Posted on 11/17/2016 7:46:37 AM PST by afraidfortherepublic
I work in the former industrial heartland of America in operations management for an iconic American brand owned now by a multinational, European-headquartered company. About a year ago, we were informed that our plant and city would host the yearly operations conference and achievement awards for the division to which we belong. Three hundred executive-level guests from all over the world, Asia, South America, and Europe would descend upon the aging brownfield facility we had turned into a state-of-the-art manufacturing showplace. I am proud of this place, and was thrilled at the news. Just five years ago, I was down in Mexico planning the logistics for the plant that was slated to replace ours by the early 2020s. Through hard work and lean methodologies, however, we rejected that fate—and with a unionized workforce.
The world was now coming to us to figure out our recipe. There was just one problem: The conference was scheduled for November 9 and 10, 2016. I begged and pleaded with my Western European colleagues and superiors, “Can’t we do this a week earlier? A month later or earlier?” I held back on the reason for my hesitation, but finally was forced to admit it, “The U.S. presidential election is scheduled for that week—and you know politics doesn’t always make for a great backdrop.” They told me the date was impossible to move, so I threw myself into the prep work.
“Of all the people in the United States, he was the best the Right could do?” I thought. “How can I in good conscience vote for this joker?” Around drinks one night that week, my European colleagues began to “jammer.” “What a joke—can you imagine Trump standing at a podium next to Merkel?” “Have the Americans gone mad?” “He’s an entertainer. He will ruin the...
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I have many European friends and my own family in Italy, all bleeding hearts socialists who think Trump is the devil incarnate. They love their own superior attitude toward immigrants, multiculturalism, integration, social justice, unicorns and fairy tales....hard to argue with these minds.
They all love Obama, they totally bought the media lies and have been well indoctrinated. And they think we Americans roam the streets shooting each other but they feel so righteous about having had their arms confiscated. I sincerely hope we will see a reversal of politics and thought before I will go back (if ever) to Europe.
I too shed a tear or three in the wee hours of November 9th. I didn't think it would affect me as it did...but it did.
I don’t think so. Bud is not a luxury status product.
I wanted it to be one of the automotive players, given some of the metaphors he uses, but that doesn’t work either for geographical and plant age reasons.
I’m stumped. Which he almost certainly wants, understandably.
bump
What you describe is not limited to Europeans in business.
You’re right. It’s about Europeans in general. Not all, but most
***Watching 70- and 80-year-olds high-fiving one another had me laughing. Seeing their pride restored because they had struck a blow to restore the American identity also made me cry a bit, too.***
When it was primary time in my state, I witnessed an elderly gentleman who was probably at least in his 70s, dressed in overalls, come to the precinct location. He told the workers, and people within earshot like myself, that he hadn’t voted in a number of years, but that he wanted them to show him how to use the new-fangled machine, because he was “ready to vote this time!” I imagine he was one of those Midwesterners that was high-fiving.
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