What's the rush? Sit down and be social.

I, in general, do not like to discuss political issues but I feel that I must so that you understand what comes later in this post.

For those of you who do not exactly know what Socialism is, it is basically the philosophy that everybody is equal.  Imagine a big organization with 1000 blue collar workers and 12 executive officers.   Since the 1000 workers do most of the manual labor, under a pure socialist society, they would all be entitled to equal shares of the companies profits.  Socialism is called "the great equalizer". The most extreme form of a Socialized country would be a Communist society.   In a total Socialist society the people have no private property rights and goods produced in it would be distributed among the citizens--"from each according to his ability, to each according to his need."   Imagine a brain surgeon who lives two blocks from the hospital and a plumber who lives 20 miles outside of town.  Both need a new car.  They both have to apply for permission from the government to get the car.  Guess who gets the car?   The plumber gets the car because he needs it to do his job, the doctor can walk to the hospital.

If you look at it on paper, socialism works and is very alluring. The notion of everyone being completely equal, even if this means taking from the rich and giving to the poor, seems just.  However that is only on paper.  Socialism does not work in the real world because people are inherently greedy, it is part of our genetic makeup-survival of the fittest.  Every single communist society  that have been or are being attempted are really not communist societies at all, although they try to be.  They end up becoming a Totaliarian country where one individual has complete and total control of the people.  Think about North Korea, or China (not to be confused with the Republic of China) where there exists the "Great Firewall of China" .  The citizens cannot go to any website that could undermine the authority of the Communist Party.  There are moderators that monitor peoples activities and the punishment for even visiting some sites is prison.  The more socialized a country is, the less people question why something is done a certain way and instead just accept it.

So, almost every civilized nation has some form of socialism.  Canada has socialized health care.  Also almost all companies have unions.  It is almost impossible to get fired here.


Now you will understand what comes next.


I had a air conditioning company come to install two air conditioning units in the house, one upstairs and one downstairs.  These are powerful units, and my only option because installing central air would have been very difficult and very expensive.  The man who installed them did not finish.  The one downstairs is basically hanging there and could easily be pushed out and fall onto the deck if one was so inclined to push.  The water hose is just hanging there dripping water onto the deck because he didn't anticipate needing so much hose.  So he says he will come back to complete the job.  It is now TWO MONTHS later.   After many calls and emails he finally agrees to come and fix it.   He said that he would be over "after dinner", this was yesterday.   Ok, I sit here and wait.  6 PM nothing, 7 PM nothing, at 8 PM I call and get his voicemail.  I call again at 10 PM and, again, get his voicemail.   Today, after finally getting hold of him, he said that he couldn't make it.  Um, how about CALLING ME and telling me this information???  This is not the only case of this.  That is what happens because people don't worry about their jobs they just do enough to not get fired.


I have been told that Americans who move here are very successful.  Why?  Because we work!  I spent 12 hours putting Ikea furniture together, why 12 hours??  Because I want it done.   I don't start something and then leave it half done for weeks on end.  Here it seems that is the way it is.  A friend of mine works at a university here.   He has a bookcase in his office but wanted another one.  He asked and they said no, he could not have another bookcase because no one else has two bookcases.  He called up the union directly and said that he has a filing cabinet in his office that he does not want, could he trade the filing cabinet for a second bookcase?  They agreed to that-he got his bookcase.  Apparently everyone was astonished as to why, on Earth, would someone would call the union about this.   Every office has one bookcase and that is just the way it is, what's your issue???  If you have any organization making decisions for you, over time you cease to be able to be assertive.  Your mind changes from that of a strong-willed person who will fight to get what you want, sometimes kicking and screaming, to a person who just accepts what things are because "that is the way it is".


This attitude doesn't just exist in the workplace, it is part of everyday life.   You're going to love this.  Say you and a friend decide you're going to meet up for dinner and a movie.  You make the reservations at 6 PM.  You show up at the restaurant and wait and your friend never shows up.  You call her and she doesn't pick up the phone.   The next day she finally picks up and she says "Oh, I changed my mind, I didn't feel like going out".   This is perfectly acceptable.  If your friend doesn't show up then it is just assumed that he or she is not coming, and why are you making such a big deal out of this??? What's your problem anyway?

When you tell someone to "stop by anytime", you don't really mean it.  When I happen to be walking down the street and I walk past a friend's apartment building, I call them and, if they pick up, I say "Hey, I'm downstairs and was wondering if you'd feel like some company?"   I wouldn't just walk up there and knock on their door unannounced.  Well, here, if you tell someone to "stop by anytime", they will take that literally.

Every day is a learning experience for me here.  I thought I would know what to expect, but I had no idea what it was going to be like.   It is extra difficult here, for me, because not only is this "relaxed, easy going, what's the hurry" attitude completely foreign to me, but the language barrier as well.

This is quite the learning experience for me, I must say.  I am, for the most part, enjoying myself here.  I am just going through the normal adjustment period, from what I have read about the subject.   I suppose the "laid back" mentality here is the reason that people tend to live longer and have less stress related illnesses than in the US.   I don't know if I will ever be as laid back, I am just too high strung, even by US standards, but perhaps, just perhaps, I may try to walk a little bit slower or take an extra minute or two to admire a beautiful park.......

yea...right.