immigrants

[vinty]

An immigrant started work on a building site, some one said to him "if you come to this country you should adapt to the culture and way of life of this country "ok" said the immigrant.
So the next day he didn't come to work til 9 o'clock at half nine he stopped for his tea break, he didn't start work again til half ten, he disappeared to the pub at a quarter to one and didn't come back until 2 o'clock, he then had another tea break and w ent home at a quarter to four to collect his wife, the next day he didn't turn up at at all.
The following day he arrived and charged the client double what he had originally quoted,
Who says immigrants don't want to adapt to our way of life

 

[Space cat]

Many a true word is spoken in jest. Did you see a one-off TV programme called, I think, Bobski the Builder?

It followed the fortunes of two builders, one British and the other Polish as each of them tackled roughly equivalent jobs, namely house extensions. 'Bob' was more expensive but his customers didn't mind because they 'knew they'd be getting a good job' and they didn't trust foreigners. 'Bobski' had to cut his price to the bone to get the job at all - and the customers still complained!

Bobski set off at a cracking rate. Bob rarely bothered to turn up.

To be fair, Bob was unlucky. While digging the foundation trench, he unearthed (no, not literally ) an old power cable and the building inspector insisted that he bridge over it with a steel girder. But Bobski also had problems and had to relocate a manhole cover. Bob charged the customer extra for the girder ; Bobski paid for the manhole himself.

Bobski built a hip-ended pitched roof on his extension. Bob did a flat one - badly.

When the jobs were finished, the programme makers didn't comment on the build quality but anybody could see that Bob's job was shoddy. Rendering was falling off already and the roof wasn't done right. Bobski's only mistake was a central heating pipe that he'd screeded over with insufficient concrete. When the customer managed to crack the screed underfoot, he slagged Bobski off and demanded a reduction. Bob's customers accepted their job as normal.

There was one bit of good news for Bobski: The electrician that he got in was so impressed with Bobski's building work that he got him to do his own extension.

 

[r.bartlett]

I suspect they filmed 20 Bob's and 20 Bobski's and showed the two which fitted their agenda.

The old TV adage "Never overestimate the intelligence of the general public" springs to mind...

Besides do you really think they would be allowed to show the opposite for fear of the 'racist' card being played..?

Having seen many a Eastern block special in West London over the past 10 years, I can safely say they aren't all the jolly artisans willing to do work for nothing.

 

[JohnD]

so a TV prog managed to find one good builder and one bad builder?

Hardly a statistically significant sample. No sense in trying to draw a conclusion from such a silly prog.

Maybe you can reasonably come to the conclusion that you can't judge someone just on where they come from?

 

[Space cat]

I suspect they filmed 20 Bob's and 20 Bobski's and showed the two which fitted their agenda.

Good point.

 

[Mike2007]

so a TV prog managed to find one good builder and one bad builder?

Hardly a statistically significant sample. No sense in trying to draw a conclusion from such a silly prog.

Maybe you can reasonably come to the conclusion that you can't judge someone just on where they come from?

Ditto.
The whole thing is choice. If you don't want to employ someone because they come from the "wrong" place thats up to you. Now if you mention this out loud you might be jailed due to stupid left wing laws.
Some people don't employ people with a Merseyside accent (don't believe you can get arrested for this?) due to prejudice over a stereotype.
Everyone has discrimination in themselves!