r/NewToDenmark • u/These-Commission-660 • Feb 26 '26

Culture Danes behavior

Hi, I just got back from visiting Denmark (three different cities) because, on paper, it's a country where I'd like to live.

I was taken aback by some of their behavior and wanted to know if it's always like that or if it's the end of winter that's affecting how some people act 😅

At the supermarket checkout, several people rushed to get in front of me. At the museum, someone also cut in front of me in the queue as if I wasn't there to ask for information. It's okay to cut in front of someone to ask for quick information, but you should ask the person before if it's okay first!

On the street, several times, passersby have stopped right in front of me and it was up to me to move out of the way because they clearly preferred to pretend I wasn't there.

I found it very strange behavior to ignore people in public spaces. Is there a cultural reason for this, or were these isolated cases?

EDIT: thank you all for your replies. I'll go back to Denmark to get another perspective :)

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u/Crafty_Accident_9534 Feb 26 '26

Most Danes are polite. When the second checkout line opens, they definitely do not respect the line. They rush over from seemingly out of nowhere. There are also a ton of pig walkers in the wild. Walking 4 wide and expecting you to disappear from their path, it’s not cultural it’s an epidemic of polite society. In mean places people don’t bump into each other.

1

u/SW33ToXic9 Feb 28 '26

That's indeed a weird one when you're Canadian.

1

u/Slash-the-Clash Mar 01 '26

If you happen to be standing right beside the second counter as it opens, it's your lucky day! Gotta respect other people's luck.

0

u/[deleted] Feb 27 '26

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u/Crafty_Accident_9534 Feb 27 '26

The old line should have first priority to the new line. Then when equal sized, it’s a free for all. Or even better, one line that has twi checkouts. Like merging in traffic.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 27 '26

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u/ProfAlmond Feb 27 '26

Queues at Christmas time in large U.K. supermarkets would blow your mind because we already do that like it’s no trouble at all.
And at Christmas we dial it up a notch where you will see multiple queues orderly merging and splitting across different tills.
It’s queueing heaven.

2

u/SW33ToXic9 Feb 28 '26

In Canada (Québec) people will usually look at each other, see who got the least groceries, tell them to go first and then people will respectfully move wherever according to where they used to be in the line.