Back from a great holiday break, the first thing I see (other than Obama and global happiness - almost) is that Australians are insulting in their manners to Brits and Yanks. This is what Yahoo News says:
"Manners maketh the businessman, with a global survey finding Americans and Britons to be the most easily insulted by lack of workplace etiquette, while Australians are among the most offensive.
"The survey, by Australian-based international office space provider Servcorp, listed the top five most offensive workplace behaviors as not saying hello or good morning, not offering office guests a beverage, speaking loudly across the room, using swear words and taking calls on mobile phones.
"The use of stationery without permission and asking colleagues about their personal lives were also deemed insulting."
And it goes on from there, for instance:
"Almost 25 percent of Australians, however, thought it was perfectly acceptable to swear -- something the majority of Japanese and Middle Easterners found deeply offensive."
Informality? It's great, nice quality we have in Oz. Insensitivity? It's lousy, gets us nowhere. So wise up to the culture you're dealing with. And anyway, do you really want to present yourself like that?
By the way, we could take a tip from Barack Obama - everything he says is inclusive of all, and positive focused. How much better can you get?
[more]Labels: Communication, Culture |
