The strangest things in Poland

The way people have no concept of personal space! I stand in line at the post office and some old lady is literally right at my back...and the odor that lineers around her...well that is a whole other catergory.

I had a hard time with that too, how close people stand when they are speaking with you, especially men!

Poland is truly a land of horrors, where men stand too close, old ladies smell bad, and the roads are full of potholes. Plus children are required to change shoes at school - terrible infringement of their human rights... Do you think you could try being just a tad more flexible in your approach to what is a different culture? It is not the Poles' fault that you find some things different. Some of you make it sound as if it actually were their fault, though. And that makes me feel rather uncomfortable.

Yeah, sure: they could mend the roads. And surprise - they actually are, all the time, every year. Maybe there is not enough money to make the new road surfaces more durable. I don't know. But I've driven around quite a lot and every spring there are roadworks all over the place. So there!

It took me a while to realize that :)

I read somewhere where they suggested that this stems from Poles, for the last 200 (+/-) years either couldn't talk in their own language or they couldn't talk openly. Hence the the coziness uncomfortable to many from other countries.

As for the lines in stores, I dunno, perhaps it might be explained using somewhat similar background. If you have to line up for hours to get that piece of meat you don't want anyone to sneak in front of you. Realities changed, the habits will likely change with time.

lol....actually i didn't notice that in Poland, but i did in the us... i need my psychological space (;)) and i don't like to smell somebody's breath on a cheek while telling me that he/she had a great day....:)

Not only in stores! While waiting for my flight to Poland, all the Polish people started lining up 1/2 hour before they started seating! They flew here so they had to know that they had assigned seats and wouldn't get to sit in front :)

Not sure if this is so bad.
I prefer that everybody is on board a few minutes before the plane is scheduled to take off , instead of a few minutes after.

No, not bad - just strange. All the Americans boarding were wondering why they were in line?

not always

they rarely do this on budget airlines

I just have to do this, before the next post says 2 hours ;)

We were flying on LOT??? I was there in the terminal so I know that there were plenty of seats! Everyone just got out of them to stand in front of a closed door when there wasn't even any airline personnel yet!

I never met any american in real life but I know for certain that Poles have much smaller personal space than the Brits. Of course the factor whether one was brought up in country side or in the city plays major importance here too. People from less populated areas tend to have much bigger personal space, but I guess that your observation is a valid one. It's the first time I hear that polish men have smaller personal space though. Interesting.

Get the chip off of your shoulder - the title of the post is What you found "strange" in Poland - no one is making any judgements here, just that "FOR US, IN OUR OPINION" this things are unusual! Geez

To Tamara - this is what I said right after the bit you quoted. "Strange" should not mean only "shocking, wrong, stupid", but in many of the posts, it does. I do not like that. Sorry.

Of course it's not their "fault", people do what they learn and what is their custom. I don't know if you've ever been to the states, but I'm sure that there would be plenty that you would find strange, weird, shocking and that you might even thing the people doing it were wrong or stupid. But they are opinions and if you are going to get bent out of shape over people's opinions, you will be a very crooked and crippled person by the time you are older. You take them for what they are and say, I never thought about it that way, or there is a reason to why we do it this way, or simply, Ok, so we're strange, but so would be the rest of the world if you visited there probably as well. I'm sure that I would find things strange in Asia, Africa or any of the other European countries as well. Things are even different from state to state here or from home to home in the same neighborhood. That's just how they are and the people on this forum are here for the most part because they LOVE Poland so you don't have to stick up for the whole country. Spoko.

There are lots of strange things in Poland...nothing wrong with that.....I like being in a different country , and in time you get used to the strange things....By the time i go back to the UK i guess i will find it rather strange there.....

This works good with polish girls.Personally my attention is so limited in Poland due to some unexplainable reason,that I hardly notice any things,let alone strange.It is more like swimming with nymphets.

Try to lift an average Polish ten-years-old's school backpack with one hand.
The kids in Poland have to carry a lot of books, shoes for a change and their PE clothes + PE shoes to school. They cannot leave their shoes at school. I've got a pupil who is 12 and when she comes home from school on a day she's got PE, she has to call her parents on the intercom to come down and help her as she cannot carry all her stuff upstairs (living on the 4th floor). KIDS SHOULDN'T CARRY HEAVY STUFF EVERY DAY.

Yeah, that's great, all you stupid foreigners should have a f***ing lot of respect for our Polish customs.

I don,t think this is the way to get respect.....

If the foreigners don't like it they can leave

I noticed Poles are afraid of wearing glasses. I have met many of them who cannot see well, but no way in hell they gonna get glasses!!

hehe I'm one of them