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Some northern Scandinavian people and especially the Finns do without it.

I tried having comfortable silences with my coworkers. Some like it, some just go insane. It kind of depends on the person - maybe some people never learn to appreciate the silence.

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I've been to conferences in Finland and there's as much smalltalk as there is anywhere else. Going to a conference and everyone just standing there silently would be a waste of everyone's time and money.

Okay. By having done away with it I guess I really meant that they are not doing it pointlessly often, when it could just as well be quiet.

Such as at the coffee (fika) break. It might be okay to just be silent. All you are going to talk about is rather obvious in either case.

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