The not so good news about the Danish holiday system

It’s true about the five to six weeks holiday. What’s also true is that you have to wait 12 months to be eligible to take paid leave. That didn’t worry me because the same is usually true in Australia and, of course, you can always take unpaid leave.

What I hadn’t realised was that 12 months is calculated from May to May, so actually I won’t be eligible from paid leave until June next year. That’s 18 months from when I started! Certainly it’s no big drama but it does call for careful economy – something I’m not so wonderful at.

It’s something to keep in mind if you come to work in Denmark and to question on your contract. I don’t know if there is a way around it or if every company follows the rule but it doesn’t hurt to ask, especially if you have the option of starting work in May over June!

Something odd in Denmark...

Okay, so I have finally found something weird about Danes. It’s work-related.

For a while now I’ve noticed that at work people can act really strangely. Now, I can understand one's boss/es being like this because as per the book of boss rules, they have to keep their distance in case they have to sack you next week. However, that rule in Denmark surely doesn't apply to everyone... One day someone will pass you in the corridor and smile or say ‘Hej’ and the next day, they’ll walk straight past you without making eye contact or recognising your existence. For some time I took it rather personally, fearing, as is my personality, I must have done something wrong. (Yes, I know the world evolved around me!). But seriously, this situation happens often.

An opportunity arose over lunch today for me to comment about it. Happily, the other non-Danes I was lunching with had noticed the same thing. I must say it was reassuring to find I wasn’t the only one who’d experienced it. A long-time new-Dane even commented that he had seen people outside work while shopping etc. and they’d ignored him or looked straight past him. One girl had even looked at him and looked away.

To me, that’s really odd. Any of this would rarely happen in Australia. I mean, you either like people or you don’t but common courtesy dictates that you, at the very least, acknowledge someone’s presence. But, for some strange reason, this doesn’t quite seem to be the case in Denmark – so if anyone can enlighten me, please do!

At least, after today, I can safely assume there’s nothing (drastically) wrong with me.