USA
Being busy makes you look good
It’s the latest status symbol according to US business schools.
Bragging about your success by showing how much you can afford to relax doesn’t cut it anymore. You have to demonstrate “conspicuous consumption of time” to show how important you are.
Asking people to rate others’ status by reading Facebook accounts the researchers found that those people who said how busy they were rated higher than people leading a life of luxury. They were also considered more respectable.
The same results were found when people were asked to rate a fictitious person who worked either less than 7 hours a day or more than ten. The hard-working version was rated higher on social standing.
So forget showing off your designer clothes and accessories. People don’t rate them any more particularly as they have become more affordable.
A note of caution: these results only seem to apply to the US. In the Italian version Giovanni was rated higher when he did less work. What does that tell you about the differences in work ethic?
Culture of aspiration ………….and a culture of dependency, the difference between USA and UK
The other evening I was watching a Jamie Oliver programme about his road trip to America which he made a few years ago. In this particular episode he was in New York and set out to find out about the different kinds of food in the city with particular reference to immigrant communities and the food traditions they had brought with them.
In one section of the programme he met a man from Honduras who had come to America as an illegal immigrant but when an amnesty was offered to illegal immigrants in 1986 he applied and obtained American citizenship. Since then he has worked as a driver during the day and every evening cooks meals for over eighty homeless people (mainly from South America and usually illegals) which he then delivers in a van to the homeless people.
What seemed evident from this man was that he had gone…
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Hotel chain fined in USA for jamming guests’ wi-fi
At last someone has taken issue with the exorbitant prices hotels try to charge you for using their wi-fi.
Federal regulators in the US have fined Hilton hotels $25,000 for obstructing an investigation into allegations that one of its hotels in California blocked guests’ personal hotspots unless they paid the hotel $500.
The Federal Communications Commission has warned the hotel chain, which includes Hilton, Conrad, Double Tree, Embassy Suites and Waldorf Astoria hotels, that it could face significantly higher fines for any continued obstruction or delay (the hotel had ignored the FCC’s request for information about its wi-fi policy for a year. It is illegal to block wi-fi under America’s Communication Act).
A Hilton spokesperson denied that the hotel had blocked wi-fi to collect a fee but couldn’t say if it had done it for any other reason. Charging for wi-fi has become the most prevalent additional or upcharge in hotels in recent years, particularly business class ones, as the use of mobile technology has reduced the ability to charge for phone calls and entertainment services. (They offer it free in low-cost hotels as an incentive to stay so it can be done).
Last year the FCC fined Marriott hotels $600,000 for wi-fi blocking. (The hotel protested that conference attendees could launch a cyber-attack on its network!)
They also made an IT services provider pay a $708,000 charge for blocking wi-fi at a convention centre which had been charging over $1,000 at each event for wi-fi services.
I wish we would take similar action in the UK. I’m sick of hotels here charging for wi-fi when I can go to little Lithuania and enjoy free wi-fi in their hotels in the capital.
No country for grey-haired men
In America it seems more and more men are seeking hair colouring since the recession.
Men of a certain age are trying to retain just enough grey hair to look distinguished but not so much that they look over the hill in the job stakes.
Over the last 10 years the number of men colouring their hair has doubled to 6% overall but risen to 10% for the over 50s. Sales of DIY hair colouring have risen by the same amount.
First impressions are obviously important in the job search process and employers may have stereotyped ideas about whether older candidates are still up to the job
And dyeing your hair is a cheaper option than having Botox and without the downside.
Updated 28 February 2011: The news from France is that part of the planning to reduce the 9.3% unemployment rate is to offer free hairdos, manicures and makeovers to female job seekers.
Action Relooking is an initiative open to a dozen women every month from the 1.5 M who have been out of work for more than a year. OK it would take over 10,000 years to clear the backlog but it’s a start.
Pole Emploi, the national employment agency, has been accused of sexism by feminist groups because it hasn’t offered the same service to men. In the politically correct UK of course it would never have got off the ground in the first place unless men were offered the same treatment.
The French Prime Minister’s wife is backing the scheme and those who have been the lucky recipients say it has boosted their morale in difficult times and given them confidence when they attend interviews knowing that first impressions are important.
Others are less convinced. A union activist said it was a “get pretty and go to work philosophy” and feminist websites are saying that makeup and fashionable clothes will only be good for bosses who are predominantly male.
Biz Psycho 