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Living in Switzerland ruined me for America and its lousy work culture (2016)

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Re: Living in Switzerland ruined me for America and its lousy work culture (2016)

#91

Post by komali2 »

kyledrake wrote: post #2

Sure, but it's also really expensive to live in Switzerland. Not factoring in the cost of living over there is pretty disingenuous. And it's going to be a serious project to get residency there if you're not a Swiss citizen. Edit: This is not an opinion, cost of living in Switzerland is highest in the world, twice as high as in the US. Even if you make twice as much money, you're basically making the same amount. And…

Correct, yet the average swiss citizen has twice has much net worth, so I guess the higher cost of living doesn't result in less money in their pocket.

Re: Living in Switzerland ruined me for America and its lousy work culture (2016)

#93

Post by ryaniscool »

jjcm wrote: post #28

I've experienced a lot of these things since leaving the bay area and moving to Australia. The thing that surprised me most was similar to point #3 - in Australia the less fortunate are taken care of. One big mental drain I had in America was when my friends were sick but could do nothing about it. I had a roommate in Seattle who had severe dental problems and chronic tooth pain, but could do nothing about it because…

Same experience and background as you. I worked for Atlassian in Sydney from 2008-2013.

I found Australia to be a relative Utopia compared to the USA. After traveling around to other countries and living in Australia, then coming home, I realized that America is one of the most indoctrinated cultures I've experienced. We're indoctrinated with the idea of our own superiority. We can't see how much better other countries are doing modern life.

Re: Living in Switzerland ruined me for America and its lousy work culture (2016)

#94

Post by carlob »

S_A_P wrote: post #8

Transportation is the biggest difference between the us and a lot of the rest of the world. Switzerland is the size of a small New England state. Mass transit is a tough thing to scale. That said I’ve noticed that a lot of the jobs in the us that would be considered “glamorous” are by and large the lowest paying jobs with the longest hours. Looking past the status of a company and career and looking into the practica…

> Transportation is the biggest difference between the us and a lot of the rest of the world. Switzerland is the size of a small New England state. Mass transit is a tough thing to scale.

What about railways in China? I don't think size matters, it's more a question of political will: take Germany (or even worse the UK) and France and compare their train systems, France is just light years ahead in terms of low prices and fast speeds, all other factors (country size, economy, terrain) are pretty similar.

Re: Living in Switzerland ruined me for America and its lousy work culture (2016)

#95

Post by komali2 »

jjuhl wrote: post #69

So the USA is fucked up when it comes to work/life balance and the US has no social system worth anything. Who knew? Well, we all knew. The US has been the laughing stock of the world for decades and the only ones who haven't noticed are the americans. No news here.

But what shall we do? Not continue to spread the word to our fellow Americans that things can be better? I'm privileged enough to have had opportunities to see how the rest of the world manages societal and economic systems. They do it better. Before I saw for myself, I simply wasn't aware. The American way was The Way.

All it took was for me to see for myself how much better it could be to turn me into an activist to make it better here. I want to spread that message to as many people as possible so we can all try to make America better.

Re: Living in Switzerland ruined me for America and its lousy work culture (2016)

#96

Post by fastball »

cpursley wrote: post #78
fastball wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't think US cities have mass transit? The NYC subway[0] is 30 years older than the Moscow Metro[1], if you want to talk about "having things for a century". The US has train lines that cross the entire country as well. No HSR, which is what is needed, but then again neither does Russia. Here is a map of transcontinental railroads in the US in 1887[2]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_Subway [1]…

> You don't think US cities have mass transit? No, they are a hilarious joke. NYC metro is a dirty cesspool that can't build anything within budget. Marta in ATL doesen't go anywhere and hasn't added a new line in decades. Everyone knows how bad BART is. Also, it's generally more expensive to take Amtrak than fly. And Amtrak goes nowhere vs the Russian train systems. Just pull up a map to compare. And Russia does hav…

Interesting that you decided to exclude Boston, Chicago, DC, and Philly from your list.

NYC is a massively overbuilt city, much of which is on an island of bedrock. It wouldn't be any better if it was in Russia with the same geography.

Not sure how Amtrak being more expensive than flying is relevant. Plus, I don't think you want to compare train coverage in the US vs Russia. Most of Russia's land area doesn't have good train coverage.

Re: Living in Switzerland ruined me for America and its lousy work culture (2016)

#97

Post by kyledrake »

komali2 wrote: post #91
kyledrake wrote: post #2

Sure, but it's also really expensive to live in Switzerland. Not factoring in the cost of living over there is pretty disingenuous. And it's going to be a serious project to get residency there if you're not a Swiss citizen. Edit: This is not an opinion, cost of living in Switzerland is highest in the world, twice as high as in the US. Even if you make twice as much money, you're basically making the same amount. And…

Correct, yet the average swiss citizen has twice has much net worth, so I guess the higher cost of living doesn't result in less money in their pocket.

I mean yeah, Switzerland is a great place to live if you're rich.

Re: Living in Switzerland ruined me for America and its lousy work culture (2016)

#98

Post by komali2 »

garmaine wrote: post #63
cpursley wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a vital part of it. It's much healthier to walk bike or ride transit to work and daily activities. Additionally, being closer to everything means less stress and more free time (better work/life balance).

Yeah but it doesn’t have anything to do with my healthcare premiums being more than my rent, or my boss making me work 80 hour weeks without overtime and a measly 2 weeks per year vacation which I am discouraged from taking. Those are far more pressing issues imho.

Pressing, yes, but between the two of us you can tackle those issues that are near and dear to you (while garnering benefit for us all) while I focus on transportation. There's no need for every person to focus on the same issue - otherwise we better all head out to Africa and start irrigating, or something else that has the greatest Utility.

Re: Living in Switzerland ruined me for America and its lousy work culture (2016)

#99

Post by runarberg »

kyledrake wrote: post #2

Sure, but it's also really expensive to live in Switzerland. Not factoring in the cost of living over there is pretty disingenuous. And it's going to be a serious project to get residency there if you're not a Swiss citizen. Edit: This is not an opinion, cost of living in Switzerland is highest in the world, twice as high as in the US. Even if you make twice as much money, you're basically making the same amount. And…

Anecdote. I came to America from Iceland two years ago and I would say: “It’s complicated”. When I arrived I received much higher salary combined with a lower cost of living, more cultural variety, etc. But at the same time I left behind 4 weeks of paid vacation, 9 months of maternity/paternity leave, free education, a public health insurance, etc.

Re: Living in Switzerland ruined me for America and its lousy work culture (2016)

#100

Post by mruts »

michaelt wrote: post #11
mruts wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many people (including myself), don't want a laid back work culture. I want to kill myself for the firm, and work as hard as humanly possible. I think I just derive the most happiness from working (though I do like drinking as well). I know a lot of other people like this. Maybe you can call us brainwashed or whatever, but this is how myself and most of my co-workers are. I don't think it's an accident that America i…

What does your company do, and how do you contribute to it?

I live and work in Africa structuring and programming derivatives for a bank. The bank tries to make money and I try to make the bank money.
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