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Re: Article: "EXCLUSIVE: Help Wanted -- 'Arrogant Americans' Need NotApply" AND THIS IS FOR A TECHWRITER
Subject:Re: Article: "EXCLUSIVE: Help Wanted -- 'Arrogant Americans' Need NotApply" AND THIS IS FOR A TECHWRITER From:Ken Poshedly <poshedly -at- bellsouth -dot- net> To:Gene Kim-Eng <techwr -at- genek -dot- com>, TECHWR-L <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Wed, 17 Feb 2010 11:58:01 -0800 (PST)
I completely agree with Gene.
Having been to London, England, four times, as well as Berline, Amsterdam, Paris and Brussels, and now China for my current employer, I can say that while not all Americans are arrogant when overseas or when dealing with foreign cultures, those who are arrogant -- in my personal experiences over the past 48 years -- were _usually_ Americans. I could give specific examples of what I saw and heard while overseas, but then others would say what I saw could have been done by non-Americans as well.
True, but what I saw -- time and time again -- were American tourists either _demanding_ route directions or info info (London at various times), littering the street with fast-food wrappers while passing a litter-basket (Amsterdam), beginning conversations with strangers without even asking if they spoke English (Berlin, and no, they didn't), and on and on.
Like I said, we're not exclusively rude, but there are just too many rude Americans out there.
Incidentally, my company had a two-day series of presentations a few months ago on working with the other culture. Because my company is Chinese, the first day was all-day sessions for only the Chinese staff on "How to Work with Americans". The next days was for all the rest of us (Americans and a few Asian Indians) on "How to Work with the Chinese". It was a real eye-opener to learn that some everyday things we discuss casually can be regarded by the Chinese as insulting, nosey or out-of-bounds. I'll gladly carry this on via private discussion if anyone is interested.
-- Kenpo in metro Atlanta
________________________________
From: Gene Kim-Eng <techwr -at- genek -dot- com>
To: TECHWR-L <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Sent: Wed, February 17, 2010 12:59:47 PM
Subject: Re: Article: "EXCLUSIVE: Help Wanted -- 'Arrogant Americans' Need NotApply" AND THIS IS FOR A TECHWRITER
I didn't have the same impression of "discrimination by national origin" that
the commenters in the article expressed. The client's stated requirement for a
candidate who would be respectful of the culture of the intended audience was a
fairly clear decription of what would be required for a candidate to not be
perceived by their prospective customers as an "arrogant American." Since the
client is an American company, it is unlikely that they are attempting to
exclude American candidates, and more likely an indication that they have had
bad experiences in the past with employees who represented the company badly
when dealing with people outside their own country.
I wouldn't hire a candidate who I believed my customers would perceive as
arrogant, regardless of his or her nationality.
Gene Kim-Eng
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jon Leer" <jleer -at- leertech -dot- net>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>; <stcitcsig-l -at- lists -dot- stc -dot- org>;
"Stccicsig" <stccicsig-l -at- mailman -dot- stc -dot- org>
Sent: Wednesday, February 17, 2010 9:27 AM
Subject: Article: "EXCLUSIVE: Help Wanted -- 'Arrogant Americans' Need NotApply"
AND THIS IS FOR A TECHWRITER
> Get a load at the fallout from this ad for a technical writer!!!!! Article
> was posted on FoxNews today.
>http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,586342,00.html
>
> Funny how picking your words makes a difference!
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