At the bottom of the food chain

Work these days somewhat reminds me of Shark’s Tale, that cartoon where a whale-cleaner fish befriended a vegetarian shark.

It’s tough enough being at the bottom of the food chain. It’s another thing when the top of the food chain expects you to liaise directly with those just one notch below the vegetarian shark, who is too busy with his own stuff.

But after a while, I’ve kind of accepted that “being hated by demanding things from people I should not be ordering around” is part of my job scope. And it’s quite an experience, really. So I’m not complaining.

What is most frustrating though, is the cultural differences when working with people from different places. All the Hofstede cultural dimension bullshit does actually seem pretty accurate. The Japanese never ask questions and don’t tell you the problems they face until you stare them in the face and dig it out of their throats. Plus they’ll always refer you to their boss. All of which I find pretty worrying sometimes because that strong sense of hierarchy should mean that I’m probably already stepping on toes by demanding outside of what I rightfully can, and they’re not going to tell me about it.

Well, I’m only an intern. So it’s not that bad, I’ll just experience this company’s culture as it is, and try my best to contribute (or at least, not cause too much damage). Working with people from different cultures is really something everyone ought to try out. The world is not as globalized as I thought.