I better mind my Ps and Qs, and especially my Fs

Just when I wanted to reduce my hours at work, I’ve been put on several big cross country projects. Grrr! Although I shan’t complain too loudly, I secretly love being busy. Plus I get to do these projects from home in the comfort of my PJs and sheepskin slippers. 

As you might know, I do comms for a division of IBM (who by the way, have nothing to do with this blog and whose opinions, views and thoughts are in no way reflective of mine and blah blah usual disclaimer stuff*). Now, on the spectrum between extremely staid and like, totally chilled dude, IBM are probably closer to staid than they are to laid back. Which means I’ve had to curb my natural exuberance, potty mouth and toilet humour somewhat when I send out my comms, newsletters etc. But even with my marked restraint, they all think I am totally mad and seem to enjoy my goof ball sense of humour. I think I’ve broken them in. 

Like for example, I sent out a questionnaire thingy for my newsletter to a few people on the sales team. These were some of the questions in the interview:

Which parts of your job gets you excited? (besides the exceptionally exciting possibility of seeing me at the office)

What is the hardest part of your job? (besides having to deal with the disappointment of not seeing me)

If you weren’t doing this, what else would you be doing? (fishing / travelling the world / telling Tertia how gorgeous she is etc)

But this new project is a whole different ballgame. South Africans are one thing; foreigners are a whole other kettle of fish. I know the British and Australian sense of humour (much like ours) and I know the American sense of humour (50% of the people have an excellent sense of humour, the other half are too busy being offended to be amused). But now I am dealing with people like the GERMANS and the SWISS – are they even ALLOWED to have a sense of humour? Zat vas a joke, ja!

I am going to have to think grown up thoughts and do my best to be business like at all times. I guess that means no xxx at the bottom of my emails or risqué innuendos. Goodness, I hope I manage. 

*I got into BIG trouble recently for mentioning IBM and my boobs in the same interview. (The NYT interview) Please note that IBM have nothing to do with my boobs, nor are my boobs reflective of the views, thoughts (proper or otherwise) or opinions of IBM. 

Comments

[Bianca W]

Jeeze you crack me up! Good luck with the new project - sounds daunting - er, I mean, exciting.

[Kim]

I'm living in Germany (but not from there - from NZ) and there seems to be a mixed bunch of people. Some are so serious its not funny whilst others are great and a good laugh. You can never really generalise with people as everyone is different and you'lll get all types everywhere. I guess with the Germans they'll have to understand exactly what you mean (language diffs cultural diffs etc) before they can laugh at it.

[Darkchocolate]

I would love to work from home. You are lucky you managed to pull that off.

I do believe that I am a potential candidate for road range this winter. Capetonians seem to be driving worse than normal in the mornings and its driving me bonkers

[Julie Golden]

I think you would be a BLAST to work with. Nothing makes work a place to look forward to going to more than an office filled with levity, humor and the occasional tasteless practical joke.

I work on the creative end in an ad agency and we have a major global client headquartered in Germany, so I feel your pain in regard to being sensitive to other sensibilities than ours. Sometimes you just have to show some restraint lest a joke be misinterpreted.

[Wyliekat]

Well, if you run into any Canadians, we're easy. If you take half of what Americans find funny and slap another half of what Brits find funny, you'll do just fine.

[Orange]

I have limited exposure to German and Swiss people, but there is that one family at my son's school who have lived in both of those countries. When the school had a reading night for the kids and everyone was encouraged to wear pajamas, that family was horrified—aghast!—that not only did many parents allow their children out of the house in pajamas, but the teachers also wore pajamas. To a professional function! (The American families, on the other hand, enjoyed the pajama party.)

But then there's the German friend-of-a-friend who's a single mom in Hamburg. She's funny and smart and laid-back.

In Chicago, the tourists I've seen wandering around the business district on weekends with architecture maps look German.

So, my advice for you, Tertia: Plenty of respectful jokes about tall buildings, but minimal nightwear-related humor.

[Stefanie]

Well, I'm Swiss, and unfortunately, I don't posses any humor at all. So there you have it, be careful, really really careful!

[Skippy]

I have a gay, English friend who has a Swiss-German boyfriend. The boyfriend's English is much better than my 95% forgotten German, although not much better than functional. He once, however, managed a joke and he was very pleased with it: he said, while ordering dinner at a restaurant, "I do like a nice English sausage".

A single example of northern European humour, to be fair, but it does illustrate that not all Swiss and/or German people are devoid of the ability to appreciate a good solid innuendo.

[Heather]

Tertia, you crack me up! I'm a lot like that at work too. They think I'm a nut case too, but a loveable nut case.

[suzi in Las Vegas]

There's a joke:
In heaven,
The British are the police officers
The Swiss are the administrators
The Germans are the mechanics
The French are the cooks
and the Italians are the lovers

in Hell,
The Germans are the police officers
The Italians are the adminstrators
The French are the mechanics
The British are the cooks
and the Swiss are the lovers.

hee hee

[sheilah]

Hey! I'm offended. No! Wait! I'm amused.

Crap. Being American ain't easy.

[FellowEmployeeOfSaidStaidCompany]

LOL - I am an employee of the same company, but in the US, and I can tell you from experience when I was flown to NYC a few years ago to be on TV that they take a dim view of the mention of their name and the words "donor sperm" in the same sentance as well.

[Yvie]

I agree with you a whole lot about using sense of humour to different races. :D I'm also pretty careful dealing with this, sometimes I am hesitant to use my own dose of humour.

This is a very refreshing entry. :D! *bookmarks your bloggie*

[ac]

having just left the employ of a large swiss company (think three keys), i can attest to the lack of humor possessed by some (most?) swiss businessmen. it was never a fun week when they would come to visit us in the US, yet oddly, they love to drink. it always struck me as so odd, the uptightness except for when it comes to drinking!

[deb]

*lol* i'm totally cracking up now. i'm swiss. i'm funny. lots of people say so. now i've realized that maybe i'm just funny because all the other swiss people aren't??? haha. however, it is true that swiss ple like to dissect their personal life from their business life. so, no funnies at work, i guess. or pj's, seriously... :) other than that, i also know of one swiss comedian that thinks german and swiss humour is very different. germans apparently need their humour to be obvious, while swiss like word-games and subtle jokes. i know lots of swiss enjoy sarcasm, but again, probably not at work.