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The strangest things in Poland [468]
I've read right through this thread and a couple of things have been omitted.
What about the fact that people spend so much time and effort sweeping the street in front of their house? Particularly before Christmas and Easter and at weekends.
The proliferation of drunks (although they seem to be mostly old and dying off in the Zgierz area).
The fact that in shops you can buy a bottle of beer and drink it on the premises in order not to have to pay a deposit (kaucja). I often feel sorry for the shop assistants that they have to put up with the pijaki hanging around all day.
Everything has to be done the cheapest possible way (najtańszy) - even if it takes ten times as long - particularly in house construction (this is changing now - thank God)
15 years ago I found it very funny that when you go to a museum you have to put funny outer shoe things on your feet so as to protect the floor. Do they still do that? I haven't been to a museum for a long time in Poland.
Having to wear plastic shoe covers when you visit someone in hospital. (The hospitals I've visited in Zgierz/£ódź are so grim, you'd think a little bit of dirt would improve them) :)
The fact that I was told it was a bit rude to talk about money and Poles never seem to talk about anything else. In fact I recently bought a bike and the neighbours on both sides were dying to know how much I paid for it (as with anything else you buy). "Ile kosztował?"
And then of course there's the "if you give a Pole an inch, he will ask you for a kilometer"
Poles seem to have absolutely no sense of personal shame and have real problems self-limiting.
Oh - here's one I remember from driving UK-Poland before Polska joined the EU. Used to be such things as border queues. When in a border queue, many of the Poles would push their car forward 5-10m instead of starting it up. I assumed it was to preserve the battery on an old car. In fact, I was told it was to save petrol/gas. PMSL.
Oszczędność - whilst the rest of the world could learn something about frugal living from the staropolski folk, the lengths those people go to to save a teeny sum of money astonish me. They'd rather live in a rubbish dump like Mr Trebus than ever throw anything away "bo może czegoś przyda" (maybe it'll be useful).
The traffic system simply doesn't work at complex junctions with traffic lights because pedestrians are allowed to cross when people should be turning right. This screws up the whole traffic flow. >:-(
Very few fat people and no fat kids. (although, sadly fat children are appearing now as the "coke and crisps" culture develops. This is a disaster. I hate to see fat kids. :()
I find Poles a lot louder than Brits.
I'm sure I will think of more. But that should be enough to be going on with. ;)
Thought of some more...
Workmen not owning the correct tools for the job and expecting you to provide them.
(When we had our house built I was astonished that, in some cases, my hobby tools were of higher quality than the "professional" tools used by the builders)
Workmen using the wrong tools for the job and making it take a very long time and hard work to do.
Workmen being extraordinarily creative in ways of doing stuff. (My father-in-law was a world leader in fixing things using inadequate tools and materials because no others were available).
The whole "quality" thing (wszystko jednakowy) attitude. This applies mostly to the generation who are 40-50+. Complete inability to look at an item and judge if it's quality or shite - end up buying the cheapest and kidding themselves that they're pleased with it. I think the reason for this is simply that this generation had no choices when they were growing up. If you wanted ser, it was żółty or biały, not Camembert, Brie, Roquefort, cheddar etc.
I find Poles generally quite generous with their time.
The whole "build a house over 25 years" and not move in until it's completely finished concept. (This is disappearing though)
Poles will not guess or estimate anything - EVER! Drives me up the wall. I think the school system is to blame. If you get penalised for guessing wrong you will stop guessing.
If you ask someone "how long will this take"? You can bet your arse you will get a "nie wiem" (don't know) answer. So you have to ask another question. "3 hours?" then you start to make progress
"no. More than that".
"5 hours"?
"na przykład" (for example)
So you only had to ask 3 questions to get a ball-park figure.
They hate being wrong - same as the krauts. ;)
