“Working in Turkey Doesn’t Make You as Qualified”
By: Deborah Kristina
Tags: Work, Travel, This Happened To Me, Turkey, Life

Work experience gained anywhere in the world is valuable.

“Turkish people don’t act the same way professionally as Americans so I’m not certain if your work experience is that valuable.”

An older, red-headed Canadian man was really candid with me on what he heard about the way Turkish people worked from English teachers he knew who taught in Turkey. I asked him if he had ever met a Turkish person before (maybe there wasn’t any point in asking him but I was curious because he sounded confident) when he told me that he hadn’t met anyone Turkish in his life but he claimed he knew a lot of about Turkish work life because his expat friends were well-knowledgeable on how Turkish people worked.

I could choose to be insulted by that old fool (with thick glasses and who confessed to me that he spent a great deal of time at his computer, and strongly believed that getting to know people living in other countries online was the same as living in their countries [he said, “It’s possible to know another culture really well by talking to someone in that country and not ever leave my computer!”]) but I was just angry. That man didn’t mean to say that Turkish people worked differently from North Americans in a good way at all as he questioned what exactly I did working with Turkish people whom he assumed were ‘always late, did things too slowly, were so disorganized that they didn’t know whether a certain employee was on holiday or not and acted like they could remember what they were told when they forgot after a minute of being told something’. He spoke like he knew Turkish people personally and I admit that I thought he sounded credible with the way his tone was and how he specified his information but I also felt he was wrong for automatically thinking that I hadn’t gotten anything from working in Turkey. I didn’t like that he implied that I wasn’t a worthy job candidate in a North American work environment (“Now, there are plenty of foreigners who live and work abroad and notice how lazy the locals are and start becoming more like the locals…”) and I’d like to state here that,

1) I’ve gotten close to and have learned to tolerate, or accept, or even immensely appreciate how diverse all of the characters I’ve interacted with have been.

2) I’ve learned a major lesson on patience. I’ve met people who have complained loudly, acted frustrated wanting to give up working with me, and I’ve had to face a long period where I was often paid late and having had to experience finally getting an entire bonus after almost a year of waiting and pestering (and even a bit of threatening with once bringing a friend to the school to scream her head off at the manager [I had no idea she was going to do that]).

3) I’ve opened up a lot and can initiate conversations better than I’ve ever had. I have the motivation to say something to people just because it’s fun and not because it’s necessary like before I arrived to Turkey. The biggest improvement is in how much more comfortable I feel sitting with people being my quiet and unrealistic, koala and bear and cat-dreaming self.

4) I’ve progressed a lot in my organizational skills. My memory storage is stock full of what’s happening every hour and it’s usual for me to foresee what occur a month from now. I always keep a neat space especially after having observed Turkish people be very meticulous about placing everything where they should be. (More people ought to follow the cleanliness that I see of many Turks.)

5) I’ve improved my ability to network. As mentioned before, I’ve learned how to connect with and warm up to people more. I understand more about what makes them tick, and what they think maybe right or wrong.

6) I’ve always stayed calm when doing my own administrative tasks of putting my papers together and in order, of making sure to keep in regular contact with students (particularly in checking up on their concerns, feedback and progress, and of using the copy machine (I’ve never thrown a tantrum once when copies take a while to print or when someone has used the printer before me and there isn’t any paper left in it ). I’ve basically been a good sport in doing office-type duties.

7) I’ve grown more fond of doing researching, learning new things and how to serve customers (students) better. I can safely say that I’ve become more adept in pleasing customers. When customers aren’t satisfied due to impossible requests or for just not liking something and having good customer service skills is knowing that some customers aren’t reasonable and may just find a target to bully.

8) I’ve realized more about the importance of keeping my word I’ve always kept my promises and seeing how a lot of people (not just in Turkey) say a whole lot but not meet what they say envision should be done has left a lasting impression on me about how essential it is to reach all goals and fulfill all tasks and never miss appointments.

I’d like to add that, from my personal experience, Turkish people generally keep their appointments. A lot of them are well-aware of how crucial time is, and many of them understand that time is money as they make sure not to waste it. Turkish people tend to have short lunch breaks and it’s not because they are only allotted a few minutes to have lunch but there’s a lot of work to do that they need to get back to. Turkish people tend to work long hours (what they do at work is a different story but at least it can be said that they are disciplined enough to show up to work and stay there until the end of their shift or until their manager lets them go home). Turkish people are really good at dressing appropriately for work. I rarely see people’s hair out of place and everyone is groomed really well.

I defend how hard Turkish people work. It’s an abomination that many individuals out there see people in other countries as not working at the same level as them. No country’s work practices can be considered ‘superior’ to another’s because, in every country, there are hard workers, idle people and corrupt people. I argue, again, that I’ve gained a lot of work experience in Turkey worth talking about. I’ve been at my most determined in Turkey. I’ve felt at the most easiest with myself because of Turkey, particularly about what I want to do as a livelihood. I owe having the knowledge of the value of hard work to the Turkish people: a people that work long workweeks for less than can pay the rent but who carry on anyway because it’s known that it’s vital to be strong including in an unbearably diverse environment where salaries can’t cover the living expenses of even one individual, much less a family (and Turkish people marry all the time around the country). I’ve learned so much about perseverance and appreciating each day regardless from the Turkish people.

To that ginger-headed Canadian who chooses to remain behind his computer screen and continues to think that the work experience of a Turkish person (or of an expat [and expats happen to do a huge variety of work apart from English teaching] who has worked in Turkey) should be taken seriously than the work of a North American. He can stay ignorant as long as he wants because I know that I have a lot to offer and that I’ve done excellent and thoughtful work in Turkey.

I’ve never said this before but I’m proud of how much I’ve advanced as a person by living, working and getting to meet a lot of intelligent and gifted (and adorable) people in Turkey.

Please feel free to take a look at my Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/DeborahKristina

You can also email me: debbie.chow1987@gmail.com

Please also check out my new book on Amazon: “Ramblings of a Sixteen-Year-Old Girl to a Journal”

Thank you for reading. Peace.