I was waiting for tram number 3 in front of Helsinki Central Station. It was a beautiful summer afternoon, after work. Life was peachy and beautiful, and I was minding my own business, aka playing with my phone just like most millennials do while waiting for their ride to arrive. Suddenly, a man (blonde hair, pale skin, not too tall) came closer to my face and whispered, “Go back in Thailand.” He left while mumbling something like “v*tt*.” Let’s pause. First, I didn’t come from Thailand. (They are beautiful people, but I have never lived in Thailand. Way to make an assumption!) Second, I might not be a native English speaker, but I don’t think that’s the correct grammar. Third, how dare you! I was shocked and spent the rest of the afternoon crying my eyes out at home. Years have passed, and I still wish I had said all the things I wanted to say to that man. Ever since then, I’ve tried my best not to spend too much time in the central station area unless I really have to. I also stopped exercising by walking around the city center, afraid to stumble upon a similar incident again. COVID was a major help, because it allowed me to enjoy safe walks in the city center again.

On my first winter in Finland, I experienced a severe and unpleasant condition caused by sinusitis. I called Viiskulma Terveysasema and explained that I was suffering from sinusitis and would like to seek medical treatment. The practitioner nurse laughed and said, “This is Finland. What do you expect?” I didn’t respond much, as I was suffering from a major headache from the sinus infection and couldn’t process much information. I asked her again what the next step would be to get medical assistance. The nurse repeated that getting a headache is normal in Finland, especially with dynamic temperature changes. I explained to her again that this was my first winter in Finland and my respiratory system was not able to adjust accordingly due to my sinus condition. I asked her again if she could help me to get medical attention, keeping in mind that I had called the health station very early in the day, around 8 am. The nurse then asked if I had been diagnosed with sinusitis, and I confirmed yes. She then scheduled a visit to the health station for three weeks in the future. I asked her if there was any closer schedule available, and she simply responded with a “take it or leave it” attitude. She then read the time, date, and doctor’s room number and hung up the call without waiting for me to confirm that I had written down the information. What a high quality of bedside manner.

My husband had an ulcer and the doctors wouldn’t believe he was in pain and told him it was nothing until weeks later. They wouldn’t do any tests when he requested and actually said to his face “what do want us to do. we’ve done enough.”

I failed my driving test for the second time in a row! My concern is how he can judge me wrong when I did everything right only by saying my observation was poor, and also how I can prove to myself that he did not allow me to pass even though all the scores were right. In this case, there is no video recording session or anything that is proven. So whatever the examiner decides, we have to trust that blindly, is it? I do not want to revise the decision, which is going to cost me 50 euros, and you also cannot define my test either, as you do not have any proof of whether I am right or wrong. so it is unfair for foreigners.

I wrote to HEKA, the City of Helsinki housing company, to express my deep disappointment and concern about an incident during a service visit to my new home, related to a faulty electrical installation. This is a new house. Two electricians, outsourced by HEKA, came to address the electrical issues at my residence. During breakfast, while my family and I were getting ready for the day, they resolved the problems. However, one of the electricians made unprofessional and discriminatory comments, speculating that the issues might be due to the work of foreigners during the installation of the circuit breaker switchboard. As an immigrant myself, and with enough understanding of spoken Finnish, this was hurtful and unacceptable. I let them finish their job, which ended up not being fixed at all, as a new intervention had to be made, and confronted them about those comments, simply saying: “Next time you’re fixing something at someone’s home, be professional and leave your political ideologies outside.” Silence was the answer. When confronting HEKA about this, no formal apology was given, and there was no manifestation of concern—just indifference.

Last year, we had a child at the children’s hospital in Espoo. Upon the birth of my kid, we were put in a recovery room—my Finnish wife, my little one, and me. As my wife was under recovery due to surgery, the nurse gave the kid to my hands, and I asked in fear what to do. This was my first child; I was exhausted and completely lost. In Finnish, she answered, “You’re in Finland; we’ll speak in Finnish,” and refused to speak in English. We called a second nurse who did the same. Fortunately, a third nurse came on the next shift, which kindly handled us with the care we deserved. I’ve made a complaint to the City of Espoo and also to the hospital, but never received a formal response. We got a call from the city saying they’re sorry, and that was it.

I am a foreigner living in Finland for 8 years now. I’m married to a Finn and have Finnish children. I have a fairly good employment and decided to buy a house. I booked a meeting with OP bank in Tampere City centre for a loan application. I easily qualified for the loan and had an ASP account while my Finnish wife was unemployed. When we showed up for the meeting they informed us that the English speaking person was not available and a Finnish speaking person will take over instead with someone translating for me. When we explained everything to the loan officer she started talking to my wife and for some reason the translator stopped translating. This continued for a while and when I intruppted and asked my wife, she explained that they were telling her to ask for 50% of the house. My wife had no savings and did not have the intention of taking a loan but they insisted that she should have 50%. They even said which is untrue that ASP account doesn’t qualify without her who did not have an ASP account. Instead they insisted I add her to my ASP account. Not only was this unprofessional but it crossed a lot of boundaries. Very disappointed in Finlands banking personell, apparently it’s systematic as I’ve heard of similar experiences.

Sent to HSL as feedback too: My 11 years old child rides the bus xxx every day since 2 years on the same route to go to school. Today at 7 in the morning, the driver of the bus (registration number) picked her up in xxx to kick her out after 2 km when he realized her monthly card had expired (note that we never received a mail warning that the card was about to expire as it usually happens). He didn’t even leave her time to speak or suggested her to buy a ticket with the money on the card. He was rude and he left her crying at the bus stop on the way to school on a Friday? Where is the humanity?? Was he racist? my kid is african-finnish so of course the first thing she thought is that the driver is racist (on top of being rude and heartless). Who leaves an 11 years old girls on the way to school 2 km from home?? He should be fired! Regards