Swedes=Afraid of conflicts

Since I moved to Sweden, I've noticed a lot of differences. Since I haven't spent a lot of time in Sweden, I like to observe the culture and the differences and one thing I've especially noticed is that Swedish people are afraid of conflicts. They will act in certain ways that are even out of their way just to avoid a conflict. For example:

• Not sit close to or talk to anyone on the bus
• SMS/email instead of call even when it is something important or urgent just because they don't want to feel needy or too intrusive
• Ask someone else to send that painful email instead of just doing it yourself
• Some don't even say 'excuse me' because they don't want you to move but instead they will bump into you when they pass or they will go a longer way just to pass you
• Don't tell you when you are doing something wrong because they don't want to hurt you but then get angry when they have to do it themselves in the end anyway
• Don't praise you when you are doing something right either because then that might change the way you behave

Swedish people are very kind but also very closed off and do not want to bother other people. However sometimes this attitude comes off as rude instead of polite, which some may think they are.

I believe that this is one of the reasons why Sweden is quite bad at PR and marketing because they don't want to 'be in anyone's business' and this results in bad customer service as well. Of course this is a generalisation but as a whole I have noticed that this is one area where Sweden is lacking compared to other countries around the world...

I would rather have someone confront me when I do something wrong so I can improve to next time. I want to get to know every single person - don't close off just because you're scared you'll bother me and be better at doing your job by calling the person instead of politely sending an email!!