Siesta, Don't talk to me about siesta! I worked in the Middle East for seven years and I still fall asleep after lunch.

Comparisons should only be made from personal experience and should not be extrapolated to include whole nations. Having said that, my experience is that in the US they work harder, in the UK they work smarter. When I worked for one company in the US I soon realised that they were not keeping check in sick days. So I started taking one day off sick every week. This was never noticed. What WAS noticed was, that I was handling more calls (in a customer support job) than anyone else in the department.

When I tried to show MY system to the others - no one was interested.

THAT's the difference;-)