Life / Ripped Off in Poland? - Expose here: [185]

See? You cant do it can you...you cant hear anything about Poland without saying "Yeah But in the USA.....". It's like someone pulls a string in your back and the same 6 phrases keep coming out.

Life / Ripped Off in Poland? - Expose here: [185]


It's much more than that. Where I come from is not perfect by any means but all those things I listed as problems in Poland are not major problems in the US. These things are cultural by in large and not just situational. Customer service is bad as a NORM in Poland not just an oddity. The headaches like I experienced in Immigration are COMMON in Poland not just bad situations. THAT is the difference. Some things like nosey neighbors etc are all over irrespective of nationality and some things are not.

Yeah it's not "fair" but it's reality.

Life / Ripped Off in Poland? - Expose here: [185]


You would think. I tried all recourse through administration and of course in true Polish fashion I was blown off, lied to and even blamed. The only other option was to go to court and I was advised by a trustworthy lawyer that the cost would not be worth the return and it would take minimum of 6 months, may not result in any compensation, and generally be a giant pain in the arse. So I opted to leave it rather than spend MORE money on an unsure situation.

Life / Ripped Off in Poland? - Expose here: [185]

Guess I will have to go ahead with the sex change surgery ;)

Life / Ripped Off in Poland? - Expose here: [185]


These are very real issues whether you like them or not. They affected my life and cost me money so that's pretty real. I know many others such things have happened to as well.

You cannot pretend the bad parts don't exist. You can try but that's why I post...to tell the other side...the side that's not biased by stupid national pride.

I am a he by the way...I must have skimmed over the profile selections and I thought I had corrected it.

Life / Ripped Off in Poland? - Expose here: [185]

Right. I have gotten several "official" documents with wonky dates from within Warsaw. I have had issues with it as well when they say I didn't respond in the alotted time.

Life / Ripped Off in Poland? - Expose here: [185]

Yes it's criminal to forge the dates on things to make it look like you sent/prepared it earlier especially when you are obligated by law to respond in a certain amount of time.

Life / Ripped Off in Poland? - Expose here: [185]

I tried to go at them with a lawyer but one I trusted said it wasn't worth it and the cost was going to be prohibitive. A few others would have happily taken my money to try though. At that point I had my documents and was tired of spending money. On the border issue luckily I had my file with me and was able to show them I had followed all the rules and the error was on the side of the office...but it took a long time and arguing with several people before I could even get someone to listen. It cost me a LOT of money in rebooking and accomodations because I missed the flight.

This is only one of several bouts of incompetence and downright criminal behavior I experienced over the years. But like in most places it is more expensive to fight it often than to just take the hit.

Interesting about the requirement to provide it in 2 languages though in my cases it wouldn't have mattered. But I noticed in retrospect they never offered.

Life / Ripped Off in Poland? - Expose here: [185]

I can give you lots of examples. The one that made things the most difficult for me was involving an immigration official. It nearly resulted in me being deported and caused a lot of stress and hassle. It cost me money that I was unable to recover as well.

In a nutshell some of my documents were "lost" on an official's desk as he went on holiday for a few months. After much effort on my part I was able to get the documents sent to me several months late and to make it worse they made an error and also BACKDATED the envelope to cover their own arse. They were too stupid to backdate the letter however so when it all washed out they couldn't explain it in any satisfactory way. But of course nobody would do anything about it...they were not punished. I was finally given my documents and told I should just shut up and be happy I got them. I had to travel in the middle of this and had a major problem at the border that caused me to miss my flight and cost me a LOT in rearrangments. None of which I was able to recover.

Life / Ripped Off in Poland? - Expose here: [185]


Absence of personal responsibility for mistakes, errors etc. No concept of customer service and even confrontational and rude attitudes in retail. Constant bragging about how much better Polish this and Polish that is...usually connected to them bringing up education in the US (though they have never been there).

And yes these attitudes are prevalent in the current generation. I got to where I didn't want to shop at all because between the ridiculous prices, horrid service, constant problems if you have a defective item or need warranty service etc.

Life / Ripped Off in Poland? - Expose here: [185]

When I had to. I never liked Polish. Didn't taste right in my mouth (if nobody makes a BJ joke there I will be horribly disappointed) if you know what I mean? But it's not the only language I feel that way about before the "oh we are so persecuted" crowd jumps in.

My dislike stemmed from ingrained cultural attitudes not language issues. One could speak Polish better than a native and it wouldn't change the things that put me off about the place.

Life / Ripped Off in Poland? - Expose here: [185]


I am not fascinated with your country honey...I am trying to keep other expats from making the same mistake and showing them someone understands their frustration. I know I appreciated it when others did that for me ;)

Living there was miserable yes. Horrid weather, horrid service, horrid bureaucracy, poor attitudes from everyone about everything, arrogance and never taking responsibility for things, constant complaining about how everyone else sucks and how great Poland is...it is enough to wear anyone down. I stuck it out for a long time but thankfully now I am free. I do miss some things and people for sure...but overall if I could rewind the clock to before I ever set foot in that miserable place I would do it in an instant :))

Work / Why Poland employers are afraid of hiring any foreign nationals? [171]

You seem to think ...as evidenced by several of your posts...that one or two examples of something indicates a trend or proof. You are boring me...I am also sleepy...thus you have exhausted your chance to prove you are not an idiot. You failed I am sad to say so you will be going on the ignore list. But knowing your vanity it won't stop you from posting.

Life / Polish culture do's and dont's? [106]

And I am saying you are lying if you say you never saw that in Poland. Yes it is wrong but it was being said as if Poles were so polite and we are so rude because we dont get up and you do. That is disingenuous. Poles exhibit the exact same behavior and I won't let you get away with pretending you don't know it.

Work / Why Poland employers are afraid of hiring any foreign nationals? [171]

HAHAHAHAHAH...you really did it. The old reference to some Pole who did something as proof of your superiority. That is such a cliched Polish thing to do you have me laughing so hard my side hurts. Only way it could have been better is if it was about Chopin!!!! Oh man...I swear you guys are one of the easiest alive to stereotype because you just line right up. Hahah.....oh man.

Work / Why Poland employers are afraid of hiring any foreign nationals? [171]

And the Polish English teachers I routinely saw sucked too...so we can agree most English teachers suck. But I will not let you get away with this nonsense about Poles being better...because its just not true.

Work / Why Poland employers are afraid of hiring any foreign nationals? [171]


Yes I do...but your idiot above said Polish English teachers are better than Native English teachers. That is so stupid it MUST be a joke from him. All things being equal a native will be better. Only a Pole would think he would naturally be better at teaching English than anyone else.

Work / Why Poland employers are afraid of hiring any foreign nationals? [171]


What? I think that a lot when I read your posts....what?

Life / Polish culture do's and dont's? [106]


HAHAHAHAH....you would say that. I can't be a Pole's fault it must be the dirty outsiders. Do you really wonder why people look at you like they do when this is how your culture acts most of the time? You are the most self important people ever. All the more funny because of the obvious fact it is all baseless.

Whats the matter? Trying to decide if you want to make it personal? I wouldn't.

Life / Polish culture do's and dont's? [106]

The same thing happens on Polish buses, trams and subways. I saw it regularly. This is not a national thing but rather a maturity thing. But good try attempting to say Poles are more polite. (yes I know the quoted post is old and the author probably in jail now)

Work / Why Poland employers are afraid of hiring any foreign nationals? [171]

Geez only a Pole would say a Pole is a better teacher in a language than a native speaker. You guys are amazingly full of yourselves.

And your story about rotten eggs being thrown really paint your culture in a good light. Savage behavior is so befitting of self proclaimed geniuses.

Work / Why Poland employers are afraid of hiring any foreign nationals? [171]


That is impossible. It also shows the typical arrogance inbred in Poland. Most of the Polish English teachers I met (I would guess around 100 or so in all my years, as a ballpark estimate) most ALL of them were not anywhere close to as good as they thought. Usually they had god awful forced accents and made stupid mistakes. Now I am not saying I speak Polish perfectly or even well but I also do not claim I could teach it as good as or better than a Pole could. That is just ridiculous.

Life / Ripped Off in Poland? - Expose here: [185]

About everything you buy there involves some rip off. Crap service, non existent return/exchange policies, dishonest workers.

Saturn actually tried to make me send a blender in for service the day I bought it because it was defective when I got it home. I went right back not an hour after I bought it and they insisted it had to be sent in. Well I wasn't having that. I have learned that Poles are not used to be stood up to in these situations so if you just insist and keep repeating what the proper thing to do is they will finally cave...it may take a long time but stick to your guns. I guess most Poles just accept the horrible customer service and the shops get away with it. They don't even follow their own rules or EU law often.

I got to where I would order everything I needed from abroad as I got sick of dealing with Polish retail. Of course they still dipped their greedy little hands in it in the form of customs fees (which never followed the same formula) but at least they didn't profit anymore than necessary.

UK, Ireland / Polish woman in the UK gives birth then leaves the baby in hospital [28]


Says who? I find people who say such things judge often themselves. It's human nature.

On topic there is NO excuse EVER for abandoning your child. Nobody forced her to get pregnant (unless she was raped obviously)

Life / Polish culture do's and dont's? [106]


This is funny to me especially since Poles call random people "uncle" or "cousin" etc. I never could keep track of who was actually related and who wasn't.

Life / Internet without TPSA (The Telecommunication of Poland Corporation) [11]

It's your fault...you revived it and then it looked modern as the last 4 or 5 posts said "today" :P

Life / Internet without TPSA (The Telecommunication of Poland Corporation) [11]

Harry do you have any neighbors who would let you jump on their wireless network if you paid part of the abonament? I did this once in the past and it worked well for us. Also Era Blue Connect (wireless dongle setup) is an option if you are not a heavy user. no help.

UK, Ireland / Temporary Residence/Karta Pobytu - Applying from London [8]

Harry is right. Ignore his advice at your own peril. You will soon learn that it doesn't matter what you are "told" by officials. You can go to 3 different windows and be told 3 different things.

USA, Canada / Do many Polish people in America hate Americans? [592]

Yeah you would say that. In fact you are probably going to spend the next few hours trying to refute everything I have posted. So I will say this now and be done with you.

YOU are exactly the kind of person I am talking about in my posts and are responsible for the less than stellar reputation Poland often enjoys. Carry on.

Study / Medical Study in Poland [22]

z_darius

Have you seen me once talk about national pride? I can assure you I am not prone to the national ego complex your half bretheren are.