USA, Canada / Why are Polish restaurants not successful in the USA? [698]


Country inns? Now you're showing your ignorance...


I'd actually say that the food found at truckstops are 'typically Polish' - of which none of those dishes are.

Gotta love the idea of an American telling us, residents of Poland, what Polish food is :D

USA, Canada / Why are Polish restaurants not successful in the USA? [698]


They're not Polish at all. Perhaps you struggle to understand this, seeing as you've never been/lived here, but that's a fact.

Let's see the menu...

Most of it isn't Polish at all. You simply cannot call American creations "Polish" because they use the same ingredients.

Work / Travel costs to Warszawa (Warsaw) for interview for foreigners [6]


If they want you, they'll pay.

But knowledge of 3 foreign languages isn't uncommon in Poland - I have a friend who can function in four, 2 fluently.

News / 2011 Netherlands discuss Polish deportation plan [118]


One thing - does he have similar issues with the way that flats were sold for peanuts to the occupants?

Work / What are my chances in finding work at a callan school in Wroclaw? [22]


I dunno, look at the state of some of the vocabulary and language used - it's just completely out of date. I suppose - it's not absolutely dreadful if you can laugh at it and point out obvious nonsense.


I wouldn't even go so far - stage 4 would be enough in my book. You can see that he had the right idea for the first couple of books, but then he had the obvious "oh ****, now what?" moment - the way the grammar is presented/taught is just mindblowingly idiotic and confusing.


From what I've found, it's good for people who want to use it as a base for learning - but the claim that "you don't need another book" is just widely inaccurate. When I had the misfortune of using it, I used to supplement it with all sorts of extra materials - and that worked quite well for beginners.

Mind you, I think it's a good way to judge a school - if they stubbornly insist on sticking to "the method" - then the chances are that they'll be utter crap. And the less said about Callan training "courses", the better ;)

(I had the misfortune of being convinced to go to one because the school wanted to appraise them - resulted in a full day of me and a couple of Polish teachers abusing the trainer by asking difficult questions)

Work / Supplement Income Sources In Poland [8]

Sure, it goes on - but not legally.

Work / Supplement Income Sources In Poland [8]


Aha. Well - in all honesty - it's unlikely that anyone doing something 'small' could ever legally do it in terms of complying with the tax law and so on. A good example is teaching - virtually no Polish teacher giving private lessons will declare the income.


It depends. From what I gather, the government doesn't tend to do much to catch people, but rather relies on reports from jealous competitors/neighbours to find the fish worth catching.

Work / What are my chances in finding work at a callan school in Wroclaw? [22]


It's a joke of a "method" that relies on false advertising to gain gullible clients. It doesn't work, except for absolute beginners who need to break their fear of speaking a foreign language.


Hahaha. The training course will be somewhere between "a joke" and "a total joke".


No. A mix of Welsh and scouse is going to be very unfavourable in the job market - it's just not what people are looking for.

Work / Supplement Income Sources In Poland [8]


There's really no such thing as legal supplemental income - once you go self employed, you'll have a 220zl (minimum) hit for ZUS monthly, as well as the cost of an accountant to deal with the taxes. It's more or less prohibitive unless you do something that earns a serious amount of cash, such as a private clinic.

Quite a few people have been caught out on Allegro recently by the tax authorities.

USA, Canada / Why are Polish restaurants not successful in the USA? [698]


Rarely.

I very much doubt that the babcia's doing all the cooking are going to be cooking this stuff.

Must admit, if I'm going to put the effort in to cook something complicated, I'm going to cook Italian, Chinese, Indian, etc...certainly not Polish.

UK, Ireland / Poles in the UK not a problem as far as i can tell [79]


It always amuses me to think of how Blair was very anti-EU while Labour were in the electoral wilderness, but he changed his mind rather quickly when the party had a chance of power ;)

Incidentally, in 2005, when the UK could reverse their decision on allowing Poles (and others) to enter freely, Labour (who engineered the policy) won a majority. Strikes me as if the UK voted very much for the EU then.

USA, Canada / Why are Polish restaurants not successful in the USA? [698]


I don't think that a meat/potato, laden with salt diet is "much better for you".

Love / Polish women USED TO BE much more attractive: [162]


You know, I can't help but wonder if it's not due to the kids, but rather the increased "awareness" of Polish parents - who were overprotective to begin with.

I mean, the amount of kids that I see in buggies is ridiculous - I always see babcias pushing kids of 3/4 around - which is ridiculous, especially when in the middle of the park! Again - much easier for babcia, but dreadful for the child. I mean - even today, the weather isn't great, but it's not cold - why the hell aren't parents out in the park with their children?

I'm convinced that among small children, the more overprotective the guardians are, the fatter the child.

Law / Some advice needed on NOT having my personal tax allowance deferred to next year [6]


No, not true. The personal allowance is a mere 3,091zl a year - along with some allowances if you're married, have children, etc.


This is lies - for a start, the tax office won't return any money until after the deadline for submitting the personal tax return (deadline - usually end of April, give or take a couple of days).

infor.pl/kalkulatory/brutto_netto.html

Go here and see what comes out - then compare it to your own situation. The personal allowance will only come into play at the end of the year - as "income tax" is actually just an advance on your final tax bill rather than being an actual tax payment.

It seems to me that you've been told a load of rubbish by someone - you won't get a 23% tax burden in Poland - it'll either be 9.5%, 18%, 38% or 52%.

Do you know if you have "umowa o prace", "umowa zlecenia" or "umowa o dzielo"?

Law / Some advice needed on NOT having my personal tax allowance deferred to next year [6]


What?

Who is telling you this nonsense?


Garbage. In fact - it suggests that someone is stealing from you.

If you have a NIP number, you have the allowance - end of story, unless you've submitted some sort of paperwork to take advantage of complicated taxation agreements of which ordinary mortals like you and me have no knowledge of.


More garbage. It certainly seems as if you've been screwed over by someone.

Hang on - 23%? 40%? These aren't Polish tax rates...

Work / Polish salaries - New statistics [38]


Same in most countries, if you ask me.

I'm thinking now - look at these photocopying places. When was the last time anyone got a receipt?

Work / Polish salaries - New statistics [38]


I can say one thing - there's a huge black market here. That might be the "official" salary - but for instance, take postmen. They have their official wage, but due to the system of people getting cash through the post (especially pensions) - there's a culture of them getting tips. Do you think this income goes recorded?

Likewise, small businessmen (and there's a lot in Poland!) - how many of them are really declaring everything? For instance - my door was broken, so I called a guy that was advertising on Gumtree. He came over in the evening, fixed it and took the cash - all without a receipt.


Bear in mind that this is sometimes caused by the greed of the children - the grandchild needs looked after, but the mother doesn't want to pay for childcare - so babcia is forced into retirement in order to provide free care.


Exactly. It's often ignored that many people in Poland got a 'free' property after the end of Communism.

As far as I'm concerned : the minimum and average wage figures simply do not reflect the reality of the huge black market here. For instance - where I park my car. Four people working there, all quite obviously retired. Are any of them really paying tax on what they earn? Of course not.

Love / Latest relationship drama in Polonia/USA... [39]

Be careful.

As I said - blood is thicker than water. You might find that one day, push comes to shove and you decide to cut contact with her family - only for her to choose them rather than you.

You can't win here - don't even try to.

Love / Latest relationship drama in Polonia/USA... [39]

Blood is thicker than water, especially in Polish families.

For all your youthful optimism, don't forget that you can't win.

Life / What is the reason for POLISH jokes ? [486]


See, MediaWatch - if you actually knew a damned thing about Poland, you'd know that Poland by nature is "leftist".

From the abuse of "Polacks" - sounds to me as if the producer was actually "rightist".

From Wikipedia -


Seems to me as if you haven't actually watched it at all, but rather you're just repeating what you've read in racist Polack newspapers. I mean, it doesn't surprise me - Lear is Jewish, and therefore a good target for anti-semitic Polack organisations who seek to portray him in a bad light.

Love / Expat marrying Polish - honest experiences [38]

Yet she wants to go back to Poland and wants you to live in the middle of nowhere?

Good luck with that.

Work / Polish attitude towards promotions at work [11]

That's normal in any business, Polish or non-Polish. Jealousy is a tough thing for newly-promoted team members to deal with, really.

Best bet is just to ignore it.

Work / American English Teachers in Poland. Job prospects? [9]


Exactly - it would be senseless to do it in Krakow he wants to work in Warsaw.

Different cities, different mentalities, different attitudes.

Work / American English Teachers in Poland. Job prospects? [9]


Bear in mind that you have effectively 90 days to find a job from when you first enter the Schengen zone, and best practice is to find a job within 45 days so that you can get the paperwork processed in time without "running out of time".

News / Polish-Scottish American, Chris Ferguson, commands final Space Shuttle mission [49]


Exactly. All this false nonsense about OMG HES POLISH AMERICAN!!111 is just utter crap - like the rest of his kin, what they've achieved for the human race is of far more importance than an accident of birthplace.

News / Polish-Scottish American, Chris Ferguson, commands final Space Shuttle mission [49]


No, his mother has a Polish name originally. That means nothing - after all, as is commonly known, many minorities such as Ukrainians went to the USA under the guise of being Polish.

I still haven't seen one shred of evidence (or even quote by him) that talks about his origins.

Anyway, mods, could you please change the title? He, after all, is also Scottish-American ;)

News / Polish-Scottish American, Chris Ferguson, commands final Space Shuttle mission [49]


To be fair, you don't really hear this kind of nonsense in Poland - it seems to me to be much more of an American thing.

I haven't seen/heard one thing in the Polish media about this supposed "Polish" astronaut - all the news sources said he was American.

News / Polish-Scottish American, Chris Ferguson, commands final Space Shuttle mission [49]

Well, he did somehow manage to mention the word "Russians" 16 times when replying to a post that contained no mention of Russians.

Unreal.

Real Estate / Tips for Renting in Poznań? [8]


Be careful with this - I know some people who have had rather bad experiences with company-approved agents. It's not a bad idea to meet her and so on, but I would make sure that you know the going rate for apartments. Usually - the more "professional" - the higher the price. As you're paying on your own dime, so to speak - you want to get the best deal possible.

One thing that's quite Polish to me is the way the whole thing works. There's no such thing as professional valuation of property here - prices are literally based on what the landlord/agent think they can get. So - the market is full of people who will quite happily add on 500zl a month onto the price as soon as they see a "rich" foreigner - and yes, the professional services market is the worst for this. My advice in Poland is pretty simple in this respect - let people show you, but let your own intuition decide. There is a bad, bad habit here of people pretending to be friendly, only for them to get a financial "kickback" from someone.

I'm almost certain that you'll find yourself paying much more than the going rate if you go through the agent they found - so it's a good idea to keep her under control.


Ah, much smaller than Oracle ;) Wrong guess, I suppose - but now I definitely know who you're talking about.

I'll have a think over the next couple of days and send you the details of apartment buildings (along with a rough price-guide) that might be of interest to you - what you can do is take this to her and make it clear that you aren't interested in paying more than locals will pay. There is a very clear "ex-pat tax" here so to speak - partially because expats usually aren't bold enough to say "no, the price is a joke, I'll give you 75% of that".

As for the driving licence - the IDP is a must here.

History / Obituaries with a connection to Poland. [18]


And no matter what anyone says - *that* is why America is #1 in the world.