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A comment on Remote-first work is taking over the rich world – research hints at why. Parent comment

Re:Remote-first work is taking over the rich world – researc... by arp242 on Friday October 29, 2021 @01:25AM (#29035447)
This is an issue not just with Russians, but with differences between mainland Europe and Anglo-Saxon culture in general (UK too). Funny enough, it gets worse the better at English you get: if you're obviously not very good at English then people tend to give you the benefit of the doubt. If you're reasonably good at English in such a way that it's not obvious you're not a native speaker at a glance then people tend to be less forgiving. And the whole passive-aggressive culture also means they won't actually tell you, so it can be quite hard to learn and improve.

Of course, attitudes differ wildly from individual to individual, but the average can be quite hard to work with. It took me a few years to really adjust.

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Re:Remote-first work is taking over the rich world – researc... by playing_colours on Friday October 29, 2021 @03:23AM (#29036108)
The Germans and people from eastern Europe are usually straightforward in their communications. There might have been a shift towards conflict-avoidance in younger generations (< 30 yo) though.
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Re:Remote-first work is taking over the rich world – researc... by llampx on Friday October 29, 2021 @05:22AM (#29036755)
German and Dutch straightforwardness only goes one way. Try talking to them back with the same straightforward way they talk to you, and see how they react.
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Re:Remote-first work is taking over the rich world – researc... by arp242 on Friday October 29, 2021 @07:23AM (#29037266)
Eh? It's how these people interact with each other. Your line of thinking seems to be something like this:

  1. *Something straightforward*
  2. *Straightforward reply*
  3. "Zomg! Hypocrite!"
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Re:Remote-first work is taking over the rich world – researc... by llampx on Friday October 29, 2021 @07:46AM (#29037377)
I use straightforwardness as a proxy for rudeness, which is what it usually is in these cases. Its like the famous "brusque New Yorker" style or "Berliner schnauze". If you talk to them the same way they talk to you they get pissed because this brusqueness is not how they talk to an equal, but rather an outsider.
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Re:Remote-first work is taking over the rich world – researc... by arp242 on Friday October 29, 2021 @10:26AM (#29038808)
What do you mean specifically? Do you have any examples?
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Re:Remote-first work is taking over the rich world – researc... by tchalla on Friday October 29, 2021 @04:39AM (#29036523)
> The Germans and people from eastern Europe are usually straightforward in their communications.

May be, Germans (and most Europe) are "straightforward" from an American perspective. I find Europeans with their own shade of "subtlety" which you could only learn if you were part of the culture. Otherwise, they are "subtle" and "measured" too.

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