I recently had an email conversation with an intermittent client in Italy, and mentioned the economic woes there. He had this enlightening response. Keep in mind that this guy is a business owner and a tech professional.
Yes, Italy has a lot of problems.
"There is no work" they say.
For me it is a word game.
We should say: "there is no people who want to work".
What Italians want is a job with 14 paid months, a nice desk with armchair, phone, aircon and computer...and nothing to do :)
A lot of people of my generation managed to get those jobs.
When they retire, those jobs are cancelled, because we cannot afford them any more.
However that idea that regular job should be as the job above stays.
All the dirty work: waiter, construction worker, cleaning, etc is done by foreign immigrants who (strangely enough) make ends meet for their families.
Lately I tried a nice young man at his first work experience.
At the 3th day he didn't show in the morning.
I called him and the conversation was:
"Hi Sam, what's on ? Why arent' you at the office yet ?"
"Sorry, I wanted to call, but I forgot. I cannot come to work today"
"Are you sick ?"
"No, I have some errand to do"
The conclusion is: work is something you do when you have really nothing else to do :)
Not a whole lot different from the US is it?
last updated 2012-09-26 03:05:17. served from tektonic.jcomeau.com