Culturalities (Siemens and Pizza)

Yesterday, my little boss arranged a visit at Siemens Corporate Research in Princeton, where I had to give a talk. Luckily, the talk was about something that nobody really knew what it should be (meaning I could choose what to talk about). Sadly, I am still new in my field. Luckily, it went somewhat alright.



I learned that the NIH recently changed its scoring table for grant applications. Where they had a 1-to-5 scale before, in 2009 nothing less than a 1-to-9 scale is good enough. However, the first five categories are labeled "exceptional", "outstanding", "excellent", "very good", and "good". It could be a sign of an imbalance. Projects rated less than "outstanding" face a small chance of getting funded.

Today, I committed a cultural mistake. Ordering a chicken-and-green-pepper-pizza-with-soda-combo-number-three-for-here-thank-you, there was enough cash in my wallet (not BE "purse") to cover the check (not "bill") to cover it. Mistake part one was to pay cash in the first place. Mistake part two was to wait for six cents change. I realized this after the cashier closed the counter without returning my change, but it was too late to back out without embarrassment. So I tried to look around in a noncommittal way without moving an inch. Finally he got the hint, reopened the counter and handed over my six cents. Score for the German.