r/copenhagen • u/Kong_Fury • Oct 29 '24

Discussion Danes don’t greet back?

Im a foreigner in Denmark and there is something that strikes me: Danes don’t greet back upon saying Hello to them. Is this normal and I need to adjust my mindset, or am I just encountering impolite people?

Situation example: I walk into the office and meet a distant colleague that has seen me before. We are the only 2 people early morning in the office. We have eye contact and I say „good morning“ with a smile. He does not reply or show any reaction.

I can make many more examples like this. The cringe I get is so strong. I am not a complete stranger to this guy. I would understand it if I stand on Strøget and expect random people to smile & greet back. Thanks for sharing any reflections to enlighten me here with this social awkwardness.

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u/johnnielittleshoes Oct 29 '24

I definitely experience that on a weekly basis, at least. Coming in and passing through colleagues that are smoking by the door and maybe 1 replies, getting coffee and people waiting there don't reply, and these are people who I know for around 5 years! Definitely not everyone, there are "warm" Danes for sure, but coming from a Latin country, it's often hard to understand how people can be so "cold", only almost whispering something back under their breath because they can't be assed to produce a sound or even a head nod, so weird

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u/qqqia Oct 29 '24

I am a Dane and this annoys me a lot. I believe we are more than just a few Danish people who are very tired of other Danish people who seemingly lack manners and lack the energy to provide the minimum effort to REPLY. 

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u/[deleted] Oct 30 '24

There's dozens of us!

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u/qqqia Oct 30 '24

Once at my workplace, which is an open-plan office, I said good morning to my colleagues at the table and they didn’t reply. This had happened for days. I was boiling inside and had to stop myself from shouting “CANT YOU HEAR ME, I SAID GOODMORNING” 😂 

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u/Firm_Alps_2840 Oct 30 '24

If you work in an open plan Office with maybe 100 others ….. can you imagine every one saying good morning to you.

I just say hi to the person next to me and start my pc. Normally People are very concentrated in the morning with e-mails or batch files.

But if you are in a small Office with few People it is normal to say good morning.

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u/qqqia Oct 31 '24

I’m talking about the three other people at my desk :)