robinbloke | (no subject)

The ISO Standard is "a network of national standards institutes from 148 countries working in partnership with international organizations, governments, industry, business and consumer representatives."

It's a way of standardising aspects of work practice and other things in order that other businesses can recognise how another is run and what sort of practices and documentation etc that company can be expected to maintain.

This is a good idea, but it could be taken further, since social situations are a very relative thing I hereby propose that the ISO standards committee hereby institute, fund and organise a set of ISO standard social settings such that for any given social occasion and ISO standard level for a variety of factors can be established. This will enable any visitor from any country and any party/etc to be aware of any quirks or expectations as regards to the social situation before they arrive and, thus forewarned, can prepare themselves appropriately for the situation ahead.

Important categories could be...

Attire; the kind of clothing that one is expected to wear.
Gifts; If one is expected to attend the function bearing any gifts
Conversation; Taboo areas of conversion at this function, expected areas of conversation at this function
Duration; Expected duration of the function.

and so on...