I’ve heard that English think everything has and always will revolve around England. The English empire is the center of the world. Somehow you get the feeling that ‘team player’ isn’t in their vocabulary, they want to be the club owners. Interestingly the ‘multinational employee’ stereotype list was hung long before ‘Brexit’ even became a word. ‘Nough said.
French Humility
The French are very French and are proud to be French and are not the least bit humble when it comes to acknowledging their fondness for France. Ben and I were listening to a French political speech once. ‘De France’ was in practically every sentence we heard. I have no idea what the speech was about anymore, but it was certainly ‘de France!’ I believe those must be the first words French babies say. Vive la France!
German Charming
It’s not that Germans can’t be charming but somehow that word seldom comes to mind when describing a German. It probably has something to do with their guttural language that they shoot at you with the speed of a machine gun.
Even though I don’t like beer, Ben and I went to the Oktoberfest in Munich once. I remember waiting ‘in line’ to get on a ride but there was no ‘line’ about it. It was a huge group of people migrating towards an entrance and there was a lot of elbowing going on. Nope, not the least bit charming.
How many Germans does it take to change a light bulb? One. They get what has to be done directly and without any frills.
Swiss Gaiety
No time to be fun-loving and gay, have to work. Hard decisions have to be made every day, so, do you want to get things done correctly and efficiently or do you want to party? For the Swiss there is only one correct answer.
I was talking to an American who had given courses in Switzerland a couple of times. He had grown up in Brazil, Rio to be exact. He complained about how there is no night-life in Switzerland. Nothing. Well, of course not. Everyone is home no later than 10 pm. They have to get to bed so they can get up bright and early for work the next day.
American Linguist Abilities
Well, no, why should they have such an unnecessary skill? Everyone speaks English, why take the trouble to learn something you don’t need? Spanish comes in a close second and many speak that in the States. But those that do are usually of Latino decent, so that doesn’t really count.
Point in case: an American woman with the company Ben worked for, wanted to come to Switzerland. They needed someone who could give courses in French and knew the American side of the project. She said she spoke French well enough to give courses, so they sent her to Switzerland. While getting ready to give her course she was talking to some French speaking Swiss. Well, trying, at least. They didn’t understand her and she didn’t understand them. Her French turned out to be high school French and was nowhere near good enough to give courses. Ben learnt the material needed and he ended up giving the courses in French.
By the way, the person who hung this list on the board was American. Of course, it’s in English…
I like to think there is always an exception to the rules and hope I qualify for the American one. But I seriously doubt it. The simple fact is that my two language abilities pale in comparison to the Swiss linguist abilities. There really must be a grain of truth to these stereotypes.
So, do you know of, or work with someone with all those amiable qualities and skills and qualify as a multinational employee? Gosh, they must be a bag of fun.
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