There are three systems of work ethics where I live.

For simplicity, let's say that the first system is quite Nordic. Think of how the Germans or the Dutch work, and you'll understand it. It's very goal-orientated. Each person has their own responsibilities and duties. If they fail, it is their fault and nobody else's. If the job isn't done properly, it might as well not be done at all. You take pride in your work.

The second system is very community-orientated. It presupposes that a project and all that it involves, is everyone's responsibility, and also that everyone is everyone else's responsibility. If someone is slacking off or not coping, the whole project stops in order for that one person to be assisted. If someone is late, the entire project will wait on them; and when they do finally arrive, there will first be niceties. If someone fails, it is because the team failed. (And, unfortunately, the downside: If the job isn't done properly... oh well. Next time, eh? There is no reason to take pride in your work: it's a team project, after all.)

The third system is what I think of as the monkey system. Think of, for example, American multinationals that don't care about their employees, so those employees have no reason to care about the company, and everybody is slacking off or shifting the blame, and you'll understand what it is I mean by "monkey system": most of the jobs, monkeys could do. It requires no initiative or imagination.

I most prefer the first system. The second system is perfect for societies which instill self-discipline and "honour" in their people; but most (Western) societies are no longer such societies, so what the second model ends up achieving in most (Western) societies is this: it offers an easy way to slack off and not be personally responsible. I hate that, with the fire of a million suns -- even more than I hate the third system.

Nah, when I worked at McDonald's (devil take it's miserable rotten soul) everyone knew each other and hung out after work. It was a rather casual and unprofessional environment and I did nothing to discourage that because I hate McDonald's and all it stands for. Wonder why they fired me... anyways my new job is admittedly a little more solitary but that's because I only work directly with one other living being most of the time.

Gee you guys are so antisocial

Professional or not we organize group dinners even after we left the company. We keep each other's phone number or any contact if possible. So our phone list is ever expanding.

Oof, where are you from?

Oh, right. I haven't set my region... Where am I from or where do I live? I live in South Africa.


Yep, you're much more sociable than most Western countries, whether at work or outside of it.

Sorry, didn't read Oof's response.

Good. I had to fix a typo.

Thought as much totally didn't go through your comment history before asking or anything...

/notastalker

Uh huh.

Apart from my corresponding in Afrikaans in a thread, I can't think of anything that would really have given it away. Was there something?

No, that was pretty much it.

Now if we could all go back to pretending I didn't reveal my whereabouts...

And could Americans please explain their school system to us. I still don't know in which order "Junior", "Senior", "Sophomore" and other such honorifics are supposed to go.

Freshman = 9th grade
Sophmore = 10th
Junior = 11th
Senior = 12th

And our school system svcks. Reading this thread proves how little we are taught about the world outside of the US.

(I'm not sure you'd actually consider them 9th - 12th grade though. We start with kindergarten so by the time you reach 9th grade it's actually your 10th year of school. Kindergarten though 5th or 6th is considered elementary school, 6th - 8th is middle school, 9th - 12th is high school.)

Are Years and Classes uniform outside the US? (Like the International Metric System)

Here we have...

First Year = Kindergarten
Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth Year = "Fundamental Education One" (Or Elementary School)
Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth Year = "Fundamental Education Two" (Or Middle School)
When we reach High School it restarts..
First Year, Second Year, Third Year = "Gymnasium" or "Middle Education" (Or High School)

In the Big Picture we have...
First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth Year = First Degree.
First Series, Second Year, Third Year of High School = Second Degree.

Also, a curiosity about "False Friends"... Here in Brazil "College" sounds like Colégio (High School). If you want to refer to College you should call it "Faculdade".

That even works in the same language. Here a college is where you go aged 16-18, then onto University.

Really? College is the schooling you get after high school here. (Ages 18+) It took me a bit to catch on that "uni" was the same basic thing across the pond.

Here the school system goes like this (note: Secondary School only started being compulsory few years ago) :

- Kindergarten, which is not compulsory: formal education starts when kids are 6 years old, normally.

- Basic School, which is divided in 1st Cycle (1st-4th year); 2nd Cycle (5th-6th year); 3rd Cycle (7th-9th year)

- Secondary School (Highschool), which is from 10th to 12th year. When you enter into the 10th year, you have to choose an area to specialize in (Socio-Economic Sciences, Sciences and Technologies, Social and Human Sciences and Visual Arts). It really felt way too early to make that decision, at the time...

And then there is University...

Ugh, I'm not sure. I've been all over the place so schooling's bit confused for me. Also, there have been a lot of reforms here. I think here it's now:

Kindergarten -- age 5
Primary school (grades 1-7) -- age 6-13
High School (grades 8-12) -- age 14-18
[Alternatively, you can go to a technical college from grades 10-12, instead of finishing high school. Technical College (grades 10-12) -- age 16-18]
University -- 19 onwards

We have no honorifics, except for the usual university ones.

In England... Pretty sure Scotland and Ireland have different systems:

Infant School = 4-5 (Years 1-2)
Junior School = 6-11 (Years 3-6) - Sometimes called Primary School
Senior School = 11-16 (Years 7-11) - Sometimes called Secondary School
College = 16-18~ - Sometimes called 6th Form, but those are usually attached to Senior Schools.

Then you go to Uni. College and Uni are optional though.

Perhaps we're using the old British system:

Kindergarten = 5 years?
Primary School = P1 to P6 (6 years)
Secondary School = Form 1 to Form 6 (6 years, used to be 7)
Optional University = 4 years

I want to ask something that has been bugging me to some length for some weeks now. What's the deal with tipping? Recently, from what I've read in the web I realized that in the US or another countries, it is something almost compulsory to do, and there is even a percentage considered minimum percentage to tip someone.

I find it really weird since here in my country we don't make a habit of tipping, usualy... if we tip, it is because the service excelled in some way, like if the waiter does a good job of answering quickly and professionaly... So yeah, how does tipping work in your country?

ps: Or maybe I just misinterpreted, and it really isn't like that *shrug*

We used to tip on most services before the economic plunge in 1997. Meals, plummers, cable guys, etc. We kind of stopped that since lots of services really downgraded too much. Some "service charges" still hold for some restaurants tho, but we rarely tip anymore here. It may still be in practice in mainland China tho, but I never bothered to notice.

Nursery/Playgroup for 1 year usually around the ages of 3-5
Primary school for 7 years, mandatory, usual age is 5-12 (p1, p2, p3, p4, p5, p6, p7)
Secondary school for 4-6 years, mandatory until 16 and legally allowed to leave, usual age is 12-18 (1st year, 2nd year, 3rd year, 4th year, 5th year, 6th(senior year))

After leaving school at the age of 16 it's optional to go to either college or university, or just go straight for employment.
Go free education

Here 10% of your bill at a restaurant is directly divided and given to the waiters as a tip. So... No one give tips to waiters because they tip themselves.

The 10% aren't mandatory, but if you refuse to pay the manager, the owner and the waiters will argue with you about it.

We used to tip you every meal, then we took an arrow to the knee.

Wait staff in the US doesn't make the same wages as other employees. The minimum wage for a regular person would be somewhere in the $7.25 to $8/per hour range. Wait staff makes somewhere around $3/per hour I believe. (It could be more now, it's been a while since I waited.) The thought is that because you will make a portion of your income with tips, then you don't need the higher per hour wages.

So in the US, it's how they get paid. The normal amount per tip depends on the place you're eating but it's average around 15% of the total bill. I tend to tip around 25% because I did that job, I understand how it is, and usually I get great service. Crappy service? You may not get a tip at all.

This shows how little I know about the world.. I assumed it was like that everywhere.