UK, Ireland / Poles in GB: Why did you go - for money or something else? [53]

I spent much of last year working with Polish builders in UK. I have a good command of the Polish language and I can safely say that money was THE motivating force for the people I worked with being in Britain.

If more Brits understood Polish I think they would have a different view of many Poles. The guys I worked with did not have a good word to say about anything in the UK but I think a lot of this stemmed from a deep inferiority complex!

UK, Ireland / Poles in GB: Why did you go - for money or something else? [53]

Puzzler Whooaaa !
I'm only telling what my experience working with a small group of guys was! Mind you, you're showing the classic signs of jumping to conclusions and having the defensive radar on full throttle.

By the way I like Poles a lot! My parents were both Poles and I was brought up in a crazy, fun Polish household in the UK

Life / What car would I get for £3500 in Poland? [5]

Definately buy a second hand car somewhere else! Anything second hand, not only cars, sells for totally unrealistic prices in Poland.
I regularily visit the flea market at Kolo and just cannot believe the prices being asked for junk.
I would do what Giles suggests or try to buy from an ex-pat who's leaving.

Law / "Difficult Customer" business in Poland [18]


Interesting advice, thanks.
I have no idea about gathering that kind of info, isn't it closely guarded company secret stuff? Obviously nobody wants to advertise those kind of stats.

You're right though, it would be compelling material!

I've had numerous run ins with stores here over the past few years and am of the conclusion that in general the rules are:

1) The customer is always wrong
2) The customer is a potential criminal.
Last weeks trip to a large electronics store ended with me having to pass through the alarm system about 10 times, handing the security guy my phone, wallet, coat etc. It turned out that a scrap of foil chewing gum wrapper in my pocket was setting it off!!! The obligatory crowd of onlookers gathered and I felt utterly humiliated! Still can't understand why it didn't go off when I entered the store?

Love / Bad experience with a Polish Guy who... had another girlfriend :( [49]

Just a point but when I was sitting in the dentists waiting room the other day I noticed a headline on a Polish women's magazine cover stating that Polish women are more likely to cheat on their partners than women in any other European country.

Too many naughty men AND women around!

Life / Media Markt in Wroclaw - returning merchandise [8]

Last year I bought a phone in Saturn (apparently it also belongs to Media Markt). When I opened the box a part was missing. They would not exchange it as...... "a part was missing!". Total catch-22. An hour of arguing with 3 staff members ensued.

Went home sent an e-mail to one of their stores in Berlin asking if the mail could be passed onto someone who could help. Within a few hours was sent an apology from the manager in Warsaw and was asked to come in to exchange the product.

News / Polish "brainbox" comes back to Poland from the UK for a better education [77]

Super, it will be great to have someone intelligent back in the old country!

Before the handfull of paranoids start posting....I"M ONLY KIDDING!!!!

Law / "Difficult Customer" business in Poland [18]


Yep B, that's what I mean by 'Difficult Customer'. I think that's what they call 'em in the UK


It's difficult with materials. We are currently in a dispute with Barlinek, the big Polish wood floor company. They sent us a load of mismatched floor panels. The differences in tone, colour and finish only became very clear after the floor was laid. The company and shop we ordered from do not accept responsibility and say we have no claim to make as we laid the floor. I on the other hand believe the company is at fault as quality control should have not allowed this quality of product out of the company warehouse.

Any advice?

Love / Advice from the guys? English met a Polish guy. [40]


Best quote on the forums so far! Thanks R!

Life / Thinking of moving to poland to be with my girlfriend [30]

Hi D,
I would be very carefull. I did the same a few years ago and basically could not get any kind of employment at all! It put a massive strain on our relationship and I ended up feeling like a real loser. I tried everything, even asking about 4zl an hour bar jobs and was told 'NO' everytime. My Polish is very good but the moment I opened my gob they knew I was a foreigner and menial job ops disappeared. I just wanted something to occupy my time so was willing to do ANYTHING even for tiny amounts of pay.Unfortunately teaching is the only safe bet although it is almost impossible for a school to employ you now without the relevant qualifications. I did some private conversation classes but work was pretty infrequent and I didn't enjoy it at all. The only foreigners who do well here are either sent by big companies on contracts (still usually banks, building comps). Apparently they still get paid extra for coming to a country nobody wants to go to, UNBELIEVABLE!! or people who attempt to and succeed in setting up their own business (very few of those but they do exist!). I also tried that with a small design company and it failed, all it took was for a few clients not to pay us and that was enough for it all to come tumbling down f****** nightmare!

Whatever you decide, hope it works out for you.

Life / Thinking of moving to poland to be with my girlfriend [30]


Just as you remember the German pilot and his 'flower without sunshine' story (I liked that). I remember a toady, sweaty, drunk Brit businessman sitting in a super trendy Warsaw bar with two stunning Polish bimbos wrapped round him and laughing like a cretin while telling me his company was paying him 30% more than he got in London and he was the only guy in the office willing to give it a go! Still, I suppose that's normal in their world.

Life / Queuing and Polish people [49]


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!

Life / Queuing and Polish people [49]


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.

Life / Queuing and Polish people [49]


Lovely, just lovely. This weeks 'Quote of the week'
Thanks!

Life / Queuing and Polish people [49]

Since getting back here in March I have been on four buses that have been involved in accidents in the centre of Warsaw. On one an elderly lady was pretty badly hurt. On another I thought a car driver was going to kill the bus driver after the car driver cut in to force the bus to pull over, the bas### couldn't care less that the bus was full of people, many of whom were standing and then proceed to have fistycuffs with the bus driver on the pavement.

The statistics for road accidents during the All Saints day holiday weekend were 56 killed, over 200 injured and 500 plus drunk driving offences. Sadly that will be another 56 people whose families will be laying flowers and placing candles on their graves next year on Nov 1st.

Life / Queuing and Polish people [49]


Ha-ha-ha, do you really believe that gets in the papers here? It has to be something pretty serious for that, like the bus crashing off the flyover or the small plane crashing on the autostrada.

The papers are too full of articles on which businessman/politician is in prison, which businessman/politician is going to prison and finally which businessman/politician should be in prison!

Life / Queuing and Polish people [49]


Maybe in the village you are from it was very rare for one horse and cart to crash into another? Or maybe it was in the days when not many Poles had access to proper fast cars and drove around in Fiat 'Maluchy', Polonez and my personal fave the 'Tarpan' and not mercs, beamers, hummers (yes I have seen a few here) etc. Although I believe that if a 'maluch' was in a crash with a Polonez only the Polonez driver would step out of the car unharmed, smoke a cigarette and walk home!

Did you see Db1984's post about NWE saying 99 were killed over the weekend. That's almost double what I said! Does that mean that I am only half as anti-Polish as the folks at NWE?

By the way I need to revise my stat for drunk driver arrests. I checked and it now stands at over 2000 for that weekend! Actually Szarlotka mentions that fact

Love / friendhship with polish girl [63]

I had a similar situation where I helped a Polish guy find work in the UK, I also found him free accomodation, helped him set up a bank account, transfer money, got him a nat ins number, translated for him etc. We worked together for the best part of a year and then he well and truly shafted me. Learnt my lesson and will never attempt to help a Pole again. As the old story goes, the worst person a Pole can meet abroad is another Pole!

Life / Bolek i Lolek [30]

Bolek is the plumber who moved to London and Lolek is the one who stayed at home and may well be gay!
Let's better talk about "O dwóch takich, co ukradli księżyc" lmao

Real Estate / What kind of property would you buy in Poland? [19]


Is there anyone left in Poland who can afford a flat in Sopot? Prices there are mental! Plus there is that strange story about the legal ownership of property in Sopot concerning properties sold over a seventeen year period where the paperwork may not be legally binding.

I bought a flat in a pre-war property a few years ago when everyone was buying the crazy 'new builds' on the outskirts of cities. Places that look like suburbs of Paris but in Poland are filled with wealthy kids, lawyers etc. (unlike the ones in Paris!). Now all these people want to sell up and buy old properties which have dramatically risen in value. Amazing eh?

Feedback / "Shame the rip off companies in Poland" - new forum section suggestion [35]


Slight difference here in that you are probably referring to the heating bill being very expensive (I have sympathy with that wherever you are!). I'm more concerned about being treated like a piece of sh*t, wasting time trying to sort things out and never getting customer satisfaction and basically spending money on inferior products supplied by companies which seem to see themselves as world players but act more like 'Del boy' with a shop!!!!

Feedback / "Shame the rip off companies in Poland" - new forum section suggestion [35]


Perhaps we could get Puzzler to check all the facts? Seems to be his obsession.
Actually am with you on all the points you raise about the idea and understand the legal aspect concern, pity though as I really do feel strongly about many Polish companies policies and the services and products they sell. You may notice that I didn't actually name any of the folks I'm having probs with but mainly from a fear of them sending some steriod pumped ape round to tear off my genitals and force feed them down my throat!

Life / Free shopping in Asda [17]

I was surprised on my last trip to the UK that Lidl not only has a discounted shelf but also has a FREE shelf! Really, I have seen it with my own eyes.

Tesco in the UK also sells off all bread at the end of the day starting at 2p and enormous discounts on near 'sell by date' stuff, you have to fight off the Poles and Russians to get anywhere near it though :))

I actually think it's cheaper to shop in the UK than in Poland if you buy that stuff and all the bizarre 'buy one get one free' offers and half price booze offers.

Great tip though! Buy wine in Lidl in Poland. They really have some cracking bottles! Wine still has a snob value here, hence all the trendy wine stores. No Polish 'suit' would even contemplate entering a Lidl store and the trolls are after the 'rocket fuel' so tons of really yummy wines for very little cash alwys available. I mean how the hell can you sell a reasonably good Australian chardonnay for 5pln and still make a profit. Thirty pln will get you some really great reds that would cost you 80-100pln elsewhere.

Life / Free shopping in Asda [17]

YES! Hooray for Lidl!

Life / Free shopping in Asda [17]


Actually I don't spend that kind of money on wine but all I meant was that Lidl sells discounted wines which are of a calibre/name that would cost you 14-18 quid a pop in the UK hence I mentioned 80-100pln (this doesn't neccessarily mean it is "a good drop of red!!??" though!) You should have a look in some of the trendy wine places in Warsaw and see the prices! Try the one on Mokotowska with the little sampling area, can't remember what it's called. Or the one next door to Melodia and you will see that 80-100pln won't get you much!

One of my personal faves from Chile 'Castillero del Diablo' is definately dearer here than in UK, think I paid 40pln for a bottle (in a supermarket) here while the same bottle cost 4.99 in UK.

Life / Expat Wife Moving to Warsaw, Poland [30]


Is it English that's spoken there? I thought it was only grunts, sighs, burps and the occasional 'YYYYYYYYEEEESSSSS!' or 'NNNNNOOOOOOOOO!!!!!' when something happens on the televised football :))

Life / Do Polish people tend to stick together? [49]

I think Matyjasz is spot on with his observations. Poles in the UK are quite content in their own little circles but are very wary of any other Poles they don't know. When I was working with a team of Polish builders in London a couple of years ago they befriended another team of guys who came round to our flat one night drank our vodka, beer and ate our food and in the wee small hours of the morning the f*****s ran off with all our tools, expensive power tools included!

A Polish girl I spoke to in Scotland recently said that having lived around Poles in the UK for the last few years she has lost respect for her fellow countrymen, for exactly the reasons Matyjasz mentions, and interestingly says she has gained a far greater respect for the increasing Russian community who really do seem to help each other out. I say it is interesting as she also mentioned that in Poland she really believed that Russians were the scum of the earth.

UK, Ireland / TRUTH AND DELUSION ABOUT POLES IN UK [65]


I believe the Republic of Ireland was the first English speaking place to start reporting the 'backlash' against Poles and the rise of unprovoked attacks on Polish people living there.

Also, if you think Poles are so discriminated against why do so many carry on living in the UK? I'm just back from Edinburgh and part of Leith Walk really is like 'Little Poland'. Loads of Polish Delis, a Polish bar called 'Krakow', a cafe/restaurant called 'Bigos' (must have took them years to think up those names), many shops with just the word 'Fryzjer' painted on the outside and large groups of Poles just loitering about. Obviously people find the UK a viable place to work in and to invest money in businesses that appear to be long term prospects. Rents in Edinburgh are not cheap but it must still make sense. I would assume that Poland is not offering their own people similar opportunities to better themselves so whatever the problems faced by Poles in the UK are, and I agree with you that there are probs, Poland itself does not currently seem ready to offer them anywhere near a similar support system or standard of living. I'm sure Poles who have bothered to officially register in the UK find themselves in a better position than those who don't. Actually I know this to be true as I have personally helped translate for friends at the Jobcentre/DSS in order to clarify their status in UK. Having been present at their interviews I can tell you that they were always treated nicely and in that relaxed Scottish manner, unlike ANY of the 'paperwork sorting' interviews I have had in Poland! OK, it means they get a nat. ins. no. and will have to start paying tax at some point but in the long term it makes sense and their position is clear.

On another point, you must admit there is also that element of Poles in the UK who are intent on f*****g things up for others, there own people included and they are the people who give rise to the 'bad press' stories. Unfortunately they are the ones who stand out. Won't dwell on that though as I don't want to raise your hackles so early in the morn'