I have mentioned this blog before, called Irish Nomad In Norway. But I just found one of her articles that I thought was funny and interesting.

She talks about how in Oslo, she seems to receive a very high volume of ‘telesales’ calls (here in the US we call that telemarketing…but whatever :). She says she gets hung up on frequently as well, because she is “just the wife” and since her husband is at work, she is of no use to the telemarketers.

But one morning when she got the usual call, she was evidently ‘qualified’ to hear the special offer (lucky her! j/k).

The salesperson on the other end was calling to offer fire saftey stickers. These are for putting on the bedroom windows of the home that people sleep in. She was offered three stickers for a few hundred Kroner - and an option to purchase additional stickers for a little more mooolah.

The sales pitch for the oh-so-important Norwegian fire saftey stickers was: In the event of a fire, the wonderful Norwegian fire department when coming to rescue you would be able to quickly identify which rooms of the home would have people sleeping in them. Thus allowing the speedy rescue of anyone inside the burning home and saving the lives of everyone inside.

She says in her article, “Of course the idea that fire fighters would go around looking for little stickers on windows, dithering over which window to break into first, is absurd.” I think shes right…and funny :).

PLUS if you put the stickers on the windows of the bedrooms, they really would only be useful at night - which I imaging would make it difficult to find “the sticker” in the dark with smoke and chaos all around. In the daytime, it would be useless and the fire fighters would have to go about the search and rescue the same as they always do.

Johanna also mentions that in Norway, most of the homes are built out of wood (a little scary) so if there is a fire, they go up in flames very quickly. She says, “often with tragic consequences”.

What a happy thought to dwell on as I pack my stuff before I move to Oslo in three weeks. I guess I could start looking in to getting my very own Norwegian fire saftey sticker…

But really, is Norway’s fire department so good that they can really do anything to stop a fire that is burning a building built of wood? If they can, then I applaud them. But if not, then would fire saftey stickers really make any difference? Or is it all just the fire departments master plan to take over the world one sticker at a time? :) Johanna said that the salesperson did seem to play into her protective mothering instincts to make a buck - I mean Kroner. She says that this was probably the bright idea of some “smart-ass” to “tap into parents’ fears and siphon cash from people for the price of a telephone call”.

Thats why I like her:). She’s no idiot. And my personal highlight in the whole article had nothing to do with fire saftey stickers at all. I thought the best part was when she says she “silently congratulated” herself when she knew what the Norwegian word for ’sticker’ was. Thats awesome. And what an accomplishment. I congratulate you too, Johanna!

The moral of the story…no to Norwegian fire safety stickers….yes to the blog from the Irish Nomad In Norway.