http://whatwoulddadsay.com/2009/12/the-asshole-test-and-how-to-get-on-the-most-liked-list/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-asshole-test-and-how-to-get-on-the-most-liked-list Just another Diggings site Fri, 15 Jul 2011 13:42:41 +0000 hourly 1 http://whatwoulddadsay.com/2009/12/the-asshole-test-and-how-to-get-on-the-most-liked-list/#comment-119228 Clare Mon, 07 Dec 2009 16:01:53 +0000 http://blogs.jobdig.com/wwds/?p=4248#comment-119228 Italy, without a doubt. It's not the most exotic place I've lived in, but a place where the whole attitude to doing business and getting things done is so different from my very anglo-saxon background. Why are there delays? Why can't they plan better? Why aren't they interested in getting things done efficiently? Why the last-minute changes in plan, u-turns, cancellations... It would be very easy to throw up my hands in despair and put it all down to ineptitude, lack of seriousness, or a delibarate putting the spanner in the works. (Typical "anglo-saxon" paranoia, by the way.) But when you look at it from their point of view, it's often more a case of having to manoevre in a difficult legal quagmire of bureaucracy, strange regulations, or a case of hands being tied by clients, whose own clients have a different set of problems and so on. Italy, without a doubt. It’s not the most exotic place I’ve lived in, but a place where the whole attitude to doing business and getting things done is so different from my very anglo-saxon background. Why are there delays? Why can’t they plan better? Why aren’t they interested in getting things done efficiently? Why the last-minute changes in plan, u-turns, cancellations… It would be very easy to throw up my hands in despair and put it all down to ineptitude, lack of seriousness, or a delibarate putting the spanner in the works. (Typical “anglo-saxon” paranoia, by the way.) But when you look at it from their point of view, it’s often more a case of having to manoevre in a difficult legal quagmire of bureaucracy, strange regulations, or a case of hands being tied by clients, whose own clients have a different set of problems and so on.

]]> http://whatwoulddadsay.com/2009/12/the-asshole-test-and-how-to-get-on-the-most-liked-list/#comment-119227 wwds Mon, 07 Dec 2009 15:26:17 +0000 http://blogs.jobdig.com/wwds/?p=4248#comment-119227 Good point, Clare. Where have you lived that this problem comes up most often? Good point, Clare. Where have you lived that this problem comes up most often?

]]> http://whatwoulddadsay.com/2009/12/the-asshole-test-and-how-to-get-on-the-most-liked-list/#comment-119226 Clare Mon, 07 Dec 2009 15:03:17 +0000 http://blogs.jobdig.com/wwds/?p=4248#comment-119226 Where to start? So much great advice. I particularly like number 4. I've lived in non-English speaking countries for most of my adult working life and sometimes you just don't get a situation (put it down to lack of language or cultural skills). Assuming that there's a good reason for someone's attitude / refusal rather than the person being inexplicably unhelpful or difficult makes it a lot easier to get to the root of a problem. Where to start? So much great advice. I particularly like number 4. I’ve lived in non-English speaking countries for most of my adult working life and sometimes you just don’t get a situation (put it down to lack of language or cultural skills). Assuming that there’s a good reason for someone’s attitude / refusal rather than the person being inexplicably unhelpful or difficult makes it a lot easier to get to the root of a problem.

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