I, too work for a French company, but I work in the US. I interact with French, German, English and other nationalities every day. We tend not to speak about our relative wages/work habits/hours/etc., but on the rare occasion that we do, I find the following:
1. My european counterparts (especially the French) have the opinion that we Americans work too much. 2. We Americans (in my experience) tend to think that our european counterparts don't work enough and take too much vacation. :-) I personally find that shutting down the entire country of France in August is a little inconvenient, but so far it has not caused a major upset in the economics of our company... 3. I make a buttload more money than my european counterparts (I've never revealed the exact amount to them, IMHO bad for business, though they tend to have no problem giving out their own info). 4. I pay for health insurance. I have a damn good plan, and I don't pay a lot for it (thank you competetive Washington software job market!), but I do pay. My european counterparts do not have to pay. Now, the one time I've had an argument about the "American dream" vs the "French ideal" was with a woman who kept repeating "You Americans, your God is money! The French live the simple life! your big houses and your cars!" Later that week (I was in France at the time) I had dinner at her house, a 2100 sq ft new construction in a sleepy little berg outside Paris (on the road to Normandy); 3 cars, a Volvo, a Merc (for the husband), and a little scooter-type car for the maid; a maid!; a brand-spanking new BMW motorcycle (apparently hubby was having a bit of a mid-life crisis). I guess the "simple life" has its perks too. :-) -- will "If my life weren't funny, it would just be true; and that would just be unacceptable." - Carrie Fisher ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Purchase from House of Fusion, a Macromedia Authorized Affiliate and support the CF community. http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=34 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:132746 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
