Hi friends,

The following rules should help and I am very serious:

Rule 1:

Always enter your work place with a cup of Tim Hortins coffee in your hand. And always be prepared to discuss how caferine is going to improve your performance at the work place. This is because canadians believe that those who dont carry a coffee cup to work are considered not working properly. If you dont like Tim Hortins, an empty cup will do. The intention is to create an impression that you love coffee.


Rule 2

Before you learn anything related to your own profession, learn how to play hockey. This wil help you improve your chances of networking within your organisation and make new friends. Make it a point to watch a hockey game and take a note of the statistics, like who played and who didnt . Make sure that you discuss this with your co-workers next morning. Believe me, this can take you places..and not your work skills


Rule 3

Learn canadian slags like eeh..and use it. Dont underestimate their value

Rule 4

Always watch morning weather forecast and be prepared to discuss it. Always mention how wonderful the days is or how bad the day is. If it is sunny, talk about how wonderful you feel in that nice day. even if you dont really care. If it is cold, always make sure that you mention everywhere.

Rule 5

Make sure that you know of the driving conditions even if you dont drive. For eg, if your boss lives in the eastern part of the city and commutes to west, watch the TV and learn the conditions of west bound 401 everyday and go to your boss every day morning to talk about the driving condition. Tell you boss how good(bad) the drive was and things like if he getting bored while driving.


Rule 6

Always wish people..good morning..good afternoon..good evening..etc. Make sure you know about the health conditions of others and their family before you talk business

Rule 7

When you get time, go to a canadian restaurent and make sure that you know what they have on menu and whether you can eat them or not. The reason is the fact that most of the office parties are held at restaurents and if you dont know what is on the menu, you will end up ordering some crazy stuff and become crazy. Know what you are ordering before hand.


Rule 8

Always decorate your work place with the pictures of your wife, kids etc, even if you think that going to work is like an escape from your wife.


Rule 9

Never bring any indian food for lunch. Always bring sand witches and be prepared to discuss about the nutritional values of sandwitch, calaries and stuff like that


Rule 10

For men, think twice before you decide to keep your moustache.


Good luck...


Gaon ki Gori

....Phir Bhi Dil Hei Hindustani...

Absolutely right. This is what forms a large part of 'Canadian Experience'. This is what will be called smart work - and coupled with hard work it can get you places!

But the last commandment - oh no.....I tried it and I could not recognise myself in the mirror! I instead use it to my advantage with the 'tough looking guys' who usually have one too!

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Chandresh

Advice is free – lessons I charge for!!

Good commandments!

They are matching excately what is going on here. One should take it seriously.

I am following most of them except Hockey and the food one. It includes last one

Chandresh try it!

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A Proud Indian Canadian

These 10 commandments are funny!! and true too so certain extent. It is just the same in the US.... but word of caution tho

The \"one and only\" key to success is performing better than the rest. Everything else is secondary.

When it comes to downsizing the upper management looks at results and not how \"local\" the person is. I have experienced it first hand. when it comes to looking like a local guy i am a total misfit. Even at my performance reviews I was told to start becoming more personable with american culture. While I am veryf riendly with everyone at work, i have been reluctant to americanize .... i was called Sam by all I politely insisted on being called Samir. I was pretty sure I was getting ready for the boot. In NFL season I'd pickup topics like how football is not football and soccer is real football, something which would enrage NFL fan. My boss is a football freak. and so on and on.... but one thing i always made sure is to deliver better results than my counterparts and to gain more subject knowledge than the rest. It saved my day.
During downsizing, I was spared , thankGod, but sadly many longtime \"locals\" were let go. And the only reason I think i was spared was because my projects made more earnings than the rest for the year.

It is good to mixup with the local culture but I feel one should not giveup on ones own likes and dislikes to the extent that one is considered a \"chamcha\".

One thing tho...the power of krispy kreme donuts in resolving conflicts at work is immense. It is the most powerful conflict resolution tool for management which is not in textbooks yet!.
Try it ...it works wonders.

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What can be imagined, can be achieved.

MI,

It is good to have control about the work you are doing - but you need to be given enough time to prove it.

The above things are quite handy to get entry in to the system. Once you are there than those things doesn't count much.

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A Proud Indian Canadian

Garvo,
You are right. I am not recommending anyone to take my approach. While i was able to rideout the downsizing, i do feel i have hurt myself by my attitude as even after 3 years in the firm i still standout in the crowd.

These commandments are very good examples for anyone trying melt into the local culture, although reluctanly, i have also started "americanizing" my behaviour just so that i dont become the odd man out anymore.

But I'll still say soccer is real football

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What can be imagined, can be achieved.

I believe Performance counts a lot !
Another thing, it matter what kind of job you are in, if it is sales and marketing, the ten points will make wonders, however, if you are a professional, it doesn't matter. Results matter much more. I think we have to perform 150% as compared to others so we match their 95% performance.

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Sunil Sharma, P.Eng.