Dec 10
Managing expectations
OK, so it's been a little while since I updated everyone on my experiences here in Norway. A couple weeks ago I wrote about my trip to Oslo and some of the adventures of my first week. The weeks following have been no less eventful.
First, something amusing. I'm still surprised by the differences in expectations about how much space is required for certain activities in the States vs. here. Tandberg has three main buildings at its headquarters in Lysaker, a municipality just west of Oslo. I'm working in a large building that says "Software Innovation" on the outside. It's mostly occupied by Tandberg employees, but apparently the "Software Innovation" building itself was built by a consultancy of the same name. Overall, the building is quite modern and comfortable. However, there are probably over 100 employees on the 3rd floor west wing where I work, and all the male employees share two tiny bathrooms like this.
That toilet is pretty small, and the room dimensions are so tiny that your knees bang against the walls when you try to do your business. I guess we Americans expect more comfort when taking care of certain life necessities. On the other hand, I'm assuming that the other way of thinking about it is that there is no need to waste any more space than necessary on such a menial portion of the building where you only spend a few minutes of the day anyway.
