Once upon a time, Europeans — not all but many — looked across the ocean to the American Dream with admiration and envy. Americans were more pragmatic, more positive, more energetic, more upbeat, and more honest. None of the dangling cigarette cynicism of the Italian intellectual, the entrenched ennui of the German burgomeister, the pervasive pessimism of the French bourgeoisie. In Europe, things got discussed. In the US, things got DONE.
When I moved to Italy, I learned that things got done there too, but it was different. I needed an hour’s worth of legal advice, and sought an expert lawyer whose rate was offputting. No problem, according to friends. “When he asks for X, tell him you are willing to pay X with a receipt, but you will pay ½ X without a receipt and see what he says.” What he said was, “Certo.” and pocketed the cash.
Fast forward some decades. I am now in the States but many of our financial and legal records are in storage in Italy. (Yes, much is digital but not everything). I needed one document and contacted the US white shoe law firm we had engaged five years ago because, surely, they would have kept our records. The response from the attorney was, “Call us to set up an appointment. Then engage us again and we can work on this.”
