Third Time Exasperated
Norwegians are lovely people, but I must admit it is very true that Norwegians in certain situations can be extremely rude.
At Restaurants
At fast food places like Burger King the workers prefer to serve the pretty young boys in their army uniforms first even though you have been waiting longer. At Dolly Dimples, the Norwegian Pizza chain, they make customers repeatedly have to return to the service desk as they always forget something in the order – water, cups, sauce, napkins, or even ingredients on the pizza. The rudeness comes when you’ve had to return a third time and they get ticked off at you for bothering them so much.
At the Airport
I would hate to be on a sinking ship with a Norwegian. They would push and shove you to get off first. Social consideration is not part of the Norwegian character. There is no such thing as elderly, babies or pregnant women first, as soon as the boarding announcement for a plane flight is made – it is every man for himself. We have flown with Farfar a couple of times and even when he is in a wheel chair no Norwegian is willing to let him go first in a boarding line. They don’t even make way so we can wheel him to the front of the line when there is a specific announcement for those who have children or mobility impairment to go first. Even when we did get to go first all the Norwegians behind us pushed past as we walked down the ramp. Travelling with children or pregnant is not easier.
At the Shops
There is a new type of Norwegian rudeness that I’ve discovered since I’ve been pregnant. At the checkout there tends to be a lot of ‘squeezer’s-through’. They don’t care who they push around or bump into just as long as they get through the checkout. This very day even I was packing my shopping at the checkout. When you are reaching for items to bag you don’t have a chance to protect your tummy. A man pushed through and squished my big belly into the edge of the checkout. It hurt but I just took it as an accident. A minute later a woman squeezed through and squished my belly into the checkout. I was annoyed but said nothing. A minute later another man push past and my belly was squished again into the checkout. I was exasperated. If only they knew that an hour earlier my midwife said if my waters break I have to call the ambulance because of the awkward position of the baby…
Normally I would say something to the person pushing through, if not on the first squish then at least on the second. (Not to be mean but to use it as a ‘teaching’ opportunity.) But the saying is true: When in Rome… In such situations Norwegians secretly complain or mumble under their breath, and that’s what I did too. ‘Letting it go’ seems to be very Norwegian. However, I can’t help but feel not saying anything means that I’m loosing part of my ‘Australianess’. Aussies always stick up for themselves and their mates, and certainly don’t put up with rudeness. I just wished that this time I was my Australian self.
However, I’ve also learnt that Norwegian rudeness isn’t normally intentional, it is generally because they don’t have perception of others around them. This is because they are in the habit of keeping to themselves. Being in their own little world is a typical Norwegian state of mind. Maybe if Norwegians became more aware of the people round them, even more considerate, Norway would be voted the best country to live in because of character and not because of modern commodities.
Comments
Powered by Facebook Comments
Subscribe
RSS
Wow, L-Jay, 10 points for not pushing back. You know an Aussie would think nothing of saying, “Hey, lady with a baby here!”
Amen to that. The first time I was in Norway, I was rushing so as to not miss my plane, when I came to an extra passport check I hadn’t counted on, directly before my gate (they didn’t have this extra checkpoint at the other countries I’d travelled through). There was a huge line, so I asked politely if I could be let through as I would otherwise miss my plane, to which I received the reply “You can wait like the rest of us”. I was shocked, cos I swear in Australia the reply would be “No worries, mate!”. Needless to say, I had the pleasure of watching my plane leave without me as I waited in the line
Good luck maintaining the aussie in ya. It’d be great to hear little norwegian kids running round yelling “on ya bike!”
____________________
From Moose:
Lilu certainly has Aussie genes – she is so loud, outgoing and boisterous compared to Norwegian kids. She always runs up to other kids and hugs them like they’re her best mate – to the dismay of the timid Norwegian.
I know your post is dated now, but your story is still valid! I have read A LOT of interesting information from other blogs, too, about the Norwegian rudeness factor, and it definitely sticks in people’s minds, whether they are just tourists or residents of Norway. I have certainly experienced it, but I learned that it is not so much intentional rudeness, but a social retardation towards strangers in general — the “bubble” you mentioned. However, it still baffles me how a nation that prides itself in being such a SOCIAL democracy, a nation where the grandest of honours — the Nobel Peace Prize — is awarded every year, and how a nation where charity to other countries is amongst the highest, can be so incredibly self-centred and self-entitled in regular everyday life.
I live in Bergen. There is an actual public relations campaign going on here within the transport system (buses and bybanen) where placards are displayed with messages to people about queuing properly, not talking loudly on mobiles, not putting feet on empty seats, giving up seats for elderly and pregnant women, not having volume loud on listening devices, etc. It amazes me that such messages have to be presented this way, because so many Norwegians (and other nationalities here, too) are so clueless about common courtesy!!
One comment I read on another blog summed it up rather well. “Norway is a nouveau-riche society — lots of money, resources, and influence, but very little social graces, sophistication, or taking responsibility for one’s actions or behaviour. ‘Money can’t buy class’ is often heard in other societies, but here, oil profit certainly proves that it can’t buy common courtesy.”
____________________
from L-Jay:
Yeah, I find Norwegians are almost over courteous and thoughtful to people they know but have no thought to strangers. At work today I asked if anyone knew of a place I could rent a trailer. Everyone tutted at me saying that I should have asked them first (to loan a trailer rather than renting one), almost as if it was rude that I didn’t…lol. You can’t win