Have Some Respect for Your Elders

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As someone who grew up in an English family that included a Pakistani father, I’ve always been fascinated by cross-cultural differences: the way “we” think compared to the way “they” think. My time in Libya provided me with lots of examples of British-Arab cultural differences but I’ve also run into examples in other places.

In the early 1980s I was teaching ESOL in International House London. One of my classes was a Business English course with a group made up of six members of the Abu Dhabi government auditing department. They were wonderful students.

One day we were discussing how to resolve financial problems uncovered during government audits of contracts made with foreign-owned companies.

“So what happens if you find something that you think is not correct but which the company argues is acceptable?” I asked. “How do you resolve the disagreement?”

“That’s easy,” said Abdullah. “We go to the Principal of Accounting to decide the matter.”

“No, Abdullah,” I said. “A principal is a person. You mean you go to the Principles of Accounting. That’s a list of rules and guidelines.”

“No, Mr. Jeff. We have a man who is the Principal of Accounting in our country. He listens to us and to the company representatives. Then he decides who is right.”

I found this interesting. “So the Principal of Accounting is a very experienced accountant?”

“Oh, no, Mr. Jeff. He isn’t an accountant.”

“So how can he decide accounting issues?” I asked.

“Because he is an old man.”

I thought about this for a moment. “But what happens if you or the company accountants see that he is wrong?”

“You don’t understand, Mr. Jeff. He is never wrong. He is a very old man.”
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