trust

trust and society, these two words rarely go hand in hand…

really? a trust-based society… how can that be? i wonder…… and so do you, probably

well, it is, i think the danish are a great example of this, and i will just tell you a couple of stories that happened to me in the past 2-3 months. so here we go:

organizing the christmas dinner for my master’s program, i had to go and rent out a sound system for the party. i called the company and talked to the owner, agreed that i would pick up the stuff on friday at 2 pm.

on friday, went to the place, the owner was not there but my stuff was already prepared and waiting for me at the entrance. another guy came out and greeted me, told him that i talked to the owner and that i came for the speakers and woofer and mixer, etc.

he said ok, i packed the stuff into a car (thank you Anna! ) and left.

at this point, they didn’t know where the stuff was going, what my name was, didn’t know any info about me, yet they trusted me.

the second day, i returned the things, the owner was there, i paid him, had a nice chat and left.

i think this is the ultimate example of trust, when a businessman puts his business on the line based on trust.

another example happened yesterday, we went ice-skating.

know, all of you know that at home, you pay the entry fee, and if you want to rent skates they take you id, sometimes make you sign stuff, etc.

we arrived at 2, found out that the skating ring was for free, we only needed to pay for the skates..

went up to the nice lady, asked her for a pair of size 41 skates, paid her and left. and we both smiled. no papers, no id, no nothing.

afterwards, we changed, i left my backpack with my boots and other stuff in it, on the side of the ring, now this is an open ring, in the middle of a square in front of the music house. lots of people go by, yet i knew that as the rental lady trusted me to return the skates; i could also trust the other persons and not worry about my stuff.   after we were done, we returned the skates, smiled and left

and my last example for now is a general one. at school, even though sometimes we have courses with 300 people there, i can confidently leave my laptop and other stuff on the table and leave the classroom, knowing that nothing will happen to them.

this is just a great feeling.

thanks!

UPDATE:

True story from a very good friend. names have been ommitted.

“- you want example of denmark

- here it comes: i have left my credit cards with my passport with euros and 250 dkk in purse at the toilet in the gas station where we stopped on the way back yesterday.  Before i found out, somebody called me and told me they have it. The girl called me again, they are sending it to me. EVERYTHING is inside. money. credit cards. passport. bus card.

everything

……………I love this country”

the order of things

the order of things and the dependability is amazing here. full stop.

i’ll give a few examples.

1. the good old case with my residence permit. i didn’t get it when i thought i was supposed to get it. on a wednesday afternoon i went to “skat” which is the state registry office (public domain), they told me it’s not ready yet but i will get it by the end of the week. it came by post friday morning.

2. the CPR number (CNP in romania) – i went to the “raadhus” (city hall), i filled out my name, birth date and address on a form, gave the lady a photo of myself and a she took a copy of my passport. this was on a monday; she told me i will get my CPR number by mail the next wednesday. tuesday morning it was on my doorstep. she also told me i would get my yellow card (health insurance card for which i chose my doctors when giving her the papers for the CPR) one week after i get my CPR, also by mail. compared to this, i got the card 2 days after i got my cpr (the cpr was already imprinted on the card along with the doctors’ name)

3. bank account. i went to the bank, opened an account in 1 minute, the lady told me i would get my e-banking instructions in 2 days by mail – in english, because i am, after all a foreign citizen. this was on a friday. I got my e-banking id on tuesday, the active card on wednesday(today) and i should get the mastercard in a couple of days (10 day limit). i promised to update this post, so here it is: i got my mastercard today (thursday, oct 1), a couple of days earlier than the deadline….

4. you get on the bus in the back and you get off in the front. period.

5. if a place opens at 20.00, it opens at 20.00.

etc etc.

i’ll probably update this post soon with new stuff.

ps: sorry if it seems cocky, it’s just amazing that things can work well…there is hope