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Swede here, I worked at an American/Global company's internal IT helpdesk for 4,5 years, and I can't say that I have ever met an american I have actually disliked, at worst I felt ambivalent, but for the most part I just felt generally positive towards them.
Worst users I have worked with based on nationallity tend to be people from UK, it was not unusual for them to act slightly superior to us lowly IT servants, don't get me wrong, most Brits I have met are great guys, but when working with some of them, they seem to be stuck in a strict classist society and be very much aware of that we were below them, which does not work in Sweden.
Very similar experience with Americans. I've spent about 6 months in the country over my life so far. Lovely folks generally. We get loads of American tourists here and they're all lovely.
Obviously there's the occasional cunt but sure everywhere has those.
That has been my (limited) experience as well. For me as an extremely introverted European, visiting US was quite a culture shock.
All the American people I’ve met have been very kind, easy to approach and hold a conversation with, and ready to help out a stranger in need. Honestly the last part was what stick out with me the most. Here in my country, I have no doubt that if I collapsed on the street, there would be 10 people stepping over my body before someone decided to check if I needed help.
America has horrible social services, but the reality is that everyone needs help now and then. Since we can't count on government to help out, we minds have to fill the gap with private non-profits and personal giving.
In a way it's great so see people willing to help others, but the problem is that we can't help but discriminate in how we help each other.
And we're shockingly conflict-averse on the individual level. We value being friendly and non-confrontational over pretty much anything else. And that brings a host of problems.
One of the big ones is our desire to stay civil creates a false echo chamber for many people. They think that everyone agrees with them because nobody openly disagrees. And that can get dangerous.
When someone tells a racist joke, you nervously smile and nod to avoid staring a fight over an "impolite" topic, and you've accidentally encouraged bad behavior. That behavior is repeated until it becomes normalized, and then it escalates.
We've somehow managed to be so friendly and kind we're sliding backwards on civil rights. We're weird.
I'm going to Spain again next year, and mostly what I've read is that the Brits are the least liked tourists there, and I'm so thrilled. I mean, I've never had issues anywhere because I know how to behave myself and don't really travel with the intent to party, but it'll be nice not to to be starting from so far behind this time.
Spain is one of the cheaper holiday destinations for brits. A lot of our worst holidaymakers are making their holidays in Spain.
We truly are cunts as a group when given a warm evening and decently priced alcohol.
I have had similar experiences on a personal basis, but my American colleagues have such an unhealthy attitude about work that working alongside them becomes very trying. No hate to them - they're trapped in an awful employment system that leaves them little choice.
The protestant work ethic is one hell of a drug. It was eye opening to learn just how much more vacation and time off European coworkers had. It would make me jealous when I needed a response from them on something but they were on holiday yet again. The joke at the office was that nothing could get done in the summer because all the Europeans were on vacation.
Personally, I would much prefer the European system, and it seems that's something young Americans generally agree on. If people prefer to make more money/pay less in taxes but have less time off , then let them. Just give us a choice.
That's why it's gotta be all or nothing with these corpos though. If they gave you a choice, it would be just like "unlimited vacation" now.
"Oh yeah sure you can go on holiday, you'll just be passive-aggressively punished and passed over and looked down on for it."
If it's forced on the company where simps and tryhards can't refuse vacation in order to suck up to their boss, then refusing vacation won't just become the new norm.
Hmmm. That's a good point.
Hmm I've worked several customer service jobs (I am american) and always felt like the non-americans were nicer to me.
Aww. All the Swedes I have met have been somewhat preternaturally nice people with somehow a better grasp of English than me.
This made me remember a call I had with a American VIP at the company I worked at, he had put me on speaker as I helped him with his laptop while he was working at home, and his wife broke in at the end of the call complementing my English.
They were both surprised to learn that I was Swedish since I have managed to train myself to loose much of the classic Swedish accent when speaking English.