(edit title) Sweden sucks! Vent here! Only negative posts please Options

[Gamla Hälsingebock]

I don't want to seem to be pro or con but, we have only heard one side...the fact that the Union and HR both saw something different, from what was posted, makes me think...you should too...I think it is a case of not truly understanding Swedish culture and customer relations.

[jack sprat]

I don't want to seem to be pro or con but, we have only heard one side...the fact that the Union and HR both saw something different, from what was posted, makes me think. ... (show full quote)

I don't want to seem to be pro or con but, we have only heard one side...the fact that the Union and HR both saw something different, from what was posted, makes me think...you should too...I think it is a case of not truly understanding Swedish culture and customer relations. ... (hide full quote)

Of course you don't want to seem pro or con Gamla despite the fact you so obviously are.

If so-called neutral Sweden started WW3 tomorrow, it wpould no doubt be every bugger elses fault cos they didn't understand "Swedish Culture",.... which in itself begs the question,... "What the hell is Swedish culture ?"

If there ever was any, it must long ago have disappeared down the tubes or far away to foreign shores together with the long lost Vikings, who seem to have been replaced with a nation of mindless sheep-like zombies.

Having said all that the women aren't so bad though and well worth a gallup most nights of the week.
.

[Gamla Hälsingebock]

Jack, you old son of gun!

Long time...no see...no hear!

I missed you!

The question of Swedish culture is a mystery...not penetrated by such lads as you!

You desire Swedish women because you need to be, trained, civilized and corrected...that, they do this for you is an act of shall I say, "PITY"...no, no, no, you don't deserve that!

Sorry!

It's better categorised as an act of kindness...yes!...Jack, you can be redeemed!

When you are fully indoctrinated (potty trained) you will love Sweden!...Err, ahh or else, messy!

Now the fun begins...you guys love to conquer and subjugate!

You turn to Sweden for up to date weapons systems...and they deliver... a match made for equal enjoyment and pleasure.

C'mon, Jack, there's, a good lad!

We know it's in 'ya!

[John.Smith]

@Gamla
Swedish culture not withstanding, everyone else in my department wants this guy gone and no other department manager will take him either. Part of the issue is that this lad had a workplace accident a number of years ago and a settlement was made. He was not at fault and I guess our employer feel some kind of 'debt' to him along with huge pressure from the union of course.

Up here (North) it is very very rare that someone is fired, even if they are unfit for work. He also rejected an offer from us to retrain and upskill. I know he has personal problems but he is simply not willing to help himself and/or receive any support. Enough is enough in my opinion and I firmly believe he should be fired even if his union buddies kick up arms.

The real kick in the nuts for me right now is that I am in desperate need of additional personnel and this guy is a budget drain.... non productive and bad for morale.

[Rick Methven]

@GamlaSwedish culture not withstanding, everyone else in my department wants this guy gone and no other department manager will take him either. Part of the issue is that this ... (show full quote)

@Gamla
Swedish culture not withstanding, everyone else in my department wants this guy gone and no other department manager will take him either. Part of the issue is that this lad had a workplace accident a number of years ago and a settlement was made. He was not at fault and I guess our employer feel some kind of 'debt' to him along with huge pressure from the union of course.

Up here (North) it is very very rare that someone is fired, even if they are unfit for work. He also rejected an offer from us to retrain and upskill. I know he has personal problems but he is simply not willing to help himself and/or receive any support. Enough is enough in my opinion and I firmly believe he should be fired even if his union buddies kick up arms.

The real kick in the nuts for me right now is that I am in desperate need of additional personnel and this guy is a budget drain... non productive and bad for morale. ... (hide full quote)

Sounds like the situation I was faced with when I first came to Sweden.

I was trying to build up a new sales organisation, hire people and get a whole new aircraft program under way but because I was a foreigner, I was not allowed inside the security fence at SAAB without an escort so I had to have an office in a building outside. The only room they had was like a cupboard with enough room for a small desk and a chair, that you could not get 2 people in or close the door.

I noticed that a very large office next door was permanently empty, and I asked who's office it was to be told that it was for a guy who came in for 1 hour once a month as he was on permanent sick leave after being hit on the head by a propeller out in the field. He just popped in to check if he had any mail and have a cup of coffee every now and then.

I suggested that as he did not have any work to do and I had a lot of work to do that was being hindered by the lack of office space, that we swap offices. The mere suggestion brought looks of horror from the Swedes. I was informed in no uncertain terms that he had been a senior manager which is why he had a big office and to take it away from him and down grade him to a cupboard would give him the impression that he was not valued any more

[klubbnika]

Unbelievable ... so damn frustrating. 'My' guy once went on a business trip with me and some of my team. We were 3 weeks in Ohio at a customer site. He was reasonably ... (show full quote)

Unbelievable ... so damn frustrating. 'My' guy once went on a business trip with me and some of my team. We were 3 weeks in Ohio at a customer site. He was reasonably well behaved but chose to take a very low profile in the evenings. I thought nothing of it until I met him one evening in a local super market near the hotel. He had a couple of 1 gallon bottles of store-brand vodka. He brushed it off saying he wanted to bring them back to Sweden as it was cheap to buy etc... I met him again later in the week one evening in the same shop with 2 more bottles... The last evening we wall went out for dinner with the customer group and then headed off nice bar. During dinner he drank a whole bottle of wine to himself and then at the bar he was knocking back vodka. He got so drunk and leery that the bar girls refused to serve him. During all of this time I was trying to convince him to stop drinking and come back with me to the hotel. He refused, and on top of that tried to fight me!!! In front of customers!!!! It all exploded when he put his arm around a female customer who was ahem... very 'hour-glassey' in figure and started staring at her attributes... he was practically drooling. At that stage I asked the security in the bar to help me remove him. Thankfully the hotel was a 10 minute walk so me and he walked back and I told him that he HAD to report for work at 08:00am the next morning as we were flying out at 16:00 and needed to wrap up a few things. He didn't appear for work, didn't call and didn't answer his phone.
It turns out he continued drinking back at the hotel in his room, passed out in the hallway and vomited everywhere. He was found by staff at the hotel and asked to leave. He packed his bags, went to the airport and rebooked a different flight for earlier in the day. He drank at the airport, somehow managed to board the plane and drank there too!!. He had to be carried off the plane in Chicago and missed his flight to Arlanda...

He stayed the weekend in Chicago drinking and bought a new ticket home. When he came back to the office here in Sweden he pretended like everything was normal and perfect. I showed him the written complaint from the customer, showed him the huge travel bills he racked up and gave him a written warning. HR decided to remove the written warning on foot of pressure from the union...

I almost resigned there and then...

*another rant over* ... (hide full quote)

It's unbelievable how easy one takes on with alcoholics in Sweden. It's very frustrating, I just hate it. Same goes for the drunken misbehaviour which you have to tolerate privately too. Also, being drunk is considered to be a legitimate excuse for all kinds of horrible actions by the drunken individual.

And that is at the same time as one thinks that an occasional pot smoking equals to a heavy drug use and is not to be tolerated! Not a pot smoker myself but I see the how grotesque this point of view is.

[John.Smith]

+1
I see it at work events. Some (not many thankfully) people go all out monkey-poo crazy!!

[Gamla Hälsingebock]

@GamlaSwedish culture not withstanding, everyone else in my department wants this guy gone and no other department manager will take him either. Part of the issue is that this ... (show full quote)

@Gamla
Swedish culture not withstanding, everyone else in my department wants this guy gone and no other department manager will take him either. Part of the issue is that this lad had a workplace accident a number of years ago and a settlement was made. He was not at fault and I guess our employer feel some kind of 'debt' to him along with huge pressure from the union of course.

Up here (North) it is very very rare that someone is fired, even if they are unfit for work. He also rejected an offer from us to retrain and upskill. I know he has personal problems but he is simply not willing to help himself and/or receive any support. Enough is enough in my opinion and I firmly believe he should be fired even if his union buddies kick up arms.

The real kick in the nuts for me right now is that I am in desperate need of additional personnel and this guy is a budget drain... non productive and bad for morale. ... (hide full quote)

@JOHN, I always write with a bit of a twist so to speak...tongue in cheek, as it were.

I have been a manager mostly all my work life, age 24 Shop Foreman, Production manager, etc..

Getting the job done through the work of others is a tough deal! On a professional level I sympathize with you.

Then only thing I can suggest is meticulous documentation, any act recorded will begin to have weight eventually...it won't be easy and it will seem that your life's job is to rid yourself of this guy and nothing else...but there it is...AND your superiors will have to be part of this also...if they aren't it's no go...I have been sold out many times to."keep Union peace".

Good luck,
GH

[John.Smith]

Thanks Gamla,
Yep, I have been doing that all along, I am well versed in handling difficult employee situations and union negotiations from back in the UK. However part of the issue is a very weak HR department. This guy is an extreme case and he is 'known' as a difficult employee. It is almost like he takes pride in frustrating his managers.

Apologies if my previous posts came across as the rantings of a frustrated manager... I am little sour because of the fact that I have had to work this whole damn weekend including yesterday due to the fact that I cannot take on new resources

I had planned on taking the rest of my 10 days parental leave (new baby 3 weeks ago) this week and so far have only been able to take 4 days since my little daughter was born... (actually worked from home)

Maybe time for me to change my job...

[entry]

I had planned on taking the rest of my 10 days parental leave (new baby 3 weeks ago) this week and so far have only been able to take 4 days since my little daughter was born. ... (show full quote)

I had planned on taking the rest of my 10 days parental leave (new baby 3 weeks ago) this week and so far have only been able to take 4 days since my little daughter was born... (actually worked from home) ... (hide full quote)

Congrats on the new addition to your family. Yes, you should take some time and get acclimated to the new situation.

Maybe time for me to change my job...

Think hard on that, don't be rash. If you are thinking that way this one situation may not be the only reason for you to be thinking so. Best of luck to you.

[John.Smith]

Congrats on the new addition to your family. Yes, you should take some time and get acclimated to the new situation.Think hard on that, don't be rash. If you are thinking ... (show full quote)

Congrats on the new addition to your family. Yes, you should take some time and get acclimated to the new situation.

Think hard on that, don't be rash. If you are thinking that way this one situation may not be the only reason for you to be thinking so. Best of luck to you. ... (hide full quote)

Thanks Entry,
It is our 3rd child and we are blessed. Changing jobs has been on my mind for a while anyhow. But I am not in any rush either, I love the job (in terms of what I do) and generally they are a good outfit to work for. Just going through a professional rough patch and throwing a bit of a hissy-fit

I'll probably get over it once this project is delivered.

[jim747]

Swedish meatballs - Win

[BeckyJL]

-I love the food in Sweden, herring is amazing! I love love love it!

-I love the bread in Sweden, my favorite right now is named something like pågan(?) but I've moved onto something yummier of late, can't remember the name

-People are so nice in Sweden (or at least they are nice to me )

-The language is awesome, I love listening to it!

-I really like reading about Swedish history and looking at old maps (such an interesting(and slightly dark O.o) history!)

-I love that the most enthusiastic gamers in my fav games are actually Swedish

-I love the transport, it is fast an reliable!!( in my home town in the UK I used to have to get up at 5am to go 20 minutes down the road and get to work at 9am most of the time because of the bottlenecks on the motorway -.-)

-Stockholm is one of the most beautiful cities I've ever seen (most of it newho)

-Restaurants sell food that actually tastes of something in Sweden (not like the rubbery, tasteless stuff you pay 80 pounds for and leave feeling cheated in the UK)

-I love how helpful shop assistants are in Sweden

-I love that I can go jogging in ACTUAL forests in Sweden!

-I love the weather in Sweden! Even the rain, even the snow (so much snow!)

-I love the birds in Sweden... I saw my first ever woodpecker the other month! It was so cute!

-Christmas in Stockholm is magical!

-Those little white flowers growing everywhere smell wonderful!

-I saw a giant rabbit hopping around the other day, it was huge!

- vegetables taste of something other than water in Sweden...

There is way more than that but my fingers hurt...

[AW1]

BeckyJL, why it sucks. Not why you love it.. ;-)

[Silberfüchschen]

-I saw a giant rabbit hopping around the other day, it was huge!

Most likely a hare.