Re: Training Execs for Int'l LO2234

Bernard Girard (bgirard@Dialup.FranceNet.fr)
Wed, 26 Jul 1995 09:09:07 +0000

Carole-Ann Ogdin writes in LO2201

>2. For all the times I've been in London, sometimes for several weeks
> at a time, I've never seen the inside of a residence. People may ask
> what I'm going to be doing ("Oh, just staring at the hotel walls,"
> delivered wistfully.), and may invite me to dine...at a restaurant...
> but never at home. Hard to make more than business acquaintanceships
> that way. (And, no, I don't wear muddy boots, spit on the floor, or
> appear to be *too* unkempt in my personal habits! %^) )
>
> Maybe those in the "herds" need to be invited. How 'bout an
> "Invite a Colonial to Dinner" week?

I had the same experience in Japan. But why should we expect people to
invite us in their home? We have different social behaviors. And it's a
mistake often done to see some discrimination where there is none. British
don't invite people home the way you do in the states. That's all. They
don't see their house the way you do, they don't "live" the way you do,
the way I do. What's true of the house, is true of a lot of things, of
drinking manners, for instance. Between Paris and London there is only 45
minutes but we feel and are very different. At 7 PM you see a lot of
people in pubs in London. They enjoy drinking a glass of beer (gin=8A)
together after work. We don't d= o that in Paris. Never. At least in the
middle class. These differences are a good thing. We should preserve
them.It's not so easy=

--
Bernard Girard
bgirard@Dialup.FranceNet.fr