jimenato

I have absolutely no idea why shops being open on a Sunday would make the slightest difference to people who don't want to go shopping.

Unless of course they are control freaks who think that everyone ought to think as they think and do as they do.

Domino

all the calendars I have got my hands on over the past few years seem to have the saints shown each day, all 365

Domino

or can't plan forward for more than a day at a time

but even out here in the (olive) sticks we have a couple of bread shops that are open for a few hours on Sundays. Although a local bar sells baguettes he makes in his own oven.

Dick Dasterdly

Precisely.

jennieJ

So how do you do that in a Country with a pretty low work ethic over a split day then ?

Are you suggesting some kind of performance related pay ? surely a difficult concept in a place where you are saying basically people can't be arised to turn up in the afternoon a lot of the time ?

Perhaps we will see some of those JFK style 'ask not what your Country can do for you, but what you can do for your Country' posters now unemployment has hit 27% under le crisis

Dick Dasterdly

I can see that going down well.

It seems that the best thing they can do for their country at present, is to leave their country behind and work elsewhere, even if only to improve the Govts jobless figures.

Yes, a bit cynical I know, but it is happening.

cricketman

I've worked in Spain for 6 years now. Spanish people dont have a low work ethic at all. That is little more than British bigotry

But they do value their days off

Domino

are you talking about Spain or the UK - the country where workers are continually taking fag and coffee breaks, more evident now smoking is banned from the workplace that when you turn round to ask a colleague to take a call meant for them and OOPPSS there aren't there.

they are allocated smoking areas but like good British workers just drop their leavings on the floor next to the provided metal bin. they take their coffee cups but leave them on the floor as well, the grounds staining the floor.

they arrive late in the morning - well doesn't everyone know that traffic is bad (but they managed to get in on time). Go shopping at lunchtime knowing full well they can't get back in time - but look at this I got in the sales!!. Leave early because they have to get to the shops. Manage to book a holiday where the flight gets back at 2am so take 2 days off sick to recover.

I could go on but you get the trend...............
(and could probably add a few of your own)

Rosemary

I disagree with you on this. The Spanish people that I know have a very strong work ethic and work very hard. When we had the electrician in to put in new wiring we commented to him about the hours that he put in and the fact that he worked fast and did not stand around looking at the work. His reply was that it was necessary, normal and that if he did not complete his work in the timescale that he did he could not earn sufficient for his family.

As for not turning up in the afternoon this is a myth most of them work from
8 am to 1 or 2 pm then have a long lunch break and begin again at 4 or 5 pm and work until 8 or 9 pm.

Rosemary

jennieJ

Not really as the place I worked for the last 20 years the odd smoker that was left got two ten min (unpaid) 'fag breaks' one in mid-morning and one mid-afternoon, and had to stay till 5.20 instead of leaving at 5 to make up the time.

Not sure the kind of places you worked though. Smoking isn't allowed anywhere inside UK workplaces anymore so I'm not sure how there can be fag ash round bins.

Went in to do some consultancy and the only bins left were split into, 'plastics' 'paper' ' 'general' so full recycling could be complied with. There wasn't one labelled 'dog ends' nor any fag ash to be seen.

Domino

obviously you misread my post

jennieJ

Apologies not 100% today

I get mixed up with who we are talking about sometimes, I am a bit new here also have not needed to work in Spain, due to now knocking on a bit.

Domino

everyone is allowed a little leeway - but you may have noticed NOT on BE-S

Domino

totally agree with you Rosemary.
we have a Ford dealership by us and the guys work 9-2 + 4-9 for 5 days a week and sometimes on a Sat morning, especially during the olive season as it is important to the area that they keep the machinery working, no matter whose badge is on the front.

and they also have the only "proper" spray booth in the area complete with extraction, heat sealing etc so get a lot of insurance work. The quality of the work they do is really good.

its the first place ever that I have seen a puncture repaired on the wheel !

`

pete_l

I think it's necessary to recognise that there is a full spectrum of work ethics in Spain, just like there is in the UK, Germany, America and pretty much everywhere else.

It's been my experience that people who work for themselves generally make the connection between the amount of effort they put in and the amount of money they make. Office workers, shop assistants and a lot of desk-bound individuals, working for "the man" frequently have little incentive (irrespective of the country they live in) to put in much effort, as their pay is not directly connected to how well they do their jobs. Obviously there is sometimes a link between workers' effectiveness en-masse and whether their company survives, but that's a subtlety that is often lost on individuals in big companies.

However it must be said that the countries that have the most economic success tend to be the ones where the employees of large companies achieve more in a day, than similar employees in large companies in other countries. Whether that's down to the individuals' attitudes, the quality of the management, the ease of starting & running and entrepreneurial operation, the investment in skills and equipment or the educational level of the staff is debatable. I expect it's a bit of all of those. Though I can't see how doing a few hours work, then going home and then coming back again for a few hours more is the best way to organise a working day.