Let's Master American Soft Skills. Raj Boone's Gadasalli
world. Hundreds of books have been written on these subjects and hundreds of seminars are conducted all over the world. The essence is distilled here and presented under:
7 Tips for Superior Customer Service
7 Tips for Win-Win Negotiations.
7 Tips for Time Management and
7 Tips for Stress Management
As before, feedback from discerning readers for continuous improvement to the contents would be gratefully appreciated.
Chapter 1
General information about the USA
| •Geography |
| •The States of the Union |
| •The Flag |
| •Government |
| •Legislature |
| •Governors |
| •Official language |
| •Religion |
| •Demographics |
| •Economy |
| •Education |
| •Sports and Leisure |
| •Immigration |
| •World famous Immigrants |
General Information
The United States of America was born on the fourth of July in the year 1776. This day is celebrated as Independence Day. It is a national holiday.
USA is the fourth largest country in the world. It spans about 3600 miles east west and 2000 miles north south. The country is so vast from east to west that it spans four different time zones. When it is 9 a.m. in New York, it is still 6 a.m. in Los Angeles!
Geography
The US comprises of 48 contiguous states called the Continental United States and the states of Alaska and Hawai making a total of 50 states. City of Washington in the District of Columbia is the capital. Not to be confused with the state of Washington which lies thousands of miles to the Northwest of Washington D.C.
The States of the Union
For the sake of convenient communication each state has been assigned a two letter alphabetical code. For example instead writing Dallas. Texas, it is adequate to write Dallas. TX. The US Postal Service is geared up to recognize the two letter abbreviations. Here is the full list of states and their two letter abbreviations.
Alabama. AL, Alaska. AK, Arizona. AZ,
Arkansas. AR, California. CA, Colorado. CO, Connecticut. CT, Delaware. DE, Florida. FL,
Georgia. GA, Hawaii. HI, Idaho. ID. Illinois. IL.
Indiana. IN, Iowa. IA, Kansas. KA, Kentucky. KY, Louisiana. LA, Maine. ME, Maryland. MD, Massachusetts. MA, Michigan. MI,
Minnesota. MN. Mississippi. MS, Missouri. MO.
Montana. MT. Nebraska. NE, Nevada. NV,
New Hampshire. NH, New Jersey. NJ,
New Mexico. NM, New York. NY.
North Carolina. NC, North Dakota. ND.
Ohio. OH, Oklahoma. OK.
Oregon. OR. Pennsylvania. PA, Rhode Island. RI,
South Carolina. SC, South Dakota. SD.
Tennessee. TN. Texas. TX, Utah. UT, Vermont, VT. Virginia. VA, Washington. WA, West Virginia. WV, Wisconsin. WI, Wyoming. WY.
And this is how you identify cities.
Austin, TX. Buffalo, NY. Chicago, IL.
Dartmouth, NH. Englewood, CO.
Richmond, VA, Milwaukee, WI.
New York, NY. San Francisco, CA.
The American Flag
The American flag also referred to as The Star Spangled banner or Stars and Stripes, has 13 stripes representing the original colonies created by early European settlers and 50 stars representing the 50 states of today. Most countries of the world consider their national flags to be sacrosanct but not so the Americans. You can publicly burn or defile the Stars and Stripes! You can claim protection from being prosecuted under the constitutional guarantee of ‘Free Speech’, called the First amendment right.
Government
The US has a Federal form of government with three branches, an Executive branch headed by an elected President, a Judiciary appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate and the Legislative branch called the Congress of the United States, comprising of two chambers – a Senate and a House of Representatives. As per the US Constitution, the President has to be an American by birth. The Whitehouse is the President’s official residence. He works out of the Oval office, which is also situated in the same building.
The Legislature
is in a magnificent building called the Capitol and the area is called Capitol Hill. The House of Representatives and the Senate are un this edifice.
Governors
Directly elected Governors are the heads of states. New York, Chicago and Los Angeles have City – Governments headed by Mayors. These cities do not come under the jurisdiction of respective Governors.
Official language
English is the official Language but there is no official religion.
Religion
The religion with most followers is Christianity. With total religious freedom, millions of people practice their own faiths. There are over 150 Hindu temples besides several well known Mosques and Synagogues.
Demographics
Estimated population is 300 million, including Illegal immigrants. California, New York and Texas are the most populous states and a majority of Indians live there. Silicon Valley, the IT capital of the world is in Northern California.
| US – Demographics | |
| Population, 2008 | 304,059,728 |
| White persons. | 75.1% |
| Black or African American persons. | 12.3% |
| Asian persons. | 3.6% |
| Foreign born persons. | 11.1% |
| Business QuickFacts | USA |
| Private non-farm establishments, 1999 | 7,008,444 |
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Private non-farm employment, 1999
|