woolybanana Posted September 22, 2010 Author Share Posted September 22, 2010 Normie is my stooge, really. But the old boy laps up all the attention, from the saucer I put down next to his 'ikkle barrel. He will sniff passers-by though which gets him into trouble with the ladies Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pachapapa Posted September 22, 2010 Share Posted September 22, 2010 Supositorios.!When I worked as a tour guide on the costa brava the brits always took them with a glass of water.[;-)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolybanana Posted September 22, 2010 Author Share Posted September 22, 2010 Please do not bring up the old jokeNorman got into terrible trouble with passers by as he tried to pose as a salesman and give demonstrations of suppositories. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YCCMB Posted September 23, 2010 Share Posted September 23, 2010 [quote user="Quillan"]I think that people in business in the UK should not throw stones as they also live in a greenhouse. Every country operates differently and has it's own idiosyncrasies, I think Italy is possibly the worst. As for the UK I can think of a few.Never taking ownership of problems. Ooh, Quillan....HOW long have you been in France?? I would have said that the French score far higher for that one!Passing 'the buck' i.e. not my problem it's the other fella. Ditto, I'm afraid!!Assumption that everyone in the world speaks English. I was asked to run a training session in France for a CAC 40 company where, by edict, the company language was supposed to be English. After a 5 minute intro in English, I was obliged to conduct the training in French for the rest of the day, as 90% of the delegates couldn't understand enough to be operationally competent. Luckily, as I never subscribed to the "everyone in the world speaks English" club, I was equipped to oblige. Bad communication skills. Woohoo! Well, we all know what great communicators the French are!! No-one tells you anything they don't HAVE to....Lack of proceedures. Now here, the French positively excel. Their problem mostly lies in following them.Middle and upper management not making decisions or very slow making decisions. I worked for the CAC 40 company mentioned above for five years, and I can assure you they couldn't make a decision quickly to save their lives.Bad contract tendering processes and writing. Now here I can't really commentAlways buying the cheapest and not the best (you get 'brownie points for saving money) which often results bad product delivery. Ever looked at the number of product recalls on the average Renault model??Unrealistic delivery times of product. Ever tried to BUY a new Renault???Massive overspend on projects (normally because they bought the cheapest and it takes longer and costs more to put it right). qf. the two previous points.There are a few others to be added but its gong off subject really.[/quote]Let's face it, no-one (and no one Nation) is perfect, or even close...but having spent most of my working life either working in or with French (or Francophone) companies, I can assure you that not only did they display most of the traits you listed above, but I encountered many people of other nationalities who singled out the French for special mention when it came to problems and frustrations related to doing business. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
velcorin Posted September 23, 2010 Share Posted September 23, 2010 [quote user="You can call me Betty"][quote user="Quillan"]I think that people in business in the UK should not throw stones as they also live in a greenhouse. Every country operates differently and has it's own idiosyncrasies, I think Italy is possibly the worst. As for the UK I can think of a few.Never taking ownership of problems. Ooh, Quillan....HOW long have you been in France?? I would have said that the French score far higher for that one!Passing 'the buck' i.e. not my problem it's the other fella. Ditto, I'm afraid!!Assumption that everyone in the world speaks English. I was asked to run a training session in France for a CAC 40 company where, by edict, the company language was supposed to be English. After a 5 minute intro in English, I was obliged to conduct the training in French for the rest of the day, as 90% of the delegates couldn't understand enough to be operationally competent. Luckily, as I never subscribed to the "everyone in the world speaks English" club, I was equipped to oblige. Bad communication skills. Woohoo! Well, we all know what great communicators the French are!! No-one tells you anything they don't HAVE to....Lack of proceedures. Now here, the French positively excel. Their problem mostly lies in following them.Middle and upper management not making decisions or very slow making decisions. I worked for the CAC 40 company mentioned above for five years, and I can assure you they couldn't make a decision quickly to save their lives.Bad contract tendering processes and writing. Now here I can't really commentAlways buying the cheapest and not the best (you get 'brownie points for saving money) which often results bad product delivery. Ever looked at the number of product recalls on the average Renault model??Unrealistic delivery times of product. Ever tried to BUY a new Renault???Massive overspend on projects (normally because they bought the cheapest and it takes longer and costs more to put it right). qf. the two previous points.There are a few others to be added but its gong off subject really.[/quote]Let's face it, no-one (and no one Nation) is perfect, or even close...but having spent most of my working life either working in or with French (or Francophone) companies, I can assure you that not only did they display most of the traits you listed above, but I encountered many people of other nationalities who singled out the French for special mention when it came to problems and frustrations related to doing business. [/quote]Concur 1,000,000%. The worst place on the planet to do business. Nightmare. Probably why many foreign multinationals are getting out ASAP? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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