An incident occurred a few years back ...
so here came two middle aged bengali friends, best friends since childhood, around noon near this venue in ropsten right by the water. One of the bengalis had lived in Sweden for about 15 years, while the other moved here recently, approximately three years ago.
The 2 men had their endless conversation about the beauty of this magnificent country. They both had a complete family of their own, and were absolutely satisfied with the systematic Swedish lifestyle, in contrary to their own land, Bangladesh. They did, however, miss the Bangladeshi food a great deal. Despite the amount of Asian grocery available here in the markets, they still longed for the real rice, the real exotic fruits and vegetables, the fresh fish, the unlimited halal meat in food places, the tea, and just about everything this place did not have.
They decided, before taking a short trip to Ropsten, they would pick up lunch from some other halal place since that particular area near the shore lacked halal restaurants. They bought hot fresh kebab burgers on the way to their destination.
When they had arrived at the place, they had already finished up half their burgers. The view was serene and just beautiful. Blue water shining all around them, occasional cool breezes, and a nice classy hotel that had a restaurant on the first floor.
The short dark round-faced bengali asked the tall skinny bengali, who has been living here for 15 years, if he had ever been to that restaurant with his family before. The tall thin man nodded saying he had never had the guts to go and eat their with his family because he felt intimidated by all the swedes. The round-faced man, who hadn't been living here for long, let out a silly laugh. "How could you still feel that way after 15 years? You are a citizen just like them. This is now your home. You have just as much right to do anything here as they do, and they know that very well. Why feel scared?"
He went on and on. He was a talker. He looked half his age, full of energy, and he loved Sweden. He babbled on about everything he could think of to his swedish coworkers, teachers, classmates, strangers, anybody..whether they liked it or not, but it helped him learn swedish fast. He barely got negative or irritable responses, with the exception of some teenagers who thought he was just insane.
"Let's check the restaurant out. We can have dessert there," he said, with his empty kebab bag in his hand and a water bottle in his other hand.
"Alright let's go. We can have some kaffe and a little efterrätt. You can do the order and practice your swedish." Said his friend with a grin.
They took a seat outside near the balcony where they had a perfect view of the water. They placed their kebab bags and to-go boxes on the table. A red-haired waitress caught their attention and looked at them with squinted eyes. She looked at them and came towards them not with a smile on her face to give her best service but a disturbed look of suspicion while walking in an abnormal pace as if shes about to catch 2 thieves.
Waitress: Excuse me sir, you are not allowed to bring food or drink from another place here.
round-faced Bengali: (struggling to explain in Swedish, with his heavy accent) I'm sorry. We will not eat this. We came here for only dessert and coffee. You have a menu?
It took him a long time to say what he had to say. But he said it.
Waitress: Sir, you can not eat here.
tall skinny bengali: what he means to say is, we want to order something from your menu. Are there desserts available?
he tried clarifying but..
Waitress: (nodding her head pretending to not hear a single word said) You can not eat here. Do you not understand that? It's an illegal act. I'm sorry, but you can not sit here.
They were shocked. The 2 men looked at each other. Was there something they didn't say right? Did she not understand them? Did she speak correct Swedish? Or did she have a hard time grasping their accent? Why did she keep saying illegal? Why articulate it so much?
The leftovers inside the to-go box just had a small piece of bread and salad. The water bottle was half empty. They just wanted to enjoy the time having coffee near the water. Besides, that was the only place where they found chairs. There were no benches outside of that hotel.
Young Red-haired Waitress: I'm sorry but I can not break the rules. You can't sit here.
The 2 middle-aged men felt insulted. The waitress made them leave without giving them any option. Forget about giving them options. She didn't even listen to them.
Tall thin man: Oh forget it. I don't think they had good desserts anyway.
The short round man got upset. At that moment, his image of Sweden lowered down just a little. It wasn't so high up there anymore. Then the unfortunate line came out, "Today, if we were two Swedes, we would have gotten our coffee and cake."
so here came two middle aged bengali friends, best friends since childhood, around noon near this venue in ropsten right by the water. One of the bengalis had lived in Sweden for about 15 years, while the other moved here recently, approximately three years ago.
The 2 men had their endless conversation about the beauty of this magnificent country. They both had a complete family of their own, and were absolutely satisfied with the systematic Swedish lifestyle, in contrary to their own land, Bangladesh. They did, however, miss the Bangladeshi food a great deal. Despite the amount of Asian grocery available here in the markets, they still longed for the real rice, the real exotic fruits and vegetables, the fresh fish, the unlimited halal meat in food places, the tea, and just about everything this place did not have.
They decided, before taking a short trip to Ropsten, they would pick up lunch from some other halal place since that particular area near the shore lacked halal restaurants. They bought hot fresh kebab burgers on the way to their destination.
When they had arrived at the place, they had already finished up half their burgers. The view was serene and just beautiful. Blue water shining all around them, occasional cool breezes, and a nice classy hotel that had a restaurant on the first floor.
The short dark round-faced bengali asked the tall skinny bengali, who has been living here for 15 years, if he had ever been to that restaurant with his family before. The tall thin man nodded saying he had never had the guts to go and eat their with his family because he felt intimidated by all the swedes. The round-faced man, who hadn't been living here for long, let out a silly laugh. "How could you still feel that way after 15 years? You are a citizen just like them. This is now your home. You have just as much right to do anything here as they do, and they know that very well. Why feel scared?"
He went on and on. He was a talker. He looked half his age, full of energy, and he loved Sweden. He babbled on about everything he could think of to his swedish coworkers, teachers, classmates, strangers, anybody..whether they liked it or not, but it helped him learn swedish fast. He barely got negative or irritable responses, with the exception of some teenagers who thought he was just insane.
"Let's check the restaurant out. We can have dessert there," he said, with his empty kebab bag in his hand and a water bottle in his other hand.
"Alright let's go. We can have some kaffe and a little efterrätt. You can do the order and practice your swedish." Said his friend with a grin.
They took a seat outside near the balcony where they had a perfect view of the water. They placed their kebab bags and to-go boxes on the table. A red-haired waitress caught their attention and looked at them with squinted eyes. She looked at them and came towards them not with a smile on her face to give her best service but a disturbed look of suspicion while walking in an abnormal pace as if shes about to catch 2 thieves.
Waitress: Excuse me sir, you are not allowed to bring food or drink from another place here.
round-faced Bengali: (struggling to explain in Swedish, with his heavy accent) I'm sorry. We will not eat this. We came here for only dessert and coffee. You have a menu?
It took him a long time to say what he had to say. But he said it.
Waitress: Sir, you can not eat here.
tall skinny bengali: what he means to say is, we want to order something from your menu. Are there desserts available?
he tried clarifying but..
Waitress: (nodding her head pretending to not hear a single word said) You can not eat here. Do you not understand that? It's an illegal act. I'm sorry, but you can not sit here.
They were shocked. The 2 men looked at each other. Was there something they didn't say right? Did she not understand them? Did she speak correct Swedish? Or did she have a hard time grasping their accent? Why did she keep saying illegal? Why articulate it so much?
The leftovers inside the to-go box just had a small piece of bread and salad. The water bottle was half empty. They just wanted to enjoy the time having coffee near the water. Besides, that was the only place where they found chairs. There were no benches outside of that hotel.
Young Red-haired Waitress: I'm sorry but I can not break the rules. You can't sit here.
The 2 middle-aged men felt insulted. The waitress made them leave without giving them any option. Forget about giving them options. She didn't even listen to them.
Tall thin man: Oh forget it. I don't think they had good desserts anyway.
The short round man got upset. At that moment, his image of Sweden lowered down just a little. It wasn't so high up there anymore. Then the unfortunate line came out, "Today, if we were two Swedes, we would have gotten our coffee and cake."
True story?
ReplyDeleteYes, this actually happened around 2009 I think.. at a hotel near the lake. Beautiful place, with 90% of native inhabitants.
ReplyDeleteHmm, this isn't surprising to me. I've read that Sweden is not as idyllic a place for all peoples as it is often portrayed as being. Poor guys. I'm sure the experience must have been plenty humiliating.
ReplyDelete