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| Which expats are the most unfriendly in Korea? |
| USA |
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17% |
[ 27 ] |
| Canada |
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47% |
[ 73 ] |
| UK |
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18% |
[ 29 ] |
| Australia |
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5% |
[ 8 ] |
| NZ |
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3% |
[ 6 ] |
| South Africa |
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7% |
[ 11 ] |
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| Total Votes : 154 |
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IncognitoHFX
Joined: 06 May 2007
Location: Yeongtong, Suwon
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 Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2008 7:59 pm Post subject: |
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| shifter2009 wrote: |
Why were you asking them georgraphy questions as worker for sprint? |
They liked to know they were connected to, and I told them. This wasn't asked all that often, maybe once in every ten calls. |
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ChinaBoy
Joined: 17 Feb 2007
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| Posted: Tue Jul 29, 2008 2:04 pm Post subject: |
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| nateium wrote: |
The last party I went to, this Canadian woman decided to tell me immediately about a youtube video she saw of American soldiers torturing puppies and teasing children in Iraq. This was about 30 seconds after I told her my nationality. That kind of socially retarted behavior is why Canadians are losing this poll. |
Exactly. This poll has turned out precisely as I would have predicted. |
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Privateer
Joined: 31 Aug 2005
Location: Easy Street.
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| Posted: Wed Jul 30, 2008 3:46 am Post subject: |
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| tfunk wrote: |
| Given the proportion of nationalities represented in Korea, it looks like the UK have come out pretty bad in this poll, and the USA are doing pretty well. |
The Brits are unfriendly to and negative about each other. We're all voting against ourselves!  |
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rayjoy
Joined: 19 Jan 2008
Location: Dynamic Busan
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| Posted: Wed Jul 30, 2008 5:24 am Post subject: |
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| Hank the Iconoclast wrote: |
| Dome Vans wrote: |
| tfunk wrote: |
| Dome Vans wrote: |
| tfunk wrote: |
| Given the proportion of nationalities represented in Korea, it looks like the UK have come out pretty bad in this poll, and the USA are doing pretty well. |
I see what you're saying there tfunk.
Maybe, If you dislike Brit's you're limiting it to one person, and that one person is thinking they don't like me and with the Brit way of thinking that's not including all of them. Not group mentality.
If you dislike Americans, a certain kind of patriotism kicks in and they think that you're including all Americans in that statement?
Ideas? |
I think I don't understand you. Are you saying that when people think 'Brit' they have in mind a particular person, but when they think 'American' they are thinking of the country as a whole? That seems to make sense, but if that was the case I would have thought Americans would get a higher disliking, as they are often portrayed negatively in the international media.
The quote I took from you and bolded seems irrelevant because your vote is independent of what the people you are voting on might think. |
Unfortunately the moment of lucidity that I had yesterday evening has passed and I'm not sure I understand myself either. I think it was more along the lines that Brits don't really have that group mentality. We have no problems disliking others especially from our own country. A massive dislike for the monarchy and hierarchy in England. Other people may diss Britain and Brits but at the end of the day we probably don't really care. Americans have patriotism, which at the end of the day leads to a group mentality. Diss Americans or America and then you'll get their backs up. It seems to happen a lot on these forums.
What relevance this has to the OP I've no idea. Sorry for wasting your valuable time. I might go and do some washing. |
I think you have something there. If I tell my English friends that some other English blokes can come off as arrogant, they don't take it as a generalization but just the individual.
Americans, do tend to get a defensive when people say they dislike Americans. Perhaps it is patriotism but I have seen Americans who despise the patriotic bs but still get irritated when people immediately bring up Bush or the war in a conversation.
I consider myself to be in that group. I disagree with most American foreign policies and consider W to be a complete failure. On the other hand, I don't like to be accused because of the actions of a President I didn't vote for and have despised and protested against since I was old enough to vote.
I usually just agree with the person and go on but sometimes that is not sufficient. Sure there is more of a group mentality in America (thanks to patriotism) but not everybody wants to be grouped in with that. So when someone says they dislike Americans, I feel like I am being grouped with the neo-conseveratives and that does irritate me.
The difference between Brits and Americans is that people don't like Brits because they come across as arrogant while Americans tend to get grouped together as Bush and supporters of the war in Iraq. |
I think you got it right, Hank. About the only thing that makes me defensive about America is being instantly hated/argued with when I reveal my nationality. Just about every time I travel abroad I hear "Blah blah blah Americans, but you're not so bad." I didn't vote for Bush, I was pretty politically active NOT promoting Bush during elections.
I would go so far as to generalize that a lot of Americans moving overseas are looking to be more open-minded, culturally aware and maybe even avoid some of the Americans that give them a bad name. When I told my co-worker I was moving to South Korea she said "Oh no thank you, I need my indoor plumbing!"
Since I haven't lived overseas yet, I can't vote this poll but from traveling a lot, I've found the least likeable foreigners tend to be those that come to party with their crew, with no regard to locals/local customs. In the Netherlands, it was the Brits. In Spain, it was Germans. In Mexico, it's Americans.
@ Halifax poster: You seem to have a lot of residual dislike of Americans from your phone job that might be carrying over into your opinions of Americans overseas. I don't think I'll change your mind, but when you are dealing with cell phone billing issues over the phone, you're not going to be getting the friendliest and more financially well off people on the other line, whether it's America or not. Any sort of collections job is going to show you the worst in people. |
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Fresh Prince
Joined: 05 Dec 2006
Location: The glorious nation of Korea
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| Posted: Wed Jul 30, 2008 9:07 pm Post subject: |
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| IncognitoHFX wrote: |
They liked to know they were connected to, and I told them. This wasn't asked all that often, maybe once in every ten calls. |
They probably couldn't understand your Canadian accent. |
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Ukon
Joined: 29 Jan 2008
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| Posted: Wed Jul 30, 2008 10:18 pm Post subject: |
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| IncognitoHFX wrote: |
That, and I have a lot of experiences dealing with Americans. None of these experiences come from sitting in a dorm room full of beret-wearing-vegans making protest pickets.
Search my name (I don't feel like reposting) and look at my posts about when I worked for an American cellular company (Sprint / Nextel) and dealt exclusively with Americans via telephone. Of the Americans I dealt with, a significant percentage of them couldn't do simple math. It made me hate my job.
I had to explain to a third of my customers that if you only paid $20 towards a $500 bill from the month before, then $480 would be carried over. It was the most frequent issue when they called in. Sometimes it took two hours to explain these because the customers became so hot headed and emotional over it.
In situations where geography was involved (I said I was in Canada), around %30 (guesstimate: it was quite common) of them did not know where Canada was.
Now, considering I spoke to more than ten thousand different Americans at that job, from all different parts of the country, wouldn't it be semi-reasonable for me to make a conclusion based on Americans? Such as, many Americans are bad at Mathematics and Geography, moreso than other first world countries?
I can also say that many Americans are terrible with money and financial planning. Most of the callers were on credit card accounts, and the customers with the lowest levels of income made the worst decisions regarding plan options and generally had the highest bills. They'd pay $20 (for the cheapest plan) with a $0.60 per minute rate over 30 minutes of use, then use 300 minutes.
I tried to convince them to move up to the $60 plan, which had 300 minutes included and they would say: "no! That's too expensive!" and attack me for trying to "sell" to them. They would save hundreds of dollars a month, but they didn't understand the concept.
This was very, very common. I'm sincere, you have absolutely no idea how common this was coming from a diverse segment of the demographic. The high income bracket wasn't all that much better at these things, either.
Oh boy, oh boy can I ever draw conclusions about Americans from that. Not all Americans, mind you (I shouldn't have to say that).
I bet if I took Halifax out of my name you wouldn't have made any links there, too. There is a stereotype about Halifax. I agree with it. University students in Halifax are doubly as pretentious as their counterparts in other places because Halifax has major "culture envy" of places like Toronto. That's an observation.
Anyway, don't call me an idiot. Ad hominem attacks don't serve your purpose and since your argument was shit, you had no right to call me an idiot in the first place.
One last thing. If I'm wrong, why was Bush elected... twice?
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I agree with your observations.....although I imagine it's the same anywhere(including Canada). Poor people are not the best with money at least from my observation.
As for Bush Elected twice, he won in an extremely close election and appealed to cultural conservatives and disaffected, usually ignored, lower class citizens.
What most call rubes! If you read the book Deer hunting with Jesus, it will explain it better......basically, they'd sooner vote for a moron like Bush who actually seems sympathic or can relate to them over some Yuppie-looking "euro" liberal who's value system doesn't relate to them at all. America is a very diverse and large country....there is a reason that half of it tried to succede at one point.
I imagine Quebec citizens love to vote for french speaking canidates.....even if they're not the best.... |
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CanadaNole
Joined: 19 May 2008
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| Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2008 7:33 pm Post subject: This Poll |
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While people that read this poll probably realize that it isn't scientific and is just for fun, unfortunately generalizations like "Canadians are the least friendly" could have an unconscious effect on how other ex-pats view Canadians that they meet, perhaps leaving them to unfairly associate Canadians with unfriendliness.
Also, according to something called stereotype threat, Canadians that read this poll or are aware of the stereotype may be more likely to act less friendly in confirmation of it.
That is my attempt at amateur social psychology... But I'm no expert. I just dislike generalizations. And I'm Canadian. |
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Stormy
Joined: 10 Jan 2008
Location: Here & there
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| Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2008 7:41 pm Post subject: Re: This Poll |
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| CanadaNole wrote: |
That is my attempt at amateur social psychology... But I'm no expert. I just dislike generalizations. And I'm Canadian. |
Glad you pointed that out CanadaNole. |
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hugekebab
Joined: 05 Jan 2008
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| Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2008 7:50 pm Post subject: |
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| lohengrin wrote: |
| I vote for those South Africans who insist on sitting around speaking to each other only in Afrikaans all the time |
Those bastards! Speaking to eachother in their firts language! Fuckers! |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Sat Aug 02, 2008 12:10 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
Canadians that read this poll or are aware of the stereotype may be more likely to act less friendly in confirmation of it.
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I don't know about that, but it may cut down marginally on the, "Oh, we're famous for being so polite" mantra. We can only hope. |
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IncognitoHFX
Joined: 06 May 2007
Location: Yeongtong, Suwon
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| Posted: Sat Aug 02, 2008 3:54 am Post subject: |
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| Ukon wrote: |
I agree with your observations.....although I imagine it's the same anywhere(including Canada). Poor people are not the best with money at least from my observation. |
Yes, but I think there are a higher percentage of Americans who can't find Canada (or their own country) on a map than Canadians. To find a Canadian who couldn't find Canada or America on a map, you'd probably have to go to a place like Nunavut or a kintergarten class. |
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supernick
Joined: 24 Jan 2003
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Sat Aug 02, 2008 5:41 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| I don't know about that, but it may cut down marginally on the, "Oh, we're famous for being so polite" mantra. We can only hope. |
As far as this survey goes, it reports that the Canadians are known for being polite, along with the Japanese, Brits and Germans. I think the Americans came in 11th place.
Most Obnoxious Tourists? The French By BRUCE CRUMLEY / PARIS
Sun Jul 6, 10:45 PM ET
Remember the tightwad tourist whose baggy shorts, frequent complaining and shouted questions about why none of the locals spoke any English made the ugly American the world's Visitor From Hell? Well, it's time for Archie Bunker to move over and make way for Petulant Pierre. According to a recent international survey, the French are now considered the most obnoxious tourists from European nations, and behind only Indians and the last-place Chinese as the worst among all countries worldwide. And it's not only the rest of the world that have a gripe with the Gallic attitude: the French also finished second to last among nations ranking the popularity of their own tourists who vacation at home.
But it's the unflattering image being reflected from abroad that may give pause to the millions of French travelers now heading off to summer vacation destinations across the globe. Will that move them to improve behavior the poll characterized as impolite, prone to loud carping and inattentive to local customs? If so, that's just the start: the study also describes the voyageur fran�ais as often unwilling or unable to communicate in foreign languages, and particularly disinclined to spending money when they don't have to - including on those non compris tips. Over all, French travelers landed 19th out of 21 nations worldwide, far behind the first-place Japanese, considered most polite, quiet and tidy. Following the Japanese as most-liked tourists were the Germans, British and Canadians. Americans finished in 11th place alongside the Thais.
The survey was carried out among employees in 4,000 hotels in Germany, the U.K., Italy, France, Canada and the U.S. for the French travel website Expedia.fr. The study asked respondents to rank clients by nationality on criteria of general attitude, politeness, tendency to complain, willingness to speak local languages, interest in sampling local cuisine, readiness to spend money, generosity, cleanliness, discretion and elegance. Many replies simply conformed to long-established reputations: Italians, for example, were described as the best-dressed tourists, with the French not far behind.
American tourists fared well in some surprising ways: despite being notoriously language-limited, for example, they top the list of tourists credited with trying to speak local languages the most, with the French, Chinese, Japanese, Italians and Russians coming in last in the local language rankings. Does that mean Americans are the most polyglot tourists on the planet? Maybe not, says Expedia's marketing director for Europe, Timoth�e de Roux, who notes the poll's focus on hotel operators may explain the counterintuitive outcome.
"Most hotel staffs around the world speak English, meaning they'll communicate far more easily with native English-speaking American or British clients than with French or Italians who - it's true - are pretty bad with foreign languages," de Roux says.
De Roux explains how external factors similarly account for why Americans wind up as the biggest-spending and best-tipping tourists, while Germans and the French are among the worst penny-pinchers. "Our findings show the average French employee will get 37 vacation days spread over seven trips in 2008, versus 14 for an American - who won't even take them all," de Roux believes. "That means the French tourist will more tightly budget his or her spending over more trips, while the American spends freely on the one or two vacations taken all year."
By contrast, poll finds the French and Americans similar in being perceived as critical and rude when they travel - though for different reasons. The same local attractions that make France the world's top destination for 92 million foreign visitors each year, says de Roux, also explains why over 85% of French vacation in-country - and wind up spoiled by it when they leave. "When they go abroad, French travellers demand the same quality they'd get at home," de Roux says. "Americans, by contrast, demand the same exceptional service they are used to at home, which is why they rank as the loudest, most inclined to complain, and among the least polite." View this article on Time.com
Copyright � 2008Time Inc
Copyright � 2008 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.
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Stormy
Joined: 10 Jan 2008
Location: Here & there
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oskinny1
Joined: 10 Nov 2006
Location: Right behind you!
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| Posted: Sat Aug 02, 2008 11:52 pm Post subject: |
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I like the Japanese flag in the Chinese sauna.
Incognito has shown once again why Canada is ranked the worst. No rational thought process seems to exist (for him).
He talked on the phone with customers that were upset. These customers have probably been waiting on hold for who knows how long. These customers obviously do not have much education since they a) signed on for sprint and b) cannot understand benefits of a different plan. They = all Americans now.
I taught at a school for retarded Canadians, therefore all Canadians = retards.
See how I did that Incognito? That is the same thing you are doing. |
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IncognitoHFX
Joined: 06 May 2007
Location: Yeongtong, Suwon
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| Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 8:47 am Post subject: |
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| oskinny1 wrote: |
Incognito has shown once again why Canada is ranked the worst. No rational thought process seems to exist (for him).
He talked on the phone with customers that were upset. These customers have probably been waiting on hold for who knows how long. These customers obviously do not have much education since they a) signed on for sprint and b) cannot understand benefits of a different plan. They = all Americans now.
I taught at a school for retarded Canadians, therefore all Canadians = retards.
See how I did that Incognito? That is the same thing you are doing. |
See how you didn't seem to understand what I was saying?
I didn't say every single person in America is an idiot. You're implying that I did. You obviously didn't understand what I said in context.
I tried hard to elaborate my position very clearly in that post, as people kept misreading it as: "all Americans are always stupid all of the time".
Of course, that's all you managed to see. SHOULD I WRITE IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS NEXT TIME? WOULD THAT HELP?
| Quote: |
| He talked on the phone with customers that were upset. These customers have probably been waiting on hold for who knows how long. These customers obviously do not have much education since they a) signed on for sprint and b) cannot understand benefits of a different plan. They = all Americans now. |
They didn't have to wait on hold very long. I knew when they were in queue, and it was rare. The calls made while upset were generally the ones who couldn't do math and needed me to do it for them.
I had a lot of relaxed, conversational type calls with people aiming to change a thing or two, and they were the ones who brought up geography ("where am I calling to?")
| Quote: |
| Incognito has shown once again why Canada is ranked the worst. No rational thought process seems to exist (for him). |
Anyway, your misinterpretation of my post leads to me having no capacity for rational thought? Read it again. |
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