Return of the culture shock
May. 13th, 2004 10:39 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ninevirtuesWhen we last left our heroine, I had experienced mild culture shock because bird songs (the everyday background wild creature noise you hear and don't pay much attention to) was different.... both because the birds are different species and because the birds that are the same species speak with an accent here.
Well, culture shock has returned. Specifically, I finally figured out that the hip, postmodernist Gen-X ironic sensibility that plays great in the Silicon Valley gets blank stares here.
Example: In the Silicon Valley, I can say, "Oh yeah, I'm a Gen X slacker-- suuuuure," and roll my eyes at my GenX co-worker as we return to our sixty-hour-a-week software jobs. The ironic humor there is clear. My co-worker gets it, and thinks I'm funny. Here, though, I get met with blank stares. Phrases like "Real soon now," (Translation: Never) and "It's a feature" (Translation: It's a software bug) and "We believe in work-life balance" (Translation: Eighty hours a week for months, followed by three days of comp time) have no equivalents.
It could be the geography (West coast Vs. East coast). It could be the degree of urbanization. It could be the generation (I'm mostly dealing with twenty-somethings). It could be that my profession has helping others as its primary aim. I don't really know yet.
Well, culture shock has returned. Specifically, I finally figured out that the hip, postmodernist Gen-X ironic sensibility that plays great in the Silicon Valley gets blank stares here.
Example: In the Silicon Valley, I can say, "Oh yeah, I'm a Gen X slacker-- suuuuure," and roll my eyes at my GenX co-worker as we return to our sixty-hour-a-week software jobs. The ironic humor there is clear. My co-worker gets it, and thinks I'm funny. Here, though, I get met with blank stares. Phrases like "Real soon now," (Translation: Never) and "It's a feature" (Translation: It's a software bug) and "We believe in work-life balance" (Translation: Eighty hours a week for months, followed by three days of comp time) have no equivalents.
It could be the geography (West coast Vs. East coast). It could be the degree of urbanization. It could be the generation (I'm mostly dealing with twenty-somethings). It could be that my profession has helping others as its primary aim. I don't really know yet.
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Date: 2004-05-13 10:39 am (UTC)Hmmm...
Date: 2004-05-13 02:32 pm (UTC)Most of these people came here straight from their undergrad, so they have not worked fulltime yet. Hmm, could be the lack of common reference points. I'll think about that. Thanks!