The 8:00 meeting is not an 8:05 meeting: Do's and Don'ts in Denmark | The How to Live in Denmark...

1 year ago
11

I did a little crowdsourcing for this week's podcast. I asked some of our listeners, and some people on Facebook - what were some of the small cultural mistakes - the dos and don'ts, the faux pas - you made when you first arrived in Denmark?

I got a whole selection of answers. Don't keep your shoes on while entering someone's home was one thing. Don't arrive even a few minutes late was another. The 8:00 meeting is not an 8:05 meeting. Trying to bum a cigarette - not done in Denmark. Calling after 9:30 in the evening or so - not done in Denmark. Dropping by to see a friend unannounced - not done in Denmark.

One girl mentioned that she had eaten the last piece of cake on a plate. You should never eat the last piece of anything in Denmark, at least without asking every single person present. If you don't want to do that, the proper etiquette is to slice the piece of cake in half, and take half. And then the next person will slice that half in half. And so on. In the end there will be a little transparent slice left to shrivel up in the middle of the plate.

This is the forty-sixth episode of the "How to Live in Denmark podcast", and originally ran in 2015.

Get all of Kay Xander Mellish's books on Denmark at http://books.howtoliveindenmark.com. Book Kay for a talk to your group or organization at http://events.howtoliveindenmark.com.

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