Everything Sweden

What to expect from your neighbours

January 24, 2016

Swedes are the post passive aggressive people you will ever meet. In fact, there are a few good comedy books full of funny stories from neighbours that have written aggressive notes and messages to each other instead of face to face confrontations.

This is something that I’ve noticed over the past few months living in Sweden. Sweden is known for being a polite, anti-conflict society, but live here for a few months and you will notice something else.

There are a series of books by a comedian called David Batra, that uncover the hidden aggression in Swedish society. He has collected angry notes and stories from neighbours living in the same apartment blocks, and they make for some hilarious reading.

Take this for example. I have a friend who just moved into a new apartment block. He went to take his recycling to the garbage room and saw that all of the bins were full. So instead of taking the recycling back to his apartment, he just left the bags on the floor and left.

Later that day, he got an angry note through his door saying “it is not ok to leave your recycling on the floor”. His stranger had gone though my friends recycling to find a letter with his address, and then found him in the apartment block just to tell him he was in the wrong! Most people would just leave it…not here.

There are a series of books by a comedian called David Batra, that uncover the hidden aggression in Swedish society. He has collected angry notes and stories from neighbours living in the same apartment blocks, and they make for some hilarious reading.

So be prepared. Most apartments in Sweden are maintained by housing associations and many take pride in where they live so make sure you follow the rules.

Photo Credits: Ann-Sofi Rosenkvist/imagebank.sweden.se