Would you retire now if you could?
03-23-2013, 03:12 AM
Retirement is being able to call your own shots. As soon as work becomes too much of a hassle you can tell them where to go.
I worked internationally in a few places, and one was on the US side of the Mexican border. Of the 50 or so people I worked with in our shop, there were 4 non-Mexicans.
Now there were some very good people there. Friendly people who invited me to BBQs, (great food down there) and helped me and friends out of binds.
However, there were a good number of whom, despite being US citizens who were born in the country, still couldn't speak English. Not a problem for them, because the entire city spoke Spanish. I think the problems there are the same that would be present in any developing economy. I also had a dual-citizen friend (but was American) who for a while ran a business renting jet-skis etc on the beaches in Cancun and can speak to his experience.
Are you Mexican? Do you speak Spanish? I found working abroad, you get viewed as a "rich foreigner" and people will take as much as they can from you. Look out for you and your own seems to be the dominant theme. A lot of the guys I worked with were wily. In the US with the Mexicans there, they would always be trying for little victories. If we needed to fix a work truck, it would always go to their friend's shop, and there would be kickbacks to the employee, and a slightly higher bill for us. We say 'don't go there' but then they know guys at the next 20 shops. Buying $20 worth of smokes and chips with the company gas card and getting it billed as fuel. Go to the dentist and they would try and get you to do unnecessary things so they could bill your insurance. We had half a bag of potting soil stolen from our balcony. Another friend who worked temporarily a few hours south in Mexico proper for 3 weeks had all his t-shirts stolen by coworkers from his luggage. If we asked the guys out to dinner as a social gesture, a meal we couldn't expense, they still looked at us to pay. Contrast with Canada where it was an attitude of 'yes I'm your boss, but we can still go drinking together and I don't have to pay for you'
Regardless of how you looked at it, me, and the other white guys, Mexicans not born there, along with the Mexican manager were outsiders, and while they would never be actively bad to us, and decent enough guys, they were always playing the game. A game you will lose if you try to play. These people have been there all their life, rarely travel, knew everyone. Despite being a city of a few hundred thousand people, it seemed like a fairly tightly knit setup, but you remained the outsider. In a sense, the whole city was passively and implicitly set up like a union. Everyone looks out for their own, screws and steals from outside companies, bosses, etc as best they can, and then shares the wealth where you're able with those on the inside.
My friend with the jet-ski business in Cancun, was rarely there, and was always "just scraping by" never losing money, but never making a lot either. Until we went down there and managed it to see what the problem was. Then he made lots. Then a few weeks after he left again, same story. All the guys working for him were nice and kind and honest as ever when he was there, but as soon as he left, regardless of who he replaced, it would revert.
It's just a whole different way of doing business which took me a lot of getting used to, and can be immensely frustrating. Its built almost entirely around "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours". Outside of US/Canada/Western Europe, I've also found a lot of places have zero sense of urgency. Here in Asia(for example), having a plane leaving in a little over 3 hours, and being a 3.5 hour drive away from the airport, that's no reason for the driver to fore-go a 20 minute shower. (missed the checkin by 12 minutes). On the other hand, its cool to live in exotic places, is fun to learn the language, and see new sights.
I would suggest going down there and meeting the people you'd potentially be working with. How do they feel about the job? Are they capable people looking for a strong leader so that all of you can accomplish the same vision? Or are they there for a paycheck to get as much as they can by giving as little as they can?