On being different..................

Over the past month or so, I have had some extended business travel and some free time in the European Union (EU). Having spent time in the UK, Ireland, Denmark, France and Italy, you see a few things that are different. No, not just the obvious things like different languages, or driving on the other side of the road, but the more subtle things. For example, in Europe the grocery shopping carts (trolleys) have 4 wheels that swivel. This doesn’t sound like much, but if you come from the United States and you are used to the carts traveling in two dimensions and suddenly you are faced with three dimensions, it can be a big change.
In Paris, I noticed that a lot of people seem to litter. I’ve seen Parisians eat a sandwich and throw the wrapper on the ground. I watched a lot of Parisians open a pack of cigarettes (from my limited point of view, I’m pretty sure that all Parisians smoke, although there may be one older gentleman in South Paris who does not…) and the wrapper ends up on the sidewalk. In Ireland and the UK, a large percentage of the people smoke as well, but they are not allowed to do it indoors. So the sidewalks are filled with smokers. I spend most of my time walking down the sidewalks coughing; so much that I’ve found that you have to ‘step inside for a breath of fresh air’.
In the United States, when we go to the beach, there are teams of people watching us and blowing their whistles to make sure we don’t swim out too far. If we do, they are ready to swim out and rescue you (remember the TV show Baywatch…). But in Europe, if you want to do something stupid and you end up hurt or dead, it is your own fault. “Oh, he swam out to far and drowned. Bummer, he should have known better” (It is best if you read this quote with a French accént).
But, being different is interesting. After cataloging some of the differences between the US and EU (which would fill a whole book), I started thinking about differences in organizations and in particular, B2BGateway.Net (yep, here is the tie in). At B2BGateway.Net, we are different; not just in what we do, but in how we do it. People at B2BGateway.Net enjoy what they do and take pride in their work, but they also have personalities that are different and unique. This newsletter and some of our future video clips will show some of the different personalities that make our company great. I hope you enjoy.
Thanks , Kevin