I would have to agree. And it transcends any local- / foreigner- thing. Everyone's affected, here and anywhere else I've been speaking with people. Across regions, across industries.
road.not.taken wrote: It's not just here, anxiety levels are high everywhere -- people are worried and just plain scared.
A former colleague and Very Big Guy in the company I (still) work at told me last year that things were getting ugly, and when they do, people start getting nasty out of self-protection. That was almost a year ago, and look where things went since then. He was spot on. It's Corporate McCarthy-ism.
I see it in everything, everywhere. And it gets passed on to everyone - to taxi drivers, from them to their customers, etc.
And I'd have to agree with a later posting you made - when you're a foreigner posted outside your home country, you have the added stress of having that much less of a backup, and this is compounded when you see others around you losing their jobs left and right. You may have to leave, and quickly, and may not actually have a place to go. And wherever you go, it will be very costly to move.
And it's not like other downturns, where you can just go find another job - they are not out there, you are now in competition with a lot more people in the same situation, and some industries will never come back to where they were.
It means very potentially having to reinvent yourself at the tail-end of your career. Which is difficult anytime, harder in a country like this which discriminates against age (not only do you amazingly have to state your race, but your age, on CVs and job applications, something considered illegal where I'm from and I stand by that). It means you are likely to be out of work for a year.
Anyway, addadude covered this pretty well, I'm supporting that.
I thought the level in this forum was higher than having to yet again see a repeat of the common fallacy that all foreigners are 'expats', i.e. schools and other expense are paid for, etc. Anyone who thinks this is seriously deluded, displaying this is pure ignorance.
Most of us get nothing from the company, re a later comment on 'perks'. There are less and less of these people in companies like mine everyday, and there are already very few of them. And some who are those 'expats' actually deserve it - they are damn good at what they do and they are needed here or any other place the company decides to post them where they do. Of course not all of those 'expats' are worth their salt.
Just like while it makes sense to be disgusted at the high-paid execs at companies like AIG, it does not to condemn anyone working at banks (for example) because the vast majority of those people are neither rich nor greedy - they're just people at jobs that exist in any industry.
And in some of these industries, these foreigners work damn hard, and have long hours, and no job security. And if you're from the US, you get double-taxed - think about that for a moment and realize the serious financial implication.
But...that Angry Board-esc deluded "Rich Evil Expat" and ensuing schadenfreude mentality was willingly demonstrated here.
.......
Actually, having said that, just seeing this thread today and having only now read it from start to finish, it's pretty obvious to see how it started out with integrity but went right into one person's weird proclivity to bait others into worthless catty arguments. But I also see that there were those who rose above that and it's back on track. Probably due to the quiet of one having her foot in her mouth again, and taking the high road to sit this one out.
So Dave, I think your heart is in the right place, if we start loosing what we have at least we shouldn't loose our humanity towards the people around us, wherever we are.
I was traveling and would have chimed in earlier, but hey, what would this thread be without my own personal brand of <2SGD/100 ?
