Job Discussion Forums

[El Gallo]

Do Mexicans gossip more than anyone else in the world or is it just rich Mexicans?

I teach some rich private students and the things they tell me about mutual friends are sometimes just incredible. They even gossip about me saying, for example, I'm here illegally or don't really have a Masters Degree. Sometimes I over-react to protect myself by giving them copies of my FM-3, diplomas and ELT certificates.

Through one rich family, I got to know other relatives who bad mouth each other all the time. It's putting so much stress on me to pretend I don't listen to all this that I'm thinking of dropping these students and not visiting my "friends" there anymore.

I think all people in the world gossip but what I have encountered in the upper class here is astonishing in that people don't believe what they say about others will not return by wagging tongues to the original targets. What do you think?

[El Gallo]

oops - should read: "....people believe what they say about others will not return by wagging tongues to the original targets."

[Guy Courchesne]

My French Canadian family are horrible gossips. My ex-Mexican family were pretty gossipy too about each other. I think it's universal.

What about among foreign teachers in a city or on staff? I was sent to a smallish town in Chiapas once to evaluate staff. Turned out one of the main reasons things were going downhill systemwide was due to rumours running around both the town and school.

[ls650]

People gossip a lot everywhere. I never thought it was worse in Mexico than anywhere else.

[Dragonlady]

deleted

unrelated to TESOL

[TheLongWayHome]

People do gossip everywhere but here it always sounds (to me) much more judgemental, much more critical and more often than not, hypocritical.

[jfurgers]

[Milenka]

[TheLongWayHome]