Uptight Poles

Ah smoking? Ah, rudeness!

When smoking was legal in bars/restaurants, I would occasionally light up a cigar and puff away. In two instances, women who were seated next to me and smoking cigarettes had the impudence to ask me to put out my cigar. I found this ironic and stupid since they were also smoking albeit something else.

Both times I asked them, "what' in your hand?". Both times they gave me a 'dirty' look. Naturally, I kept puffing away.

As the Duc de la Rochefoucauld-Liancourt noted in 1794.........

"The cigar is a great resource. It raises your spirits. Are you troubled by something? The cigar dissolves it. Are you subject to aches and pains or bad temper? the cigar will change your disposition. Are you harassed by unpleasant thoughts? Smoking a cigar puts one in a frame of mind to dispense with these......"

i wouldn't say many, but it is something i've come across. not just directed at me, but at others as well.

In most places a rabid non-smoker will ask you nicely. In Poland you get a torrent of abuse from some harridan.

BTW, it's nice that I'm not alone in thinking that the smell of cigar smoke is much nicer than from a cigarette.

Many close to me, Wrocław. Maybe not many overall but...

We see uptight Poles here on the forum. That Family Guy poster is a prime example. Us Scots can laugh at ourselves but most Poles, Germans and Jews seem to have a problem with it. The defensiveness is bordering on the Jewish level.

Places to see uptight Poles? In any queues or in administrative offices.

yes - end very often at the expense of others -

- I used to commute to Wrocław and back home every week when I studied there - very often there was nowhere to sit (I mostly used direct trains because my mom used to work for PKP and we were entitled to travel for free) - so I very often had to stand in the passageway (the stretch from Wrocław to Opole is not that big and I never complained :P) - then people would leave their compartments to have a smoke in the passageway (I'm pretty sure it was against the regulations but I never have seen any PKP people intervening - it was an tolerated practice simply) - most of the smoke does not leave the train even when the window is open it just flows down the passageway - I was almost getting suffocated by the smoke (I could hardly tolerate cigarette smoke when I was younger) - but what was I supposed to do - ask them to stop smoking? - this was a tolerated practice so how do you expect they would react - I often moved to another carriage but these people just keep popping up from their compartents for their turn - were these people considerate?

btw the thing is the practice of smoking in train passageways only emerged (AFAIK) after PKP had done away with carriages dedicated to smokers (which was/and is a silly thing to do) - expecting people will quit smoking just because of that??

Why would I want to do that? To spread good cheer and joy wherever I turn? ;->


I'm left waiting for the positive one then :-)
Seriously Seanus, I quite like you but most of your Polish people stories are negative and biased. Or condescending. Or a combination of the above.

Magdalena - the thing is Poland does not provide for many uplifting experiences - but perhaps what we sow is what we reap

Magda, please feel free to give me a chance to do that. I'll tell you real stories of all the positive experiences I've had. I've noticed that you come back to the negative ones too and it makes you appear uptight. This is about uptight folk so that's why I posted. You are more than welcome to create a hospitality thread or revive an old one. Until then, I will focus on threads that are relevant to me and I can comment on people being uptight here.

As I said before, I see this trait in administrative offices but people there are often of a certain type.

Wow.
I care to comment about the negative ones because I can often see how biased they are. Or are you not interested in having your preconceptions questioned? ;-p

Even if ultimately I am wrong and you are right, it is always useful to try and see the situation in a different light. I rhymed there, see? How romantic! ;-)

What is biased about my story of the pedantic guy in the City Hall? He was uptight and up for a grumph, end of. You can question if you will but I was there ;) ;)

Yup, you didn't come across as uptight there ;) ;0

There's even a commercial about the level of uptightness. Not that that is definitive by any means.

aphrodisiac, I don't see an issue here, your friend doe not like your smoking, you gave her an ultimation, " accept that I am a smoker, or leave" your friend decided to leave, now you understand that your friend dislikes your smoking to the point, she can't be in your presence when you are smoking. It would seem that you have to make a decision, how much you value her friendship and what you can do to maintain the relationship or not.

That is her prerogative, yes, but I think many have turned full circle after Nov 15 when the ban was introduced. It's a classic example of following the rules to a tee without any consideration of the exercise of civil rights that previous governments had given to them for many years. I can see why aphro felt her to be uptight.

Yes indeed; although some cheap cigars can be quite unpleasant in scent. That's why smoking a fine premium cigar is highly recommended (by me).

The cigar is the urban man's camp fire. A proverbial "call of the wild" (sorry Jack London).

Famous cigar smokers include;
Winston Churchill, President Andrew Jackson and his wife; President John Adams, Gen. Robert E. Lee; General Ulysses S. Grant; President Bill Clinton (although he had multiple uses for his cigars); Vladimir Lenin; Al Capone: Fidel Castro; Groucho Marx; Mark Twain; H.L. Mencken, Sigmund Freud; Tom Mix; Milton Berle, Darryl Zanuck, W.C. Fields, Lorenz Hart, Count Basie, Alfred Hitchcock, Pablo Picasso, Paul Newman, to name just a few.....

As English novelist William Makepeace Thackeray noted in 1896":

"I vow and believe that the cigar has been one the greatest creature comforts of my life, a kind companion, a gentle stimulant, an amiable anodyne, a cementer of friendship. May I die if I abuse that kindly weed which has given me so much pleasure."

...and for the lady folks; George Sand in 1867 said this; "A cigar numbs and fills the solitary hours with a million gracious images."

I've also noticed that if some Poles are happy, they can be uptight not long after. Most tend not to stay happy for long unless they are naturally of that disposition.

I am not uptight usually, but public smoking is extremely douchebaggey. I f*cking hate the scent and would compare it to shitting someone in the face. So I ask people who smoke in my presence to put out their cigarettes.

I have to disagree.In certain ways you are constantly uplifted.

even if they were there first ?

do u ask in a polite way ?

actually to feel uplifted is a spiritual experience - seek and you will find

Koala, do you shout out apologies with a megaphone to people that you pollute with the filth from your car or do you just put on a sticker when driving that says 'I'm sorry'?

Bars have to be places of tolerance and not filled with uptight individuals. I tolerate some of the rubbish I hear in bars but know that I can move, just like you or anyway else can.

I think that Wroclaw and Seanus got my point.

I would like to add that we were OUTSIDE and the men sitting with us at the table asked us if they can smoke. She said: YES. So I assumed that I can smoke too. Simple:).

Thanks for all the comments. I still think that her reaction was not justified. Luck of social skills perhaps.

When was this, aphro? There has been a ban in all public places since Nov 15 2010. It's about consent, you are right.

Why did you choose the word 'uptight'? Was this a one-off instance or have there been others?

this particular person seems to be uptight about many things. I am way much more relaxed, especially when I am at the street festival. I love public gatherings and she seems to be uptight about them, but she was the one who suggested it. I feel at home in most places and I think that might be the issue here. I really don't know and I am not interested in finding out. I like to relax whenever I can:). End of the rant:)

I'd say he's a Yank. Polish? Trzecia woda po kisielu


vs. cigarettes
It's like comparing apples and rotten oranges. E.g. fags have no three-way converters, mind you. And you rarely see cars running inside buildings. Another eample: while background outdoor particle concentration can be some tens of g/m3, it can be several hunred-thousand time higher inside of a room with smokers. And smokers themselves, even while non-smoking, breathe out benzene (known carcinogen). These are but a few aspects of smoking.


Guess your pal is just over-sensitive. I don't have problems with people smoking outside, as long as they don't puff right in my face.

I usually don't approach people who are smoking, so that's a hipotetical situation. And yes, I'm always polite to people even when I'm very pissed (unless someone deliberately ) so I ask in a polite way.


Shouting through megaphone would contribute to (noise) pollution, so obviously I wouldn't do that.

Now seriously, I lived in Germany before smoking in public places was banned in Poland and at first it was amazing that no one was smokingin pubs and no one complained about it, even when they had to go outside to smoke. Majority of people are not smokers so those who do smoke should adjust to the will of the majority. I'd like to be able to fart whenever I want to, but I don't do it out of respect for people accompanying me. Do smokers have to be different?

Let's not get into a smoking debate here as there's another thread for that. This is about uptight Poles. Some are uptight and some aren't. I like those Poles that flick an arm in the arm as if to say 'it doesn't matter, it's ok', but that is not to be discussed here. Any uptight family members?

where do I start lol

Wherever you want, as long as it's on topic :)

I think I am done with the subject. Most Poles are all right.

So only one personal tale to show that Poles are uptight? ;)

This thread is a trap anyway. If we deny that we are uptight, it means that we are uptight because if we weren't, we wouldn't bother denying. If we don't deny, it means we're admitting the truth.