If this story had happened in Romania or, say, Albania, I might not even have been surprised. But in Denmark?!
We managed to stay in such a beautiful place in the northern part of Zealand. And although the hotel itself—apart from the view—was not exactly top-tier, we definitely weren’t expecting this kind of surprise.
After a full day of walking and exploring, my wife wanted to end the day properly with a well-deserved relaxing shower. Instead, I kept hearing more and more groaning and complaining from the bathroom.
Of course, the “there’s no hot water” problem never seems quite as serious when you’re listening from the bed as it does when you’re actually standing under the shower. And besides, I had personally felt hot water coming from the faucet that afternoon, so I didn’t think anything serious was going on at all.
But after a while, I finally got up to see what was happening in the bathroom, because the complaining just didn’t want to stop.
Well, the shower really was running almost ice-cold water. And so was the sink. No matter which way we turned, twisted, or switched things—not even the smallest hint of lukewarm water appeared.
There was nothing else to do, so I went out to ask for help in the small central building, which served as reception, restaurant, and basically everything else at once. The evening was already over, and I only found one enthusiastic waitress arranging the glasses for the next morning’s breakfast on the empty tables.
After I told her what was happening on the hot-water front, she asked me for a little patience and dashed off.
I don’t know what I expected her to come back with. Maybe that she’d realize the boiler had been turned off. Or that she would flip some switch somewhere and we’d instantly have hot water. Or maybe there was something wrong with our room, and she’d offer us another one.
But you have to experience everything once—as my wife later reacted to this story.
As I said, I expected many possible answers. But definitely not the one she came back with.
The waitress returned with a huge smile on her face and, with the greatest calm in the world, told me she was sorry, but they had done too much dishwashing in the kitchen, so the hot water had run out. We should wait half an hour, and by then there would surely be some.
And she was so cheerful, so kind, and said it all so naturally that any doubt you might have had—if you had any—about why this is one of the happiest countries in the world simply vanished. Because here, apparently, even a problem isn’t really something people make a problem out of.
Of course, the fact still remained a fact.
Ice-cold water. In a hotel. In Denmark—because they had washed too many dishes.
There are many interesting things in this world.
