As the days pass, it becomes quite clear to me that there is an 'alternative approach' to working practices in North America, with a particular focus on Canada (French and English).
If you do not want to do something, you do not say "I will not do that". You just don't do it.
If you are asked to do something you have no intention of doing, you will say "I will do that" (but you will not do it).
If you ask someone if they agree with you or not, and they do not agree with you, they will say "I agree with you" anyway.
If someone thinks something is a bad idea, they will not say "I do not think that is a good idea". Nor will they say, "I think it is an interesting idea, but have you thought about xyz*?". They will also not say, "That is a bad idea". They will instead say, "Do you think that is a good idea?".
When someone says or does something stupid, no-one says anything; they just look at the floor.
If someone is cross about something they will write a tight email. They will not talk to you with their mouths directly looking at you in the face; nor will they telephone you up. They will press 'send' and then run away very quickly.
If someone has an 'issue' with you, they will not say for e.g.: "You know I think we should talk, I think there may be some misunderstandings between us", or "I think we should talk because I am not sure we are getting on very well", or "I think you are being a bit unfair can we talk about it please?".
They will just sit in their office sulking and/or crying for up to and including four days until you say, "What is the matter you seem to be out of sorts!", and then they will say OH NOW YOU NOTICE and then you will find out that on a Tuesday 3 weeks ago you may or may not have said something that may or may not have been absolutely 100% correct.
If there is something to be done e.g. a project and or task involving many people, 'the buck' will be passed until someone says, "Who is leading this project please?" at which point everyone will look at the floor and another 5 days are wasted.
I believe this strange type of behaviour is called ' being passive aggressive', and it is quite the most appalling thing to have to deal with every day, particularly if you are of the English "Come on chaps let's get to it!" school of management. I hear on the 'grapevine' that it is EVEN WORSE in America (i.e., the bit of North America that is not Canada). I find this notion barely credible!!!
* e.g. if you do this someone will die/we will be arrested/it isn't want the client wants at all not in one million years
P.S. what the shit is going on with my formatting? My lines are all awry and too close together, from what I can see on my "Macintosh Computer", and the font is sometimes big and sometimes small. Ghastly.
