Learn how to stand in queue: New immigrants to be told in UK
SOURCE: Times of India
DATE: Feb 5th, 2008
I would think the lesson should be how not to break a queue rather than learning to stand in queue. The Indian service industry has made people very comfortable with how to stand in long lines for lousy services!!
I remember reading a couple of the Xenophobe guides (LINK) but treat those as light reading and not your authoratative study guides to a country. There are wonderful things within each country and providing a generalistic view on a country creates uneeded stereotypes specially when you are working globally. So experience the joys and pains of a country on your own!
Extracts from the Xenophobe guide books:
Xenophobe guide to English
Never overstep the mark
Moderation – a treasured ideal – means a lot to the English. Their respect for it is reflected in their shared dislike of any person who ‘goes too far’.
Irrational rationality
The English can admire something without enjoying it, or enjoy something they suspect is fundamentally reprehensible. You can never be sure which stance they are going to take – the reassuringly reasonable, or the wildly irrational.
I’m fine, really
Stoicism, the capacity to greet life’s vicissitudes with cheerful calm, is an essential ingredient of Englishness.
Push-me, pull-you
Two equally fundamental but contradictory English characteristics are a love of continuity and a yearning for change. In the English character these two opposite desires vie with each other constantly, which produces some curious behaviour patterns and several characteristics most usually observed in the classic split personality.
ARTICLE
Britain is planning to come up with an etiquette guideline for new immigrants, who will be told not to spit in the streets, grope women, or litter and learn how to stand in queues. Communities Secretary Hazel Blears said immigrants should be given information packs explaining British customs and containing advice on social rules such as “not littering, not spitting and queuing in shops”, media reports said. Immigrants would also be advised not to touch people without permission or play loud music.
The government’s plans — which are being published for consultation — is an effort to avoid community tensions and help newcomers integrate. Blears said Britain had a proud tradition of welcoming new arrivals to the UK, and “it is only right that we expect migrants to play by our rules. In return we have a role in explaining just what those rules are.” “Information packs are a way of getting that info across - providing a rough guide to the country, the county and the city and helping to ensure that new arrivals avoid doing or saying things that might upset local settled communities or getting into trouble with the law,” she said. While making the ‘welcome packs’, local authorities are being told to include details such as how to access local provision like English language classes, waste and recycling services and employment services; practical information on rights and responsibilities including national laws and rules around paying taxes.
No relate
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