V - Did your admonishment of sorts about coming to class on time have positive results. If not, I suspect it has to do with another thing you shared with me in person - It's a me, me, me society which to me indicates no respecit or consideratin of others. Friends of mine in Pto Morelos shared a story that good friends of theirs were always late to dinner when they were to meet at restaurants. They decided to wait 10 mnutes, then order and let the friends catch up, wthout sayin a word about them being late. After a couple times of this exercise, they completely finished their meals before the friends arrived. They waited and when the late comers arrived, they greeted them and then left. Invitations ceased both ways. After a couple of months the other couple came to them, apologized, they resumed their dinners together and they have not been late a single time. This is a story with a happy ending.
When asked to say where on a scale from highly individualistic to highly collectivistic they would put Mexico, my students have tended to come down on the individualistic side, adding that they thought the society was pretty much "every man for himself," outside the family, with little feeling for things like "the greater good". ____________________
Okay, I have to say this... WHO puts up ceiling fans with tape? LOL!!! I think we can all agree that when you do find someone who is a great worker you never lose their number, and you treat them well. They are hard to come by, but do exist. Our architect who is Mexican tells me that his own workers drive him crazy. He feels he has to baby sit, and walk them through everything step by step. Any time even the slightest change needs to be made they can't make the decision on their own as it completely throws them off. We do have an AMAZING handy man. AMAZING. I've recommended him to a lot of people who are just as happy with him as we are. Again, we will never lose his number!! Three weeks ago the tiles in our bedroom burst. Not a few, but 30 something tiles!!! The workers came (2 days late), spent 3 days jack hammering our floors until hubby asked if they had a machine that could do it quicker, they said yes but didn't want to make too much noise. Are you kidding? The job with the machine would have taken a few hours and instead you jack hammered for 3 days and weren't even half way done?? Needless to say we now have concrete dust all over our top floor, and they have not returned to finish the job. Why you wonder? Ohhh because they forgot to order the tile first!!! The first thing hubby asked them, can you find the same match of tile? Yes, of course we ordered it. Dios mio..... Ahhh the joys
I think it is more of an issue of the culture of each class and not the culture of an entire country. I was an inner city teacher in Chicago and the punctuality and etiquette of the parents and students there was far worse than what I have seen here. I'm sure you have witnessed frequently that Mexicans judge people based on their education. To be "mal educado" does not necessarily mean scholastically, it actually tends to mean socially. And because the economic gap here is so wide and with the lower class being so large, some things can appear to be inherently Mexican that actually aren't.
Wow. Don't mean to sound like an A hole but for being guest in a foreign country you guys can be pretty rude. To me it's like inviting someone to dinner then having them complain about the cooking. Does 3rd world mean anything to anybody?
This may be sort of an issue with punctuality. A friend asked me to watch her dog for an afternoon while she had some errands to run. She came back 2 days later to pick him up. She failed to tell me that the errand was to drive to Merida and back to Cancun. She never called to check on the dog nor did she leave me enough food to feed him for 2 days. No apologoes were given and she did not even acknowledge the inconvinience. Sometimes it is sad to see how pets are often mistreated here (especially dogs).
As much as I don't agree with much that was said on this thread, they are all entitled to their take on what happens around here. This is a Living In forum, and we are all living here paying our debt in some forms to the Mexican Society. That earns all of us the right to complain about whatever we want. I see you are looking to move here, and these are things that may end up bothering you to the point you can't see past it and leave; or like me, just accept it and not really think twice to "bitch" about it.
:bash: :bash: :bash: You might as well just be doing what is illustrated above........ HAHAHAHAHA.........!! I do believe that the Mexican culture is MUCH different than American culture....!! People are given some sort of job description when first hired AND they follow that job description to the "T"...........!! EXAMPLE: A number of years ago, when we used to stay at one of the Royal Resorts - I needed a blank piece of stationary and walked down to the membership office and asked the receptionist for this blank piece of paper........ She excused herself & returned with one of her superiors who proceeded to ask what it was that I had wanted... I again explained to her that I wanted a piece of paper....... She quickly left and again returned with HER superior - who asked me the very same question....!! She gave me the piece of stationary - The paper was sitting in a tray on the first person's desk (in plain view!) Guess what....??? It was NOT in the job desription of the first two workers to "HAND OUT PAPER!!"...... nor the second person either.!! But - the third person obviously had the AUTHORITY to give out paper........... Mexicans are taught or genetically programmed not to take any initiative on the job and do only what is in their job description.....!! Unlike in the USA where a worker is applauded for taking some initiative...and thinking "outside of the box"....... They also take you literally - I was walking down the street (and had forgotten my watch) so I stopped a Mexican and asked if he knew what time it was.............. His reply to me was, "SI!" and kept on walking.. I now know better - and should have asked him - QUE HORA ES?" :aktion034:
I think LTDLP's comment gives me an opening to acknowledge, plainly, and partly for ToriB's sake, that the country has many hardworking, thoughtful, and well-educated people in it and that here, as elsewhere, those who enter the trades (and with whom I've had the greatest disappointments, recently) are not necessarily the best and brightest the country has to offer. I work with people who are no less punctual than I am, take their responsibilities very seriously, and do a good job of what they do, as the people ToriB refers to apparently do. My sister just left Cancun after a brief, first time visit, and she had nothing but praise for the quality of the staff, service and food at the AI in which she stayed. That level of quality cannot be achieved without the dedicated and highly coordinated work of many people, under good leadership. To achieve that, all concerned have necessarily rejected, and overcome, any messages generated by the culture that would have suggested that to do otherwise would be acceptable. As for T.J.'s question about how my students have taken to being under a requirement to be on time to class, they have adapted to this rather unusual requirement, and tardies are now the exception, though they do grumble about it- as they do about my refusing to allow them to eat their breakfast during class!
