Job Discussion Forums

[scot47]

People who use a nom de plume beginning with "v" are always wrong.

[veiledsentiments]

Silly me --- I forgot about that truth.

VS

[johnslat]

Dear veiledsentiments,
Silly you, indeed - since, according to scot47's " logic ", your last post had to be wrong as well.
Regards,
John

[Cleopatra]

I think there is a difference between using a certain system in your head and expecting others to use it too. It's a bit like learning a language: I will probably always speak English in my own head, but if I was living in a non English speaking country I would not automatically expect everyone else to do the same - I would not speak English to someone who did not understand it.

That in effect is what my friend was doing when she used imperial measurements in KSA. She was speaking in a language noone else understood, and she was tacitly expecting them to make adjustments for her. I don't blame people for psychologically wanting to stick to what they know best - I do blame them for expecting others to adjust to them, even if they are in a foreign country. And, as the above poster said, converting from imperial to metric doesn't exactly require an advanced degree in maths!

[hmbaba]

Hi,
Lots of people who have lived in a foreign country for years still do math in their native language - so based on that, what's wrong with still thinking in pounds, shillings and pence or pints or pounds weight - provided you can convert easily when you realise people don't know what you are talking about.
Everytime you go on hols, you need to have a ballpark figure for currency conversions, so don't folk have a ballpark figure for metric-imperial? If I am thinking in pounds-kilos, I multiply by 2 and add a bit, I know that a metre is a bit bigger than a yard and the conversion of miles to km. As for temps., well I know what kind of figures can translate to freezing, chilly, warm, hot and very hot - that's not so hard.
I do have a prob re gallons as US gallons are different from British - and can never remember cooking equivalents of cups, but haven't poisoned anyone yet.
Like I said, we live in foreign places and do currency conversions, so we can probably cope with ballpark metric-imperial conversions - how accurate to we need to be on a day-to-day basis?
In England, I guess we are slow learners, we went metric in 71(?) and fully metric a few years ago - but my local market still has signs up for kg and lbs of apples - and if you can't cope with that, it's a quid for 8.
Cheers,
Heather

[veiledsentiments]

Hi Heather,

I found the kg/lb relatively easy to deal with in shopping. I could easily do just as you did. But the two temperature systems really threw me at the beginning because the math is too difficult - and I felt silly dragging out a calculator. So, I memorized a little thermometer chart.

The one that really threw me was when I bought my first car in the Gulf and my father's first question during his next phone call was how many miles per gallon I was getting. After sitting there struggling to convert the liters to gallons and the kilometers to miles, I told him that the gas (petrol isn't a word he would have known) was so cheap that I didn't really care. But then he wanted to know how much it cost - which brought me to having to deal with two measurements and two currencies. sigh --- I told him that I would try to figure this all out and write it in my next letter.

VS

[scot47]

I took my father-in-law from Europe to the motor show in Jeddah. He was really interested in all these exotoc vehicles. His constant question was about fuel consumption. He thinks in how many litres of fuel for 100 km of driving. When I asked the salesmen it turned out they did not think in litres/100 km and not in miles per gallon (imperial or American) either.

Customers here do not ask about fuel consumption because fuel is still so cheap. Becasue of that the salesmen could not answer the question so I was saved the chore of converting from one to the oether.

[MacMahon]

A friend of mine (from London) working in KSA owns a Dodge 5.9 V8.
That would be about Hmmm.... 350 metres per gallon or so. For reasons mentioned earlier he didn't consider petrol to be a big issue or conversion for that matter.

In saudi they just estimate based on engine size. So a BIG engine will drink more than a little engine. I had looks from dealers when I asked such questions like "oh no, we got a tricky one here" call the mechanic!

[johnslat]

I always had trouble with the weekdays. Even after 19 years, I'd say such things as - "I'll see you on Monday", when I really meant "on Saturday".
Strangely enough, however, now that I'm back in the States, I occasionally have the same problem, only in reverse.
Regards,
John

[veiledsentiments]

Ha!! I couldn't even count the number of times over the years that at the end of Wednesday's class I would say "your homework for Monday is ___" and the sea of confused faces would remind me that it was for Saturday. Eventually most groups got used to it and would laugh - seems even humiliation didn't help me remember.

But, my problems were made worse by the fact that I spent part of my years in Egypt - where the weekend is Friday and Saturday.

And yes, I too do the opposite now that I am back. Of course, since I am "retired," I now have 7 day weekends.

VS

[scot47]

My trick for reinforcing the days of the week is that on Wednesdays I say to my students and colleagues "Have a good weekend. See you on Saturday." This also reminds me that I am in The Majik Kingdom.

Lots of people never make the adjustment. I understand that in Aramco in the early days they officially changed the names of the days of the week. That is Saturday was called "Monday". So when you went back Stateside you had to change more than your clocks !

But this is a reminder how dificult it can be to unlearn something like a measuring system.

[veiledsentiments]

I guess we are all basically creatures of habit.

But, of course, my name starts with a 'v' so that must be wrong.

VS