I was hanging out at Ikea today (you know how I do) and somehow mysteriously found myself in the grocery section, where I witnessed quite the sight:
There was a Swedish person there! He was an older gentleman, looking for what I think was lingonberry jam (though my Swedish is a bit rusty), and he asked the cashier where it was. I looked at the cashier, assuming that she'd look back at me with a puzzled expression and shrug her shoulders as if to say, "I have no idea what you are talking about, crazy Swedish man." But she didn't! She responded in kind. IN SWEDISH. And there I was: in an Ikea in California, listening to two people have a conversation in Swedish, and my mind was blown. I felt like I was trapped in some sort of Ikea Inception.
So my question is this: Do you suppose it is just coincidence that there is actually a person who speaks Swedish working at Ikea? Did she just stumble upon the position and say, "Hey! I speak Swedish. Ikea sounds like the perfect place to work!" Or is there some sort of Ikea trafficking going on, where Ikea HQ sends over at least one Swedish person to every single store in the world, just in case someone starts screaming, "Brunkrissla? Is that even a real word?!" And then she can swoop in and be all like, "Yes sir, it is. BAM. You've just been Sweded."
