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Comment by ranger_danger

8 hours ago

I find this hard to discuss among others as it often results in heated discussions, but in my experience, Europeans have a completely different understanding of what is considered "rude" so much that I struggle to work with a vast majority of them.

That's not to say that there aren't extremely nice people all other Europe... there are. But I'm still caught off guard when hearing them say some things nonchalantly that would get them fired in the US.

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ranger_danger

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scns  8 hours ago

> But I'm still caught off guard when hearing them say some things nonchalantly that would get them fired in the US.

I'm intruiged, can you give an example?

  • caseysoftware  8 hours ago

    Not sure if it's a pattern but when I interviewed with an EU company recently, they explicitly asked if I was married and if I had kids. They explained it as they had a "European mindset towards weekends and holidays" and they expected me to NOT be online.

    I was fine with the mindset but never expected to get those questions in an interview, as it'd be illegal in the States.

    • mrguyorama  4 hours ago

      It had to be made illegal to ask in the states, because so many employers used that information in an adversarial way.

      In places that don't have such a history, there's no reason for it to be taboo.

      1 reply →

  • ranger_danger  23 minutes ago

    "you should lose weight"

    Whenever I call out things like this to European friends they just think I am being an overly-sensitive American. But saying that to a colleague can absolutely get you fired in the US.