IKEA dutzt

Before we went to Dresden, we made a family expedition to the IKEA store in Eching, near the Munich airport.

Just like the computer companies that offer Cashback!, IKEA believes it is in tune with youthful hipness. Indeed, IKEA's management assumes they know you so well, they don't need to bother with formalities: they don't politely tell formal-you where to find a cup, they tell informal-singular-you where to find one:

Cups for warm drinks get informal-singular-you at the cash register.

I was surprised to find myself, well, a little shocked by this impudent intimacy. How about a little friendly distance, folks? The assumption really should be that we sietzen until we both agree to dutzen. Hear me, IKEA: I do not want formal-your hot drinks!

Compare IKEA to Milka, Germany's favorite cheap chocolate (owned by megacompany Kraft foods). If anyone should have permission to dutzen, it's an everyday-chocolate company with kid-friendly lilac cows on their wrappers. Yet Milka sticks with sietzen. What a respectable company; what a culturally-attuned megacompany. Milka, I shall eat lots of formal-your chocolate!

Visit formal-ye Milka World in Munich!