fuzzyhead
9 Nov 2011
Life / The Blame Game (Have you ever noticed that a Polish person is never wrong!?) [205]
I understand what you mean! I have met one particular "never wrong", a Polish girl I worked with.
An example of her behavior;
We both did the same job (almost) and were both at the same level in the company, there was one particular task that was a complete impossibility due to logistics and other factors out of our control, I really do mean there was no logic or practical way of getting around the task it was impossible! Our boss told us to disregard the work as it was pointless. Everyone agreed, except this one girl who was convinced she could calculate away round it! One day we had a huge influx of work and I realised she hadn't touch any of it so asked her what she was doing, she said she was working on this useless task and I asked her why and she said because she "KNOWS" she is right. I told her it was pointless and I needed some help today and she said what she was doing was of the utmost importance and actually told me to "shush" putting her finger in my face! This did lead to a rather loud argument but anyway this all happened around lunch time, it got to around 7 in the evening and I had worked way past my finishing time I asked her if she was still doing the same thing, and she was! I did tell our boss that time purely because of the amount of work we had that day was huge and she got in trouble but guess what she even spoke back to him telling him she knew she was right!
Another I needed her to show me where she had filed something on the shared drive and she came over to my desk and told me to go to "XXXXX" I said "you have your hand on my mouse" she said "go to XXXXX" again I said "you have your hand on my mouse" again she said "go to XXXXX" again I said "you have your hand on my mouse". I am not joking this whole thing went on for about 10 minutes backwards and forwards and I could see she was getting angrier and angrier but again she had HER HAND ON MY MOUSE!! I kept pointing at her hand too, but I could see she was staring into the distance. She got so angry in the end she shouted "GO TO XXXXX" and proceeded to throw my mouse at me!!! Luckily it didn't get me, it missed by about a CM and bounced out the way. Now the whole time this was going on I had been really calm, I think part of that was disbelief that it just wasn't getting through. But when she throw the mouse at me I snapped and had a huge go at her, the CFO came and stood outside his office watching (oops!). Yet she still would NOT accept she was in the wrong, I could have had her sacked over it! And it wasn't the first time she had been that aggressive towards me and others! I honestly thought when she realised what she had done we would laugh at it I didn't expect my mouse to come flying at me! Which broke and I had to wait for another one!
There was always an excuse no matter how small or menial the mistake or misunderstanding was! Our boss admitted that he had gone home early on more than one occasion because she wanted a meeting with him and he just couldn't cope with it. He wasn't a weak man either. I left in the end because of her, you couldn't compromise with her at all on any level! And you can't work with some you have to work with as closely as with as I did with her without compromise! She even felt it was her right to know where I was every minute of the day even when I had booked half a days holiday for a hospital appointment, she could not see what was wrong with this, she was right!
BEFORE ANYONE GETS ANGRY AT ME!!!!!
On the flip side there was another Polish girl in the same department who was the total opposite of the one above, she would always admit her mistakes upfront and ask if she wasn't sure about something as she felt it may have been done differently in Poland. She said she was embarrassed by the one above as it gave other Poles a bad name and was worried they would all be tarred with the same brush. But even she had a bit of the "never wrong" about her when it came to non-work related stuff! LOL. But she is one of my closest friends now so I can forgive her that!
I have also come across Brits that are the same but I really do have to admit none of them were ever quite as bad as her!
I understand what you mean! I have met one particular "never wrong", a Polish girl I worked with.
An example of her behavior;
We both did the same job (almost) and were both at the same level in the company, there was one particular task that was a complete impossibility due to logistics and other factors out of our control, I really do mean there was no logic or practical way of getting around the task it was impossible! Our boss told us to disregard the work as it was pointless. Everyone agreed, except this one girl who was convinced she could calculate away round it! One day we had a huge influx of work and I realised she hadn't touch any of it so asked her what she was doing, she said she was working on this useless task and I asked her why and she said because she "KNOWS" she is right. I told her it was pointless and I needed some help today and she said what she was doing was of the utmost importance and actually told me to "shush" putting her finger in my face! This did lead to a rather loud argument but anyway this all happened around lunch time, it got to around 7 in the evening and I had worked way past my finishing time I asked her if she was still doing the same thing, and she was! I did tell our boss that time purely because of the amount of work we had that day was huge and she got in trouble but guess what she even spoke back to him telling him she knew she was right!
Another I needed her to show me where she had filed something on the shared drive and she came over to my desk and told me to go to "XXXXX" I said "you have your hand on my mouse" she said "go to XXXXX" again I said "you have your hand on my mouse" again she said "go to XXXXX" again I said "you have your hand on my mouse". I am not joking this whole thing went on for about 10 minutes backwards and forwards and I could see she was getting angrier and angrier but again she had HER HAND ON MY MOUSE!! I kept pointing at her hand too, but I could see she was staring into the distance. She got so angry in the end she shouted "GO TO XXXXX" and proceeded to throw my mouse at me!!! Luckily it didn't get me, it missed by about a CM and bounced out the way. Now the whole time this was going on I had been really calm, I think part of that was disbelief that it just wasn't getting through. But when she throw the mouse at me I snapped and had a huge go at her, the CFO came and stood outside his office watching (oops!). Yet she still would NOT accept she was in the wrong, I could have had her sacked over it! And it wasn't the first time she had been that aggressive towards me and others! I honestly thought when she realised what she had done we would laugh at it I didn't expect my mouse to come flying at me! Which broke and I had to wait for another one!
There was always an excuse no matter how small or menial the mistake or misunderstanding was! Our boss admitted that he had gone home early on more than one occasion because she wanted a meeting with him and he just couldn't cope with it. He wasn't a weak man either. I left in the end because of her, you couldn't compromise with her at all on any level! And you can't work with some you have to work with as closely as with as I did with her without compromise! She even felt it was her right to know where I was every minute of the day even when I had booked half a days holiday for a hospital appointment, she could not see what was wrong with this, she was right!
BEFORE ANYONE GETS ANGRY AT ME!!!!!
On the flip side there was another Polish girl in the same department who was the total opposite of the one above, she would always admit her mistakes upfront and ask if she wasn't sure about something as she felt it may have been done differently in Poland. She said she was embarrassed by the one above as it gave other Poles a bad name and was worried they would all be tarred with the same brush. But even she had a bit of the "never wrong" about her when it came to non-work related stuff! LOL. But she is one of my closest friends now so I can forgive her that!
I have also come across Brits that are the same but I really do have to admit none of them were ever quite as bad as her!