Differences in Polish, American and British mentality

Well dope, yes obviously I'm bored, I just got back from work, and here i am writing crap on PF again.
See, me and you are not really that different. You're a confused Russian living in Poland scraping by, and I'm confused as well, living in US wondering why I'm being drawn this stupid site.

I guess I'm fascinated by the mirror image of myself that I see in you guys, (except for Iron because his calming to be a Polack-Chink from north Korea, btw are you hiding out, or something? sorry none of my business).

Dope, I'm you in a different reality, I'm not a student, and I was the guy nailing other people's girlfriends and a few moms, which I'm ashamed off. If that happens to me, I would say it's a payback for all the wrong I've done.


i'm back i had to drive home. So what do you have to say?


You can't deny there are a lot of similarities. I'm sure you're one of those nicest and righteous Polish-Americans. Good for you for being different (i mean Better) than the rest of us arrogant ones


You're absolutely right, i was just thinking that. I AM YOU HERE. I hope this is not too confusing for you.

Oh great, I guess everyone's having their period now? Aren't some of you supposed to be millionaires? You know, rich, careless, happy? (I'm starting to believe I'm better off broke!)

;P

You know Havok, your and PennBoy's problem is that you keep the picture of Poland and Polish people in some 1989 year or whenever you left. Poland actually moved on, and America doesn't seem such a paradise to most Poles as it used to be in the eighties. I hate to wake you up from your dream about alternate reality you are in, but here it is again: Poland moved on.

Determined people like you can have great careers in Poland. They don't have to take off. They can even own businesses, imagine that. Sometimes they have to be cunning and vicious too. But most of them don't think that the duty of basic civility doesn't apply to them.

And PennBoy, people in Poland also have cars and go on vacation. Sometimes even better places than filthy Cancun.

And please stop lecturing people in Poland on what it's like to be in America. Being in every country involves specific struggles. Even being in America for each Pole is different.

I was there last year. anything new happened? Besides I'm not dissing Poland you silly goose, I'm talking about the Polish MENTALITY that remains embedded in us, no matter what has changed around us. Do you guys want me write in caps? Just say it.


yeah i remember that. I was going to tell you.. 6 figure salary means over 100k you douche, learn your math :)

Polish mentality is not an excuse for being a blockhead. BLOCKHEAD.

Yes, I can write in caps too. I can call names too. So is this Polish mentality according to you?

It's about the bigger picture. We share a lot of common traits that were developed by experiencing the harsh realities of Poland in 70's 80's and 90's. What I'm trying to do is to help you guys to get over it. (and myself too) Call me self-righteous in my quest if you want.

PennBoy wasn't born in the 70s. In the 80s all was great for him thanks to daddy collaborating, until the fall of communism. In the 90s he and his mother eventually were able to flee Poland and enjoy the cash that daddy's collaborating had brought.

Some of us came to Poland in the 90s to help rebuild the country the collaborating scum had nearly destroyed.

ok Marynka11, I had a stigma of being "Polish" too way back when, I've realized it was stupid.

I've gone through some life experiences that made me realize that even though people were thinking they had hard in PL they were sheltered from the real "jungle life", (as I call it).

We live in a free market society where the strongest survives, (everything goes) and there are no nice social protections offered here like back in Europe. Some people love it and others hate it.

After a few decades, we look at ourselves from the opposite sides of the mirror, those who survived the shitstorm and adjusted and those who remained back in Poland (mentally or physically). We try to communicate but it's not working out as you see. Try to meet us half way.


don't blame that kid for his father's mistakes.

What stigma are you taking about? There is no stigma. In the world there are resourceful people who can fend for themselves and people who need some more help. You will find both kinds everywhere in the world. No matter whether the people were born in the 30s, 70s, or 2004 in New York or Patagonia, you will find the two kids.

I agree, communism trained the helplessness in people, hence the people in the 90 who were in their 40 or older felt lost. But look at the same people 20 years later: most of them are adjusted well.

I would compare learning how to live in a free market society to being released from a prison. At first you have no clue what to do because as bad as it was inside, you never had to worry about where the bread and butter in coming from. But you take your baby steps and then you learn how to walk on your own. For some people it happens faster, for some slower. If you look at the Eastern Block you will see that all post communistic countries go through the same experience.


Don't tell me about jungle laws in a country with the right to claim bankruptcy when you've collected too much in credit card debts. No social protections, but stupidity is well sheltered.

Havok, these "common traits" as you call them are the result of centuries of challenges, crisises and travails. My feeling is that it's pure folly to think we can ever get over it. It's in our dna.

@ Marynka
we're on the same page Marynka. I agree with you except the stigma part.

I've met Polish people at airports who denied being Polish in to my face. I was sitting next to a guy, who was coming back from Germany to Poland, who did the same thing. I know it's embarrassing to talk about it, nevertheless it is widely spread. Read some of the forums here closely and you'll understand what I'm talking about.


i agree nevertheless I'll continue on trying.

Maybe they really weren't Polish?

I've never met a Polish person denying their "Polishness".

Haha! Well, you seem to be stuck on the same forum, wasting your time in the exact same way, bored out of your skull, not too happy about a few things. (I guess we all have a few things in our closets?) My point? I'm still smiling.

:)

We aren't: we're blaming him for his failure to come back and work to make Poland a better place, and for his failure to pay Polish taxes, and for him swearing to attack Poland anytime he's ordered to do so.

I'm pretty sure they were. I guess I'm trying to fix something that can't be fixed.


Dope is that you?

Do you really believe that by paying taxes you're going to fix Poland? Do you really believe that by working hard you're going to accomplish something there? If so welcome to the club sheep. (I don't mean to be disrespectful but think about what you're saying bro)

well, I'm sure it's an excellent topic for another discussion.

That's just lame. Do I really have to tell you why that's lame, or are you going to pretend to be mature now? His parents moved to America, and he grew up there, and he obviously likes where lives. Is he like the Messiah in Poland? Will Poland collapse just because he has chosen a life in a country he likes? Look, bash him if he bashes you, I don't ******* care, but don't spread that nationalistic bullshit here? (The world's changing and people are migrating in case you haven't noticed!) I mean, nobody's telling you where and how to live your life either, and *if* there *are* people who are doing just that, then you'd only have yourself to blame for listening to them.

Are foreign workers from the Ukraine who work and live in Poland traitors too? Or from Britain? Or China? Or Holland? I mean, if I'd ever move to a different country, I know it'll be for love and for a bit of freedom, so there's no ******* way I'd let anyone call me a traitor because I want to live *my* life.

So let's get real for a second, shall we? America has an all-volunteer army, and since he didn't volunteer for the army, he's not ever going to attack Poland, and since he's not the freaking President either, he can't be held responsible for the actions of his government. Look, responding to insults is one thing, but now you're just being funny. I mean, do you have any idea how many people on this forum you've just compared to a traitor? (Think!)

Thank you?

;P

I'm glad you had your laugh. I'm actually enjoying this.

Personally, this forum helps me understand things about me. Seriously AJ i have nothing to prove to you. It's about me, me, me more than about you.

Sometimes if feels like I'm arguing with myself Polish-self here... if you know what i mean.

Embrace it :)

See what i mean Havok? no one in my family ever was in the communist party or collaborated with them. This idiot thinks everyone who was a manager at a PRL factory was a member, someone who isn't old enough to know. Like i said before they asked you to join but could never force you to, if anything you got transferred somewhere else, my father worked there only 5 years, as for being a kierownik after half a year, not many people in mid 70's had engineering degrees and job training in East Germany. SO next time ask before making up assumptions that appeal to your liking. I will not explain again.


since coming here i've been to Poland in 93', 94', 95', 96', 01', 02', 05' my friend who just came back after being in Warsaw and Kielce for 4 months (his fiance lives there) who traveled all over the world (since that's his hobby) said not much has changed in the last couple years, in Warsaw ever downtown there are few foreigners besides Polish once in a while you'll hear Russian or Ukrainian. Meanwhile in Prague (Czech Rep) there are tons of foreigners from all over the world, American also. So what if everything is available in Poland everything is expensive, food, gasoline, housing, cars etc. Poles don't come to America because a plane ticket alone is a thousand dollars, how much does a bus or plane ticket to Germany, the UK cost? 50 euros? Poles go to those countries and take their money back to Poland if they lived in those countries they'd have far less money left over than Americans. (Food, gasoline, housing, cars) cost much less in the States, your money goes further here that's why this is still the land of milk and honey.

Hey, you know Hyenas die laughing?


You'll get over it.

;)

@ penn I get you bro, that's why i said something.

You can think that way if you want. I'm fine with that. Just don't offend people who have different opinions.

And apologize to Puella. What you said to her yesterday was seriously out of line.

I hope you're not wishing me dead. So far I've proven to be hard to kill. Hopefully it lasts.

Was talking about myself there.

;)

I apologize Martynka, and to you Puella, yea you girl ;)

word!

Btw, there seems to be a whole crowd of people here on PF pretending not to be Polish, which speaks for itself.


That's a bit naive to say that, particularly after you've been explaining to people that money really does not grow on trees here...

So here's a good example of a difference in national mentalities: I was recently interviewing candidates for an open position with our company. I happened to talk to a few Americans, a Rusian, an Ethiopian, and an Irish (sounds like the beginning of a bad joke...) Anyway, I asked everyone the same questions, and one of them was, Do you believe we make our own luck? Funny thing, the Americans immediately said, Yes, absolutely, and followed with a few examples of how they did from their experience. The Russian and the Ethiopian said No, you can't control your fate, you can only do so much... The Irish guy took answered with something about God watching over us, or some other BS...

Would people in Poland say yes or no to that question?

come on seriously? you're messing with my forum. Get a different nick or something. COME ON. stop it already. ****.
**** this I'm out.

half of that $20 is mine, anyway

It takes 2 to tango. And it's Marynka.

Edit,
Looks like I stepped in into someones bedroom? I'm leaving now, Mr. and Mrs. Havok.

English: Debtor's Prison

American: Bankruptcy Law

Polish: I shoulda, I coulda, I woulda ... but I didn't