What Do You Think Today?

[michaelm]

The thing around here that really disgusts me is people who chew tobacco who open their car doors and spit out this disgusting mess either onto the road or sometimes onto the side of other people's cars.

While the south of the US supposedly has "southern hospitality" and people being polite, the reality is very different.

While drivers everywhere can be rude and arrogant, I've never experience such dangerous driving as here where people deliberately try to block people from changing lanes, or race to merge in front of the person in front where 2 lanes go into 1, or tailgate really close if someone isn't going fast enough for them, or not check blind spots or signal before changing lanes (the reason I had my bumper ripped off by a dump truck a month ago).

There's also a huge amount of two-faced people here. I'm amazed at how many people will be nice to someone's face yet bitch about them and criticize just about every aspect of their life once they're no long within earshot.

I go back to the UK once in a while, and to be honest I don't find things are much different expect for the fact that it's much safer to drive there.

[Hashi Lebwohl]

The idea of "Southern hospitality" is an enduring cultural meme which, as you have discovered, typically no longer applies, especially when people get behind the wheel of an automobile. Similar to the way in which people express themselves most truthfully while on the Internet--sometimes, when they are not filtering themselves--many people express their true nature when driving because of its relative anonymity.

Talking about people behind their backs (a curious phrase but you know what I mean) is actually par for the course in the South. I don't engage in narcissism or paranoia, thinking that other people spend their time discussing me, but I am not so naive that I think they don't trash-talk me when I am not here. I do not engage in such behavior but not because I am too polite or I am just a nice guy but because I don't care about my fellow human beings enough to waste my time talking about them when they aren't around.

[aliantha]

I've never experience such dangerous driving as here where people deliberately try to block people from changing lanes, or race to merge in front of the person in front where 2 lanes go into 1, or tailgate really close if someone isn't going fast enough for them, or not check blind spots or signal before changing lanes (the reason I had my bumper ripped off by a dump truck a month ago).

I thought that was just in DC....

My operating theory for the drivers blocking the lane-changers is that it's an ego thing: "Lemme pull up so you can get in behind me. That way, I'll still be first." Never mind that the guy behind him has no intention of letting you in, either. This is why I've developed the (admittedly bad and dangerous) habit of *not* signaling when I want to change lanes. When I see an opening, I go for it. That way, the jerks can't cut me off.

[peter]

I understood that on these multi-lane freeways [is that what they're called] in the USA, people would always go out of their way to hang back so as to let someone who had inadvertantly gotten into the wrong lane correct their mistake; is that not the case .

[michaelm]

I understood that on these multi-lane freeways [is that what they're called] in the USA, people would always go out of their way to hang back so as to let someone who had inadvertantly gotten into the wrong lane correct their mistake; is that not the case .

It depends where you are. I think US drivers are generally worse than European drivers (the test is much less demanding for a start), but in the south they are just terrible and on top of that they do all the things I listed.

Often people argue a north vs. south thing and blame each other for the bad driving in the south. People in the south argue that people from the north drive there and cause accidents; people from the north argue that people in the south are just bad drivers anyway. I am neutral - I wasn't born in this country, so I don't have a side to take - but IMO drivers in the south are just very rude and aggressive in addition to being bad drivers, which is why there are so many accidents here. Not only that, the rate of accidents is just as bad in parts of the south where there is not migration from the north.

Having said that, outside of the cities and the south east in general people can be pretty good at letting you in. When I drove in the UK I thought the majority of drivers there were much more well behaved than the south east of the US, and probably on par with my experiences of the rest of the country.

@Ali - I have driven in DC, and I don't think the driving there is worse than here. Typical city driving, but nowhere near as bad as my experiences here.

@Hashi - yes, I realized it was complete bullcrap after being here for a few months and seeing how much hatred and segregation there is here. The racism is still pretty rampant when you get into a room full of good old boys and they see your white skin; the murder rate and violent crime rate in southern cities is ridiculously high; there really are these enclaves of privileged people who vilify the poor for asking for help - I could go on.

I really didn't see anywhere near as much of any of this living in New England and can't help but wonder why reality is opposite to the stereotypical image each part of the country has to the other. If I could move back to somewhere in New England I'd do it in a heartbeat, but I know my wife won't go.

[Avatar]

I've always found the Brits to be very conscious of (and obedient to) the rules of the road myself.

You should see what it's like here. We have one of the highest per capita road deaths in the world as far as I know.

--A

[Orlion]

It's a mix bag here in Ohio. Really, the worst are those semi drivers around the big cities, and the worst of those are Pepsi trucks!

[michaelm]

I've always found the Brits to be very conscious of (and obedient to) the rules of the road myself.

You should see what it's like here. We have one of the highest per capita road deaths in the world as far as I know.

--A

I just looked it up - the UK is actually the 10th safest, and the US has a per capita death rate about 3 times higher. You're definitely right about South Africa - 7th worst in the world.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-related_death_rate

(I sorted by 'Road fatalities per 100,000 inhabitants per year' to get the ranking)

[Avatar]

And that number may be low. Sources differ for some reason, but could be as high as 14,000 people a year out of a population of 50 odd million.

--A

[peter]

Bought a 4.5 lb leg of New Zealand lamb in Tesco's yesterday for £8.65. How can you possibly grow a lamb to killing weight, process it, ship it half-way round the world, sell it for that figure and turn a profit. Someone somewhere has to be loosing money big time - the numbers just don't stack up.

[michaelm]

Could it be that it's their "loss leader" right now? (Does anyone still use that phrase?)

[peter]

I think it has to be something like that michaelm. There's a pretty savage war between the rival supermarkets at the moment with Tesco's taking some pretty heavy flak from the cheaper competition. The shopper benefits briefly, but in the long run we still foot the bill at the end

Meanwhile.....


The Daily Telegraph today runs a headline story that in a letter, the '100 Top Business Leaders Back the Tories' in the forthcoming general election. Well, to paraphrase the famous words of Miss Keeler 'they would wouldn't they' - any other way would be like turkeys voting for Christmas! There is no suprise that the Telegraph, a tory organ if ever there was one, should run a [non]story like this, but more annoying, I find, is the fact that the BBC - a supposedly neutral observer - should give this nonsense oxygen by according it the prime spot on it's lunch-time headlines. So much for their much trumped impartiality in all matters political!

Who do these arrogant assholes think they are anyway.......so what what they think!

[Glances upwards and notices the title of the thread! ]

[peter]

Here's a story about what 'outscourcing' actually means to the services it is applied to.

For 30 years my wife has been a cleaner in our local hospital. Here's how the floors are done. The laminate flooring, which daily is sublected to the feet and wheels of numerous people, trollys, gurneys etc naturally is the place where cleaning has to start. Daily, my wife and her mates sweep and mop these floors cleaning as much of the dust and grime as they can. Weelky the floors are repolished and buffed using large industrial polishers; monthly the floors are given a deeper clean using scrubbing machines and six monthly the floors are subjected to a full deep-clean which involves stripping of the layers of polish back to the laminate surface and then re-polishing and buffing the deep-cleaned surface. In this way the accumulated grime and rubber markings are removed and the floors are kept as hygenically clean as possible for such a high volume usage environment. It goes without saying that cleanliness down at this level is critical to controll of disease spread etc at every level above it.

Since the hospital cleaning services were outscourced to a private concern some six monthe ago, the following has occured. The six-monthly deep clean that was due some three months ago has not been carried out. Neither the workers nor the machines for carrying out this essential job are to be found in the hospital anymore; most have ben laid off or left via natural wastage and not replaced. Workers have been drafted in by the out scourced company to buff and polish the floors, but as a result of not knowing how to opperate the cleaning machines and the fact that they are applying polish to dirty flooring, the resultant level of cleaning is the worst my wife has experienced in thirty years. The floors are visibly filthy with polished in dirt and there are no experienced workers or machines now capable of rectifying the situation. Staffing levels have been shaved to the point where cleaning has to be rushed and skimped on in order that the next ward may be cleaned at it's appropriate time. Domestic service staff have been laid off from the wards to the point where the nurses are now responsible for making the patient beds rather than performing their normal nursing duties. In short, the standards of the hospital have gone into free-fall.

In six months [or whenever] time there will be a scandle in the press [local or otherwise] about the 'disgracefull state' of the hospital, and the cleaning staff will be held up to pilory by public oppinion. It will be used as yet more evidence that the NHS is a disgrace and would best be served by yet more privitisation and hiving off to the private sector. I'll let you know when it happens!

[aliantha]

That's how it's done, isn't it? Cut the budget (or price of the contract) 'til there's not enough money left to do the job properly, and then complain the job isn't being done properly and cut the budget even more...

[Avatar]

I think this thread used to be called something else.

Also, I think you could pre-empt the scandal by complaining to the local press that budget cuts have resulted in lowered standards of cleanliness at the hospital.

--A

[peter]

You got it Ali - but we're not supposed to think like this you know.....

Yes Av - I think it did!

re The pre-empting idea; it's good, but there is much fear abroad in this particular place at present [re loosing tour job if you become too 'vocal' about what you see]. Following the last local press 'revelations' about what was happening all staff were sent a letter saying that under the terms of their employment, speaking to the media about issues that were the concern of their employers was forbidden and would be addresed with serious disciplinary action against transgressors. Given the current employment situation here, the clever money is to 'put up and shut up'.

[Avatar]

Anonymously? I mean, it shouldn't be too hard for people coming in to poke around to see if it's that bad?

--A

[peter]

In fairness Av, I think the press are already all over it. The monthly assesment results for Feburary were reported in the local news the other day showing a 'significant' failure at nearly 60% of areas inspected. The problem is that this will not be seen as a failure of too much privitisation by the time it is reported nationally, but of not enough!

[Avatar]

Perception is everything.

--A

[peter]

Very saddened by the eathquake in Nepal. A devastating event in a country who's stoic and kind people have a particular bond with the UK in the form of the Ghurka Regiments that have been a part of the British Army for generations.

To open the paper yesterday and see the devastation that was once the Dhurbar square [where I had been fortunate enough to visit], to see the only remaining building of that centuries old peice of living history, was a sorrowfull thing indeed. Pokhara, the center of the quake is close to the Annapurna Round, the trekking heart of Nepal and the effects of this on an already fragile infrastructure cannot be underestimated. You are in my thoughts; your strength will serve you well in your time of need.