Polish shop assistants boorish?

A recent study has shown that Polish shop assistants are widely regarded as boorish, ill-prepared, unprofessional and nasty. One reason given is that the job of shop-assisting is not highly regarded in Poland. Those performing such jobs rarely are helpful to custoemrs, even though the customer is worth his weight in gold. Without him there would be no job.

How does this compare with other countries you're familiar with?

they are not as bad as those that work in Poczta Polska.

You might think of them as being beneath you, other people do not.


I'd entirely disagree with that, but then I always treat shop staff as being my equals and am always polite to them. If you treat them as underlings and are rude to them, it's no surprise that they are rarely helpful to you.

I have been amazed that it is such a chore to give change. I was at a store at bought 420 zloty worth of clothes: they were rude to me about paying 500, and I ended up with a pocket full of 2 zloty coins. Yesterday i bought some shoes for 315 zloty, and they left me a few groszy short when they had to empty the cash register to give me change from 320 zl. While I admit I was accustomed to paying almost exclusively electronically back home, this seems ridiculous: always "prosze, masz drobny?". Of course I realize this is probably a management failure, but I'm talking about international chain stores in big malls.

I have found that Polish cashiers will say they haven't got change because they've just opened up. But a shopkeeper worthy of the name starts the day with an adequate supply of change. They don't have to send you to a neighbouring kiosk or café to change a100 zł note.

Some refuse to give change even if they've got a cash register groaning under the weight of coins.