There are many frustrations about living in Greenland – some small, some not so small. One of the small ones is that Greenland apparently doesn’t exist.
I expect there are other parts of the world with the same problem. Think of New Caledonia, Gibraltar, or Puerto Rico. All have a similar status to Greenland, which is a self-governing protectorate of the Kingdom of Denmark, with sole administrative responsibility for most of its affairs. And yet, often, it just doesn’t exist.
For example, one’s bank often requires an sms code for purchase of products, but Greenlandic phone numbers are not recognised by some standard online banking security systems. This is even the case for the Bank of Greenland, because they use the same security systems as everyone else. Therefore it’s not possible to make some online purchases.
Similarly, my iphone is two operating systems out of date. I haven’t been able to update it for over a year because to do so requires providing a phone number to receive security sms messages. To provide the number you need to select the international calling code from the list of countries provided. But Greenland isn’t on the list. So I bide my time in iOS9 until Greenland’s validity is recognised by Apple.
Apple is not the only culprit. Many companies have a blind spot for one of the world’s largest islands. My husband subscribes to Nature magazine – probably the most prestigious science journal. When he tried to update his subscription online he was presented with the above map-based possibilities for selecting his region. Greenland simply isn’t on the map.
Not only is it sometimes impossible to negotiate online systems, but also real people. My own favorite incident was when I lived in Australia. My husband was working over the summer in Greenland and I wanted to post him a package. I took it to the post office to buy the appropriate postage. The woman at the counter looked at the address on the letter and then looked at me quizzically.
“Greenland?” she asked.
“Yes” I replied.
“What’s that?”
I was a bit taken aback.
“Um, it’s a country.”
There was no flicker of recognition.
“It’s a big island…It’s about half way between Europe and Canada.”
Nothing. We stared at each other blankly, at an impass.
“OK, it’s Denmark,” I relented, reluctantly relegating Greenland to its pre-1979 status.
Satisfied, she affixed the appropriate stamps and wished me a good day, none the wiser about Greenland.
