Does Polish society accept new people especially those not from Poland

tomjustynaThreads: 4 Posts: 24 Joined: Dec 20, 11 ♂	Dec 22, 11, 23:56 #1
I can only speak for myself, I have found those from the bigger cities are less welcoming seems very slow to accept. Where my wife is from I have to say they have always been very welcoming to me and to my family who came over for our wedding last year. Maybe its just me but I have found that country people are more accepting. What do you think???

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Dec 23, 11, 00:01 #2

tomjustyna:

What do you think???

People in big cities are just like that - it's the nature of the beast. However, you'll find that those in big cities are also much better to work with.

Small cities may be more welcoming, but they'll also demand to know much more about you - and you may find that people will have much more of an than those in big cities who have nothing to gain. Also worth pointing out that people in small towns will be much more ruthless when it comes to money.

SeanusThreads: 22 Posts: 30,158 Joined: Dec 25, 07 ♂	Dec 23, 11, 00:01 #3
They often don't like one another in big cities. So competitive!

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Dec 23, 11, 00:02 #4

[quote=tomjustyna] I have found those from the bigger cities are less welcoming seems very slow to accept.[/quote

Different person different view....

Where exactly are you from where they accept foreigners with open arms....

In villages in the UK they wouldnt accept someone who didnt even have a local accent.

In towns in the UK someone can get the living daylights beat out of them because they dont have a local accent...

No where is perfect...Most on here say that big cities are better for foreigners and now you think because you happen to visit your wifes village all villagers are lovely....

Why do people ask such narrow minded stupid questions!

WroclawThreads: 77 Posts: 7,404 Joined: Apr 1, 06 ♂ [Moderator]	Dec 23, 11, 00:07 #5
Seanus: They often don't like one another in big cities it's the same or even worse in the country.

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Dec 23, 11, 00:08 #6

When I arrived in a small village about 30 mins outside Katowice I was treated like a star. We went to the only bar in the area, and this massive skinhead just started talking to me when he heard that i was not a polish. For our wedding, the whole village helped out, with B&B's(no hotels) helping us, we had booked up every room in the village.

When I go to Krakow, some of the people are a bit more busy, but in Katowice center I find them really helpfull. I found the police really helpfull when looking for directions and such.

tomjustynaThreads: 4 Posts: 24 Joined: Dec 20, 11 ♂	Dec 23, 11, 00:10 #7
Firstly Im not narrow minded nor stupid, I simply expressing a view of what I have found. Of course it is different for everyone, Im simply expressing a view from my experiences.

delphiandomineThreads: 42 Posts: 9,954 Joined: Nov 25, 08 ♂ [Suspended]	Dec 23, 11, 00:12 #8
Tom, it's worth pointing out something - while they might be lovely people who will help, you should also bear in mind that they don't think like you. Someone might offer to build you a nice new shed, and you think "excellent" - only for them to spend the cash on booze and make up silly excuses as to why they haven't finished. What do you do then?

tomjustynaThreads: 4 Posts: 24 Joined: Dec 20, 11 ♂	Dec 23, 11, 00:14 #9
Like Irish guy has said, for me i have found country people more welcoming. Warsaw for me was the worst people are so rude, same in ireland if your from outside dublin your from the stixs

irishguy11Threads: 14 Posts: 173 Joined: Sep 3, 11 ♂	Dec 23, 11, 00:15 #10
This happened to my in laws, the grand father offered the workers a beer one day, when the father in law found out he went crazy. He said only offer them a beer when they have finished the work. Also, he said someone needs to look over them all day.

SeanusThreads: 22 Posts: 30,158 Joined: Dec 25, 07 ♂	Dec 23, 11, 00:15 #11
That's what I kept back, Wrocław, but you are right. Then again, I'm often off in my own space there and don't really care if I get scowls or frowns.

tomjustynaThreads: 4 Posts: 24 Joined: Dec 20, 11 ♂	Dec 23, 11, 00:17 #12
Delph thats an excellent point, there are cowboys everywhere if i need a shed ill build it myself :-)

delphiandomineThreads: 42 Posts: 9,954 Joined: Nov 25, 08 ♂ [Suspended]	Dec 23, 11, 00:24 #13
tomjustyna: Delph thats an excellent point, there are cowboys everywhere if i need a shed ill build it myself :-) Honestly, it's often not that they're cowboys, but rather just irresponsible.

tomjustynaThreads: 4 Posts: 24 Joined: Dec 20, 11 ♂	Dec 23, 11, 00:29 #14
we call them cowboys here

WroclawThreads: 77 Posts: 7,404 Joined: Apr 1, 06 ♂ [Moderator]	Dec 23, 11, 00:31 #15
tomjustyna: we call them cowboys here no, delph is right. there is more to it than your regular cowboy.

tomjustynaThreads: 4 Posts: 24 Joined: Dec 20, 11 ♂	Dec 23, 11, 00:32 #16
Its mad though, i have seen polish crews working in ireland and they put their irish counterparts to shame

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Dec 23, 11, 00:35 #17

tomjustyna:

Its mad though, i have seen polish crews working in ireland and they put their irish counterparts to shame

Mystery to me too.

Wroclaw:

no, delph is right. there is more to it than your regular cowboy.

I've never thought of them as being cowboys, just reckless and irresponsible.

Almost every person who does well here is ultra-strict about alcohol at work. I know one guy who fired a team a few days before Christmas because they were drinking on the job - brutal, but merited.

tomjustynaThreads: 4 Posts: 24 Joined: Dec 20, 11 ♂	Dec 23, 11, 00:39 #18
I worked in jobs where blind eye was turned to having the odd beer, totally wrong in my view on so many grounds. the days of getting smashed on the job are a thing of the past and rightly so

irishguy11Threads: 14 Posts: 173 Joined: Sep 3, 11 ♂	Dec 23, 11, 00:41 #19
The father in law was a manager on the moneypoint power station, he told me that he had to sack 2 Polish guys who showed up drunk one day. That was out of a polish workforce of 100+. Some of the people that started there, quit there job and opened a Polish shop in Kilkee

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Dec 23, 11, 00:43 #20

tomjustyna:

I worked in jobs where blind eye was turned to having the odd beer, totally wrong in my view on so many grounds.
the days of getting smashed on the job are a thing of the past and rightly so

Tom...what are you skilled in?

If you're capable at building, you could carve a decent niche here - there's a lack of trustworthy builders/etc, and people will pay extra for "foreign" quality. Don't waste your time with teaching English - get into this, and you could make a very big success of yourself. People here are utter snobs in this respect - you might find that someone will pay 2-3x as much, just to have someone from "abroad" do the work.

Your attitude will also win a lot of friends here - people want workers that don't drink.

tomjustynaThreads: 4 Posts: 24 Joined: Dec 20, 11 ♂	Dec 23, 11, 00:44 #21
drinking on the job is a no no and rightly so in my view purely on health and safety ground not to mention the imagine it sends out

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Edited by: tomjustyna Dec 23, 11, 00:53 #22

I can do most things jack of all trades master of none, as for the english its a start for now.
I have completed courses from marketing, history, legal studies by that i mean industrial law as I was a union offical for a company i worked for.
My longest employment was with irish rail where i was a train driver, that is what i loved best.
English teaching would not be my ideal option on the postive side I get on well with people and they seem to like what i have to say and i feel while my experience is limited, Im the type of person who wants to learn more its good for the mind to have a project on the go.
I have to start somewhere my grasp of polish is limited with time this will improve.
The decision to move to poland is a mutal decision we made as dont get me wrong im proud of where im from but pride dont pay the bills and the fact i have a chance at a new career i dont see anything wrong with trying to improve ones situation

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Dec 23, 11, 00:55 #23

not sure about this one. have been to poland 3 times, but only once staying with friends in a small village. where i was staying had only one small shop. i went to this shop with my friend because we needed to buy bread and a couple of other bits and pieces. my polish is not great now, but it was really bad 2 years ago. however i was determined that i would at least try to make myself understood and ask for the bread etc...you could have heard a pin drop...the woman serving me was about as unfriendly as you could get, other customers behind me totally shut up...and basically i felt really embarrassed. more for my friend than for me, as obviously it was his local shop. on the positive side, i met lots of lovely people in krakow and have kept in contact with a couple of them via e-mail. i think it mainly depends on where you live. i have been to small villages in wales, where the people werent over friendly, and at least i could speak english...

irishguy11Threads: 14 Posts: 173 Joined: Sep 3, 11 ♂	Dec 23, 11, 01:01 #24
Tom, is there any way that you could supplement your income by contacting the Qubus hotel in Katowice and perhaps getting yourself on their books as a english speaking taxi driver?

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Dec 23, 11, 13:24 #25

tomjustyna:

drinking on the job is a no no and rightly so in my view purely on health and safety ground not to mention the imagine it sends out

Everyone who knows anything about Poland knows that there is still a culture which accepts this. Yet when I once dared to mention on here that I had witnessed a group of guys drinking before setting off for work, the keyboard warriors appeared, to try and make me look like I was some anti-Polish racist foreigner or something. You only need to smell people on trams before 0700 to learn that it's the truth. It doesn't mean that everyone drinks at or on the way to work, but it's much more common than over here.

pam:

not sure about this one. have been to poland 3 times, but only once staying with friends in a small village. where i was staying had only one small shop. i went to this shop with my friend because we needed to buy bread and a couple of other bits and pieces. my polish is not great now, but it was really bad 2 years ago. however i was determined that i would at least try to make myself understood and ask for the bread etc...you could have heard a pin drop...the woman serving me was about as unfriendly as you could get, other customers behind me totally shut up...and basically i felt really embarrassed.

Less likely to happen in major cities and large towns, but I'm sure it would happen to me if I went into a shop in a small Cornish village as well. Polish villages and small towns aren't really used to foreigners. I think that far worse would happen if I opened my mouth in a taxi queue in some small Midlands town on a Saturday night.

Unfortunately, I think you just ended up in a local sklep for local Polacy lol :D

pamThreads: 22 Posts: 463 Joined: Oct 11, 11 MEMBER ♀	Dec 23, 11, 16:12 #26
Sidliste_Chodov: Unfortunately, I think you just ended up in a local sklep for local Polacy lol :D without a doubt,i cant imagine many english people staying where i was, but i was just so surprised at the hostility...

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Dec 23, 11, 16:17 #27

I don't know if I'd interpret it as hostility. Many older Poles have a fear of the unknown. When I stop to grab a drink in a shop in the countryside, they often size me up to see if I pose any threat. However, it's natural to some extent. If you look past the initial looks, you will often find that they have made, if not a positive assessment of you, then certainly a neutral (apathetic) one which is befitting of them. Also, we must see it from their eyes. They automatically assume that you don't know Polish and they see a potential break in their comfort zone, I understand that. They are pleasantly surprised when you show interest in them in their own language. Well, some don't but many do :)

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Dec 23, 11, 16:49 #28

Seanus:

They are pleasantly surprised when you show interest in them in their own language. Well, some don't but many do :)

from my stays in krakow,this i can understand.lots of people i met were surprised i could speak their language,and many people asked how i learned it. village shop experience i can understand to a degree,but i was actually with my friend,who they knew, and has lived his whole life in the village. surely they could have at least been friendly towards me? unfortunately, because my polish was so bad at the time,i couldnt understand my friends explanation. waited outside shop every time we went after...:)

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Dec 23, 11, 17:39 #29

Yeah, there is an undercurrent of 'my way or the highway'. Part of 'my way' is speaking the language so as not to cause them any inconvenience. They don't seem to understand the concept of everyone having to start somewhere and the best way being through trial and error. Besides, they learn English in Poland. We don't learn Polish (or certainly didn't in my day) and Poland has been an EU member since May 2004. Still the insularity runs through intransigent old toads but there are ways and means of clicking with some oldies who ply their trade in the countryside.

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Dec 23, 11, 18:28 #30

pam:

i was determined that i would at least try to make myself understood and ask for the bread etc...you could have heard a pin drop...the woman serving me was about as unfriendly as you could get, other customers behind me totally shut up...and basically i felt really embarrassed.

A couple of things: The hostility might partly be embarassment and/or discomfort from a real live foreigner (not so common in the countryside).

Also, once you learn to understand Polish you realize they can be pretty brusque with each other too.

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