You are invited to a party and have been told to bring a plate. Do you:
Bring an empty plate?
Bring a stack of paper plates?
Bring some party food?
Bring a dozen bottles of beer?
is correct. A ‘plate’ in this context means a plate with finger food. Your host would probably not object to a few bottles of beer, but the request is for food.
You would like to find out what clubs and societies are in your neighbourhood. Do you:
Ring the police?
Visit the local Citizens Advice Bureau?
Put an advertisement in the paper?
Try and find out from a friend?
is correct. The local Citizens Advice Bureau (or sometimes the local public library) will have the information you are looking for. Your advertisement may not bring you the information you really want and your friend may not have all the information either. The police will likely direct you to the nearest Citizens Advice Bureau or library.
When your Kiwi workmates tease you in the first few days of you starting work with them, do you:
Start a court case for harassment
Complain to the boss
Laugh along with them
Resign from the job
is correct, provided the teasing is harmless and stops after a while. If it is serious and persistent, then you should complain to the boss and ask him or her to take steps to make it stop. New Zealand human rights legislation provides for protection from harassment.
You enter a public office and find that there is a queue of people waiting to get served. You:
Walk to the front of the queue and try to attract the attention of the person serving the public.
Join the queue at the back and wait for your turn.
Walk along the queue and try to negotiate with the people standing in it for a place.
Walk to the front of the queue and tell the person standing at the front that your business is more urgent than theirs.
is correct in almost every circumstance. If your business really is more urgent, this is often identified when you arrive and measures will be taken to attend to you separately. If not, no matter how impatient you are, take your place and try to relax. Your blood pressure will be all the better for it, and you will be seen as someone who fits into Kiwi culture.
Your neighbour’s trees and shrubs are growing over the fence into you property. They are a nuisance for you and you would like them cut back. Do you:
Cut them back and throw them into your neighbour’s property.
Ring the local council and lodge a complaint.
Ring the neighbour and ask him to cut back the offending branches.
Ask the neighbour whether he minds you cutting back the branches and offer to remove them.
is what a ‘good neighbour’ would do. You are legally entitled to cut any overhanging branches. You are, however, not entitled to throw them back into your neighbour’s property, although if you discuss the matter amicably, he may well offer to get rid of them. The Council has neither jurisdiction nor any obligations in this case. In almost every case, it is best to go and talk to the neighbour face to face rather than using the telephone.
You are a senior executive in the New Zealand branch of your firm. One morning you arrive early and meet a cleaner in the corridor. You:
Ignore him/her.
Give him/her a curt nod.
Greet him/her like you would a colleague.
Stop and have a friendly chat.
is correct, but is even better if you have the time. New Zealand is an egalitarian society, and everybody expects to be treated if not as an equal, then at least with basic courtesy.
You have been in the country for just a short time. During a morning tea break, your colleagues get involved in a fairly heated argument concerning internal politics. Do you:
Join in and take sides.
Listen carefully but don’t offer any strong opinion.
Tell them how things are done in your country and how much better they are compared to New Zealand.
Leave the room.
is correct, particularly if you have not been in the country very long. Your colleagues may resent being lectured, and if you participate, the ones with whose viewpoint you disagree may regard you (probably rightly) as ‘forward’, that is offering an opinion without the necessary background. Making comparisons with your home country to the detriment of New Zealand is never a good idea, even though they may be perfectly valid. Leaving the room could create the impression that you are not really interested.
You are interviewing a prospective employee. You need the person to work on the occasional Saturday. Do you:
Ask the person whether they belong to a religion that does not allow them to work on Saturdays.
Ask the person whether they have family commitments on weekends.
Ask the person whether they are married.
Ask the person whether they would be available to work on occasional Saturdays.
is correct. The other three questions could all be interpreted as an intention to discriminate against the applicant on the grounds of religion, family status or marital status, and you would therefore be in trouble with the New Zealand human rights legislation.
You are introduced for the first time to a female Kiwi business partner. You did not quite catch the name when the introductions were made and she has not handed you a business card. Do you:
Walk up to her and hold out your hand, saying something like, ‘pleased to meet you ... (mumble mumble mumble)’.
Bow and say nothing.
Go up to her, hand over your business card and ask her for hers.
Walk up to her, smile and say that you didn’t quite catch her name.
is the correct answer. It is polite to wait and see whether the person to whom you are introduced, if she is female, puts out her hand for shaking. If not, a very slight bow (more of a nod, actually) is appropriate, accompanied by a smile. But you still do not have her name. Asking for a business card could cause embarrassment because she may not have one with her. The Kiwi thing to do is to smile and come out with the question at the time of the introduction. If you let the moment pass, you may well have some embarrassment yourself when you have to address her later.
One of your Maori staff members asks you for four days’ leave because a member of his/her family has died and he/she has to attend the tangi in a remote part of the country. He/she has already used up his/her annual leave entitlement. Do you:
Give him/her four days’ special leave.
Refuse him/her leave because he has no more days left.
Ask him/her when the actual funeral is and give him/her just that day off.
Dismiss him/her.
is probably the best way to handle this situation. If you use , you may not have to use , because the worker may well resign on the spot. Attending the tangi of a family member is a very important duty for Maori, and the obligations are not just limited to attending the actual funeral. Of course, some Maori workers may try and abuse the sensitivity you show and may invent tangi when they want a few days off. If you suspect that this is the case, ask to see a death notice to make sure that a relative has indeed died.