I already wrote a reply to this...
...and it never posted. That annoys me.
Anyway, an answer to question 4 is that I am a teacher and I know for a fact that what is now taught in schools is to be robustly aware of all your rights, but none of your responsibilities. This is why kids leave school and go to work never having experienced the fact that actions have consequences, and that they are responsible for their own behaviour and actions.
An answer to question 3 is that Britain is a nation that will put up with anything. I am fluent in German and for a while worked for a the German/Austrian arm of a global company. In that job, our language skills had to be equal to that of a native speaker because the customers were never to know that they were actually phoning the UK. If your language skills were not of a high enough standard, you were not hired. I know very few people who have managed to have their problems solved by any out-sourced customer service due to a lack of comprehension as the customer service rep's English is simply not good enough. Its not their fault, its the company's.
(resurrection_mary cannibal_ferox, Fri 2 May 2008, 18:52, Reply)