Welcoming winter, and a new job
Tuesday, November 18th, 2008
Filed under: Life in general
Activity: 1 comment
Since I last wrote a lot has happened. About a month ago my boyfriend and I decided to part ways, and I moved out into a temporary apartment south of central Stockholm at Midsommarkransen. It’s a nice neighborhood, and I haven’t minded calling it home. The commute is relatively easy, although it’s about 20 minutes. Fortunately the Fruangen-Morby Centrum line takes me door-to-door between work and home.
Apart from the relationship drama, I also changed jobs and I now work in online marketing and search engine optimization. I’m now working at a great new company, and I love everything about my job — except for the negotiation process, so I won’t get into that here for your own sake. It’s not that exciting.
I work a block from Stureplan, which is by far the wealthiest area of the city. My co-workers are amazing and this is the first time I’ve actually looked forward to going to work every morning. I have made so many friends over the last month, and the strangest part is most of them aren’t Swedish. The internet company we work for is very international. It’s been a blast meeting people from all these other cultures!
Making friends and working long hours have helped ease the pain brought on by my breakup, and I’ve found that time has also been healing my system. I’m no longer as depressed as I felt at the start of October, and I’m kind of looking forward to exploring Sweden on my own for a while. Life is crazy, but it’s also wonderful at the same time. Sunday afternoon my temporary roommates (from Tallinn), and I looked out our living room window and watched the first snow fall. It was so beautiful… another fond European memory which I’ll always keep!
Customer service in Sweden and the USA
Wednesday, September 17th, 2008
Filed under: American culture, Swedish culture
Activity: 0 comments
I happened to be involved in an interesting conversation with one of my co-workers during our afternoon fika. Earlier in the week I scanned my blank absentee ballot and to show everyone at the company exactly what my fellow Americans and I will be voting about in November. They found it quite interesting apparently, because some random people asked me if I had mailed in my ballot yet. Then we talked about Sarah Palin…
Anyways, while we were discussing America and our cultural backgrounds, this rather solid looking man with a scruffy beard mentions how much he really enjoys good old American hospitality. I was greatly intrigued. I’ve seen this point argued back and forth on TheLocal forums, and I’m actually used to Swedes saying they feel being approached by a stranger who says, “Hi there, how are you today?”, is insincere and they would rather be left alone. I think NK is the only store in Stockholm where the salespeople regularly approach customers to engage in polite little pleasantries.
On the contrary, my new friend thinks it’s much warmer and friendlier the American way. He said, “I’d rather it be an insincere greeting, then receive no greeting at all”. We spoke about how dining out in Sweden can be a less than enjoyable experience because the service staff don’t work for tips, and therefore don’t really give a shit. Quality food service is actually something which I truly miss about the States… I can only seem to find it at the Japanese sushi bar around the corner.
So what do you prefer?
Do you like going out to a restaurant, and having a food server who always checks up on you and asks if you want a refill? Do you like going to buy a new shirt, and having a salesperson approach you to ask if you require assistance?
Or do you simply prefer to approach the salesperson or food server yourself, when the time is right, and you just want to order your food or pay?
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