Week numbers are mainly used in education and workplace settings. It's a very convenient way to schedule work as you can easily see the amount of weeks between deadlines.
I don't think we swedes actually count the weeks in our heads, we just look at the calendar, and there's a week number. Relaying that week number causes less confusion than trying to say "Third week in June, second week in august" etc
@@Kathadrion I was about to say that, as a student I always keep in mind what week it is so I know when all assignments are and it makes it easier to plan what I have to study for but while in the summer I even forget we count weeks
Hi. "Provanställning" is not only for the employer, but it is also a way for a person to try if the workplace, the workculture, the wages etc is the right fit etc. The notificationtime is the same. No explanation is required if you don't feel like giving one
Nope! Du måste ange anledningen till uppsägningen enligt arbetslagen. En arbetsgivare kan inte säga upp en anställd utan att ange tydliga skäl. Annars hamnar fallet hos arbetsdomstolen.
Wow! It's been a minute since you posted last! 25 days until my husband and I step foot on Swedish land (land of both our ancestors) and visit Stockholm. I finally get to meet my cousin Bjorn whose family didn't immigrate to the U.S. with my family in the 1880's.
My great grandfather on my mother's side almost immigrated to the US but ended up staying in Sweden because his own father stopped him from going. To think how different things could've turned out had he gone😆
@@ab1372 Hi, Could yo be a bit more specific, like eating in dim light. You might be one of those hawk-eyed people i have met that could read an 8 pt. text in the (almost) dark...
@@ollebrandt Hahaha no not really, I wear glasses daily. But I just mean I have never been in a situation like he described where someone wants to light a single candle where you can barely see the food. Cozy yes but I'm talking a full candelabre or multiple candles. Maby we just have different standards of dark?
Yeah, the week numbers are confusing for everyone. If you don't have a calendar right in front of you, it's really hard to intuitively know exactly when a certain "week number" is.
@@GodzillasaurusJr i guess it might be a white collar job/school thing? A week is a good rough measure of how long a task will take as well. Meetings and some tasks repeat on a weekly schedule so it is more convenient in that respect.
Oh damn! I was kinda surprised at first when i read that so i had to go and check mine.. and what do ya know.. mine has that to. 😁 I've totally missed that through all these years. 🤣
Just be aware that the US week numbering system is different from the ISO standard that's used in Sweden. There are different rules for where to draw the line around the new year, and the US has this unique idea of the start of the week happening halfway through the weekend instead of on Mondays. And then you also have additional separate systems for radio and TV broadcasting and for accounting.
As a Swede, I require just a little bit more light to eat. 8-12 candles in a candelabra are usually okay, maybe with a couple more individual candles you can move around where you need extra light. (My family has an off-grid cabin, so we're well practiced with the absence of electric lights.) Regarding alcohol, I frequently encounter people abroad using the Nordic countries and the UK as examples of bad/harmful alcohol culture. I don't think it's a bad thing that we as a country try to stop people from using even more alcohol, whether it's by limiting access or limiting advertisement.
Nah. Our system has a perverse effect. You have to always buy in bulk ahead of time from Systembolaget to make sure you have something at home, since their opening hours are bad. Since you always have alcohol at home, you can drink whenever. Instead of buying just a singular bottle on the way home that lasts only the day or the weekend, you instead can now drink whenever you are at home. This is pretty much the opposite of good for people struggling with addiction. Edit: I don't have any qualms about regulating alcohol advertisement though; That's OK I guess.
I do not like to eat in a dark room either and i´m from Sweden:) one strange thing for me in Sweden is that in the USA the first day of the week is Sunday.
The first day of the week is Sunday in most countries. It is based on the Bible. All Christian countries have always had Sunday as the first day of the week. (And Jews have a day of rest, Sabbath, on the seventh day of the week, Saturday, or Sabado as Saturday is called in Spanish.) If you look at old Swedish calendars, it's the same there, but in the 70s when Swedish schools stopped having classes on Saturdays, it became common to have calendars that started with Monday instead of Sunday, so that you could plan the weekend on the same page of the calendar.
@gudagaava But Sweden is traditionally speaking a Christian country, too. And many other Christian countries have also abandoned the six day school week. So I'm not sure that I agree with your explanation.
I think you can have 2 or 3 candles at the dinner table when it's dark outside. If you have light blue eyes, it's easier to see in dusk than if you have dark brown eyes. It's a nordic developed phenotype.
Easy hack for week numbers: week 13 is usually the last week of March, week 26 last week of June, week 39 last week of September and week 52 - well, I leave it to you to figure that one out. That makes it easier to ballpark when a certain week is. As for low light levels while dining: I prefer to have more than a single candle. At least three for a party of 4-6. My wife is American, and after eight years in Sweden, she doesn't need the lights at full blast. It's probably a cultural thing, because when you see an apartment where there's this cold white light, you can be pretty sure there's people from the Middle East living there, as the seem to prefer LED/fluorescent tubes. Swedes usually prefer more subdued, warm white or yellow-white light.
Weeks is easier because you dont have tp remember the dates. Each year there is Sports vacation from schools in Sweden week 7, 8, 9 and 10. Week 7 for the area Im from every year.. I dont need to remember any dates and we just book holliday for week 7. The swedish industrial vacation is most often week 28 -31. Again if you want to travel, book a holliday, rent a holliday home.. you book by the week.
Average labor productivity is higher in Sweden than in the US. So it's not about working more and harder, but to work more efficiently (and produce higher quality, which you do on average with easier access to higher education). Also, the trial period seems to have been managed poorly by your employer. Remember that it goes both ways, and the employee is free to leave on a very short notice if they get a better offer or if it's not a good fit, too. So, if you get a "star," you would be wise to offer them a regular contract as soon as possible. Also, in a well-managed workplace, the employee shouldn't be nervous about that six month deadline. There should have been evaluations along the way to avoid unpleasant surprises. About the numbered weeks, it's easier if you grew up here: sportlov (sport's holiday?) is always week 9 in Stockholm (8, 9, or 10 depending on where you live in Sweden), and autumn leave ("höstlov") is always week 40, so there you have two "ingrained" markers. You know that week 9 is at the end of February/beginning of March, and week 40 is at the end of October/beginning of November.
@magnusdreifeldt2790 Well, what do you know! You learn something new every day! It happened because I failed to realize my Stockholm-centric perspective. Apologies!
Dane here! School holidays: winter week 8 - easter is fluid - summer week 26-35 - autum week 42 - x-mas week 51-1 Learn it! People in health care eg often work only every second week. For decades all our family gatherings had to be in "odd" weeks. Two sisters had ensured they worked the same weeks - else all family life breaks down! They are now retired, so I, working in hospitality, could easily shift weekends with a collegue, who's sister works in health care. Sounds complicated? It is! Love your videos 🤩
Also Dane... Week 1 is the first week that has a thursday. Week 1 of 2025 startts December 30. 2024! Look up ISO 8601... That said, I can not get used to week numbers. I know week 26 is in the middle of the year, and week 8 is late febuary or early march.
Well winter week and automn week (school holidays) varies depending where in Sweden you live. That is to avoid all families going on holiday at the same time( skiing in winter for example) so the ski resorts won’t be too crowded.
No - winter break is week 7 in most of Denmark. And summer holiday and christmas holiday is defined by every "kommune". We do not start on the same dates all over the country, but the kids all have 200 days a year. In Aarhus May 1st is a day off, mening the christmas holiday is often one day shorter than in Viborg where May 1st is not a day off. (Fellow Dane and teacher)
I honestly think that the numbered weeks is pretty common, just not in the US. When i first moved to Sweden from US i had such a hard time to learn that. But eventually i did ofc.. but when i then moved back to the US after a couple of years i still used the numbered weeks since i was used to it. The problem then was that whenever i talked about it, people looked at me like i was slow in the head or something. 😆 Totally agree about the "mysigt"-level.. sure, it's nice when it's a bit dark around you, with some candles lit, when you watch a movie and eat chips or popcorn and so on.. but when i eat acctual food i want some light around me. Anyways.. great to see you back here! You were my kinda "to go to-guy" when i first moved to Sweden. Learned so much from you whenever i felt kinda unsure what to do. And now when you upload again, im back in the US. 😆
I've lived in a couple of other European countries, and they number weeks as well, so it's not just a Swedish phenomenon. I think one of the reasons why the use is widespread in Sweden in connection with vacation planning is that some school holidays tend to be the same week number every year. Winter school holiday in Stockholm is week 9, for example.
@@tomaseriksson7240 ahh, okay. Well that's practical. 😊 Correct me if i'm wrong, but isn't the holidays (winter, summer etc) on different weeks depending on where you live in Sweden? Or at least starts in different weeks? I've lived in Sweden for a short while, but since don't have any kids i didn't really bother to think about that.
In France the trial period is 3 months which can and often is prolonged to a second three month trial. However, it can have its drawbacks for the employee if being 'employed' solely to have access to their portfolio or clients for those 6 months...
Counting weeks is at least a European thing and not a North American thing. I will probably never memorize week numbers, but I really prefer to use them when scheduling work with European clients, as opposed to "The week of April 17-21" or "The week starting April 17".
@@jbrains that way of communicating which week you're referring to is used over here (NL) as well. 'The week of July 29' - usually referring to the Monday the week starts (as they do, over here)
5:00 a few candles and a warm complementing background light in the neighbouring room and/or with some warm lights around or in a window is more common I would say. What you describe seems hard to get even for me. In a kitchen you might wanna leave the lamp above the stove on to help out. But the main goal is to get this orange/brown autumn light and feeling in the room. But not seeing anything seems a bit overkill even for me in the middle of Sweden😄
Counting weeks is a Nordic thing (north of Europe in some cases). The most logical explanation of usage of it is that it simplify the planning in the future, if you are in the end week 1 and have a deadline in week 11 you easily can figure out that you have 10*5 (50 workdays) workdays to get it done. The place you come across week number planning is in construction, industry and project management where you need align and coordinate a lot of tasks to make it more efficient.
The Netherlands uses numbered weeks as well. There are differences - why not make things complicated? 😉: some countries use the first week that has at least 4 days. Since in Europe countries usually start the week on Monday, that would be the first week containing a Thursday. It can also be the week that contains January 4th or the first complete week (mon-sun) of the year.
@@allonwne I like the alternative, calling weeks by their starting date, better. We use that as well. 'can we have a meeting somewhere in the week of August 12th?'
A a swede myself, the thing during Christmas to light candles is indeed something many do. However, not to the point where it's only 1 candle and u can barely see anything. At least I myself haven't really experienced this, I believe it's down to each family in that regard.
That we like dark is probably because we never had electric energy problems the last hundred years. So lights everywhere all the time make it quite relaxing with dimmed lights...😊
The trial employment goes both ways. As an employee, you are allowed to quit the job without notice within that period. After that, you are often not allowed to quit immediately and the longer you have been employed, the required time for a notice before quitting or fireing someone increases.
Two weeks notice period from both employer and employee. To be completed during the probationary period. So in practice we have a five and a half month probationary period.
@@johanfinndahl5233 two weeks from the employer and immediately by the employee. Unless there is a union deal in place in which case there are usually two weeks for both and sometimes more.
An employee can always quit the same day. The company can then withhold some of the salary which you would be payed at normal termination of employment. (If im not wrong here) like the vacation pay…
@@famnyblom6321 That's right, I remembered wrong. Only from the employer it is two weeks. And thus in practice 5.5 months of probationary employment from the employer. Then you have penalty waivers from A-kassa and other benefits if you resign without having a new job. But this applies regardless of the form of employment.
Im a 47 year old Swede, and I have no idea what time of the year week 24 is for example, and I don’t think most people know that. And I have never turned of the light when Im eating to make it cozy...
Interesting you talk about this. I found this interesting. I found out that their is two types of writing dates on Swedish papers. One is formal and the other is informal with the year date as the last four digits. Kul att se dig tillbaka och att du har en bra 🇸🇪 sommar för 2024. 😊
I find it cozy when the lights are low, but one candle is too low. One thing I like to do around christmas time is to turn on all my chrismas lights and light live candles. Then I turn off all the bigger lamps.
Very few Swedish people keep track of the weeks, in my experience; we can of course estimate roughly when a week will take place, like for example "oh, week 30 is in the summer some time", but actual dates are generally a lot more straightforward.
If you know your vacation is week 28 to 32 then you will keep track of it. I have no idea which dates my vacation started and ended, it's much more complicated to remember.
@@erik.... Not necessarily. I have a coworker that just showed up at the office on the monday when his holiday started this summer. He thought it started the week after. :D
Dane here. We also number the weeks. The week number is on most calenders, generally speaking weeks 28-30 are the last 2 weeks of July and the first week of August. In Denmark it's called the industrial holiday. It's the last three weeks of the children's 7 weeks of school holidays.
Stefan, I’ve lived in several different US states and they don’t have the same employment laws. Some states, after the 90 day trial period, you can only be fired if you’ve violated a job policy that severely impacts the company. It sounds like Oregon is similar to Washington. Technically Washington is what’s called an at-will employment state, which is a misnomer because they actually can’t just fire someone for things like: disabilities, not being popular with other coworkers, they want to give your job to a friend or relative (or a friend or relative of one of your buddies), or anything that can be construed as a retaliation firing. Seattle University Law School has a lot of information about that, if you want to read up on it.
Many states do have diffrent laws, yes. But its a known statement that a lot of states can fire someone for something small. They can simply just say that the company is doing bad and they need to lay off people. And thats it. Here, if the company is doing bad, there is 1000 things they need to concider before they fire someone. Like, can you take someones job that has been there for a shorter period of time? Can I go down in time? Can I get a place elsewhere in the company where they are looking for people? Is the company able to find me a diffrent company that offer the same work description? There is simply a lot, and companies do not want to fire people. Since its such a struggle. So unless you really missbehave, do something illegal, sexually assault someone and what not, then they will do the best out of the situation. While in the US, they can basiclly say "hey, you have been late 10 times the last 6 months, and this wont work. We will have to let you go." So there is a significent diffrence in how secure emplotyment is.
Hehe, I agree with the week numbers, never used them before (Switzerland), but in Sweden, especially in business, it is used a lot. A tip here, you can activate to display the week numbers in your Outlook calendar! This helped me a lot for this matter.
Hi Stefan. I work in a team that represents about 20 languages, handling a French client. We use week numbers extensively for planning, both in the team and when talking to the client. I don't know if this is something that everyone in the team finds natural, or if they get used to it, but I know for a large part of the team (all Nordics, Dutch, German), as well as our French client representatives, it was completely ordinary and I'd say expected. It might be a European thing? We also have an American on the team and one member in the Philippines, and if they found it strange, they picked it up very quickly. And even though I grew up using week numbers, I don't know them by heart. I know midsummer is usually somewhere in the mid 20s (middle of the year), but I keep tabs because I have to make weekly reports, and the week number is part of the title. Absurdly enough, I always lag a week behind. I know last week was 30 cause I made the week 30 report this Monday 😂
Just to add some clarity: "Test employment" isnt a thing that is always applied. Usually its a thing when you are a beeing employed as a junior, or maybe if your employer feels unsure about something in your working background.
Okay I have to comment because it is hilarious that every single point of this video is. 100% relatable to me as a foreigner and even are points that we have discussed with my Swedish partner along the years we moved here. Very entertaining video, great job!
Regarding week numbers, you just activate it in your digital calendar and it will show up. Be aware that depending on if your country start a week on a Monday or Sunday the week count can vary though. In Sweden, weeks are mostly relevant in school but for any parent it will be required that you get accustomed to it as they tend to communicate and plan based on week numbers.
Hahaha! I agree. When I'm at my sister's house for dinner in the winter time, we always have the same discussion. Even if they don't light only 1 candle but several placed here and there, I always think it's too dark 😄
To get priority for a new Swedish citizenship if you previously renounced your Swedish citizenship only applies to people who have been Swedish citizens since birth? The rules for alcohol advertising are much more complicated than you say. For example, in certain types of media it is permitted to advertise products with a maximum of 15% alcohol by volume. It also depends on whether the medium in which the advertisement is shown is distributed from Sweden or from another country.
Have to chip in about the week numbers. I think the key is to not think that it's supposed to be useful in relation to specific dates - it usually isn't - but rather, in relation to other weeks. Let go of dates when you're talking weeks. If I tell you that I have vacation w26 to w29, I don't expect you to figure out that my vacation starts exactly on June 24th. What I *am* efficiently communicating is that I'm taking 4 weeks of summer vacation, and that it's relatively early compared to the "industry vacation" (which is kind of a legacy concept but usually considered to be w29 - w32 I think). Also, "I'm going skiing in week 7" is a very convenient sentence. And as others have mentioned, it's quite convenient for project planning at work. It gives a continuous grid to allocate work upon, and it's easier to calculate the number of weeks between "w10 and w20" than between "March 4th and May 19th". All that said, it does come at the cost of some extra brain work when you do have to bridge the gap between weeks and dates.
Not to mention, on the topic of alcohol ads, that a lot of Systembolaget's adverts are a lot more aimed on responsible drinking, where the whole ad could be about saying no to your kids to the importance of them having closing times, rather than having a sped up voice going "remembertodrinkresponsibly" at the last split second of the ad. Definitely more beneficial.
The introduction of week numbers happened sometime during the seventies, mostly for use in official and business procedures. It is convenient, but it is not common in daily life.
The trial employment is actually very common throughout Europe , same as the difficulty to fire someone. As for the 6 month period of “trial” that is the maximum time, and it can be lower. It is decided by the employer or in agreement with the employee, or governed by the collective agreement.
One more thing to add, the trial period is not just for the employer to evaluate the performance of the employee but also for the employee to evaluate the employer and resign without consequences if not happy.
The week numbering thins is by a large part something that comes from business/corporate planning, and is commonly used for eg vacation planning (as is pointed out in the video). For planning, week numbers often make a lot of sense: All weeks are of the same length (months are not). It's often a "nice granularity." Since weeks are separated by weekends, they naturally form separated chunks of "work packets". It's easier to see at a glance how many days there is in the interval between two weeks than between two dates. Additional things on numbering things: If you need to be specific to the day, then you add the day number to the week number, so Thursday of the third week is written in short form like this: w3d4 or possibly w03d4. Eg if there was a requirement to submit your time report for January this year (2024) at the end of the last workday the it could be communicated like this: "Time reports must be submitted by w5d3 EOD". Monday is day 1, Sunday is day 7. (For those of you having the bible as a prime guidance, there is even support for that day numbering scheme in it. ;‐) ) For precise and unambiguous communication, measurements are given starting with the largest unit going towards the smallest, in strict order: The "Sixth of February, 2025" is specified as "2025-02-06". The time "twenty minutes past four, PM" is given as "16:20". The date format above is actually an international standard. Alas, local cultures has stopped this from being universally adopted. Eg on packaged food items there's often a best-before date in six digits, but you never know what date format is used. Was 010203 the first of February 2003, the second of January 2003 or the third of February 2001 etc? Your only chance is to look, smell and taste - possibly leading to anything from a "jummy!" to a "yuck!", a spit or a puke.
German here living in Sweden for about 22 years now. I’ve both studied and worked in Sweden. Still don’t remember the weak numbers. Confuses me everytime. Worst part is that people like to small talk about the summer holidays right before the summer and you’ll always get the question: “when do you have your holidays? Mine is week 30-34” and I always have no idea exactly when that is supposed to be 😂
Week numbers are used in pretty much all of the world for project management. I find it much harder in the US, where they're not used. For example, week 431 is just ending, and that is such an easy way to keep track of what is going on in projects.
Wonderful to see you back again! I have to ask you or any of your Swedish followers if this eating in darkness is something new in the last decade or so. I remember visiting and eating with my older cousins in the 1980's and into the early 2000's and never once were the lights lowered or turned off. Unless I count the time eating around the fire by the water in Bergshamra and the sun went down! ;-p
Born and raised in Sweden and I still don't speak in numbered weeks, so vacation times are always annoying, like why can't you just tell me you're going on vacation the second week of July instead of week X. I'm also with you on the dim dining environments, my mother seems to have a fetish for eating in the dark, I always have to ask if we can put on some more lights.
Using weeks is one thing that was arguably easier 20+ years ago than it is today because everyone used physical calendars back then which all had the weeks in them, while a lot of the apps we use nowadays don’t give the weeks, at least not by default.
Clarification regarding provanställning or trial period as you said: provanställning is a very common concept in most work places and is regulated by law. However this is a so called optional law which means the employer decide if it should be implemented or not. Like I said, it is very common to use it but it is optional and some employers don't use it. My company doesn't for example, you get a tenure immediately. If the trial period is implemented it automatically becomes a tenure after a maximum of 6 months if both parties agrees. The trial period can only last 6 months maximun according to law but can actually be shorter as well, although it is not common to implement for a shorter period of time.
When having a job full of appointments and meetings every day every week, the number system is convinient. You can say "Can we book a follow-up meeting wednesday week 48?" And the counterpart knows exactly what it means without mention dates and months presupposed that both parties has their own calenders in sight. I also agree that sometimes "mysigt" gets exaggerated but there is a restaurant in Stockholm "Svartklubben" where you dine in total darkness.
I'm Swedish and the eating in the dark is true. When I go to eat dinner at my parent's house, the darkness is usually a small contention because I also like to have the lights turned on when I'm eating and they usually turn the lights way down
I think week numbers are (more or less) confusing to most of us. I think how much you know/use week numbers depends on how much they are useful to you at work. If you just memorize your vacation week numbers, they are then useful in small talk to let each other get a quick mental picture of whether or not we will have overlapping vacations. If someone tells me the exact date they will go back to work I might not remember it, but with a week number I just compare it to my own weeks and can memorize overlapping weeks for possible plans
Week numbers are very practical when planning work wise without having to be to excact on dates. However, I often have to ask about what dates certain week numbers are too when we are looking at our calendars. And too few candles when eating is not very nice. One have to tell the host to light a few more.
There are other differences too. As a railroadworker I had a 6 month trial period that couldn't be broken so easily and in return if nothing was done to revoke it before there were two months left it would automatically become a real employment contract.
Love your vids, thank you. I am currently trying to navigate the differences between the US and Sweden myself, have not even gotten permanent residency yet but have been living here 3 months on 3 months off while I wait.
Born and raised Swede here and I also don't get calling out week numbers. Never had a phone that came with a calendar app where weeks are numbered and neither regular paper wall calendars, so I always have look it up on the internet, or buy a special calendar, or most commonly just begrudgingly ask back "ok, and when is that?", whenever someone mentions something taking place week so and so
Well i live in Finland and i hate that people speaks about weeks. Even my phone doesn´t show numbers of the weeks so i ask always the dates of those weeks. And i have lived in Finland and Sweden almost 44 years now and i still hate that. In Finland the maximum trial time is 6 months, but it depends how you make the deal. Sometimes there isn´t trial time at all. Same thing here for advertising alcohol.
On the matter of alcohol, one thing you might not know if you don't have children over 14 in Sweden,(I don't know if you have this is your first video I've seen) is that some time after a child becomes fourteen the parents get a small book/pamplet? (I'm not sure of the name) about alcohol and how to have conversations about it with your child and how to handle situations of if your child comes home drunk and responsible drinking, my brother turned fourteen a few months ago and it came in the mail today, my mom mentioned having got it when i was fourteen too but I've never heard of it before, i suppose she thought it wasn't necessary 😅. Not that i like alcohol very much anyways, the only alcohol i think taste okay is rose wine since it doesn't have as strong of a flavor as red wine.
Very much agree on the lights. I’d say one stumbled upon a particular preference, unless it’s some kind of of outdoor theming. And as a native. Counting weeks is not a practice of mine, and as far as I am concerned, thats one needless step for the sake of having one. Only reason I could make of would be if contracts were calculating by weeks to end up on the very day of the week… but that’s beyond me how it would be applicable to justify the effort to check online.
when it comes to weeks having numbers i only remember them if i see it in the calendar tbh but one fun thing is that the days will have one or more names that you get to have a special fika for if its a name you have. you are kida expected to say 'grattis på namnsdagen' to family members as it makes them happy that you remember. my grandma have 3 names days and will want us to have fika but my mom only have one and one thats spelled wrong and so she gets grumpy about that xD.
1. I think all the Nordic countries use weeks. Some other European countries also use weeks, Germany, The Netherlands, France, Bene-Lux etc... 2. Winter dinners are completely 'hyggelige'! especially by candlelight 🕯 hello from Denmark 🌸
The week numbers is an international standard, although not many countries use it. In English-speaking countries in Europe, "provanställning" is known as a probation period.
Agree with the eating lights. I turn a bit skeptic if I’m invited to someone for dinner, and they turn of the lights before the food is placed on the table. What are they hiding?
Weeks is just something corporate sweden use when they are laying all of the employee vacations. Other than that nobody uses weeks regurarly except teachers in primary school.
Some thoughts on this vlog. I think parents who have children in school have more control over weekly numbers because the school works according to these. As far as alcohol advertising is concerned, stronger drinks are also advertised. I don't know the conditions for this, but it does occur.
Swede here and I totally agree with you about the week numbers! I’ve never got used to it either. Me: ”When are you going on vacation?” Collauge / Friend: ”Week no 32-34” Me: ”Just give it to me in dates!! 🤯” I think it has to do with that we often report the vacation in week-numbers to the employer. But it’s driving me crazy every year. 😅
I’d only use week numbers in work or school settings because it’s quicker than giving a series of dates. I’d never know by heart what month or dates week 12 would be without looking in a calendar.
Yeah the week numbers is a thing but I too need to pull up a calendar to check what dates a specific week are or whatever. And Yeah we do like a few candles at a cozy dinner but I don't think I have ever, in 50 years, been to a dinner in a dark environment with just a single candle. ^^
Alcohol advertising is restricted but not prohibited. You just cannot enhance the product with a certain mood, connect it with a holiday, advertise it for situation where it shouldn’t be used (in traffic, schools etc.), not advertise it as a solution to being bored etc. etc. Very regulated, yes. But actually it’s just a thing that popped up recently that many swedes drink alcohol free. Maybe they will drive the same day or they just feel like it. So they do advertise the alcohol free product. I’d rather say people already know Norrlands guld is good. So then they want to try the alcohol free version as well. Consumtion of alcohol free products has sky rocketed the last 5 years I Sweden. Ten years ago it was way, way lower as well.
Week number thing definitly isn't just swedish. I've seen it in a couple of european countries, espescially my native Germany. For buisness stuff and all sorts of office jobs, they are quite common. Some people know them, but I think most of us just look at the calendar. Don't know about Swedish calendars, but German calendars will often have a note which "calendarweek" (week of the year) it is.
Sweden: Week numbering is widely used in Sweden, and many businesses and organizations refer to weeks by their number throughout the year. Norway: Norwegians also commonly use week numbers in various contexts, such as in business, education, and planning. Denmark: Week numbers are used in Denmark, and they are often used in calendars, scheduling, and other organizational purposes. Germany: In Germany, week numbering is widely used in business and administrative contexts, and it is also commonly used in calendars. Netherlands: Dutch people also use week numbers in various settings, such as in business, education, and government. Finland: Week numbers are commonly used in Finland, and they are often seen in calendars and schedules. Switzerland: In Switzerland, week numbers are used in various contexts, similar to other European countries. United Kingdom: While not as widespread as in some other European countries, week numbering is used in the UK, especially in business and organizational settings. I'm sure there are others that use Week number as well
The number of the week is not used in everyday conversation just for educations and summer vacations. If you take a vacation between June and August you often say "I go between week 28-32" for example, but if you go in October you will say "I go between the 5-20th of October" so it is not consistent. Regarding the "mysigt" factor while eating. I have had this happened to me in most relationships and I think it is a majority feminine thing. I myself want it bright but I go along with it for my partner and I've never met someone who identifies as a man who likes the "mysigt" vibes while eating dinner. While watching a movie I am all for it!
I'm Swedish and I don't enjoy eating in the dark. Especially not in restaurants. A dark restaurang must have something to hide, that they don't want us to see.
I think week numbers is a Nordic or Scandinavian thing, we tend to do the same here lol... I can't read weeknumbers either, I generally know what weeks I will be on vacation as I try to take the same weeks. Ever time I get a new version of outlook and the week numbers are gone I freak out :D (And I generally add public/bank holidays for Sweden, us, india, china and a few other countries to outlook as well) I think week numbers are great for projects as you can easily box in things in weeks.
As a swede myself i can confidently say that we dont have that good of an idea when every week is either. but counting weeks removes a lot of confusion since everyone can quickly look up what week it is/ when week X is.
Also being Swedish, with a job where logistics are planned based on week number I'm always aware of what week it is. 😅 But yeah, before it was important for work, I wasn't that good at keeping track of weeks.
My dad and other people were let go because a big part of the company they worked at was moving to another country. I guess the company just didn't want to trouble them with lots of business trips. It's also a relief since my parents who are divorced takes turns looking after our dog.
Born and raised swede. I totally agree with wanting to see my food. The brightest the lights could go at my parents place is the lowest they can go at my place
Week numbers are mainly used in education and workplace settings.
It's a very convenient way to schedule work as you can easily see the amount of weeks between deadlines.
I don't think we swedes actually count the weeks in our heads, we just look at the calendar, and there's a week number. Relaying that week number causes less confusion than trying to say "Third week in June, second week in august" etc
I'm a teacher and we most definitely count in week numbers (except in the summer when I sometimes barely know what month it is).
@@Kathadrion I was about to say that, as a student I always keep in mind what week it is so I know when all assignments are and it makes it easier to plan what I have to study for but while in the summer I even forget we count weeks
I'm born in Sweden and have lived here all my life, and the numbered weeks still trip me up. I know Week 1 and Week 52. That's about it.
Some years have Week 53
Week 26 is also easy. It is when half the year is gone.
@@brahand 😄
Same here! Seems week numbers are much more frequently used (and appreciated) by people who have kids in school.
@@videosbydrakeYes. And by those of us who work in school
Norway counts weeks too. It is also possible to have Norwegian & Swedish citizenship.
Hi. "Provanställning" is not only for the employer, but it is also a way for a person to try if the workplace, the workculture, the wages etc is the right fit etc. The notificationtime is the same. No explanation is required if you don't feel like giving one
But as an employee you can always quit… so I would say the ”provanställning” is mainly for the employer.
Jo. Men uppsägningstiden kan variera. Åt båda hållen.
Nope! Du måste ange anledningen till uppsägningen enligt arbetslagen. En arbetsgivare kan inte säga upp en anställd utan att ange tydliga skäl. Annars hamnar fallet hos arbetsdomstolen.
@@Tavoousvid uppsägning av provanställning måste inga skäl anges. Har du varit anställd mer än 6 månader måste skäl anges.
@@ankan1958 det stämmer helt. Jag syftade på permanent anställning, men jag var inte tydlig.
Wow! It's been a minute since you posted last! 25 days until my husband and I step foot on Swedish land (land of both our ancestors) and visit Stockholm. I finally get to meet my cousin Bjorn whose family didn't immigrate to the U.S. with my family in the 1880's.
That is awesome!
@@StefanThyron We found each other through one of those Family Tree DNA test results.
Welcome back 🇸🇪
@@Zakarias89 Tack!
My great grandfather on my mother's side almost immigrated to the US but ended up staying in Sweden because his own father stopped him from going. To think how different things could've turned out had he gone😆
Hi Stefan! So glad that you are back! I (as a typical Swede) can say that I have problems with eating in darkness, too.... Thanks for a nice clip!
..just increase/turn upp the lights?!....
As a fellow swede I have litterly never had this experiance 🤷♂️
@@ab1372 Hi, Could yo be a bit more specific, like eating in dim light. You might be one of those hawk-eyed people i have met that could read an 8 pt. text in the (almost) dark...
@@ollebrandt Hahaha no not really, I wear glasses daily.
But I just mean I have never been in a situation like he described where someone wants to light a single candle where you can barely see the food. Cozy yes but I'm talking a full candelabre or multiple candles.
Maby we just have different standards of dark?
@@perkarlsson9087 ..u just tell the host... never ever head of any1 having this problem..
Yeah, the week numbers are confusing for everyone. If you don't have a calendar right in front of you, it's really hard to intuitively know exactly when a certain "week number" is.
Nah, it's super convenient. :)
There are people that actually knows the week numbers. I suspect there is something seriously wrong with them...
I never use it im Swedish.
It's confusing because it doesn't give a real benefit, so most of us don't learn it by heart.
@@GodzillasaurusJr i guess it might be a white collar job/school thing? A week is a good rough measure of how long a task will take as well. Meetings and some tasks repeat on a weekly schedule so it is more convenient in that respect.
The 2024 appointment calendar book that I have (here in the US) has the weeks numbered.
Oh damn! I was kinda surprised at first when i read that so i had to go and check mine.. and what do ya know.. mine has that to. 😁 I've totally missed that through all these years. 🤣
Just be aware that the US week numbering system is different from the ISO standard that's used in Sweden. There are different rules for where to draw the line around the new year, and the US has this unique idea of the start of the week happening halfway through the weekend instead of on Mondays. And then you also have additional separate systems for radio and TV broadcasting and for accounting.
As a Swede, I require just a little bit more light to eat. 8-12 candles in a candelabra are usually okay, maybe with a couple more individual candles you can move around where you need extra light. (My family has an off-grid cabin, so we're well practiced with the absence of electric lights.)
Regarding alcohol, I frequently encounter people abroad using the Nordic countries and the UK as examples of bad/harmful alcohol culture. I don't think it's a bad thing that we as a country try to stop people from using even more alcohol, whether it's by limiting access or limiting advertisement.
Nah. Our system has a perverse effect. You have to always buy in bulk ahead of time from Systembolaget to make sure you have something at home, since their opening hours are bad. Since you always have alcohol at home, you can drink whenever. Instead of buying just a singular bottle on the way home that lasts only the day or the weekend, you instead can now drink whenever you are at home. This is pretty much the opposite of good for people struggling with addiction.
Edit: I don't have any qualms about regulating alcohol advertisement though; That's OK I guess.
I do not like to eat in a dark room either and i´m from Sweden:) one strange thing for me in Sweden is that in the USA the first day of the week is Sunday.
The first day of the week is Sunday in most countries. It is based on the Bible. All Christian countries have always had Sunday as the first day of the week. (And Jews have a day of rest, Sabbath, on the seventh day of the week, Saturday, or Sabado as Saturday is called in Spanish.) If you look at old Swedish calendars, it's the same there, but in the 70s when Swedish schools stopped having classes on Saturdays, it became common to have calendars that started with Monday instead of Sunday, so that you could plan the weekend on the same page of the calendar.
Yeees so confusing for me as a Swede living in USA and the week starts with Sunday. I just can't cope with it haha
@gudagaava But Sweden is traditionally speaking a Christian country, too. And many other Christian countries have also abandoned the six day school week. So I'm not sure that I agree with your explanation.
I think you can have 2 or 3 candles at the dinner table when it's dark outside. If you have light blue eyes, it's easier to see in dusk than if you have dark brown eyes. It's a nordic developed phenotype.
@lisaarnstrom222 LOL, that was a very small and preliminary study! It's not impossible, but far from proven yet.
Easy hack for week numbers: week 13 is usually the last week of March, week 26 last week of June, week 39 last week of September and week 52 - well, I leave it to you to figure that one out. That makes it easier to ballpark when a certain week is.
As for low light levels while dining: I prefer to have more than a single candle. At least three for a party of 4-6. My wife is American, and after eight years in Sweden, she doesn't need the lights at full blast. It's probably a cultural thing, because when you see an apartment where there's this cold white light, you can be pretty sure there's people from the Middle East living there, as the seem to prefer LED/fluorescent tubes. Swedes usually prefer more subdued, warm white or yellow-white light.
Easier tip: turn on week numbers in Google Calendar.
Also, the first day of the week is Monday.
"easy hack for week numbers" yeah that's not easy at all and I've already forgotten.
🤷🏼♀️
That's not easy at all. We must abandon this silly week numbers thing.
@@oxigen85 there are 52 weeks in a year so just remembering week 26 being the last week in June (that's understandable!) will help.
It's like a deck of cards. 52 weeks/cards consists of four quarters/colors, each with 13 weeks/cards.
Weeks is easier because you dont have tp remember the dates. Each year there is Sports vacation from schools in Sweden week 7, 8, 9 and 10. Week 7 for the area Im from every year.. I dont need to remember any dates and we just book holliday for week 7. The swedish industrial vacation is most often week 28 -31. Again if you want to travel, book a holliday, rent a holliday home.. you book by the week.
I know week 44 is always the fall break vacation (also known as November vacation although most of the vacation takes place at the end of October).
Average labor productivity is higher in Sweden than in the US. So it's not about working more and harder, but to work more efficiently (and produce higher quality, which you do on average with easier access to higher education).
Also, the trial period seems to have been managed poorly by your employer. Remember that it goes both ways, and the employee is free to leave on a very short notice if they get a better offer or if it's not a good fit, too. So, if you get a "star," you would be wise to offer them a regular contract as soon as possible. Also, in a well-managed workplace, the employee shouldn't be nervous about that six month deadline. There should have been evaluations along the way to avoid unpleasant surprises.
About the numbered weeks, it's easier if you grew up here: sportlov (sport's holiday?) is always week 9 in Stockholm (8, 9, or 10 depending on where you live in Sweden), and autumn leave ("höstlov") is always week 40, so there you have two "ingrained" markers. You know that week 9 is at the end of February/beginning of March, and week 40 is at the end of October/beginning of November.
Not entirely correct. Where I live Sportlov is week 7 and höstlov is week 44 😊
@magnusdreifeldt2790 Well, what do you know! You learn something new every day! It happened because I failed to realize my Stockholm-centric perspective. Apologies!
@@MrMrMadyou live in Lund Malmö skåne
In Germany, we also count weeks. I always keep a calendar with the numbers next to me at work ;-)
Dane here!
School holidays: winter week 8 - easter is fluid - summer week 26-35 - autum week 42 - x-mas week 51-1
Learn it!
People in health care eg often work only every second week. For decades all our family gatherings had to be in "odd" weeks. Two sisters had ensured they worked the same weeks - else all family life breaks down!
They are now retired, so I, working in hospitality, could easily shift weekends with a collegue, who's sister works in health care.
Sounds complicated? It is!
Love your videos 🤩
Also Dane...
Week 1 is the first week that has a thursday. Week 1 of 2025 startts December 30. 2024!
Look up ISO 8601...
That said, I can not get used to week numbers. I know week 26 is in the middle of the year, and week 8 is late febuary or early march.
Well winter week and automn week (school holidays) varies depending where in Sweden you live. That is to avoid all families going on holiday at the same time( skiing in winter for example) so the ski resorts won’t be too crowded.
No - winter break is week 7 in most of Denmark. And summer holiday and christmas holiday is defined by every "kommune". We do not start on the same dates all over the country, but the kids all have 200 days a year. In Aarhus May 1st is a day off, mening the christmas holiday is often one day shorter than in Viborg where May 1st is not a day off.
(Fellow Dane and teacher)
@@silled7454 You're absolutely right.
@@SrenNielsenMadklubNow you just learn autum week 42 - and you're already way better off, than most of us 😂
Here in Denmark we also use weeknumbers all the time. Week 42 is always school autumn holiday.
Here in Sweden it’s week 44
I honestly think that the numbered weeks is pretty common, just not in the US. When i first moved to Sweden from US i had such a hard time to learn that. But eventually i did ofc.. but when i then moved back to the US after a couple of years i still used the numbered weeks since i was used to it. The problem then was that whenever i talked about it, people looked at me like i was slow in the head or something. 😆
Totally agree about the "mysigt"-level.. sure, it's nice when it's a bit dark around you, with some candles lit, when you watch a movie and eat chips or popcorn and so on.. but when i eat acctual food i want some light around me.
Anyways.. great to see you back here! You were my kinda "to go to-guy" when i first moved to Sweden. Learned so much from you whenever i felt kinda unsure what to do. And now when you upload again, im back in the US. 😆
Ahhh well I’m glad you’ve enjoyed the content! Always nice to hear from long time viewers 🙏🏼
I've lived in a couple of other European countries, and they number weeks as well, so it's not just a Swedish phenomenon. I think one of the reasons why the use is widespread in Sweden in connection with vacation planning is that some school holidays tend to be the same week number every year. Winter school holiday in Stockholm is week 9, for example.
@@tomaseriksson7240 ahh, okay. Well that's practical. 😊 Correct me if i'm wrong, but isn't the holidays (winter, summer etc) on different weeks depending on where you live in Sweden? Or at least starts in different weeks? I've lived in Sweden for a short while, but since don't have any kids i didn't really bother to think about that.
In Stockholm area the winter holiday Sportlovet is week 9. But in Gothenburg it is week 7 and I belivie it is week 8 in Skåne... @@ParanoidPirate.
@@ParanoidPirate. Yeah it differs between regions but each region has their holiday on the same week every year
In France the trial period is 3 months which can and often is prolonged to a second three month trial. However, it can have its drawbacks for the employee if being 'employed' solely to have access to their portfolio or clients for those 6 months...
Counting weeks is at least a European thing and not a North American thing. I will probably never memorize week numbers, but I really prefer to use them when scheduling work with European clients, as opposed to "The week of April 17-21" or "The week starting April 17".
@@jbrains that way of communicating which week you're referring to is used over here (NL) as well. 'The week of July 29' - usually referring to the Monday the week starts (as they do, over here)
5:00 a few candles and a warm complementing background light in the neighbouring room and/or with some warm lights around or in a window is more common I would say.
What you describe seems hard to get even for me. In a kitchen you might wanna leave the lamp above the stove on to help out. But the main goal is to get this orange/brown autumn light and feeling in the room.
But not seeing anything seems a bit overkill even for me in the middle of Sweden😄
Counting weeks is a Nordic thing (north of Europe in some cases). The most logical explanation of usage of it is that it simplify the planning in the future, if you are in the end week 1 and have a deadline in week 11 you easily can figure out that you have 10*5 (50 workdays) workdays to get it done. The place you come across week number planning is in construction, industry and project management where you need align and coordinate a lot of tasks to make it more efficient.
The Netherlands uses numbered weeks as well. There are differences - why not make things complicated? 😉: some countries use the first week that has at least 4 days. Since in Europe countries usually start the week on Monday, that would be the first week containing a Thursday.
It can also be the week that contains January 4th or the first complete week (mon-sun) of the year.
I lived in the Netherlands for 40 years, never got used to the week numbers.
@@allonwne I like the alternative, calling weeks by their starting date, better. We use that as well.
'can we have a meeting somewhere in the week of August 12th?'
A a swede myself, the thing during Christmas to light candles is indeed something many do. However, not to the point where it's only 1 candle and u can barely see anything.
At least I myself haven't really experienced this, I believe it's down to each family in that regard.
That we like dark is probably because we never had electric energy problems the last hundred years. So lights everywhere all the time make it quite relaxing with dimmed lights...😊
The trial employment goes both ways. As an employee, you are allowed to quit the job without notice within that period. After that, you are often not allowed to quit immediately and the longer you have been employed, the required time for a notice before quitting or fireing someone increases.
Two weeks notice period from both employer and employee. To be completed during the probationary period. So in practice we have a five and a half month probationary period.
@@johanfinndahl5233 two weeks from the employer and immediately by the employee. Unless there is a union deal in place in which case there are usually two weeks for both and sometimes more.
An employee can always quit the same day. The company can then withhold some of the salary which you would be payed at normal termination of employment. (If im not wrong here) like the vacation pay…
@@famnyblom6321 That's right, I remembered wrong. Only from the employer it is two weeks. And thus in practice 5.5 months of probationary employment from the employer. Then you have penalty waivers from A-kassa and other benefits if you resign without having a new job. But this applies regardless of the form of employment.
Im a 47 year old Swede, and I have no idea what time of the year week 24 is for example, and I don’t think most people know that. And I have never turned of the light when Im eating to make it cozy...
May be you live up far in the north Sweden, near abisko 😊 just kidding my dear !
Interesting you talk about this. I found this interesting. I found out that their is two types of writing dates on Swedish papers. One is formal and the other is informal with the year date as the last four digits. Kul att se dig tillbaka och att du har en bra 🇸🇪 sommar för 2024. 😊
I find it cozy when the lights are low, but one candle is too low. One thing I like to do around christmas time is to turn on all my chrismas lights and light live candles. Then I turn off all the bigger lamps.
I guess that eating in the dark is very different. I have never eaten any meal in "darkness", if it's candles there use to be several candels.
from Belfast and likely moving to Sweden, good to know work life balance will move up a few places...
Love the candels but light a whole candelabra and put some ambience light out around the room.
Very few Swedish people keep track of the weeks, in my experience;
we can of course estimate roughly when a week will take place, like for example "oh, week 30 is in the summer some time", but actual dates are generally a lot more straightforward.
If you know your vacation is week 28 to 32 then you will keep track of it. I have no idea which dates my vacation started and ended, it's much more complicated to remember.
@@erik.... Not necessarily. I have a coworker that just showed up at the office on the monday when his holiday started this summer. He thought it started the week after. :D
Dane here. We also number the weeks. The week number is on most calenders, generally speaking weeks 28-30 are the last 2 weeks of July and the first week of August. In Denmark it's called the industrial holiday. It's the last three weeks of the children's 7 weeks of school holidays.
Stefan, I’ve lived in several different US states and they don’t have the same employment laws. Some states, after the 90 day trial period, you can only be fired if you’ve violated a job policy that severely impacts the company.
It sounds like Oregon is similar to Washington. Technically Washington is what’s called an at-will employment state, which is a misnomer because they actually can’t just fire someone for things like: disabilities, not being popular with other coworkers, they want to give your job to a friend or relative (or a friend or relative of one of your buddies), or anything that can be construed as a retaliation firing. Seattle University Law School has a lot of information about that, if you want to read up on it.
Many states do have diffrent laws, yes.
But its a known statement that a lot of states can fire someone for something small.
They can simply just say that the company is doing bad and they need to lay off people. And thats it.
Here, if the company is doing bad, there is 1000 things they need to concider before they fire someone.
Like, can you take someones job that has been there for a shorter period of time? Can I go down in time? Can I get a place elsewhere in the company where they are looking for people? Is the company able to find me a diffrent company that offer the same work description?
There is simply a lot, and companies do not want to fire people. Since its such a struggle.
So unless you really missbehave, do something illegal, sexually assault someone and what not, then they will do the best out of the situation.
While in the US, they can basiclly say "hey, you have been late 10 times the last 6 months, and this wont work. We will have to let you go."
So there is a significent diffrence in how secure emplotyment is.
Hey. Nice to see you back Stefan!
Hehe, I agree with the week numbers, never used them before (Switzerland), but in Sweden, especially in business, it is used a lot. A tip here, you can activate to display the week numbers in your Outlook calendar!
This helped me a lot for this matter.
Pls help me with week numbers 🔢? I want to learn what is week numbers & how can we use it
Hi Stefan. I work in a team that represents about 20 languages, handling a French client. We use week numbers extensively for planning, both in the team and when talking to the client. I don't know if this is something that everyone in the team finds natural, or if they get used to it, but I know for a large part of the team (all Nordics, Dutch, German), as well as our French client representatives, it was completely ordinary and I'd say expected. It might be a European thing?
We also have an American on the team and one member in the Philippines, and if they found it strange, they picked it up very quickly.
And even though I grew up using week numbers, I don't know them by heart. I know midsummer is usually somewhere in the mid 20s (middle of the year), but I keep tabs because I have to make weekly reports, and the week number is part of the title. Absurdly enough, I always lag a week behind. I know last week was 30 cause I made the week 30 report this Monday 😂
Just to add some clarity: "Test employment" isnt a thing that is always applied. Usually its a thing when you are a beeing employed as a junior, or maybe if your employer feels unsure about something in your working background.
In Denmark we use week numbers as well.
Okay I have to comment because it is hilarious that every single point of this video is. 100% relatable to me as a foreigner and even are points that we have discussed with my Swedish partner along the years we moved here. Very entertaining video, great job!
Regarding week numbers, you just activate it in your digital calendar and it will show up. Be aware that depending on if your country start a week on a Monday or Sunday the week count can vary though.
In Sweden, weeks are mostly relevant in school but for any parent it will be required that you get accustomed to it as they tend to communicate and plan based on week numbers.
Hahaha! I agree. When I'm at my sister's house for dinner in the winter time, we always have the same discussion. Even if they don't light only 1 candle but several placed here and there, I always think it's too dark 😄
To get priority for a new Swedish citizenship if you previously renounced your Swedish citizenship only applies to people who have been Swedish citizens since birth? The rules for alcohol advertising are much more complicated than you say. For example, in certain types of media it is permitted to advertise products with a maximum of 15% alcohol by volume. It also depends on whether the medium in which the advertisement is shown is distributed from Sweden or from another country.
Yep, in The Netherlands we count the weeks too.
Yes love the week numberng! it is really good!
Have to chip in about the week numbers. I think the key is to not think that it's supposed to be useful in relation to specific dates - it usually isn't - but rather, in relation to other weeks. Let go of dates when you're talking weeks. If I tell you that I have vacation w26 to w29, I don't expect you to figure out that my vacation starts exactly on June 24th. What I *am* efficiently communicating is that I'm taking 4 weeks of summer vacation, and that it's relatively early compared to the "industry vacation" (which is kind of a legacy concept but usually considered to be w29 - w32 I think). Also, "I'm going skiing in week 7" is a very convenient sentence. And as others have mentioned, it's quite convenient for project planning at work. It gives a continuous grid to allocate work upon, and it's easier to calculate the number of weeks between "w10 and w20" than between "March 4th and May 19th".
All that said, it does come at the cost of some extra brain work when you do have to bridge the gap between weeks and dates.
Not to mention, on the topic of alcohol ads, that a lot of Systembolaget's adverts are a lot more aimed on responsible drinking, where the whole ad could be about saying no to your kids to the importance of them having closing times, rather than having a sped up voice going "remembertodrinkresponsibly" at the last split second of the ad.
Definitely more beneficial.
The introduction of week numbers happened sometime during the seventies, mostly for use in official and business procedures. It is convenient, but it is not common in daily life.
Never heard about the candle things haha.. For the weeks, we barely use it when we speak to each other except when we talk about our holidays.
There are other countries that use week-numbers too, but to complicate things, there's two different systems to count which week is no. 1.
The trial employment is actually very common throughout Europe , same as the difficulty to fire someone. As for the 6 month period of “trial” that is the maximum time, and it can be lower. It is decided by the employer or in agreement with the employee, or governed by the collective agreement.
One more thing to add, the trial period is not just for the employer to evaluate the performance of the employee but also for the employee to evaluate the employer and resign without consequences if not happy.
The week numbering thins is by a large part something that comes from business/corporate planning, and is commonly used for eg vacation planning (as is pointed out in the video).
For planning, week numbers often make a lot of sense: All weeks are of the same length (months are not). It's often a "nice granularity." Since weeks are separated by weekends, they naturally form separated chunks of "work packets". It's easier to see at a glance how many days there is in the interval between two weeks than between two dates.
Additional things on numbering things:
If you need to be specific to the day, then you add the day number to the week number, so Thursday of the third week is written in short form like this: w3d4 or possibly w03d4. Eg if there was a requirement to submit your time report for January this year (2024) at the end of the last workday the it could be communicated like this: "Time reports must be submitted by w5d3 EOD".
Monday is day 1, Sunday is day 7. (For those of you having the bible as a prime guidance, there is even support for that day numbering scheme in it. ;‐) )
For precise and unambiguous communication, measurements are given starting with the largest unit going towards the smallest, in strict order: The "Sixth of February, 2025" is specified as "2025-02-06". The time "twenty minutes past four, PM" is given as "16:20".
The date format above is actually an international standard. Alas, local cultures has stopped this from being universally adopted. Eg on packaged food items there's often a best-before date in six digits, but you never know what date format is used. Was 010203 the first of February 2003, the second of January 2003 or the third of February 2001 etc? Your only chance is to look, smell and taste - possibly leading to anything from a "jummy!" to a "yuck!", a spit or a puke.
German here living in Sweden for about 22 years now. I’ve both studied and worked in Sweden. Still don’t remember the weak numbers. Confuses me everytime. Worst part is that people like to small talk about the summer holidays right before the summer and you’ll always get the question: “when do you have your holidays? Mine is week 30-34” and I always have no idea exactly when that is supposed to be 😂
Born and raised in Sweden, still never been able to remember which week it is, or which date refer to which week...
Week numbers are used in pretty much all of the world for project management. I find it much harder in the US, where they're not used. For example, week 431 is just ending, and that is such an easy way to keep track of what is going on in projects.
Wonderful to see you back again! I have to ask you or any of your Swedish followers if this eating in darkness is something new in the last decade or so. I remember visiting and eating with my older cousins in the 1980's and into the early 2000's and never once were the lights lowered or turned off. Unless I count the time eating around the fire by the water in Bergshamra and the sun went down! ;-p
Born and raised in Sweden and I still don't speak in numbered weeks, so vacation times are always annoying, like why can't you just tell me you're going on vacation the second week of July instead of week X.
I'm also with you on the dim dining environments, my mother seems to have a fetish for eating in the dark, I always have to ask if we can put on some more lights.
Using weeks is one thing that was arguably easier 20+ years ago than it is today because everyone used physical calendars back then which all had the weeks in them, while a lot of the apps we use nowadays don’t give the weeks, at least not by default.
Born Swede, 65 years old, never in my life have I sat down to a 1 candle dinner! Many candles, yes. But one???? No. 😲
Clarification regarding provanställning or trial period as you said: provanställning is a very common concept in most work places and is regulated by law. However this is a so called optional law which means the employer decide if it should be implemented or not. Like I said, it is very common to use it but it is optional and some employers don't use it. My company doesn't for example, you get a tenure immediately. If the trial period is implemented it automatically becomes a tenure after a maximum of 6 months if both parties agrees. The trial period can only last 6 months maximun according to law but can actually be shorter as well, although it is not common to implement for a shorter period of time.
Hej Stefan, welcome back to your channel!
When having a job full of appointments and meetings every day every week, the number system is convinient. You can say "Can we book a follow-up meeting wednesday week 48?" And the counterpart knows exactly what it means without mention dates and months presupposed that both parties has their own calenders in sight. I also agree that sometimes "mysigt" gets exaggerated but there is a restaurant in Stockholm "Svartklubben" where you dine in total darkness.
I'm Swedish and the eating in the dark is true. When I go to eat dinner at my parent's house, the darkness is usually a small contention because I also like to have the lights turned on when I'm eating and they usually turn the lights way down
I think week numbers are (more or less) confusing to most of us. I think how much you know/use week numbers depends on how much they are useful to you at work. If you just memorize your vacation week numbers, they are then useful in small talk to let each other get a quick mental picture of whether or not we will have overlapping vacations. If someone tells me the exact date they will go back to work I might not remember it, but with a week number I just compare it to my own weeks and can memorize overlapping weeks for possible plans
Week numbers are very practical when planning work wise without having to be to excact on dates. However, I often have to ask about what dates certain week numbers are too when we are looking at our calendars. And too few candles when eating is not very nice. One have to tell the host to light a few more.
The trials are different lengths too depending the profession, I work as an audiologist and I had a 2 year trial, then I finally got permanent stay.
There are other differences too. As a railroadworker I had a 6 month trial period that couldn't be broken so easily and in return if nothing was done to revoke it before there were two months left it would automatically become a real employment contract.
The lights when eating is not a swedish thing. It's a personal thing.
That's nice ❤
Love your vids, thank you. I am currently trying to navigate the differences between the US and Sweden myself, have not even gotten permanent residency yet but have been living here 3 months on 3 months off while I wait.
It's also weird for me as a swede with numbered weeks. Mostly because almanacks are not in regular use anymore. Before all homes had one...😢
I love eating in darkness. Darkness is a friend, it molds you its coarses thru our veins!
Born and raised Swede here and I also don't get calling out week numbers. Never had a phone that came with a calendar app where weeks are numbered and neither regular paper wall calendars, so I always have look it up on the internet, or buy a special calendar, or most commonly just begrudgingly ask back "ok, and when is that?", whenever someone mentions something taking place week so and so
Well i live in Finland and i hate that people speaks about weeks. Even my phone doesn´t show numbers of the weeks so i ask always the dates of those weeks. And i have lived in Finland and Sweden almost 44 years now and i still hate that.
In Finland the maximum trial time is 6 months, but it depends how you make the deal. Sometimes there isn´t trial time at all.
Same thing here for advertising alcohol.
On the matter of alcohol, one thing you might not know if you don't have children over 14 in Sweden,(I don't know if you have this is your first video I've seen) is that some time after a child becomes fourteen the parents get a small book/pamplet? (I'm not sure of the name) about alcohol and how to have conversations about it with your child and how to handle situations of if your child comes home drunk and responsible drinking, my brother turned fourteen a few months ago and it came in the mail today, my mom mentioned having got it when i was fourteen too but I've never heard of it before, i suppose she thought it wasn't necessary 😅. Not that i like alcohol very much anyways, the only alcohol i think taste okay is rose wine since it doesn't have as strong of a flavor as red wine.
IQ tonårsparlören I have many copies as all 7 children are over 14 now.
That's amazing ❤
Week 1 can start before the end of the year. New year's Day can be on week 53
Some years have 53 weeks
Very much agree on the lights. I’d say one stumbled upon a particular preference, unless it’s some kind of of outdoor theming. And as a native. Counting weeks is not a practice of mine, and as far as I am concerned, thats one needless step for the sake of having one. Only reason I could make of would be if contracts were calculating by weeks to end up on the very day of the week… but that’s beyond me how it would be applicable to justify the effort to check online.
In Denmark the weeks are numbered too!
Trial employment really depends on which industry. In many industries the trial period can be negotiated.
when it comes to weeks having numbers i only remember them if i see it in the calendar tbh but one fun thing is that the days will have one or more names that you get to have a special fika for if its a name you have. you are kida expected to say 'grattis på namnsdagen' to family members as it makes them happy that you remember. my grandma have 3 names days and will want us to have fika but my mom only have one and one thats spelled wrong and so she gets grumpy about that xD.
1. I think all the Nordic countries use weeks.
Some other European countries also use weeks, Germany, The Netherlands, France, Bene-Lux etc...
2. Winter dinners are completely 'hyggelige'! especially by candlelight 🕯
hello from Denmark 🌸
Danes does week number aswell, depends on what you do how much you use it.
The week numbers is an international standard, although not many countries use it.
In English-speaking countries in Europe, "provanställning" is known as a probation period.
Agree with the eating lights. I turn a bit skeptic if I’m invited to someone for dinner, and they turn of the lights before the food is placed on the table. What are they hiding?
Weeks is just something corporate sweden use when they are laying all of the employee vacations.
Other than that nobody uses weeks regurarly except teachers in primary school.
Some thoughts on this vlog. I think parents who have children in school have more control over weekly numbers because the school works according to these. As far as alcohol advertising is concerned, stronger drinks are also advertised. I don't know the conditions for this, but it does occur.
Week numbers is kalender woche or KW in German. Frequently used.
Swede here and I totally agree with you about the week numbers! I’ve never got used to it either.
Me: ”When are you going on vacation?”
Collauge / Friend: ”Week no 32-34”
Me: ”Just give it to me in dates!! 🤯”
I think it has to do with that we often report the vacation in week-numbers to the employer. But it’s driving me crazy every year. 😅
I’d only use week numbers in work or school settings because it’s quicker than giving a series of dates. I’d never know by heart what month or dates week 12 would be without looking in a calendar.
Yeah the week numbers is a thing but I too need to pull up a calendar to check what dates a specific week are or whatever. And Yeah we do like a few candles at a cozy dinner but I don't think I have ever, in 50 years, been to a dinner in a dark environment with just a single candle. ^^
Precis - varför skulle man sitta i mörker och äta middag.
Alcohol advertising is restricted but not prohibited. You just cannot enhance the product with a certain mood, connect it with a holiday, advertise it for situation where it shouldn’t be used (in traffic, schools etc.), not advertise it as a solution to being bored etc. etc.
Very regulated, yes.
But actually it’s just a thing that popped up recently that many swedes drink alcohol free. Maybe they will drive the same day or they just feel like it. So they do advertise the alcohol free product. I’d rather say people already know Norrlands guld is good. So then they want to try the alcohol free version as well. Consumtion of alcohol free products has sky rocketed the last 5 years I Sweden. Ten years ago it was way, way lower as well.
Week number thing definitly isn't just swedish. I've seen it in a couple of european countries, espescially my native Germany. For buisness stuff and all sorts of office jobs, they are quite common. Some people know them, but I think most of us just look at the calendar. Don't know about Swedish calendars, but German calendars will often have a note which "calendarweek" (week of the year) it is.
Sweden: Week numbering is widely used in Sweden, and many businesses and organizations refer to weeks by their number throughout the year.
Norway: Norwegians also commonly use week numbers in various contexts, such as in business, education, and planning.
Denmark: Week numbers are used in Denmark, and they are often used in calendars, scheduling, and other organizational purposes.
Germany: In Germany, week numbering is widely used in business and administrative contexts, and it is also commonly used in calendars.
Netherlands: Dutch people also use week numbers in various settings, such as in business, education, and government.
Finland: Week numbers are commonly used in Finland, and they are often seen in calendars and schedules.
Switzerland: In Switzerland, week numbers are used in various contexts, similar to other European countries.
United Kingdom: While not as widespread as in some other European countries, week numbering is used in the UK, especially in business and organizational settings.
I'm sure there are others that use Week number as well
The number of the week is not used in everyday conversation just for educations and summer vacations. If you take a vacation between June and August you often say "I go between week 28-32" for example, but if you go in October you will say "I go between the 5-20th of October" so it is not consistent. Regarding the "mysigt" factor while eating. I have had this happened to me in most relationships and I think it is a majority feminine thing. I myself want it bright but I go along with it for my partner and I've never met someone who identifies as a man who likes the "mysigt" vibes while eating dinner. While watching a movie I am all for it!
I'm born and raised in Norway where we also use week numbers. It's just as much of a struggle for me as you described it being for you
I'm Swedish and I don't enjoy eating in the dark. Especially not in restaurants. A dark restaurang must have something to hide, that they don't want us to see.
I think week numbers is a Nordic or Scandinavian thing, we tend to do the same here lol... I can't read weeknumbers either, I generally know what weeks I will be on vacation as I try to take the same weeks. Ever time I get a new version of outlook and the week numbers are gone I freak out :D (And I generally add public/bank holidays for Sweden, us, india, china and a few other countries to outlook as well)
I think week numbers are great for projects as you can easily box in things in weeks.
As a swede myself i can confidently say that we dont have that good of an idea when every week is either. but counting weeks removes a lot of confusion since everyone can quickly look up what week it is/ when week X is.
Also being Swedish, with a job where logistics are planned based on week number I'm always aware of what week it is. 😅 But yeah, before it was important for work, I wasn't that good at keeping track of weeks.
The week thing I do not understand and I do not use it as i hate it. Never seen that candle thing... Don't know who you are with 🤣.
My dad and other people were let go because a big part of the company they worked at was moving to another country. I guess the company just didn't want to trouble them with lots of business trips. It's also a relief since my parents who are divorced takes turns looking after our dog.
It might have to do with the industry meaning constructionworkers, mining, factoryworkers etc take the weeks of 28-31
Born and raised swede. I totally agree with wanting to see my food. The brightest the lights could go at my parents place is the lowest they can go at my place