Are all Irish workers crap or just lazy?

kjl · 18-02-2012 1:22am #1

I work for a multinational company who have one of their offices located in Dublin. Now I don't actually work in the Dublin office, but as I am Irish they handle all the administrative work like scanning expenses receipts or if there are any issues ordering equipment.

Here in lies the question, I work with a group of people from all over Europe and they all have to use their home office for the same stuff I do. So the UK people use the UK office, the German people use the German office, but every one of them has things done efficiently and quickly. Not me though, it takes about 2 weeks to do anything in the Irish office.

Ill give a few examples
me: send in an expense report, it takes about 2-3 weeks to get it processed
colleagues: 2-3 days

I ordered a new phone through the company website
colleagues: 4 days delivered
me: 1 month

I had a simple issue with my company card,
it took 2 weeks to resolve it.

Now you may say well maybe you are not following up with emails and phone calls. One time I was trying to contact a girl in the Irish office and I rang and emailed every single day for a week and I am still waiting to hear back from her.

And when I was offered the job, I was working with an exterior HR person, but I had to send my contract into the Irish office. I sent it in by hand on a Friday, then got a call on Wed asking me why I had not sent in. I went back into the office to find out they lost the contact and I had to fill out a whole new contract, with multiple steps involved.

So I ask, what's the deal? Why are Irish workers so bad at their job. This isn't just my company either, I have a lot of associates who do a similar job to me who are Irish based and they have the exact same issues.

Mr. CooL ICE · 18-02-2012 1:24am

Yes. Exactly. We are all crap and lazy. This is not a generalisation at all.

:rolleyes:

Frank Black · 18-02-2012 1:25am

Shur what's your rush anyway?

It'll get done when it gets done.

Gran Hermano · 18-02-2012 1:25am

Based on your half baked generalisations and assumptions, it sounds like you also must be more inefficient and lazier than your foreign counterparts.

Frank Black · 18-02-2012 1:28am

kjl wrote: »

One time I was trying to contact a girl in the Irish office and I rang and emailed every single day for a week and I am still waiting to hear back from her.

Take a hint buddy.

starbelgrade · 18-02-2012 1:28am

I'm sick of these threads that tar everyone with the same brush & are based on stereotypes & anecdotal evidence.

Every Irish person is not lazy & not everyone is the same.

mikemac1 · 18-02-2012 1:28am

associates

Check out the wannabe Yank

You've been working in that multinational too long

bleg · 18-02-2012 1:28am

I'm deadly at my job. Deadly dangerous.

gigino · 18-02-2012 1:28am

kjl wrote: »

I work for a multinational company who have one of their offices located in Dublin.

A multinational boss here once said he thought of Ireland as a third world country, with its inefficiency, corruption etc.

I suppose here in the republic we are not generally the best self-starters in ther world. Not very industrious.

Chuck Stone · 18-02-2012 1:29am

Irish people are mad for the generalizations.

Wait...

TheBegotten · 18-02-2012 1:29am

www.dilbert.com
Knock yourself out.

kjl · 18-02-2012 1:29am

starbelgrade wrote: »

I'm sick of these threads that tar everyone with the same brush & are based on stereotypes & anecdotal evidence.

Every Irish person is not lazy & not everyone is the same.

Fair point, I do appreciate that I was exaggeration a lot, but can we at least discuss the possibly that we have a higher rate of bad workers

ted1 · 18-02-2012 1:29am

Are the other people based in their home office, are the company based in Ireland. (for the low corporation tax) they maybe busier than the others, have you at any stage pissed off the Dublin office? When you submit your details are they as clear and concise as the others? Maybe there's one lazy girl, but to judge a nation is nuts. I put it down to you.

RonMexico · 18-02-2012 1:29am

Just take a look at the public sector. Not the frontline staff but the backroom office middle management crowd. Inrfficient is their middle name.

Daftendirekt · 18-02-2012 1:29am

Stupid question is stupid

Namlub · 18-02-2012 1:30am

Are all generalisations unfounded or just stupid?

strobe · 18-02-2012 1:31am

kjl wrote: »

I work for a multinational company who have one of their offices located in Dublin. Now I don't actually work in the Dublin office, but as I am Irish they handle all the administrative work like scanning expenses receipts or if there are any issues ordering equipment.

Here in lies the question, I work with a group of people from all over Europe and they all have to use their home office for the same stuff I do. So the UK people use the UK office, the German people use the German office, but every one of them has things done efficiently and quickly. Not me though, it takes about 2 weeks to do anything in the Irish office.

Ill give a few examples
me: send in an expense report, it takes about 2-3 weeks to get it processed
colleagues: 2-3 days

I ordered a new phone through the company website
colleagues: 4 days delivered
me: 1 month

I had a simple issue with my company card,
it took 2 weeks to resolve it.

Now you may say well maybe you are not following up with emails and phone calls. One time I was trying to contact a girl in the Irish office and I rang and emailed every single day for a week and I am still waiting to hear back from her.

And when I was offered the job, I was working with an exterior HR person, but I had to send my contract into the Irish office. I sent it in by hand on a Friday, then got a call on Wed asking me why I had not sent in. I went back into the office to find out they lost the contact and I had to fill out a whole new contract, with multiple steps involved.

So I ask, what's the deal? Why are Irish workers so bad at their job. This isn't just my company either, I have a lot of associates who do a similar job to me who are Irish based and they have the exact same issues.

Maybe you are just shit man? From what you say in the OP it seems that it's the things that you are specifically involved in that are a shambles.

Liam Byrne · 18-02-2012 1:32am

starbelgrade wrote: »

I'm sick of these threads that tar everyone with the same brush & are based on stereotypes & anecdotal evidence.

Every Irish person is not lazy & not everyone is the same.

To be fair, people are just following the approach shown by their "leaders" who have no problem over-generalising and blaming everyone.

Doc Ruby · 18-02-2012 1:32am

kjl wrote: »

Fair point, I do appreciate that I was exaggeration a lot, but you at least discuss the possibly that we have a higher rate of bad workers

I dunno, maybe ask all the highly regulated pharma companies we have operating here.

RonMexico wrote: »

Inrfficient is their middle name.

Is that Scandanavian?

El Guapo! · 18-02-2012 1:32am

People just have the "Ah sure it'll be grand" attitude and things take forever to get done in this country.
You can't depend on a lot of people here. Every day in work I ring people ordering stuff or requesting info etc and if they say "I'll check up on it and call you in an hour" you can bet they'll either call 4 hours later or not at all.

I'm not saying everybody is like that, because of course there are people who are very good at their job and do things properly. But in my experience these people are few and far between,

starbelgrade · 18-02-2012 1:35am

kjl wrote: »

Fair point, I do appreciate that I was exaggeration a lot, but can we at least discuss the possibly that we have a higher rate of bad workers

Not in my experience. I've never worked for a multi-national though. I'd imagine that the scope to doss is a lot higher than it is in smaller companies, but I'm sure they are also well aware of that & base their profit margins and projected output on a known percentage of productive hours that they get from their staff.

TheBegotten · 18-02-2012 1:35am

RonMexico wrote: »

Just take a look at the public sector. Not the frontline staff but the backroom office middle management crowd. Inrfficient is their middle name.

Abandon thread!!! Incoming public / private sector scrap!

dvpower · 18-02-2012 1:36am

gigino wrote: »

I suppose here in the republic we are not generally the best self-starters in ther world. Not very industrious.

Speak for yourself.

mikemac1 · 18-02-2012 1:39am

You seem to be a salesman OP

Cocky, arrogant and a high opinion of yourself
Yep, well suited to sales

Doc Ruby · 18-02-2012 1:40am

gigino wrote: »

A multinational boss here once said he thought of Ireland as a third world country, with its inefficiency, corruption etc.

I suppose here in the republic we are not generally the best self-starters in ther world. Not very industrious.

When did norn iron become a Republic?

Off with ya.

kjl · 18-02-2012 1:49am

strobe wrote: »

Maybe you are just shit man? From what you say in the OP it seems that it's the things that you are specifically involved in that are a shambles.

My job is not to scan receipts, the Irish policy is that in order to claim your expenses you must have send in your receipts to the scanning department. I sent them just as specified by the policy.

Now when I am waiting for expenses, that's money out of my pocket and all my other colleagues are get theirs processed in less then a week and mine are taking 2-3 weeks, despite 100's of calls and emails.

I once sent in three packages to them and they lost all three, like how do you loose three packages? If I hadn't had a copy of the receipts I wouldn't have been paid. I do my job very well and I always look after the administration side, but I have to do so much more work because the Irish office is so slow.

The above is just one instance of many that have constantly showed me that Irish people are very unreliable and not very good at their jobs.

And to answer another question asked of me, no, I have not done anything to upset the office, I've only been their once in my career.

The Hill Billy · 18-02-2012 1:49am

I've worked for a few multi-nationals & other large companies at home & abroad over the years, & can say that Irish businesses are neither more nor less efficient that any of their foreign counterparts.

Sounds like your company has a sh1t Irish office. Simples.

Doc Ruby · 18-02-2012 1:51am

kjl wrote: »

Irish people are very unreliable and not very good at their jobs.

You do realise you're a racist, right?

kjl · 18-02-2012 1:52am

mikemac1 wrote: »

You seem to be a salesman OP

Cocky, arrogant and a high opinion of yourself
Yep, well suited to sales

not even close

Red21 · 18-02-2012 1:57am

kjl wrote: »

Fair point, I do appreciate that I was exaggeration a lot, but can we at least discuss the possibly that we have a higher rate of bad workers

This is the edited version of your 2nd post which still remains F@cked up and in it you're pretty much saying how you fu@ked up your 1st post, maybe you're the problem op.

stupidusername · 18-02-2012 1:58am

This coming from a poster that told us he stopped washing his hair because he got fed up of running out of shampoo? I think the problem may be with you, and the people you associate with.

pavb2 · 18-02-2012 2:01am

Sure didn't the Irish build Britain,always had a reputation for being the hardest of workers

brianwalshcork · 18-02-2012 2:01am

kjl wrote: »

My job is not to scan receipts, ....

<snip>

....If I hadn't had a copy of the receipts..

Wait! You copy the receipts before you sent them in to be scanned???
That strikes me as a massive duplication right there - you probably copy them on a digital machine which scans then prints the copy!

If that's what you're doing and you're the clever one, then god only knows what they are up to in the Dublin office - maybe the three week delay is while they transcribe them by hand or print the scans to snail mail them to the next department!!

Doc Ruby · 18-02-2012 2:03am

brianwalshcork wrote: »

If that's what your doing and your the clever one, then god only knows what they are up to in the Dublin office - maybe the three week delay is while they transcribe them by hand or print the scans to snail mail them to the next department!!

Hold on... what you're saying is kjl is full of shite?

Say it ain't so!1!

Seomra Mushie · 18-02-2012 2:14am

OP, seeing as you added the word 'all' to the title, I'm guessing you're including yourself in the generalisation? Or are you different? If so, I can think of one glaring error in your thread title. /nit-pick

mysteries1984 · 18-02-2012 2:23am

OP, couldn't the problem be with :

a) You
b) Your company

Rather than the Irish in general? Why don't you check internally as to what the issue is? What's stopping you getting the answers from your management?

I work hard. When expenses land on my desk I process them within 2 days, which is faster than necessary. I like to be efficient. And I'm Irish.

I therefore find your attitude fairly insulting and far too much of a generalisation. Are you deliberately trying to cause arguments by posting in an Irish forum about how high a rate of 'bad workers' we are?

Liam Byrne · 18-02-2012 2:29am

kjl wrote: »

....as I am Irish....

kjl wrote: »

Are all Irish workers crap or just lazy?

....or maybe just prone to shooting themselves spectacularly in the foot ?

ejmaztec · 18-02-2012 2:32am

kjl wrote: »

I work for a multinational company who have one of their offices located in Dublin. Now I don't actually work in the Dublin office, but as I am Irish they handle all the administrative work like scanning expenses receipts or if there are any issues ordering equipment.

Here in lies the question, I work with a group of people from all over Europe and they all have to use their home office for the same stuff I do. So the UK people use the UK office, the German people use the German office, but every one of them has things done efficiently and quickly. Not me though, it takes about 2 weeks to do anything in the Irish office.

Ill give a few examples
me: send in an expense report, it takes about 2-3 weeks to get it processed
colleagues: 2-3 days

I ordered a new phone through the company website
colleagues: 4 days delivered
me: 1 month

I had a simple issue with my company card,
it took 2 weeks to resolve it.

Now you may say well maybe you are not following up with emails and phone calls. One time I was trying to contact a girl in the Irish office and I rang and emailed every single day for a week and I am still waiting to hear back from her.

And when I was offered the job, I was working with an exterior HR person, but I had to send my contract into the Irish office. I sent it in by hand on a Friday, then got a call on Wed asking me why I had not sent in. I went back into the office to find out they lost the contact and I had to fill out a whole new contract, with multiple steps involved.

So I ask, what's the deal? Why are Irish workers so bad at their job. This isn't just my company either, I have a lot of associates who do a similar job to me who are Irish based and they have the exact same issues.

Sorry to be so late in replying, but I couldn't be arsed.

gerryo777 · 18-02-2012 2:33am

kjl wrote: »

Fair point, I do appreciate that I was exaggeration a lot, but can we at least discuss the possibly that we have a higher rate of bad workers

Are there only Irish people working in the Irish office?

ejmaztec · 18-02-2012 2:35am

gerryo777 wrote: »

Are there only Irish people working in the Irish office?

Some, but only when they feel like it.

hattoncracker · 18-02-2012 2:38am

You have to remember that the person you deal with in the Dublin office is most likely doing three peoples work.

In the office for the company I work for people have been taking redundancy since the recession hit and not being replaced, nd the work is being spread to the remaining team.

Work a week in the Dublin office before u start judging.

NakedNNettles · 18-02-2012 2:46am

pavb2 wrote: »

Sure didn't the Irish build Britain,always had a reputation for being the hardest of workers

You're right, the Irish were always good at being told what to do.

Course when it comes to taking control, running round like a bunch of headless chickens wouldn't be far off the mark.

A whole bunch of irish leaders and CEO's spring to mind.

Dudess · 18-02-2012 2:47am

Title lacks self awareness.

Gigino is self loathing

That's all folks

Dudess · 18-02-2012 2:49am

NakedNNettles wrote: »

pavb2 wrote: »

Sure didn't the Irish build Britain,always had a reputation for being the hardest of workers

You're right, the Irish were always good at being told what to do.

Course when it comes to taking control, running round like a bunch of headless chickens wouldn't far off the mark.

Yeah us paddies are so inferior thank god for our betters to put us in line!!!

gk5000 · 18-02-2012 2:51am

Apologies for a serious answer to a serious question but....

Irish people work very well abroad, but pretty **** at home.

We have a good name abroad, build America etc. but fcuk things up good at home.

Turtyturd · 18-02-2012 2:52am

kjl wrote: »

I work for a multinational company who have one of their offices located in Dublin. Now I don't actually work in the Dublin office, but as I am Irish they handle all the administrative work like scanning expenses receipts or if there are any issues ordering equipment.

Here in lies the question, I work with a group of people from all over Europe and they all have to use their home office for the same stuff I do. So the UK people use the UK office, the German people use the German office, but every one of them has things done efficiently and quickly. Not me though, it takes about 2 weeks to do anything in the Irish office.

Ill give a few examples
me: send in an expense report, it takes about 2-3 weeks to get it processed
colleagues: 2-3 days

I ordered a new phone through the company website
colleagues: 4 days delivered
me: 1 month

I had a simple issue with my company card,
it took 2 weeks to resolve it.

Now you may say well maybe you are not following up with emails and phone calls. One time I was trying to contact a girl in the Irish office and I rang and emailed every single day for a week and I am still waiting to hear back from her.

And when I was offered the job, I was working with an exterior HR person, but I had to send my contract into the Irish office. I sent it in by hand on a Friday, then got a call on Wed asking me why I had not sent in. I went back into the office to find out they lost the contact and I had to fill out a whole new contract, with multiple steps involved.

So I ask, what's the deal? Why are Irish workers so bad at their job. This isn't just my company either, I have a lot of associates who do a similar job to me who are Irish based and they have the exact same issues.

Nothing worse than the f*cker who shows up on a Friday afternoon looking for something done just as you're waiting to go home.

gk5000 · 18-02-2012 2:55am

Dudess wrote: »

Yeah us paddies are so inferior thank god for our betters to put us in line!!!

Yes, there's something in that.
I think we are good abroad when either working for, but also managing other people,

..but somehow not so good at home either managing or being managed.

There is something in the Irish psyche about this.

mattjack · 18-02-2012 2:55am

kjl wrote: »

I work for a multinational company who have one of their offices located in Dublin. Now I don't actually work in the Dublin office, but as I am Irish they handle all the administrative work like scanning expenses receipts or if there are any issues ordering equipment.

Here in lies the question, I work with a group of people from all over Europe and they all have to use their home office for the same stuff I do. So the UK people use the UK office, the German people use the German office, but every one of them has things done efficiently and quickly. Not me though, it takes about 2 weeks to do anything in the Irish office.

Ill give a few examples
me: send in an expense report, it takes about 2-3 weeks to get it processed
colleagues: 2-3 days

I ordered a new phone through the company website
colleagues: 4 days delivered
me: 1 month

I had a simple issue with my company card,
it took 2 weeks to resolve it.

Now you may say well maybe you are not following up with emails and phone calls. One time I was trying to contact a girl in the Irish office and I rang and emailed every single day for a week and I am still waiting to hear back from her.

And when I was offered the job, I was working with an exterior HR person, but I had to send my contract into the Irish office. I sent it in by hand on a Friday, then got a call on Wed asking me why I had not sent in. I went back into the office to find out they lost the contact and I had to fill out a whole new contract, with multiple steps involved.

So I ask, what's the deal? Why are Irish workers so bad at their job. This isn't just my company either, I have a lot of associates who do a similar job to me who are Irish based and they have the exact same issues.

Maybe they just think you are an arsehole.

Dudess · 18-02-2012 2:55am

gk5000 wrote: »

Apologies for a serious answer to a serious question but....

Irish people work very well abroad, but pretty **** at home.

We have a good name abroad, build America etc. but fcuk things up good at home.

Probably true. Very laidbavk culture here which is good but not akways

strobe · 18-02-2012 2:58am

kjl wrote: »

My job is not to scan receipts, the Irish policy is that in order to claim your expenses you must have send in your receipts to the scanning department. I sent them just as specified by the policy.

Now when I am waiting for expenses, that's money out of my pocket and all my other colleagues are get theirs processed in less then a week and mine are taking 2-3 weeks, despite 100's of calls and emails.

I once sent in three packages to them and they lost all three, like how do you loose three packages? If I hadn't had a copy of the receipts I wouldn't have been paid. I do my job very well and I always look after the administration side, but I have to do so much more work because the Irish office is so slow.

The above is just one instance of many that have constantly showed me that Irish people are very unreliable and not very good at their jobs.

And to answer another question asked of me, no, I have not done anything to upset the office, I've only been their once in my career.

Thanks for the response and I'm sure it explains everything perfectly but to be honest I was just being a smart arse with that comment and your job sounds so dull that I think I might start crying if I have to read 5 whole more paragraphs about it. Thanks for taking the time to respond. But sorry, tl;dr.

gk5000 · 18-02-2012 3:00am

Again seriously.....

This point is the key to Ireland's future economic success and independance...I don't know the answer.

Are all Irish workers crap or just lazy?

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