The Local - Why is service so bad in Sweden?

The Local - Why is service so bad in Sweden?

I recently came across this site which has English summaries of what is going on in local Swedish newspapers and on the TV news. They also do polls and surveys which people can comment. This one in particular struck me. Its hard to explain Swedish rudeness but Kelvin comes pretty close. The deal is that they appear very rude, almost to the point of inspiring me to violence at a certain coffee shop near my office but that's for another time but in fact are quite nice behind the stone face. The 'lack of social skills' part is so true it made me a little dizzy to read it. Dave points out correctly that its a bizarre combination "In many ways Sweden is a paradox, a very individualist culture combined with a socialist redistributive political system. The service mentality reflects this individualism.". Tina and I have talked alot about this, in some ways you would call them selfish (I have heard her make the ICA grocery store example a million times) but its selfish in the way a baby is, no so much that they want thing to the exclusion of others, its that they seem only vaguely aware that other people exist.

Its all quite different from what you would see in the US in the same situation. In America we tend to be more aggresively, confrontational rude. We make sure that the object of our rudeness knows that we are aware of their existence.