So effing rude!

[syngirl]

If it's actuallly like this, the local workers are either not very smart or not very happy

Usually the types of jobs the average immigrant is taking is a job that most locals nowadays believe is below them -- it's immigrants working ridiculously long hours, hours that locals wouldn't work unless they were making double or triple pay. It's immigrants working 24 hrs a day breaking their backs so they can send their kids to university. Those are the more typical immigrant stories -- the typical immigrant is not arriving in Britain and stealing a job at a law firm from a local.

The irony of Celia's complaints that immigrants are taking Brits jobs is that one day she may indeed have to move back to the UK, and her US husband will be one of those immigrants looking for a job. Is she going to complain then? Is she going to stop him from taking a job because he's "stealing" a local's job?

Celia, I would hope that as an immigrant in another country your perspective on immigrants in your home country would change. One day your family could be in the position of being immigrants to your own home country -- you could face many of the problems that immigrants face -- ie even just trying to get your kids back enrolled in school in the UK -- will you say that your country treats immigrants so well when they try and hold back your child a year because they don't recognise half their Argentine credits or consider their English language skills to be below par?

Most of these tabloids / extremist parties / anti-immigration rants don't consider is that their countries put in place social programmes and make-work / find-work programmes specifically targeted at immigrants because their whole policy is to try and get the new immigrants integrated as quickly as possible, and not become a burden on the system. Rather than complaining that 600,000+ immigrants got jobs while 100,000+ Britains lost theirs (I can't remember your exact figures) you should be thrilled that rather than having to support 600k more people on the dole, you're only supporting 100k.

 

[Celia]

I wasn't complaining, just stating....I'm really not bothered by these issues syngirl, more concerned about whether Jennifer Aniston will finally get herself a man and who will win celebrity dancing on ice...

 

[sergio]

I'm not justifying rude people or crappy public employees (or Cabrera for that matter), but before you start talking about "Typical Argentine Xenophobe", take a good look into your home countries and how they treat immigrants.

In 'my country' immigrants, even when ILLEGAL, get free education for their children and free medical care if they can not pay. There are plenty of private organizations helping with free legal aid and many Catholic bishops and clergy supporting illegal immigrant "rights". Not bad, I'd say.

 

[Celia]

What country are you from Sergio?it sounds like the UK...

 

[nikad]

Sounds like Argentina as well... where are you from Sergio?

 

[French jurist]

What country are you from Sergio?it sounds like the UK...

I'd rather see Italy or eventually Spain.

 

[Buenos Aires Housing]

Wow! this whole thread is very rude!
My first intention was to reply to Celia's original post, to tell that in this country customer service almost doesn't exist and nothing has to do with being a local or a foreign. (I'm sorry if somebody said this already, I didn't read the whole thread).
I, as the rest of the citizens, has to deal with the awful treat every single day. And this situation is not going to change for many years I guess.
People in Buenos Aires are too stressed, which doesn't justify their attitude of course. In the rest of the country is quite different.

But OMG, following the thread most of you became so aggresive! And honestly, I reply the same, if you are not happy here go home, and please take the time to see how foreings are treated in your own country. Oh! in Europe!!

Argentineans are not xenofobic at all. By contrary I can see with my own eyes how the locals react in front of somebody with a foreing accent, in any language. Their eyes sparkle!
I work with foreigns, so I see that all the time.
Even the taxi drivers who generally are very rude with everybody are much nicer with foreigns.
And this is true!

 

[clooz]

Immigrants are treated incredibly well in UK. More jobs go to them than locals, we embrace curry as our national food, we are pan-cultural....in my post I referred to the many helpful people here, but there is a category who hate foreigners. I encounter them on a daily basis. Just yesterday a taxista pretended his cab was broken to get rid of us, the second time in one month that's happened....

Well, Celia,

for what its worth, when I called to register my son's birth at the UK embassy in LA 23 years ago, I got a rude English woman who answered the phone. I was given the run around and was not able to register the birth. I gave up trying. Your post has reminded me of this unpleasant experience.

As for naming, we had to name our son and fill out the forms before they would let us leave Stanford hospital - some kind of state law was invoked. We wanted a bit more time to do the naming, but no luck.

The bottom line seems to be that parents don't own all the rights to their children. States keep a bunch of rights for themselves (which they took from The church) and these rights are not subordinate to parents rights.

 

[ptolemy]

I'm not justifying rude people or crappy public employees (or Cabrera for that matter), but before you start talking about "Typical Argentine Xenophobe", take a good look into your home countries and how they treat immigrants.

For the record Guillo, and whomever it may concern,..if you had read my comment more carefully, you would have realized I was not talking about ALL Argentines. I said: “..typical of a,” not typical of all, not typical of,or your misquote of me, “Typical Argentine Xenophobe."
And, yes,.. I have taken a good look at my home country and how they treat immigrants. I worked in education for ten years and have seen first hand how immigrants are treated, but that's another subject or post.

 

[Celia]

Well my son still only has one name out of three (wow, one was on the list!). Will see if they accept my dad's name now I have the document signed by the british consul. What a runaround...it's all luck, with my other son, they accepted a family name but not this time.