Fred Abse wrote:
Not *that* small. Many longtime employees with irreplaceable skills who
know better than to borrow tools without asking. They have their own
tools. If they want more, we buy them. They wouldn't lend me theirs,
not that I'd ask.

It's called discipline and commitment.


It's also a cultural thing. Here there is a much more socialist attitude
where the company owns the tools, and not the employees. Everything is
shared among the workers.

****es (angers for you UK types) the hell out of me, but it's the way
everyone thinks. People would even unlock my desk to get to my tools.

Note that until the mid 1990's no one was paid enough money to own their
own tools, and to this day very few are.

I recently resarched this because someone asked me about starting business
here that they had in the US. They have a tool franchise and drive around
in a van selling tools to craftsmen, mechanincs, etc.

It does not translate well, the workers can't afford the tools, and the
employers would rather buy a high end chinese tool than a high end
US/EU made tool because it is likely to get broken, lost or stolen.

Geoff.

--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel N3OWJ/4X1GM
New word I coined 12/13/09, "Sub-Wikipedia" adj, describing knowledge or
understanding, as in he has a sub-wikipedia understanding of the situation.
i.e possessing less facts or information than can be found in the Wikipedia.