Polish opinion of England as a country and the English nation

Seeing countless topics about what the English have to say about Polish people and Poland, I thought it would be interesting to see what Poles living there have to say about England as a country and their opinion about the English people. Poles who visited England and those who haven't are also welcome to share their views.

I'm neither English nor Pole, but this thread will be extremely fascinating to watch... So bring it on. I'm sitting on the sidelines. :)

my experince is limited to the London Airport in 2006 - I felt like I was in a war zone due to the presence of too many security guards with weapons. Coming from a relativelly peaceful Canada it was a shock to me. I had Amsterdam and Berlin airport to compare it with during the same trip and it was rather peaceful experiance. I have never felt so much agression as I did at Heathrow.

I don't like it, either but, in this day and age, it has to be done for every-one's safety.

oh, I am absolutely aware of that.
As for people from the Isles. Well, it has been a year of learning a lot about them and I think that it was a very good one. I learnt some new vocabulary, slang, and most important : swear words. If I am not mistaken, swearing could be an art form for some, which I actually wintessed last night. I think that it was the first time that I was not offened and was laughing for a long time, even though I don't know if it was a good thing;)
Some of the members introduced us to a lot of wit and a great sense of humour (Szarlotka for one, as welll as many others).
There are a lot of things I still don't understand, but hey......looking forward to learn more.

well, staying on topic, some Brtish people are out of control and think that ranting on PF will solve problems which, in my opinion are not directly caused by PF.

Agree

True.
Most of us aren't out of control.


Can there be a little bit more staying on topic?

As I'm not Polish, it is not for me to comment, other than to pass on opinions of Polish people I know or have known.
Most of these opinions, when put in front of me, have been fairly indifferent.

I have never said that. My experiance is limited to this forum and I know that it is not a representation of British people in general. I was referring to trolls.

Don't worry - I know you never said that. I thought I'd just chip that in there.


Here you either get those that love or those that hate.
It's a shame that the representation here comes across as so polarised.

agree

I'm an American. I was over in the UK for roughly 3 months on business. At my job we had a good mix of English and Polish. I saw a lot of animosity among the English towards the Polish. I talked with a few and asked why they were so spiteful. The common excuse was "they are taking our jobs" or some other nonsense like that.

Part of my job was to hire folks to do work and manage them. I interviewed hundreds of folks. And I hired over a hundred as well. Paid everyone wages based on their job, not their nationality. From my perspective, as an employer, I got more work from the Polish I hired. Or to use an American term "I got more bang for my buck."

Once they understood what to do... they did it. I never had to tell them again. The Brits on the other hand. I had to babysit many of them. I wont even get into the frustration of all the ones that would call in "sick" on payday.

Different cultures comes with different work ethics I suppose. I ended up having to fire quite a few people because they just didn't work out. (Note: firing folks in the UK is much tougher to do process wise than in the USA). Not one of the people I fired were Polish.

So the whole "Stealing our jobs" is rubbish. The jobs are there -- but if you're not going to do your job, then as an employer, I'm going to get rid you and find someone who will. I'm not hiring them because they're cheaper -- I'll pay them the same -- I'm hiring them because they want to do the work.

yawn.......Poles work hard,brits are lazy,yawn yawn yawny yawn yawnzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz Industrial revoloution people,and a lack of a Stakhanovite culture........

Why then, today, our mystery temps at work were a mix of Poles, Slovenians, Lithuanians and British. Who was lazy?

It may have more to do with the kind of British people who do unskilled manual labour in temping agencies rather than nationality - they are the ones who are more likely to have the language skills to get out. Unless they are genuinely useless, they will be there for less time than migrant workers with either less linguistic ability, or more likely, being stuck in a position where they are tied to a particular agency that have them by the b0ll0cks.

I think you will find that Polish immgrants work harder because they feel that they have a greater need to keep their job. It's not some great Polish work ethic. They don't all work so hard back here. In fact, like any other country, we have our fair share of the bone idle. There are many workers here, in manual labour, who think they are indispensable because they can't be replaced. Some find to their cost that they can be.

White collar workers in government and local council institutions are known for their awkwardness and inadequacy... as reported on these boards. I hear plenty stories of employees who are not up to the task here in Poland.

So please don't pretend to me that Polish workers are any better than Brits. It's all a question of need and what you think you can get away with.

consise and hit the nail on the head,thank you for that bit of sensible balance to the usual stereotype garbage seen on here where all Poles are super workers(implying some uncle tom like slave mentality) and all Brits are lazy/uneducated,immigration,despite recent PC revisionism has only been on a large scale in the UK over the last 30 or so years,we did alright for ourselves before then and laid the foundations for an econamy that seems to atract a heck of a lot of people,a lazy counr=try wouldnt be in a position to offer you guys anywork....

There is an element of this....ie getting paid around £1 an hour in Poland to do a job ( if you were luck y enough as an under 25 yr old to have ANY job), and all of a sudden you can get £5 plus an hour for the same joband be able to do a second full time/partime job.....so your earnings potential has gone £40 a week in Poland.........to £300 a week in UK/Ireland....never mind the higher standard of living in UK/Ireland!

Like the Irish before them, the East Europeans do think the streets of London are paved with gold.......!

Blah, Blah, Blah.
Never been to a fast food restuarant in Southern America and had a white person serve me. ENOUGH SAID.

Amercica a non racists nation!!!!

Thats the biggest joke i've ever heard. Go to Florida or any other southern region for that matter they are so racist its unbelievable. I ran a US based real estate business for four years. I have never experienced racisism the way they practise it in the US. We have national health in the UK they have a no health insurance and "your screwed" policy. You know its true yanks. America has the best and the worst of everything and i mean everything!!!! I could really go on and on and on.

I think the reasoning behind Poles appearing to have such a high work ethic in the UK is also partially due to the kind of of person.

Those here have actively chosen not to accept to wallow in self pity at home where their job/earning prospects are low, they have travelled thousands of miles to go job hunting and often may speak no English so they are already stacking the odds against themselves, and further are frequently arriving in the UK with no home to go to. Anyone who puts themselves in that situation will be a very determined and positive thinking individual who does not have a slovenly attitude to work.

Whereas we can all recognise those of a low work ethic who can recite chapter and verse of all the daytime tv programs but not where the best places to find jobs are.

So it is probably not a nationality thing just a personality trait.

The 'streets of gold' myth was even perpetuated by official sources in Poland, as some years back the 'Official Newspapers' often ran articles touting the UK as a land of opportunity.
Think: Post-communism, new freedom but no communist funding behind you, send everyone out to earn money for the country. For not only would Poles be sending money home, but also the Polish government would tax them for what they earned in the UK [even if it was an official job and had been taxed in the UK]

It seems to have gone the other way now in the Polish media. Apparently any stories involving negative experiences of Poles in Britain are well publicised so as to discourage anymore of them from leaving. Some dont believe the hype, most do.

Well, I've only met several English folks, and have been in England while travelling to Scotland, so actually there's not much to say apart from English accent being easier to understand that Scottish one (but I don't mind and treat it as some kind of challenge).

Well, four years ago close friend of mine moved England, he was working at the restaurant and saving about £800 monthly, after a year he was managing the restaurant. He came back last year and bought franchise license of one franchising company. Now he's driving Lexus LS600. He's now 25 years old.

You know, I really believe many Poles do same business as jews've done before II WW here. How many Brits working at restaraunts do invest their money?

Ironic posts about 'streets of gold' or 'opportunities' are just lame and naive. I think it's complex of many nations nowadays. If You don't see opportunities in the UK move to Vietnam so You'll see how stupid You were. I know about 30 really rich Polish people and at least 20 of them started abroad, doing anything. Even the richest Polish citizen Michał Sołowow started in Germany working 120 hours/week in a workshop. He has at least £13200000000 now.

So don't say there are no opportunities only because You're blind.

That's what I think about British people. They are positive and easy going. And they don't think. Because, mostly, they don't have to. I still can't imagine how my friend became the best one in his English group at school. He is 15yo Polish native. He had B/C marks in Poland. LOL. I think lazy Polish worker is better worker than hard-working Brit ;p

But, the Brit compared to an American will be a genius probably. But lazier of course.

Anyway I do like Brits. I can't even compare my country to the United Kingdom.

I love being an exception to a rule.....

sorry this is slightly off-topic, but I feel compelled to respond to this. I dont think you can even compare the airports in the UK to those in the States for levels of intimidation and agression.. I feel really stressed every time I have to pass through Miami, Houston or any other US airport due to the agressive nature of the customs people.. I guess its all down to cultural differences and what you are used to. Somebody was shouting at me to back up and I had no idea what they were talking about.... anyway I could go on, but this is not the place for it....to get back on thread, my Polish partner likes English women :)

- Yeah, very 'relativelly.' - The Canadian airport customs are the most brutal, most insulting, rudest psychopathic scum imaginable. Of course, they are like this especially if one says one is going to or coming from Poland (they are instructed to do this by their superiors?). They are all smiles towards many others, including the Third World people, in order not to hurt their oh so delicate feelings and not to earn the label of a 'racist.' How many Chinese gangsters and drug smugglers have they let into Canada? But this doesn't matter; more important is that they have given hell to the accursed Poles.

Brit customs are angels of kindness compared to this dehumanized crap of Canada.



- My experiences are exactly the same. And indeed the customs folks in the UK are far gentler and human than anywhere else I have been to (a few tens of countries).
American, including Canadian, customs are the worst of all.

- I don't know whom you mean by 'East Europeans,' but if it's the Poles, then no, they don't think the streets of London are paved with gold. Not anymore.

- Yes, it's the so-called stereotype. I've met quite a few excellent Brit workers. On the average, the Brits have a more laid-back approach to life, including work. It doesn't make their work any less effectual. As for Poles in UK, they are fighting for mere survival and just can't afford to be laid-back (and laid-off).

- Is it good that the Polish hacks publish those stories and many Poles 'believe the hype,' or is it bad? I'm asking, because the tone of your post seems to be slightly condemning.