Page 164 - Adobe Photoshop PDF

ing was constructed. Our District Manager, Larry Rushmer, instructed
me to meet with the Arab employees. I went out to the mob scene, but
I took with me Bill Murphy, who was acting as our Personnel Super-
intendent at the time, and Warren Hodges, our Training Superinten-
dent. Both men were fairly large. I knew that Warren was well and fa-
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We walked among a group and talked to whoever would listen to us, but
we were well aware that it was a very dangerous situation. Had anyone
been tripped or fallen the mob would likely have stoned them. Death by
stoning is not something to be looked forward to. We therefore stayed
together as a trio, circulated slowly and were careful of our backs. We
did this one entire morning and again in the afternoon, so we gradually
got our message out orally – that we would soon have air-conditioned
classrooms.

In retrospect, I think I took an enormous personal risk with our
lives and doubt that I would recommend anyone doing so under similar
circumstances. Fortunately, our credibility was good enough that the
strike ended and in a few days we started hauling in portable, air-condi-
tioned classrooms.

We Americans have a strong tendency to feel that people of oth-
er races or nationalities are essentially similar to us in their attitudes and
beliefs. This is a grave fallacy. For example, the company sponsored
service pin awards for Saudi Arab employees. Award ceremonies were
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were recognized with a short speech from their supervisor and the cer-
emony was followed by cake and punch for their guests. After attending
several such ceremonies and trying to observe Arab employees reactions
closely, I concluded that our treatment of the awards was wrong. When
we had a service award for an American it was typical to recite the job at
which the man had been hired and give some detail as to his progression
in the company thereafter. I concluded that Arab employees disliked
this routine. To recite in public in a ceremony the humble origin (from a
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have the “Abraham Lincoln” attitude of respect for progression from
log cabin to whatever level they’ve now attained. This is not something
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