You could blame the twee-as-fuck and woefully misread film ‘500 Days of Summer‘ for this (misread in the sense that everyone seems to wilfully skip over the fact that Tom is a selfish shit) or you could blame the fact the showrooms are all deliberately set up to look like properly functioning rooms, but people sure as hell have taken a shine to hiding out and sleeping the night at IKEA stores around the world over the past little while.
In Europe, the whole thing ramped up a few months ago after a pair of Belgian teens hid inside an IKEA and spent the night there, filming the whole thing and uploading it to their YouTube channel.
See, it’s less “whimsical film-like adventure” as it is more “shitloads of hours hiding from security in a sweaty cupboard.”
That hasn’t stopped anyone from giving it a red-hot crack though. And since then apparently some 10 “illegal” sleepovers have been reported at IKEAs globally, which includes at least one here in Australia.
Despite that relatively low number, IKEA still isn’t jazzed on the whole thing, and has had it up to about HJËRE with it.
The Swedish arm of the store in particular is not amused with people taking liberties with its streamlined efficiency, having caught two 14-year-old girls attempting the overnight camp out recently.
A spokesman for the Swedish HQ spoke to local papers at the time and was blunt in his assessment of the activity:
“We have spoken with their parents to resolve the situation. We hope that this trend will slow. We do not see what it is fun about it.”
IKEA Sweden. Not big fans of fun.
Locally the Australian arm of the company seems a bit more receptive to the whole thing, even going so far as to offer a “legal” version of the scheme with an organised sleepover competition run in conjunction with Airbnb back in 2014.
But let this be a lesson to all you travellers looking for a free place to crash: Sweden has had it with your shit, and will not provide you with free lodgings.
Even if you cannot… ahem…
…a-fjord it.
Source: ABC News.
