Same job, different country, and a bad omen from the rules of Swedish rounding

It’s kind of bizarre working for the same company in a completely different country. It’s all very familiar, yet it’s very different in many ways. The same (or similar) policies and procedures exist, yet they are enforced to varying levels and degrees. Some things that had me banging my head against a brick wall in New Zealand are either done so differently, more efficiently, or make more sense the way they occur in Sweden, they have me sighing with relief. The reverse is also true though, although this seems less common, or perhaps that’s my rose tinted (new job) spectacles which haven’t had a chance to wear off yet! For obvious reasons I won’t name specifics, or even the company I work for – I don’t want to get fired! Let us call them “U*S” so they remain anonymous. I would of course like to point out that “U*S” are an incredible company to work for!

The most important thing I had to learn on my first day of work was fika. It was mentioned nearly immediately upon my arrival and at least a dozen times during the morning leading up to it, always with a growing sense excitement. Of course I had heard of fika before coming to Sweden. It is hard not too when you mention you are moving there. It had even been mentioned during my interview at least a couple of times. And finally there I was, ready to enjoy my first fika. So what is fika? Fika is a social institution in Sweden and it simply means to have a break, more often than not a coffee break. Most companies in Sweden gather at least once a day to stop work and take fika together. Of course, many, as it was emphasised to me later in the day have at least two fika a day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. But I’m not too sure the shareholders at “U*S” would approve of such idleness – too much time to plot the company takeover. So much had been said of fika I didn't really know what to expect. It was however quite a simple affair, coffee and biscuits at three o’clock. A small turn out on day one.  A mere five souls met for approximately fifteen minutes, chatted jollily before returning to work. And there it was my very first fika.  Not quite the rowdy affair I had expected, but a welcome break none-the-less and a chance to put some more names to faces and vica-verca. I missed fika today (day 2) despite been reminded several times, as I was at the tax office – but that’s a whole other story.

Anyway, so apart from fika I have been working very hard. I learnt how to undertake four very important things in two days.

1. I’ve figured out how to work my phone, send a text message and even make a call! Everything is in Swedish, it is harder than it sounds!

2. I have learnt how to adjust the height of my desk. Now that sounds a little pathetic, and maybe others in more advanced countries than I have ever lived before will laugh at my excitement, but you can control the height of the desks in the office with the touch of a button. So when you are sick of working really hard sitting on your behind, you can raise the desk to standing height and work even harder standing up. And then when your legs get too tired standing up, you press the down button and return to where you started. And you can do this every five minutes if you like until you get bored of the new toy by lunchtime and then forget it about for the rest of your employment. Just a word of warning though, make sure the cables to your computer are not tangled around various office detritus when undertaking this manoeuvre and also that your desk is not jammed so hard against the wall it attempts to take the paint off as it moves… just saying. Well, I thought that was pretty cool and proudly made by IKEA too.

A desk designed for 10 ft Scandinavians.

3. I have learnt to make the coffee. Now this is a very important part of Swedish culture. Unfortunately I managed to flood the kitchen on my first attempt. From now on, coffee making will be included in inductions for all new staff at the Stockholm office. Well, maybe just for stupid people who lived on streets called Pratt before they came to Sweden. “That has never happened before”. I think I’ll steer clear of the coffee machine for a bit. I would imagine I would have been very unpopular if I had disturbed fika with my flood. Luckily there was plenty of time to clean up the mess and hide the evidence before three o’clock rolled on by.

4. Actually there is no number four, well at least I can’t remember what it was. But if I learnt two things on Monday, and only one on Tuesday, I’m halving the amount of things I learn daily, which does not bode well for tomorrow, where I will only be learning half a thing (which is nothing if you apply the rules of Swedish rounding – which has never been more relevant to the situation).