The British - They're Everywhere!

Posted on 2005/11/09 03:39:02 (November 2005).

[Monday 7th November]
This was another of those days that followed the "crap daytime equals good evening" model. The daytime really was particularly crap and frustrating. The evening however provided a much needed relief from this.

When it came to 6 o' clock my colleagues weren't ready to leave, but I most certainly was, so I decided to walk back rather than hang around twiddling my thumbs. I'm not sure this part of the world is really designed for walking - everyone seems to drive round here. The pavements (should I say sidewalks?) were either really badly lit or non-existent, and it was hard to find a good route. So it took me about an hour to get back to the hotel.

I seemingly arrived just about the right time though, as a big group had gathered at my hotel, and en masse we went to a nearby Italian restaurant. It must have seemed a strange group for an Italian restaurant in America - six Japanese people and three British people. Yes, to my delight there seems to be a sizeable enclave of British employees in my company's American office, and purely by coincidence (I assume) we appear to have ended up working together. Without wanting to detract from my American and Japanese colleagues - many of whom are really nice people - it was great to spend an evening in the company of my fellow countrymen.

Inevitably getting started in a new company is going to require some adjustment, getting used to a different working culture and so on, and this, as I have experienced, can be pretty frustrating. I had certainly made a very big change to a completely different style of company. In many aspects my current and previous companies occupy completely opposite ends of the spectrum. What was particularly reassuring about meeting these other British employees is that they seemed to have been frustrated by many of the same things. So it would appear that it isn't just me as an individual having a hard time fitting in, it has a lot to do with a more general cultural differences...

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