That they will send you a message when they get home to ask for your bank account number
Or will just Vipps you their share directly
Vipps is a fantastic app that allows a Norwegian to pay back another Norwegian right away
It helps Norwegians sleep at night
It is as uncomfortable for a Norwegian to owe to others
As it is to make others feel like they owe something back
Things need to be equal and in equilibrium at every time step in a norwegian relationship
In practical terms it means:
Pay for what you eat
Pay for what you drink
Bring your own drinks at the party and drink only your own drinks
Do not be surprised if Norwegians bring back the wine or beers they brought to your house if they did not drink it during the party
Bring your own sausages to the BBQ and tell your kids to eat only the sausages you brought
Even borrowing ketchup and mustard can be problematic
While relationships in every culture need to be equal and in equilibrium
Norwegian relationships need to be equal and in equilibrium at every step
And the use of gifts to balance a situation is not as common as it is in other cultures
While in many places when you are invited to a private event, a reception, a dinner
It would be natural to bring gifts for the person organizing
It is not as common to do it in Norway
If you invite Norwegian friends over for dinner
They will probably ask if they can bring something
If you say that they do not need to bring anything
They may actually show up without anything
No wine, no dessert, no flowers
If you had prepared a nice dinner with several dishes and nice wines
They may feel bad and then offer money to pay back their share
Same when Norwegians go out for a coffee
In Oslo sitting in coffee shops you can observe older ladies having coffee with their fellow Norwegian friends
You can clearly see that all the ladies have more money than they need
And that they have been friends for many many years
Yet every lady will pay for her own coffee
Only for her own coffee
This is different to many other places where one person will take the bill in a group of friends
The next time it will be someone else
And if one of the friends has financial difficulties
No one will insist that he pays his turn
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Interesting to learn more about the Norwegian culture and how it is interpreted by foreigners? Read Our Social Guidebooks to Norway and help support this project explaining the Norwegian culture.
