Alex's Alliterative Adventures

Thoughts on Programming, Life, and Travel

Swedish Bureaucracy

The Swedes are a notoriously bureaucratic people.  Personal numbers must be submitted, receipts must be accounted for, and if you use the wrong cover in your TPS report, you should expect a stern reprimand from your six bosses. From this cultural observation, one can infer that managerial positions are highly coveted among the Swedes; the master of bureaucracy is the master of life itself.

The Swedish word for manager is “chef”.

9 comments

9 Comments so far

  1. Dad October 11th, 2006 11:21 am

    This causes me to see the Muppets’ Swedish Chef in a whole new (somewhat disturbing)light. And he seemed to be such an easy going guy, too…..

  2. Alex October 11th, 2006 1:34 pm

    You’d think that, but that’s just how he manages his underlings so efficiently.

  3. Chien October 11th, 2006 5:29 pm

    Are you in Lund or Uppsala?

  4. Alex October 11th, 2006 5:30 pm

    I’m in Lund.

  5. Captain Bee October 11th, 2006 8:26 pm

    Haha. The TPS reference is CLASSIC.

  6. Grandma October 12th, 2006 6:21 am

    what is the word for union as in strike?

  7. Alex October 12th, 2006 6:36 am

    If I’m picking the right definition, it’s “fackförening”. There are about a billion choices, though, check out http://www-lexikon.nada.kth.se/skolverket/swe-eng.shtml

    If any of you happen to know of a better online swedish dictionary, especially one that can translate blocks of text without any stupid trial periods, TELL ME. please. I’ll give you my first-born child.

    That reminds me, I have to get me a first-born child. They’re great bartering chips.

  8. Chien October 12th, 2006 9:21 pm

    It’s so weird someone from Uppsala keeps visiting my blog too… I thought one of them would be you (obviously)

  9. Alex October 13th, 2006 4:45 am

    Hmm… Maybe someone followed a link from my blog, or maybe my address is reporting as being from Uppsala. Dunno.

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