Thoughts from the NTC 2012 / San Francisco

As is usual from my blog posts, this may or may not grow as I remember things…

• The visual discrepancy between rich and poor in San Francisco is extremely stark
  • Add to that, the gap between white/Asian and black/Latino is even more noticeable.
• A lot of the Not-For-Profit sector seems obsessed with money and how to make it.
• The tipping culture is weird… In that people don’t tip because they want to, but because they feel obliged to. Which makes tipping and the divvying up of bills an awkward and bizarrely scientific process to watch.
• Americans table manners, especially the way they treat servers, are peculiar… Perhaps related to above.
• Sales people very open and friendly, I assume because they want to sell you something. On the other hand, Customer service, especially civil service, quite unforgiving and unhelpful.
• A lot of things in Australia aren’t as expensive as people think. Especially food and fuel.
• Conferences in Australia are a lot more multi-cultural, with more people from overseas and we’re more interested in those from overseas.