The newspaper to which he had a subscription, “Le Temp”, was delivered late once again this morning. He very much enjoyed reading it along with his breakfast, which usually consists of a small glass of juice to wash down his medication, a croissant and a cup of Irish Cream breakfast tea. In recent months, newspapers published in Switzerland have lost approximately 20% of their readership. In turn, print advertising has decreased and thus the serious press continues to find itself in a precarious situation. Most experts blame internet. Nonetheless the scandal sheets were still holding their own. No matter which newspaper you read, they are all full of gloom and doom, mostly related to the financial crisis. Nonetheless Switzerland was still one of the most stable countries in Europe: average income was increasing at about 2% per annum and the unemployment rate at 4% was the lowest in the industrial nations. Inflation was practically non-existent this time around.
Jean-Jacques is convinced that if Switzerland was forced to become a full-fledged member of the European Union, it would place its political system of direct democracy in jeopardy. Switzerland is a very small country that looks after its citizens better than most. Hence, where financial matters are concerned, there is a certain amount of jealousy on the part of the European Union in general and of the United States in particular. Jean-Jacques agrees that the major Swiss Banks have become very greedy indeed. On the other hand, Switzerland’s immediate neighbors (France, Germany, Italy and Austria) and friends (UK and US) manifest critical judgment of Switzerland at every opportunity they get. Most of the time it is just a case of “one-upmanship” on the part of some nasty official either at home or abroad, doing their best to point fingers and find blame. Solutions are rarely suggested.
Today, a Friday, meant that the newspaper would list job offers. He very much enjoyed perusing that section as he had recently taken early retirement and was not required to work at a steady job anymore. This was just the way he liked it. Occasionally he would be contacted by one of the regional tourist offices in Switzerland to mystery shop (see last month’s blog). Otherwise, he would teach a term at one of the Swiss hotel management colleges or business schools as a guest lecturer. This he enjoyed very much, especially the contact with students from all over the world was very enlightening. In the fifteen years since his return to Switzerland, he must have taught at five of them, at least. The subjects he has been responsible for preparing and teaching encompass a large array of topics. At the last count they total over forty different courses, e.g. at present he is teaching two days per week; Marketing, Political Science, Business Ethics and Human Resource Management at a small Business School on the shores of the Lake of Geneva (Lac Léman). Most of these private schools (numbering about 20, at the moment) did not have accreditation from the local, cantonal nor federal educational boards and were most importantly business enterprises seeking a profit. Basically there are only four (4) recognized hotel management colleges in Switzerland and they are at: Lausanne, Zürich, Genève and Luzern. Jean-Jacques was a graduate of the “Belvoir Park” in Zürich.
He was very surprised to see an announcement in today’s “Le Temps” from one of the four accredited hotel management schools, calling for applicants to fill a position as “teaching advisor” for the faculty! In reading further details, it seems they were seeking a”jack-of-all trades” but a “master of none”! The list of requirements required by potential applicants was mind-boggling. Just out of curiosity’s sake, he rang the school’s Human Resource Manager to enquire about the salary that was being considered. It was meager to say the least!
