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In lugnet.general, Dirk Meier wrote:
>
> get me right:
> Jake tries his best - I know, but I cannot imagine he is really believing
> what he is writing. Then he could not be an AFOL.
> For him it must be frustrating. So this was my intention to give him the
> hint to look for a new job. No one could bare this load.
Jake has said many times that he doesn't lie to the AFOL community.
> Then there is a cultural difference. Germans tell what they think. Americans
> are always nice. Germans are straight ahead.
> If you could read german, then read the the today 1000steine postinga. The
> air is hot there!
Have you had business dealings with "far east" cultures like the Japanese? If
you ask them to do something, and they aren't going to do it, they don't tell
you "No" at all, because that simply isn't done in their culture. You'll get
all sorts of answers that, as a westerner, would lead you to believe that their
answer was really a "Maybe", or perhaps a "Qualified yes". This can definately
come back to haunt you.
I've also had dealings with Germans and other Europeans. We had one customer
that we used to call the "Angry Austrian". He never held anything back and
always told you exactly what he thought. In reality, his suggestions were
always valid from his point of view, and we always respected them.
Unfortunately, we couldn't always make the changes he wanted in our products.
I know how Jake feels.
> At the weekend I will bring my bricks up to the loft...
Do you mean that you will be placing your bricks into storage? Just curious. I
think something may have been lost in translation.
Jeff
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In lugnet.general, Jeff Findley wrote:
> Have you had business dealings with "far east" cultures like the Japanese?
> If you ask them to do something, and they aren't going to do it, they don't
> tell you "No" at all, because that simply isn't done in their culture.
> You'll get all sorts of answers that, as a westerner, would lead you to
> believe that their answer was really a "Maybe", or perhaps a "Qualified
> yes". This can definately come back to haunt you.
A friend of mine is in a teaching program in Japan, and he's been commenting on
some of the more odd instances of culture shock. One of the most interesting
ones was finding out that some of the local residents will just cut in line
whenever they please because there's little risk of anyone objecting. And if
they do object, the closest equivalent to "excuse me" basically involves
admitting that the whole situation is, in fact, _your_ fault for having the
audacity to impose yourself upon the person who just cut in line, and asking if
he would be at all gracious enough to forgive you for doing so. It's even more
difficult to wade through this process when you're a Westerner who barely has a
grasp of the culture to begin with.
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