Life at Ikea, via Flickr

January 31, 2009 1:49 PM

Life at Ikea: Pretty much like life everywhere else.
posted by mrbula (23 comments total)

How do we know they're really at IKEA? I mean, don't most people leave the price tags on all their stuff? I know I do!
posted by blue_beetle at 1:54 PM on January 31, 2009

I think there's a great metaphor here about how ordinary lives are made from a bunch of little pieces and you always feel like you don't have enough.
posted by Chan at 2:02 PM on January 31, 2009 [4 favorites]

Did I miss a link? Why is there life at Ikea?
posted by nzydarkxj at 2:08 PM on January 31, 2009

I could use some title tags here.
posted by dead cousin ted at 2:09 PM on January 31, 2009

It's one of these marketing stunts Ikea does.

Köttbullar!
posted by Dumsnill at 2:20 PM on January 31, 2009

<>

"There is life outside your apartment at IKEA! But you've got to open the door!"

<>
posted by Flipping_Hades_Terwilliger at 2:39 PM on January 31, 2009 [1 favorite]

Dangit, I keep forgetting that fake HTML tags don't work on Metafilter.

(Rides Hoverboard in direction of lake.)
posted by Flipping_Hades_Terwilliger at 2:40 PM on January 31, 2009

Life: some assembly required.
posted by brain_drain at 2:45 PM on January 31, 2009 [5 favorites]

Life is like Ikea: you can take the long way, twisting and turning through all the different sections, or take one of those shortcuts because you really don't care about looking at the office furniture. Either way, everyone ends up at the checkout with a bunch of scrunched up yellow bags.
posted by starman at 3:08 PM on January 31, 2009 [1 favorite]

Ikea will drive you insane. If you think it didn't make you crazy, you're crazy already.

Ikeaphobia is natural.
posted by billdyszel at 3:11 PM on January 31, 2009 [1 favorite]

My life IS a lot like that but much, much dirtier and worn out.
posted by Foam Pants at 3:18 PM on January 31, 2009 [1 favorite]

Isn't Ikea pronounced 'icky, yeah'? That can't be a coincidence.
posted by jamstigator at 4:01 PM on January 31, 2009

Yeah, this is just like real life! I usually wake up in the morning and try to kill myself with my nicely furnished bedroom set. Failing that I begin drinking heavily. Which makes me crap like crazy. After that I go find a breakdance battle...with my violin...and I usually outclass everyone there. Then I go home to a loving relationship.

The weekends are a little more livelier though.
posted by P.o.B. at 4:22 PM on January 31, 2009

Ikeaphobia is natural.

Wow. That was painfully unfunny. I guess the problem with giving everyone the ability to make "funny" videos is that everyone does, and while you occasionally get something brilliant, more often you get crap like that.
posted by DecemberBoy at 4:34 PM on January 31, 2009 [1 favorite]

Is this a commercial?
posted by crapmatic at 5:39 PM on January 31, 2009

Needs one of these.
posted by orme at 5:45 PM on January 31, 2009

Many of you are feeling bad for this lamp. That is because you are crazy!
posted by patr1ck at 6:20 PM on January 31, 2009 [4 favorites]

Life on display.Or your vacation anyway.
posted by ecorrocio at 7:30 PM on January 31, 2009

Hot.
posted by DakotaPaul at 9:55 PM on January 31, 2009

That ad backfired horribly with me. It made me want to run out and rescue lamps and find good homes for them. Save the end table kittens!
posted by fleetmouse at 10:20 PM on January 31, 2009

Each time I've visited the new Greater Cincinnati Ikea there have been different groups of Georgian, Moldovan, and Armenian contractors working the cart return system outside the store.

I rarely encounter Russian-speakers in Cincinnati (unlike Cleveland), which is why they stood out among the hundreds of Americans, Germans, and other tourists at this particular Ikea store.

The first time I spoke to these guys in Russian they started asking me a million questions about the area, as if they hadn't left the few square miles surrounding the store.

The Moldovan man even claimed to have once worked at the new-ish Metro Cash & Carry in Chișinău!

Has anyone ever encountered groups of Eastern Europeans working at North American Ikeas in such numbers?
posted by vkxmai at 10:43 PM on January 31, 2009

The last time I had to make a trip to IKEA, the predominant language I heard was Mandarin. In Toronto, BTW.
posted by typewriter at 6:35 PM on February 1, 2009

It's absolutely unacceptable for parents to leave the store while their children are in Smaland.
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 11:19 PM on February 1, 2009