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I recall what it was like to have people around who actually cared about stuff like messy break rooms, arrogance, talking on the phone. no thanks. Now our office is more like a place we can all hang out in leisure to get paid, tell bad jokes, and criticize and insult each other for sport. Shangri-la. Besides if our eyes get tired of seeing only guys we can always pretend the bathroom is out of order and go down to the floor that is full of babes to use theirs.
All white here we joke about it sometimes saying were going to get a discrimination lawsuit. In the last 2 years the only black lady and the only gay guy both got fired.
The chick for being incompetent and lazy, the guy was fired his 1st day. Brought a new partner in and he was his paralegal. Freaked the hell out on our boss, the partner that started the firm and screamed at him because his office was not ready for him.
Lol I tell my boss we can't be sued I have a Mexican grandmother, so that makes me 25% right?
Heck, Elizabeth Warren got away with having a great great great native American grandmother, you could pass as a minority no sweat.
I'll preface all of this by saying I've had the pleasure of working with some (read some) very kind, generous, cordial, professional, talented Indian software engineers. Truly talented engineers who are also pleasant to work with are rare, Indian or otherwise.
Having said that, the most common complaints other colleagues and I had were:
Indian men behaved in an arrogant and condescending way towards female colleagues,.
I do get what you're saying as everyone's opinion is based on their own experiences. The cultural differences experienced when working with some Indian men is offensive and annoying. I am so tired of everyone feeling like they have to be so PC instead of telling the truth as they see it. If everyone said "some ______ people do such and such," maybe people wouldn't be so quick to get offended or make some artificial and insincere comment so they won't get labeled as a "racist." Indian women feel the same way about the behavior of some Indian men and have no problem voicing their opinion just like you did. We have a couple of Indian attorneys at my firm and I refuse to work with them on any case (unless my position depended on it of course) and many others feel the same way. These attorneys cannot keep a secretary, have no manners (rudely interrupting others when they are speaking if teh speaker happens to be a female), constantly eat others lunches out of the refrigerator, always leave their used dishes and napkins on the tables, etc. I know all Indian guys aren't like this but enough of them are to make it difficult for some people to want to work with them. Thanks for being honest!
In my experience, Indians give some of the worst hands offs I've ever seen. They literally get all the information, and convey nothing to you. And when you ask them questions, they seems to get annoyed and irritated. Or they don't communicate anything to anyone. They just go about and do stuff, and change things, and really say nothing to anyone. Or if new information comes around, they copy everyone on a distro and say "Hey, have you did such and such", and I'm like "what the F are you talking about?". The they forward an email that I'm not even copied on. How am I suppose to know what the hell you were talking about, when no one communicated to me?
That's the biggest issue, which is make or break for me. I clearly am going to work amongst Indians as long as I'm in IT. So it's something I've tried to get use to. But I find such aloofness, and the "psychic" assumption that things are just understood right off unbearable.
Edit: But I think the company I work with currently doesn't like to hand off any information. For example this one guy is constantly on calls with this new technology being introduced in our app. I've volunteered to take the load for him several times, and just asked for him to give me a good handoff and direct me to info. Seems like he's perfectly content just complaining that he's stuck with this application, instead of training up a secondary SME, or directing anyone to resources. I've noticed where I am now, there tends to be a lot of that going on.
In my experience, Indians give some of the worst hands offs I've ever seen. They literally get all the information, and convey nothing to you. And when you ask them questions, they seems to get annoyed and irritated. Or they don't communicate anything to anyone. They just go about and do stuff, and change things, and really say nothing to anyone. Or if new information comes around, they copy everyone on a distro and say "Hey, have you did such and such", and I'm like "what the F are you talking about?". The they forward an email that I'm not even copied on. How am I suppose to know what the hell you were talking about, when no one communicated to me?
That's the biggest issue, which is make or break for me. I clearly am going to work amongst Indians as long as I'm in IT. So it's something I've tried to get use to. But I find such aloofness, and the "psychic" assumption that things are just understood right off unbearable.
Edit: But I think the company I work with currently doesn't like to hand off any information. For example this one guy is constantly on calls with this new technology being introduced in our app. I've volunteered to take the load for him several times, and just asked for him to give me a good handoff and direct me to info. Seems like he's perfectly content just complaining that he's stuck with this application, instead of training up a secondary SME, or directing anyone to resources. I've noticed where I am now, there tends to be a lot of that going on.
It's not just your company's culture; I've found Indians in general to be very lacking in good communication skills that have nothing to do with language barriers and everything to do with common sense and common courtesy. It may be a cultural thing with them, but they need to realize that they're here now, and we do business differently.
The best jobs I have had, have been very diverse. I worked in two offices where I was the only black person and black woman and I HATED it. It can be very isolating, especially if your co-workers are ignorant. One of the white supervisors said he felt for me, because he knew some of the white people I worked with were total racist jerks. I remember when I started working there one of the secretaries said I really stand out because they don't get to many black people there!
After I left this job I worked for another office where there were slightly more blacks than whites and we had one Asian guy and a few Hispanics and I honestly loved it. It was so much fun. There was just a great mix of people in the office, no ignorance and I think the diversity just made people more open. We also had a cultural food day and it is just wonderful to work with people who really respect people regardless of race.
My previous employment was about 50-60% Indian. The rest black or white. No east Asians though, which I thought was kinda weird, considering how close the building was to the local Korean and Japanese community. Lots of former Soviet state employees too. Had a blast there, really. (And fell in love with a lot of yummy ethnic foods )
My last job was 90% white. The one I have now is a mix. We have a couple of American-born blacks and a couple of blacks who were born in Africa. We also have a couple of hispanics. I will say that the African immigrants I work with are much friendlier and seem to be very comfortable around whites. I am on very good terms with them. The same cannot be said for the American-born blacks I work with. They keep to themselves for the most part and seem to have a disdain for whites, especially the white males. Personally, I like working with people who look like me. It is a more comfortable environment. I know it's not PC of me to say that, but to be frank I don't care.
Just because someone "looks like me" doesn't mean we have anything in common or sets the stage for a less contentious environment. Please believe me on that one.
I'm employed in a diverse workplace with a decent mix of people from around the world and have fostered both personal friendships and excellent working relationships as a result.
As long as we respect one another and get the job done, at the end of the day that's all that matters. On payday, as long as the money is green, then we're good.
Last edited by Gil3; 10-24-2012 at 03:26 PM..
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