Action/Work Orientation

“Don’t just stand there”, goes a typical bit of American advice, “do something!” This expression is normally used in a crisis situation, yet, in a sense, it describes most Americans’ entire working life, where action – any action – is seen to be superior to inaction.

Americans routinely plan and schedule an extremely active day. Any relaxation must be limited in time, pre-planned, and aimed at “recreating” (as in the word “recreation” – their ability to work harder and more productively once the recreation is over. Americans believe leisure activities should assume a relatively small portion of one’s total life. People think that it is “sinful” to “waste one’s time”, “to sit around doing nothing”, or just to “daydream”.

Such a “no nonsense” attitude toward life has created many people who have come to be known as “workaholics”, or people who are addicted to their work, who think constantly about their jobs and who are frustrated if they are kept away from them, even during their evening hours and weekends. And when such a person finally takes time off to go on vacation, even the vacation will be carefully planned, very busy and active.

The workaholic syndrome, in turn, causes Americans to identify themselves wholly with their professions. The first question one American will generally ask another American when meeting them for the first time is related to his or her work: “What do you do?” “Where do you work?”, or “Who (what company) are you with?”

America may be one of the few countries in the world where it seems reasonable to speak about the “dignity of human labor”, meaning by that, hard, physical labor. In America, even corporation presidents will engage in physical labor from time to time and in doing so, gain, rather than lose, respect from others for such action.

Informality

If you come from a more formal society, you will likely find Americans to be extremely informal and, you will probably feel, they are even disrespectful of those in authority. Americans are one of the most informal and casual people in the world, even when compared to their close relative – the Western European.

As one example of this informality, American bosses often urge their employees to call them by their first names and even feel uncomfortable if they are called by the title “Mr” or “Mrs”.

Dress is another area where American informality will be most noticeable, perhaps even shocking. One can go to a symphony performance, for example, in any large American city nowadays and find some people in the audience dressed in blue jeans and tieless, short-sleeved shirts.

Informality is also apparent in Americans’ greetings. The more formal “How are you?” has largely been replaced with an informal “Hi”. This is as likely to be used to one’s superior as to one’s best friend.

If you are a highly placed official in your own country, you will probably, at first, find such informality to be very unsettling, even disrespectful. Americans, on the other hand, would consider such informality as a compliment! Certainly, it is not intended as a personal insult, and you should not take it as such.