Queuing and Polish people

I have waited for a train, and waited to board a plane in Poland. Everytime it seems polish people are trying to push in front of me. Why do they do this? In other countries, such as the USA there would be fights at this behaviour. So why is it that polish people feel the need to queue jump?

Try it in China - Even worse. Sharp Elbow syndrome :-)

So is it acceptable in poland to say "stop pushing in" or would that provoke hostility?

Excuse me, I was here first.

and remember to queue from the right! Sometimes I still miss out on this one - and it' driven me up the wall.

Have you ever boarded a London bus in rush hour? ;-)

Yes it's a real problem in Poland, a Polish queue is generally a triangle shape, and if you complain about someone jumping in front you are seen as the one causing the trouble? The shop assistants to nothing about it either and just let it happen in front of them. They (queue jumpers) have no shame about it either as it is normal behaviour for them to push in.

It's the same when driving here, people will overtake and drive up the pavement just to gain a few metres ?

Oh and the most spectacular I've ever seen is at the Polish ski resorts, you would not believe the queue jumping the goes on there to get on the lifts.

- Really? Aren't you lying a bit perchance?

- I travel to Poland frequently and have never seen Polish people jumping the queque. In fact, compared to many parts of, say, US, Poles stand in lines quite orderly.

Aren't you therefore attempting to do a little branding here? Any bull$hot will do in order to discredit the Poles, eh?

- Hm, an interesting and flattering comparison - between Poland and China.

I've got another interesting comparison - with Canada. There, folks that come later e.g. to the bus stop, position themselves right at the top of the line-up and when it comes to getting into the bus, one of the late-comers gets in, then one of the early comers, and so on and on, alternately, until all are in.

It's quite orderly this way.
:)

I live here mate and see it happen every day, I think the Poles are oblivious to the fact they do it thus all the denials....

I agree about the triangle queue thing. What i found outrageous was when i was queuing for a train i just stood still waiting, when the train was coming to the station. There was a lot of poles trying to guess where the doors would appear. Fortunately they appeared in front of me. And this man just ran straight into me, trying to get 1st in the line, and bounced off me and nearly under the train. He then tried to blame me for trying to kill him by pushing him under the train. Wtf?

2nd time, similar situation. But i was to the left of the doors, when train was stopped. An old guy tried to overtake me between me and the train, on the inside. There was nothing there but a hole. Amazing.

I agree Chineese are the worst.

And irritating as well, if you are so unfortunate to be early for the bus.

don't mess with the pros, man. :D :D

this is the only thing i dont like about poland. its like a feck you culture, im better so ill jump ahead. so now i just jump ahead off them, if they give me any strange looks...who cares if theyve ben waiting for an hour more than you, just because your old!!!:D

Or you use the phrase: Pani tu nie stała! Pani nie jest w ciąży!. It's a saying from the communistic time which says: You didn't stood here and you aren't pregnant either.. :-P
Thanks to Dziendobry.nl.

Maybe you're just not very perceptive? Too busy thinking up new insults and don't notice everyone pushing in front of you!
I suffer this on a daily basis. People just shove you out of the way or if they see 10cm of space between you and someone in front then they just step right in. I'm not very good at dealing with those situations so just laugh, shake my head and mutter the F word but if I'm with my partner she goes bananas and then one of those interesting Polish arguments arises involving the words '*****, mother, grandmother, Pope etc. etc.' , usually with half the queue joining in ! I think it might be a protest against all the orderly queues Poles stood in in the 70's-early 80's. Must admit that this is the first country I've lived in where I genuinely have little respect for the elderly as they tend to be the worst culprits! I know that sounds terrible BUT.... they can be unbelievable!

oh yes .... all sounds very (horribly) familiar
you need to give up any idea of "personal space, do not enter here" when queueing in Poland - otherwise there will be another warm human body in it before you can breathe deeply.

/cjj

In Russia, it was even worse. Many years ago, I was in Russia and a Polish girl turned to me and asked 2why does everybody here push you all the time? Have you noticed that, they are not happy until they have pushed you at least once!" I think it is frustration and the fact that as everybody is so called equal, you need to push someone to feel 'one above the rest'. Rather like some Poles on this forum, they like to find your weakness and mistakes and take advantage by ganging up together.

Just out of curiosity how come you can spout unashamedly racist bile and personally insult people to your hearts content on these forums but you quickly manage to censor the use of the word 'Wh*re'. Not only perfectly legit in my post, as you probably know I am referring to the K word, but also a perfectly valid Shakespearean word me thinks?
As I said, just curious.

Open your eyes or buy some glasses. Poles 'queue jump'... fact.

do they only do this in Poland lol {because I haven't experienced that and we queue to wash our hands/eat in the cafe}?

The Pole I know best always seems to stand just slightly outside of the queue, creating a sense of ambiguity. Is he queueing, waiting for someone who is, or is he just daydreaming?


I am far worse, but I have a bizarre handwashing technique.
edit: PM me for details.

Not everyone jumps the queue, but the comment above about drivers jumping queues is true. Only today I watched as a car mounted the pavement, drove forward and then joined the line of cars again. It was a sort of 'road rage' as there was a massive traffic jam at the time.

!!..are there many road accidents in Poland?

Driving onto one road, I don't know where, I thought we had driven into a high-speed florist's shop.

Lining up appears to be anti-social. People isolate themselves from one another.
The Polish way is much more cuddly and induces socializing, and it also has thermal advantage in Winter. That should be good for many foreigners, some of whom post questions how to mingle with Poles. The answer is simple. Take a city bus ;)

More people die in three months on Polish roads than one year in the UK.

You'd think this would make people to take better care..hmm.

This is very true. Polish queue is very often disorganized, which quite frankly drives me nuts. Especially when the queue moves but some bloody fekker that’s standing before me isn't. Or when there are few seats free, but people can't use them as some other nasty fekker decided to sit on the first blocking the rest for others. Still, I live in a small town in Wielkopolska and i must say that those kind of incidents really don't happen on a daily basis here and I can count the ones that happened to me this year on the fingers of my one palm (I remember two times if you want to be precise).



What a strange questioned you've asked here. Is it acceptable? Yes. Would it provoke hostility? Of course.

From my experience Poles are much more assertive than Brits so while here you need to be more assertive. If someone is pushing before you and you feel angry about it, rather than thinking if it would be appropriate to gently point out his wrongdoing, voice it! Let it out of your system! It's healthier that way.

PS: Oh, and I have a question. How can you queue to get in on a train? I've never experienced it, even while in England.