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Directory for Wroclaw cell numbers?


Wroclaw_Beauty
10 Mar 2014 #1
Is there a cell phone directory for people in Wroclaw?

I am looking for a cell phone number, I have the company name but I would like to speak to the owner direct. I don't speak Polish and looking for a retail job. Maybe someone can help me.
cms 9 | 1,254
10 Mar 2014 #2
What size company is it ? If its a big one why not just find the guy on linkedin or goldenline - will be much more normal than ringing his cellphone
OP Wroclaw_Beauty
10 Mar 2014 #3
No its a small trendy clothing shop. Thank you I will do that.

But still curious, is there a cellphone directory in Poland. More specifically Wroclaw?
jon357 74 | 22,060
10 Mar 2014 #4
No, there isn't.
InWroclaw 89 | 1,911
10 Mar 2014 #5
But still curious, is there a cellphone directory in Poland. More specifically Wroclaw?

I'm not aware of any comprehensive online non business telephone book in Poland, so if you hear of one please let me know.
DominicB - | 2,707
10 Mar 2014 #6
My guess is that it would have to work strictly on an opt-in basis. No one would be able to list your number unless you specifically give them permission to do so. Poles jealously guard information like cell phone numbers, and are exceeding loath to give permission for their number to be listed online, so there wouldn't be much point in trying to compile such a phone book in the first place. It probably wouldn't fill a single A4 page. Furthermore, any company tempted to compile such a phone book would probably quickly be untempted by their attorney.

Bottom line, Wrocław Beauty: If the owner of the company has not personally given you his personal mobile phone number, personally give permission for someone else to do so specifically, he probably would not welcome a call from you.
InWroclaw 89 | 1,911
10 Mar 2014 #7
Surprising cultural difference because in the UK the vast majority of people's phone numbers can be found free online using one of many online directory services, for example

thephonebook.bt.com/publisha.content/en/search/residential/search.publisha
wroclaw_beauty
10 Mar 2014 #8
Little harsh wouldn't you say!
jon357 74 | 22,060
10 Mar 2014 #9
True though. There's a big cultural difference here - not just caused by a totalitarian few decades but much deeper. To do with a desire for privacy combined with a certain forwardness on the part of some of the population.

If people's cellphone numbers were publicly available in a single directory, there would certainly be nuisance calls from businesses as well as individuals. Be careful in Poland who you give your number out to and be careful with people's numbers which you're given.

Most businesses though will list a phone number in one of the online directories like Panorama Firm.
DominicB - | 2,707
10 Mar 2014 #10
Surprising cultural difference

Not surprising at all. Poles very jealously guard their privacy, as you must have noticed by now. Be aware of that or you can seriously p!ss somebody off. Before you pass anyone's phone number or any other personal information to a third party, be sure to get their expressed permission first. That's the local custom.

The logic is that, if I want you to call me, I would have given you my number. If I didn't, then you can very safely assume that I don't want you to call me.

Are you saying that they will publish your private mobile phone number in a directory in the UK without your expressed opting-in permission? That wouldn't fly in Poland. Or in the States, for that matter.
InWroclaw 89 | 1,911
10 Mar 2014 #11
The same etiquette exists in the UK. However, numbers are still published without any undue concern in phone books etc. No, I have not noticed the guarding of privacy at all here. I think Brits are more concerned about ID theft and the like. Here Poles must carry ID cards and must carry their driving licence if driving, something that'd never be tolerated in the UK. (In the UK you don't have to carry any ID nor even a driving licence when driving. You get a period of time to present it if required by a police officer.)
jon357 74 | 22,060
10 Mar 2014 #12
You'd be surprised how many more people over there are ex-directory than ever before. There was a phonebook here a few years ago, for landlines, but nobody wanted to be in it and the current data protection laws rule out a new edition.
DominicB - | 2,707
11 Mar 2014 #13
Little harsh wouldn't you say!

Not at all. Any such directory would be quickly be abused by telemarketers and other undesirable unsolicited callers. That a few desirable callers are frustrated is a small price to pay.
InWroclaw 89 | 1,911
11 Mar 2014 #14
I have a paper copy of the Wroclaw phone book, and although it's thinner than average for a city this size, it's still reasonably thick like a medium size town's phone book in England. The year of the book is 2007 and it has an orange cover. Most of the entries are surnames, about less than 1/10 is the business section. Over 1000 pages.

I have never observed any defensiveness about privacy from Poles. And that's unsurprising, considering that Poles are expected to carry their pink ID card at all times, and carry their insurance and driving licence for immediate inspection if driving. In the UK, you can produce any documents required at a police station in some days if not on you.

In Poland, telemarketing calls still reach my mobile and people's landlines, despite the fact none of us are in any phone book. Perhaps they random dial.
DominicB - | 2,707
11 Mar 2014 #15
I believe paper white pages were discontinued in 2010.

In Poland, telemarketing calls still reach my mobile and people's landlines, despite the fact none of us are in any phone book. Perhaps they random dial.

Twelve years now, and I have never received even a single telemarketing call on my mobile in Poland. But then, I have been very careful about giving it out, as I was advised to by the locals.

that Poles are expected to carry their pink ID card at all times, and carry their insurance and driving licence for immediate inspection if driving.

That has nothing to do with privacy. And carrying your license, registration and proof of insurance when your driving is required in the States, and I would suppose in most other countries, as well. In the States, you have to produce ID to buy alcohol, often regardless of your age. Some bars card everyone without exception, even if they know you very well and you are obviously well over twenty-one. Again, that has nothing to do with privacy.
InWroclaw 89 | 1,911
11 Mar 2014 #16
That has nothing to do with privacy.

Really? The debate in the UK was everything to do with privacy when ID cards were protested against. Please see
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_politics/7441693.stm

We certainly do not have to carry any ID in England & Wales, and that includes no need to carry a DL. And we had our Data Protection Registrar legislation from the start, having been set up in the early 1980s. Yet relatively few are ex-directory in Britain, unless there has been an accelerating trend in recent years.

I haven't given my number out either but I still get marketing calls, at least one a week. Most of the marketers can't speak English and hang up when I tell them I don't speak Polish. A small proportion seem to be automated recordings.

Even the folks back home in the USA don't like ID cards
aclu.org/technology-and-liberty/5-problems-national-id-cards

A national ID system would threaten the privacy that Americans have always enjoyed and gradually increase the control that government and business wields over everyday citizens.

Invasion of Privacy: Arizona State to Use ID Cards to Track Students
policymic.com/articles/12254/invasion-of-privacy-arizona-state-to-use-id-cards-to-track-students

The mods will bin this if we deviate off topic any further, so I'll rest it here. Be sure, however, we take privacy very seriously in the UK (hence the rejection of ID cards) and yet we still expect to be found in The Phone Book and few bother to opt-out and go ex-directory (although that number may have increased in recent years, I grant you).
cms 9 | 1,254
11 Mar 2014 #17
No its a small trendy clothing shop. Thank you I will do that.

Go into the store, leave your details and say you have some ideas that might be interesting for the manager/owner. If I were him I would respond.

Or you could find the address of the company (get a receipt and it will be printed there) and check it out online and sure you could get email contact.
wroclaw_beauty
11 Mar 2014 #18
Thank you yes I will do that. Drop by the store location.
cheers!


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