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Research done by consultancy firm Mercer for The Economist has shown that out of their selected countries for research, Bulgarians take the most sick days per year.

Have a look at the graph on the right, you can click it for a larger version.

Coincidentally, I  don’t just live in the country with the highest number of sick days, but have also lived in the country with the lowest number of sick days taken per year; Turkey. Whereas Bulgarians take an average of 22 sick days per employee per year, Turks take just 5. This might be due to very different work mentalities.

In Bulgaria there is a saying: “They pretend to be paying me and I pretend to be working.” As you probably know, Bulgaria is a rather poor nation (the poorest of the EU), but besides that I’ve also noticed something else in the work mentality of many people. I’ve heard a lot of expressions of powerlessness. People believe they can’t change things, things are just the way they are… This is logical, given the history of Bulgaria, which consists of 500 years of Ottoman occupation, about 40 years of freedom, followed by roughly 50 years of a communist system.

I’m not saying everyone in Bulgaria is like this, but having worked in Bulgaria, I completely understand the above mentality… The pay for most jobs is quite low and when you try to make a difference, it’s really tough to seriously get things done. The high number of sick days could also be explained in a different way also. Since Bulgaria is a country with a very tough climate and it’s also quite poor, maybe the national health level is not so high. Who knows (research firm Mercer doesn’t).

For Turkey it’s very different. When I started a job in a restaurant, they wanted me to spend all the time that I wasn’t in university in the restaurant. I was working from 10 in the morning until 10 in the night on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and was working from 3 in the afternoon until 10 at night on Wednesday and Thursday. I had class from 9 to 5 on Monday and Tuesday and from 9 until 2 on Wednesday and Thursday. Every day I started early in the morning and finished late at night. It was very exhausting. This is the work mentality in Turkey though. They’re not the most effective workers, but they work a lot and they work very hard generally – even when they’re sick.

It’s a rather dangerous thing comparing Turkey to Bulgaria, so let me add that I don’t think either of the work mentalities is better than the other. The Turkish work mentality is quite fanatical and insane, although worthy of admiration. People seem very stressed and they need a break (come on, let people take a day off when they’re sick). The Bulgarian work mentality is generally lazy and a bit powerless. Most people I know here would agree with me. Bulgarians need to be given the feeling that they can actually change something, can actually make a difference, can actually achieve something, plus they shouldn’t feel like their bosses are “pretending to be paying” them.  The Bulgarians I know that feel like this, are achieving great things and inspire me constantly. An injection of motivation would be great for the work mentality and with recent protests of farmers and students, things are looking up, because who would take to the streets when they feel powerless?

Photo by kozzmen

Is your country listed? How do you think your country racks up? What’s the work mentality in your country? Does it match with your own work mentality?

BasBasBas.com is about my life abroad. I regularly write about my adventures in Istanbul, Bulgaria and travels in the region, but like to ponder about the future also. If you’d like to stay up to date, you can subscribe to my RSS feed or get email updates in your inbox. You can also follow me on Twitter.

Firstly, last week I had a guest post published on Top Ten Blog Tips. Go have a look at it, it’s called 10 Reasons Why Expats should blog.

Secondly, quite a while ago I set up a blog carnival for expats called Expat Experience (the only one, as far as I’m aware). I will not have time to maintain it anymore and am looking at someone to take it over. Have a look at the last edition of Expat Experience. Also have a look at the idea behind it. If you’d like to take it over and host it on your blog, let me know. It’s very rewarding and gets you lots of traffic and linkback! I will not pass it on to just anyone though. So leave a comment or shoot an email to .

Thank you.

As I wrote in my previous blog post I intended to fast one day in solidarity with the people in Zimbabwe, but mostly by accident, I actually fasted for two days.

First things first. I fasted for Zimbabwe, because it’s a great cause in my eyes. The South African hunger strikers were strengthened and fortified in the knowledge that they were backed, through action, by 35,000 people from over 190 different countries. I talked about why I was fasting to friends and I pointed their attention towards the disastrous situation in Zimbabwe. Yesterday, Kumi Naidoo, a South African activist and the ‘face’ of this protest shared:

“We are stunned by the response of Avaaz members around the world. I have not eaten a bite of food for eleven days, but when I speak to the African Union summit tomorrow, I will be fortified by your hope and energy. The press and leaders I address will know that they are contending with a serious global movement that will not settle for anything less than bold action. You are making a difference for millions of Zimbabweans. Thank you.”

I ended up following Avaaz’ fasting rules of not eating between sun up and sun down, but just drinking water for two days. The first day since I woke up quite late and had a hangover, so when I felt like eating, I figured I’d wait until it was dark – half an hour / one hour. Today, I fasted again… I didn’t eat anything after going to bed on Saturday and didn’t drink any water either until after dark on Sunday. It wasn’t so tough. Although the dehydration started to get the best of me and left me very exhausted after dinner, but it’s nothing compared to what the people in Zimbabwe are going through. My girlfriend stayed with me all day, as I was told in Turkey that if you’re participating in the Ramadan fast, it’s important to be with a friend if you can… The support makes fasting easier.

Now I’d like to say why I fasted and why fasting works, but be sure to have a look at how Gandhi achieved his goals 5 times through fasting!

Someone left a critical comment in the StumbleUpon reviews of the last blog post. I really wish they had left it as a comment, so I could reply directly to it, but let me do it now. They said:

“And that will help how exactly? I’m all for helping and charity, but I loathe people doing stuff only so they could say “I did something” (meaningless) and now I’ve done my part. If you’re going to do something, do it right you conformist bitch.” (Moorwind)

I’ve heard this view a lot in the past years. My view is the following… If everyone did the least they could do, to change this world in a positive way, to fight injustice, then this world would be a lot better place. Alas, not everybody does even the least they could do, but I will not be a hypocrite, so I will do the least I can do – and if I can I will do a little more. If you want to change the world, start with yourself – it’s the easiest thing that you can change RIGHT NOW.

Secondly, I wanted to fast for more reasons. No action exists by itself and any action’s vibrations will spread. I hope through fasting, I have encouraged others or at least informed others. Secondly, fasting is an important spiritual practice. I’ve never fasted and decided that now that the call for a fast was there, why not. Thirdly, I’ve always been curious what Muslims have to go through during their holy month of Ramadan (or Ramazan in some languages). I cannot imagine what it’s like to do this for a full month, but at least I got closer to understanding – and I have a lot more respect for it now. Finally, unlike the critical commenter, I do believe these small acts make a difference. How about you?

Can small acts have great impacts? Do you have examples from your own life? Have you ever fasted? Why? Did you fast in solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe? How was your fast?

Photo by centralsq, shared under a Creative Commons license.

BasBasBas.com is about my life abroad. I regularly write about my adventures in Istanbul, Bulgaria and travels in the region, but like to ponder about the future also. If you’d like to stay up to date, you can subscribe to my RSS feed or get email updates in your inbox. You can also follow me on Twitter.