Work Ethics

Today is a big day. It's the last day of work for me before I head off on summer holidays. It's been a while coming and I fully intend to enjoy every lousy moment of it. The holidays, that is, not the few remain hours before. The other big event is that today is the last day at work for one of my co-workers. I'm using the term "work" very loosely here as I have struggled to make his time here fit into the definition criteria for the word. I know more than most how hard it is to start out again in a new country where no one knows anything about your professional background and, even if they did, it carries very litle weight in your new country. Anyone who doesn't understand that concept must be living in a bubble. I understand all that. But what I can't sympathise with is how a person can arrive into a new country, spend the best part of 2 years there, and never make one attempt to adapt to a different culture with different attitudes and expectations. That's tough to forgive. It's one thing not to know stuff, it's another matter entirely simply not to try. It not only makes for a miserable existance for the person concerned, it also drags down the morale of the people around them. I could see that the people around me were getting increasingly pissed off with this free loader. Office doors were being closed when they had always been open. At the same time I got the feeling that no one wanted to say anything about it to me, as I was also an immgrant from the same region and maybe I would take offense. To I took it upon myself to address the issue with the group, to let them know that not all immigrants had the same corrosive attitude. It was obvious early on that this person had only come to Sweden in order to abuse the social support systems which are so generously provided by Sweden. As so as those were exhausted, he and his family would be straight back to the country they came from. And that is exactly how it has turned out. Maybe it was a generational thing, I don't know. I do know that it wasn't a cultural issue as I know that his work attitude displayed in Sweden would not have been tolerated back in his country of origin. No, it was straight out abuse of a country while giving nothing back in return. That stinks. From today we will be one body less on our team, but I can guarantee that we will be one body more effective as a result. No longer having to concern ourselves with carrying another person who had no interest in contributing is going to be a huge weight off our shoulders. I can't wait to come back to a positive fresh environment again.