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Posts by Sylvio  

Joined: 4 Mar 2016 / Male ♂
Warnings: 1 - T		 Last Post: 1 Jan 2023
Threads: 19
Posts: 155 		From: Inowroclaw
Speaks Polish?: Does
Interests: finding work

Displayed posts: 174 / page 1 of 6
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Sylvio   
1 Jan 2023
Life / Polish Nursery Rhymes [243]

Does anyone remember: "wlazi kotek po drabinie, po drabinie..po drabinie.. juz ostani mial szczebelek a wtem frrrr uciekl wrobelek"?
Sylvio   
19 Sep 2022
Life / Is it worth returning to Poland in old age? [101]

Income tax is chargable on money earned. If you for example make voluntary contributions to an overseas savings account, and by their terms begin to withdraw your equity, that is not income. And health insurance? I already pay full ZUS. And where is the note from bank or Urzad Skarbowy, asking me to sign authorisation note for bank to act on behalf of Urzad Skarbowy? I guess we dispense with such nauances. Banks duty is to protect clients funds. Not to provide access to random institutiins to help themselves to your saving, without even so much as advance notice or a receipt. This is another thing, in Poland no trader is allowed to take your money without issuing a receipt or faktura to the client. All except PKO. They do not need to follow this law, because they are special. Is there any sound regulator or gov ombudsman in Poland who'd examine abuse of customer confidence in Poland? I guess not. Which is why in a proper country you get 1 ticket per solution, when in Poland you get 20, 9 emails, 4 visits. and the issue still unresolved. PKO should look for ways to make money ethically. Not by raiding their clients savings, with full connivance of their crony government acting as their accomplice.
Sylvio   
18 Sep 2022
Life / Is it worth returning to Poland in old age? [101]

Hey Pawian, in total 1800zl was deducted by PKO from my Canadian pension between Jun-Sep 2022. Having raised some 12 zgloszenia, plus 8 emails, coppied to Finance Minister, and so far have only seen circa 200zl returned. I am someone who takes good care not to lie, falsify documents, or make claims I could not substantiate. Does that set me apart from much of what goes on around me?, I could give you that. When you call me a lier, you could be brushing me with the 'ambience', therefore. Besides, from other threads on this forum I see that you are known to be pretty obnoxious, making your criticism something of a badge of honour.
Sylvio   
16 Sep 2022
Life / Is it worth returning to Poland in old age? [101]

Watch out for your PL bank taking a chunk of your Western pension, and then having to run a campaigne, raise 100 'zgloszenia' and emails, visits to the bank brach to get any of their 'levies' back.
Sylvio   
27 Aug 2022
Life / Why Polish singers are not popular abroad? [95]

Tolented Polish singers wrote great songs, which unfortunately were only great in Polish ears. Same in UK you get many bands which to us Poles sound chronic but the English public love them. US music market is also different, although some overlap ocurrs. For any none English band to make it in England, a) your English must be perfect, b) your music must be unquestinably and inimitably superb!!! ABBA was one band who managed to pull that off. But going by what I hear on my Polish radio, we wouldn' hold a candle to anything like ABBA. As someone who knows something about writing songs, I will say that musicians in Poland have difficulty defining what is their own music should be, and thus writing anything unique. Most Polish rock songs sound like strings of independent ideas, without ever being one piece.
Sylvio   
18 Aug 2022
Travel / I'm so bored in Poland! [129]

International airport in Warsaw should hand out leaflets to Poles returning to Poland from USA, warning about lack of sufficient numbers of WC per acre of populated space. Unfortumately, retail outlets including supermarkets (!), are not obliged by law to provide public washrooms. This means many expats from the US will need to re-learn the methodology of doing their business in the wild.
Sylvio   
15 Aug 2022
UK, Ireland / When are the Polish going to stop extorting money from UK businesses [13]

It's fair to say that slowly but surely things are improving in Polish character... I hope. Some negative traits presist, though. Because any improvement requires effort...something most are pretty averse to, including at work. My other point is Poles love solving every problem by punishing people. Including vocaly blaming people they think should be corrected. Even to their face! Dishing out advice to total strangers in stores. Without any thought to dress it up in humor. And good luck trying to find anyone responsible for anything in a store, school, church, hospital, or especially a governmnent office.
Sylvio   
14 Aug 2022
Love / I am a black girl in a relationship with a Polish man but I have many questions. [21]

How many charity organisations operate in Poland? Do you know any of your neighbours doing any charity work? Or, have you ever volunteered to work somewhere for free? Or, are there any stores in your area, which sell good used articles left in doorways, to fund good causes? Do you know anyone in Poland who spo sponsors education of children in 3rd world?... And Ukraine? Yes. It was good. A one off. A product of much TV campaigning, with a marked hint of national selfegrandisement, and 'dollar nudging'..
Sylvio   
14 Aug 2022
Love / I am a black girl in a relationship with a Polish man but I have many questions. [21]

I do feel sorry for you. Empathy and compassion is not strong in our character. If I were you I would act on the premise that your man is of the BBD type. Bigger, Better, Deal. And you could be no more than an n'th of his 'milestones'. The only thing you can do is treat your relationship the same way yourself. Sorry to dampen your expectations, but you should keep your head clear. And by no means should you press him towards marriage, as it will only blow up in your face years later, trust me, when it may not be so easy to bail out unscathed. Remember ONLY and EVER marry out of LOVE. All other reasons will take you nowhere nice in the end. Look after yourself, my dear. And good luck.
Sylvio   
14 Aug 2022
UK, Ireland / When are the Polish going to stop extorting money from UK businesses [13]

As a Pole returning to Poland after many decades abroad it weighs down on my mind that we still cultivate the atrocious idea that the best path to financial success is to let go of rules of ethics. This is very selfdestructive. And who knows if it will ever change. In the so called West whenever something I had bought broke, which it did not often, and I took it back, it is so wonderful to get an apolgy, and a prompt refund with no questions asked. Here, where goods are mostly dreadful quality, I often get treated with suspicion, or straight up accused of breaking it through being 'not very bright', not knowing how to use it. But on the other hand, when I talk to shop keepers privately, I hear of horror stories of customers asking to return goods which later turn out for example to have some inner parts removed. How can people be so shortsighted to think that multiplying fraud left right and center will give them an advantage in the long term? Not getting a proper quote for any kind of work, and then being expected to haggle over the final price is something I have grown used to. But is also pretty aweful for the client. Because you can rarely calculate who will be cheaper ahead of time.
Sylvio   
14 Aug 2022
Travel / I'm so bored in Poland! [129]

It reminds me a little of what Americans tend to say after moving to Canada. I would call it "prescriptive" life. Where from one day to another, there is no distraction towards anything new happening around. And everyone follows the same pattern of wanting to buy, do, or build something better for themselves (!), rather than planning anything that would involve joining efforts with other people. It's all about what "I am going to do tomorrow". Furthermore, today is of no significance to anyone. Do correct me!, but folks here do not appear to enjoy the present moment, nor see one another's company as anything worth their interest.
Sylvio   
4 Aug 2022
Law / Expats retiring in Poland - overseas pension funds [3]

A word of caution to any Poles thinking of retiring in Poland, on overeas pension funds. Having retuned to Poland 6 years ago, earlier this year I activated a private pension plan in Canada. The fund had sent me a statement sayig clearly, that since I no longer reside in Canada, Income Tax deduction is being made against each monthly payment transfer. Now, enter the latest ruling by Poland's parliament called: Ustawa o Podwojnym Opodatkowaniu", and my bank PKO, cloaking themselves into a proxy of Inland Revenue, have gone ahead "removing" sizable chunks of money from my monthly transfers, describing them as ' Zaliczka do Podatku Dochodowego', and (.wait for this) 'Health Insurance'. I am now 2000zl short of what was sent to me from the Canadian fund, and no amount of remonstration and documentation presented to PKO Warsaw has been enough to persuade PKO to return the money. It seems that the ruling has resulted in banks doing exactly what the ruling sought to prevent. Which is to charge Income Tax in both countries. In the process of communicating with PKO over this, I have also found two other peculiarities about Polish banking. One is that nobody in PKO Warsaw is capable of reading documents in English, requesting that each page from Canada be translated by a sworn translator ($$$). Second, I found that PKO Warsaw follow policies which local PKO branches openly admit being totally oblivious to. The same, by the way, applies to Inland Revenue offices. At no point was authorisation requested from me, from either Urzad Skarbowy, or PKO, giving them permission that PKO should extract money from my personal account at will, acting as an Inland Revenue agent.

I wonder if anyone in this forum has any knowledge of such things happening in Poland.
Sylvio   
25 Mar 2022
Work / American High School Teacher looking to teach English in Poland [27]

If I were you, I would only teach English on line as a side job. But look for a main job in some international business corporation. They will find you a role making use of your skills. Such corporations often use English internally, and may even help you grow experience you can use when you return to US. Which I am convinced you will do eventually.
Sylvio   
13 Sep 2021
USA, Canada / Poles Living in the Chicago Area [300]

In my time in US I only lived ( as a temping contractor) in IL, TX and CA. But TX suited me most. Probably because I have poor cierculation, and the TX heat all year round was just awesome. The only time I got a great all over tan, too. Without trying. Not sure why, but there were very few Poles there. The only Polish store was somewhere down 75 Express way, near Garland? Chicago felt like I was already in Canada. But yes, very similar climate to back in Poland. CA was good too, but I found it the hardest to make new friends down there. Especially around San Francisco.
Sylvio   
19 Jul 2021
News / Dodgy PRL-holdover judiciary finally reformed [418]

People avoided going to court if they could because they knew they could not count on fair, punctual and effective handling of their cases.

Here, I agree totally. 3 years ago I was threatened to be shot, by a local "businessman", but decided not to press charges, on a hunch I was dealing with an old SB-ka, and thus could never come a winner, out of such a court case,
Sylvio   
19 Jul 2021
News / The ruling party in Poland tries to take American owned TV news station off the air [528]

People should stop saying things like: "Americans own this..", or "Germans own that..".The fact is very ordinary people live in those countries. I know because I had lived there. People very similar to you, and I. None of them have any cross border beef. Global financiers who bid for media control are masons if Jewish extraction, with a suitcase full of flags. Paying their way into each country until they end up fully controlling the fate of their citizenry. Someone here mentioned Mr. G Soros. He has obviously decided to be known, but there are likely many, many other actors in this game, I'm $ure.
Sylvio   
19 Jul 2021
Law / Extortion or a Business Model [6]

This is obviously something new. When I insured my cars in UK 1985-2001 I do not recall any such caveats. And it is a very bad idea too. Especially, with Balcia. At least Admiral sent you a note, I got nothing, except a verbal that "owner not at the address" 6 months later, ( cooked up - I suspect,) with the legal notice, conveniently whole 6 month later. I wish I had asked if they would honour a claim in the overhang period. Cause if not, then it is a straight money for nothing scam. Beats me why the regulators do not make it illegal. Also interesting that the message you got does not say anything about the charges, or instruct you how to cancel.
Sylvio   
19 Jul 2021
Law / Extortion or a Business Model [6]

Well; Even if it is, how come that none of my past car insurers in UK Admiral, Canada AllStates, US Geico, did this type of autorenewal? This really looks like a deliberate setup to trap and milk money out of people. If Balcia ploicy is valid without me paying for it I wonder if they would honour a claim? Am I to understand that the Polish way of doing insurance effectively moves responsibility for insuring vehicle from me - the driver, to whoever underwrites the outstanding costs? This is absurd, since the names of such guarantors had never been mede known to me.
Sylvio   
18 Jul 2021
Law / Extortion or a Business Model [6]

Here is the synopsis of my story:
On 4/18/2021 I received a letter from INTRUM attorney's office, acting on behalf of RESO Balcia Insurance SE [Spolka Europejska]. The letter threatened court action, and demanded a payment of 595,08zl to cover my apparent 'debt' to their client - RESO Balcia. RESO Balcia Insurance SE [Spolka Europejska] had provided an insurance cover for my truck through 2020 with the policy ending on November 5th 2020.The letter demanded that the debt be cleared by 4/20/2021 ( giving me 2 days), or the court summons will be issued against my person. The fact is, in Nov 2020 I had switched my car insurance to another provider. Accustomed to the way my car insurance covers were voided past their expiry dates, I had assumed the same should occur in Poland. Not so. I telephoned the INTRUM attorneys on 4/19 to ask why they had waited 5 months to act, and had not informed me of the need to serve RESO Balcia with a cancellation note. Katarzyna and Krzysztof who answered my two calls, stated that 'an entry was made in their system' to say that 'a reminder letter was sent to me in November 2020 but was returned to RESO Balcia Insurance SE [Spolka Europejska], citing "resident no longer at the address" (???)...'. This is most odd since throughout the last 5 years it had not crossed my mind to move anywhere. Neither have I been made aware of any other post going astray for such reasons. It is also curious that in full knowledge of the "Client no longer at the address" Balcia, through INTRUM attorney's, had no problem instructing their attorneys to post a new letter to the very same address the whole 5 months later!. Krzysztof and Katarzyna from their HelpDesk informed me that if I were to wire RESO Balcia Insurance SE [Spolka Europejska] 261.00 zl immediately, the instruction to issue court summons would be dropped. No one at Balcia offered to explain the origin of the notion formed by them in November 2020 that I no longer lived at the address. The fact is, my insurance cover contract was started in Nov 2019, ran for 12 months, ending in Nov 5th 2020. There is no way I should be liable for any payments to Balcia for their service after that date. Am I wrong? My gut feeling is that RESO Balcia could be running something I know exists under the name 'extortion racket'. Extortion is I think outlawed in western countries. Can someone correct me if I err on this but extortion occurs when someone levies charges and enforces payments (typically using threats), for goods or services which had not been ordered by the end client. Having spoken to a couple polish lawyers I was dismayed to

hear that extortion does not exists in Polish law, and the notion has no distinctive name in Polish language.
Sylvio   
10 Jul 2021
Law / Taxes when teaching online while living in Poland [3]

Unfortunately, Poland is a country where for mamy decades communists had laws in place which encouraged people to break laws. How? By making laws hard to follow, absurd, and toothless. In 2016 I had a local government admin person advise me on my specific tax situation, which BTW their office had created be giving me wrong information, that I should falsify and submit another government form. What can you do..?You can go to the local Tax office and describe your business. See what they tell you. Take names, dates. And keep them in case you get hassled in future.
Sylvio   
15 Jun 2020
News / Britain - problem for Poland and Poles? [103]

By the way, I'm asked to be an usher at a polling station! Uu -hooo!! So much for being..what was it? A Belorusian troll. Ha ha..
Sylvio   
14 Jun 2020
News / Britain - problem for Poland and Poles? [103]

The first thing that struck me about this particular forum is in the coarseness of expressed opinions. We Poles are impulsive, and disrespectful of the other, alien to all charity. Our comments rarely show any depth, ingenuity, or are remotely funny. Now that I live in Poland, every day my money papers over the holes in Poland's commercial ethos, being accused of lying or fraud in shops, refused refund, whenever I return any of the substandard products sold here to the store. Never a word of appology. On driving in Poland I won't pontificate. We are savages, my friends. Let's make no bones about it. A character established through occupations and foreign subjugation. Contrary to what you say, I do not lie or steal. Nor mascarade as smone else on line. Sylvio is a nick. As it happens a British citizen of 28 years, having worked for 12 big UK corporations, I left England in early 2007, to move to US/Canada, prior to the big influx of our countrymen to the islands. So, speaking of me, try not to think of yourselves.
Sylvio   
13 Jun 2020
News / Britain - problem for Poland and Poles? [103]

Ok About UK. In my opinion NONE of the so called attacks against Poles in UK. are randam, or by random people. They are all preordained and organized by UK's funny handshake lords. Is that come out loser to the topic?
Sylvio   
12 Jun 2020
News / Britain - problem for Poland and Poles? [103]

Poles are targeted for only one reason: because they are Catholic. Having arrived in UK many decades ago as a young lad, I was able to master the language to an unrecignizable level. My names also, as it happens could slip under radar. So, I can present here my unique perspective. Which is that so long as my Polish identity remained hidden I invariably received a better treatment everywhere! This especially as a contractor in getting hired to good professional, well paid posts. This was before internet profiling which now gives recruiters deep insight into your past from name /birthdate straight away. When I moved to north america it lead to scores of very funny ( or not) situations, where having presented myself as a British subject I would get offered some glamorous propositions of jobs, relocation packages, green cards, for whole family, on the company bill, only to watch the same person who made them, a day or two later, suddenly lying their arse off to explain why the offer was no longer "available" , "put on hold", off due to sudden budget cuts etc. It became so predictable that, to save time, I began asking agents ahead of time to check if their "great" offer would stay up if I were a Polish national, which in all cases meant that they would never (!) call me again, thereafter.