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I was looking for a rare book everywhere and couldn't find it. And then one day, waiting at the airport in Kazakhstan (fun fact: if you cross a solid white line while driving there, the police will suspend your driving license for a year), I tried searching again and found it in some online store in Finland.
The problem was that their e-commerce system didn't allow shipping to Poland, my home country. So I emailed them asking if it was possible to ship to Poland. After confirming they could, they told me that if I order it today by 1 pm, they'll ship it the same day.
They sent me the invoice and I paid it. But I knew that they would never ship it the same day because I had to pay via European bank transfer, which usually takes up to 24 hours to reach the recipient. I didn't even think about sending them a confirmation of my payment so they could ship faster, as nobody would trust some random bank confirmation.
And they sent me the book today, without even receiving money.
Are they stupid or what?
No, they just live in a very high trust society. By default, they consider strangers trustworthy.
You could call it naivety, but it works for them, as Finland is one of the best managed countries in the world, consistently ranking as one of the happiest countries in the world. I can confirm it's awesome, even if the climate is terrible.
When I travel, I love learning how various countries work and how people interact with each other. Do they respect rules? Are they polite? Are they friendly toward strangers? All these play a huge role in how nice it is to live in a given place, or even just visit for a couple of days as a tourist.
I believe that social trust is one of the keys to a happy life. Countries where that trust doesn't exist, speaking plainly, suck. It's always a relief when I leave a low-trust society and go back to a high-trust one.
Now, I know that this can also be a controversial topic. Usually high-trust societies come with rules and many people on this forum love freedom (or think they value it above all). But go to a "free" country and chances are you'll hate it because you won't be able to trust anyone and nothing will be predictable because nobody follows the rules. So when forced, I definitely prefer societies with rules than "free" societies without them.
In what society do you live? Do people generally trust strangers or is it always mistrust by default? What are your experiences where people surprised you with their level of trust and/or mistrust? Do you trust strangers or are you always suspicious of people's intentions?
The problem was that their e-commerce system didn't allow shipping to Poland, my home country. So I emailed them asking if it was possible to ship to Poland. After confirming they could, they told me that if I order it today by 1 pm, they'll ship it the same day.
They sent me the invoice and I paid it. But I knew that they would never ship it the same day because I had to pay via European bank transfer, which usually takes up to 24 hours to reach the recipient. I didn't even think about sending them a confirmation of my payment so they could ship faster, as nobody would trust some random bank confirmation.
And they sent me the book today, without even receiving money.
Are they stupid or what?
No, they just live in a very high trust society. By default, they consider strangers trustworthy.
You could call it naivety, but it works for them, as Finland is one of the best managed countries in the world, consistently ranking as one of the happiest countries in the world. I can confirm it's awesome, even if the climate is terrible.
When I travel, I love learning how various countries work and how people interact with each other. Do they respect rules? Are they polite? Are they friendly toward strangers? All these play a huge role in how nice it is to live in a given place, or even just visit for a couple of days as a tourist.
I believe that social trust is one of the keys to a happy life. Countries where that trust doesn't exist, speaking plainly, suck. It's always a relief when I leave a low-trust society and go back to a high-trust one.
Now, I know that this can also be a controversial topic. Usually high-trust societies come with rules and many people on this forum love freedom (or think they value it above all). But go to a "free" country and chances are you'll hate it because you won't be able to trust anyone and nothing will be predictable because nobody follows the rules. So when forced, I definitely prefer societies with rules than "free" societies without them.
In what society do you live? Do people generally trust strangers or is it always mistrust by default? What are your experiences where people surprised you with their level of trust and/or mistrust? Do you trust strangers or are you always suspicious of people's intentions?
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