r/Norway 9d ago

Working in Norway Etiquette? Common courtesy?

This may offend people and get down voted. It is what it is. Do Norwegians not learn common courtesy or street etiquette when they are kids? For real. So sick of this. Always stopping and standing in the middle of an aisle or sidewalk to talk, fix a bag, etc. Don't care about the people behind you. When they're walking down a sidewalk, they just walk in the middle, on the wrong side, walk 2 or 3 abreast, not caring about people walking towards you. Don't let other people off public transport before you push your way on. The last straw was tonight when I was at Meny, and a lady didn't even let me finish my order before she was pushing her way into my self checkout. I go to grab my receipt with my barcode to get out, she looks at me and goes "Ja". You guys don't give a shit about anyone but yourself, for real. This needs to be said

489 Upvotes

304 comments sorted by

View all comments

51

u/Shadowrunner138 9d ago edited 9d ago

Your speech mannerisms sound American, and if you are an American, you're being a raging hypocrite because we're no better in public. I work in tourism in a famous national park in the U.S. and go through this every day. In the U.S. it's common to be told "If you don't like it here, leave". That may be good advice for your situation. Have you ever had the courage to vent to a Norwegian face to face on the street? Just curious.

16

u/Ambitious_League4606 9d ago

Way more civilised in UK actually, we like to queue 

1

u/Open_Put_7716 9d ago

UK queueing isn't what it was

1

u/stettix 9d ago

I disagree. Young people have even started queueing in pubs, which was never a thing and definitely a step too far! https://www.reddit.com/r/AskUK/s/EBpt7i2mm4

1

u/Open_Put_7716 8d ago

That's completely mental. But queuing in the wrong place doesn't compensate for not queuing in the right place.

18

u/Ok_Chard2094 9d ago

Not to mention behavior on US highways. Slower traffic, keep right? Pass on the left? "Nah, not me. I like to drive in the left lane at my own speed. It's my right to do as I want."

10

u/Shadowrunner138 9d ago

I was nearly killed in a crosswalk because people were walking in opposite directions, and an incoming driver decided instead of letting us all cross, he should try to speed through the gap of people in the middle before it closed. Completely agree we're very hostile drivers in general.

8

u/IsaRat8989 9d ago

Tbf, We don't fear getting shot down by thinking the person walking behind us might get offended.

-31

u/[deleted] 9d ago

Do you know the definition of "hypocrite"? I practice what I preach. Nice try though.

23

u/Shadowrunner138 9d ago

We'll all interpret that as a "no" to the question, lol.

36

u/Announcement90 9d ago

You are speaking of Norwegians as though we are a monolith. So, since you're dishing it you're going to have to take being held responsible for the behavior of your fellow countrymen as well. So yes - hypocrite.

5

u/Rumdolf 9d ago

Is there any country where your complaints are generally not or never a thing?