[toandfro]

any stories of when people have said these things ? like the time I was told by an Aussie that the Queen of Australia lived in Canberra she only visited England to learn to speak like that !

[Pollyana]

Originally Posted by toandfro any stories of when people have said these things ? like the time I was told by an Aussie that the Queen of Australia lived in Canberra she only visited England to learn to speak like that !

This is a true story from earlier this year -
I remember job interview - not easy trying to get a job here, get an interview and its a pretty big "OMG" moment. They kept me waiting 45 minutes, after asking me to come in first thing cos it suited them better. The panel drifted in from the street door gradually, with the receptionist saying "thats HER, the Pom, sitting over there". Got summoned finally to the interview itself. They then explained that they - represented by a panel of four, in an office the size of a broom cupboard - ran a Union which had a lot of members in the nursing profession and as they had a lot of UK nurses coming over they wanted to sound me out on things they should say to the nurses They asked stuff like "do you have computers in English offices" "do you have paid holidays" and "how to you get all your furniture on the plane when you come here" :scared:

Very obvious there was no job for me there, and they ended by saying "Thanks for coming, we are pleased to have met an English person at last, and we are glad to see that from our talk we have found your resume is honest as we had been told all English people lied when looking for work"

I have never been so stunned after an interview in my life

[Tableland]

Originally Posted by Pollyana "Thanks for coming, we are pleased to have met an English person at last, and we are glad to see that from our talk we have found your resume is honest as we had been told all English people lied when looking for work"

A recent BBC report detailed that 1 in 4 British people lie on their CVs, and a fifth of CVs "contain major lies."

Maybe those guys that interviewed you had read this report on their lunchbreak.

[toandfro]

Originally Posted by Pollyana This is a true story from earlier this year - I remember job interview - not easy trying to get a job here, get an interview and its a pretty big "OMG" moment. They kept me waiting 45 minutes, after asking me to come in first thing cos it suited them better. The panel drifted in from the street door gradually, with the receptionist saying "thats HER, the Pom, sitting over there". Got summoned finally to the interview itself. They then explained that they - represented by a panel of four, in an office the size of a broom cupboard - ran a Union which had a lot of members in the nursing profession and as they had a lot of UK nurses coming over they wanted to sound me out on things they should say to the nurses They asked stuff like "do you have computers in English offices" "do you have paid holidays" and "how to you get all your furniture on the plane when you come here" :scared: Very obvious there was no job for me there, and they ended by saying "Thanks for coming, we are pleased to have met an English person at last, and we are glad to see that from our talk we have found your resume is honest as we had been told all English people lied when looking for work" I have never been so stunned after an interview in my life

That's just amazing ,I hate aussie interviews I'm a fitter I fix things and every time I go for an interview it's phsyc tests aptitude tests gives us an example of when you did this that or the other .one question I was asked was tell us a time when you stopped some one doing some thing dangerous they hadn't seen ? well I deciphered the question to mean prevent someone from walking into a dangerous situation I recounted a story of a snowy day steps iced and stopping a chap from using the exit until the steps were salted "was that in sydeny ?" I was asked
the mind boggles mind you I think your lieing poms just takes the biscuit

[Elvira]

Originally Posted by tableland A recent BBC report detailed that 1 in 4 British people lie on their CVs, and a fifth of CVs "contain major lies." Maybe those guys that interviewed you had read this report on their lunchbreak.

Only a quarter?

I hear in the US it's more like 98%...

[Tableland]

Originally Posted by Elvira Only a quarter? I hear in the US it's more like 98%...

But don't forget the ten year cultural time-lag.

[Craftybanshee]

Originally Posted by Pollyana They asked stuff like "do you have computers in English offices" "do you have paid holidays" and "how to you get all your furniture on the plane when you come here" :scared:

Oooh that made me remember another one. Once, we visited my hubby's great aunt in Vancouver and I was making small talk with her while helping her prepare lunch and was asking about her garborator as I'd not seen one before. She then points to her microwave and asks quite seriously "Do you have these in England yet"? WTF! This was only 3 years ago

[Watt Dabney]

Same here in NZ.

They have a big agricultural show here and we were chatting to our kiwi neighbours about having been and that we had a good day out blah blah. When her young son made some comment about why didn't they go and she said to him "well it will have been an amazing day for these guys, I mean they have probably never seen cows before!"
I think she has visions of the UK being concrete from coast to coast!!!!

[tuftyj]

guy in queensland asks me why i am returning to the land of rain and snow. i ask if he had been to england and he says yes, about eight years ago in january. he says it was freezing, about minus 20. shocked i asked what part of the country he visited that was that cold. his reply...........snowdonia

[Caroline B]

Don't forget the amazing facts about Australia from Australians.
I have been told recently that there is no crime in Queensland and also no traffic jams. and the kids can play outside free from harm in the long evenings. Oh, and no old people in corridors in hospitals. All or none of this could be true but I'm keeping an open mind.
Someone told me there was no daylight saving in QLD but I reckon theyre just having me on......

BTW is it true that the banana crisis is over, but there is a huge shortage of people to pick bananas, so theres still a banana problem? I do love my bananas.

[denver]

Originally Posted by Elvira Not to mention Rolf Harris, Clive James and Germaine Greer I wonder what drove them away from Paradise?

You are most welcome to Germaine Greer!!

[HiddenPaw]

Originally Posted by denver You are most welcome to Germaine Greer!!

She's a very intelligent and astute woman. I'm not surprised you don't like her, because she's not afraid to speak her mind about what's wrong with Australia. Still, if you put your hands over your ears and shout la-la-la at the top of your voice, you can pretend she doesn't exist.

[HiddenPaw]

Back on topic...

When I was in Coober Pedy, we climbed to the top of a big hill, where we had a 360 degree panorama of total flatness, and an Aussie guy says to us "look, you can see the whole of Australia". My husband laughed politely and the guy, totally deadpan, says "no seriously, you can see the WHOLE of Australia". Er, right.....

[LouiseD]

What about the one that there are no drugs in Perth (as reported by Denver).

[LouiseD]

Originally Posted by FPM If you've been to London you've seen England.

This has always been my favourite. I'm really fed up now of people here asking me which part of London I'm from