Expats/Immigrants in Poland: Needy, Greedy or contributor. Which one are you?

I have seen this type of attitude many times in Poland, it is also very prevalent in other socialistic countries.

I was once given an explanation by a Russian about this type of mentality, which is the best I have heard. He explained to me " having spent time in the west I see the difference, in the west society controls society you respect the rules, if you do something wrong, you face the consequences. You are on your own, you don't work you don't survive, the country is not your mother, society provides your feed. Here in the East the country is our mother, she is there to provide, she controls society, rules are guidelines we all learn how to make them work for us from an early age"

The problem now facing western Europe, they moved to a socialist path over the last 25 years. Now the current generation are more eastern than western in mentality, they have not severed the umbilical cord and are still sucking on the nations (motherland) breast.

That sounds fine except it’s not reality. The galloping horsemen of capitalism do nothing else except milk society dry giving nothing back. There is no such thing as free standing capitalism it’s propped up with public money time and time again. Without state investment there would be no infrastructure, no innovation and no growth. Once they have sorted that mess out marketing men can point their judgmental finger at others.

Sorry Confucious I don't see your point here. My children are brought up as fully functional members of Polish society.

You can always go to North Korea if you wish to see a country without capitalism.

I find the majority of Polish expats/immigrants I meet here in Ireland fall into two types:

Greedy - Only in it for the money, when the money dry's up they will be on the next Plane out of town. You normally find them sucking on the belly, of most tiger economies around the world.

Integrated - Having come initially for a better life have decided to stay despite it, surprise surprise, not being a paradise.

: )

The state capitalism of Stalinist states aside, it is important not to pollute or polarise political debate with statements that fly in the face of reality, that was my point.

Needy, greedy or contributor sounds like something from a 3rd rate training manual for gerbils. As most have pointed out you cannot pigeon hole like that it doesn’t even work as a snapshot.

Isn't that true of all expats around the world, no matter where they hail from originally? Usually it's the good paying job that brings them there in the first place. The wealth or poverty of the place and anything in between play no role. Always the same scenario, the expanding enterprise be it private or otherwise sends them there in search of the new El-Dorado, if it takes root the rest soon follows. Poland is no exception in this case. Besides can't you read? The topic is about the expats in Poland, your comment out of place.

What have you been smoking lately, tiger economy indeed, where? Been like that since the dawn of man, one thing in common, that initial boom eventually ends in bust. Sometimes it just takes longer to reach that point, though not in Irlands' case.


And the greed rears it's ugly head once more, freely admitting it too. LOL Funny how you accuse others of doing exactly what all of us have done, including you. You're forgiven though, some of us just have no illusions as to what brings us to the strange foreign land.

So you stayed there, good for you but remember it's a bonus not the motivation. If you happen to like the place I see no reason not to.

Precisely my point - I copied the text word for word from the OP.


...and by extension what therefore have 250,000 Poles been smoking?


You evidently completely misunderstand.


But not as out of place as your response.

Ideed.


Due to my misunderstanding but on topic, still valid. Nothing personal mate.
Just so there's no confusion next time put the OP words in quote. Thx.

As was my post too I think - making the point that the whole premise for the thread is bullsh1t.


No prob.


I probably should have done, yes.

Good for your children.

What is the OP looking for - seriously - if you're not some kind of Polocentric social worker-cum-philanthropist, then you're not welcome in Poland??

Any "immigrant" living and working in Poland pays tax and is added purchasing power so benefits local economy.

Expecting anything else is above and beyond the call of duty.

Odd categories. Your definition of needy is a peculiar one, you must know some strange expats, and that definition does not include those who reltaionships are stable.

I must admit that my view of many expats is an unusual one. I find many of them social misfits, it seems many left home to find a place where no one knows them and they can start over, but the misfit part always shows through.

I am married to a Pole. I have lived here for 9 years and we have two bilingual children. I have taught English, but have stopped for now to stay at home.

So I guess from the choices in the OP I am a contributor/needy...just not sure what is so needy about a stable marriage and family.

There are many reasons to come to this wonderful country, some are selfish, some to take, some to give and some for love. For me the more important category for this thread would have been are you a contributor/integrator or not.

How would you classify all these Polish girls who left Poland for Western European husbands? Needy?

needy isn't exactly the word I would use. There are a few other words that are more suitable.

The B1tches of Westwick ;)

or like Hollywood defines that phenomenon ' Eastern bloc likes western co..', a disgusting, arrogant quote existing in 3 movies. (Gone in 60 seconds, 7 seconds, Silent partner)
I heard it only once and stopped the movie.

In my vocabulary that choice is called the Despair.

This refers to all Slavic transfers to the club that pays better.

Just kidding. ;)

And let's not even go into the women who carefully time pregnancy, maternity leave, illness, holiday (of course they have full holiday allowance for all the time that they were off) and then getting pregnant again.

OMG- that just happened at my school - the woman was planning pregnancy in the summer - she has another etat in the state school and guess what? She is pregnant and already on a sick leave - because of the pregnancy- but she is fine - she is collecting sick leave benefits at the moment and there is NOTHING wrong with her- I personally find it revolting - to abuse they social security like that!!!!!!!

under communist times, there was a polish saying " if you were not robbing the state, you were robbing yourself " . She probably forgot that communism collapsed 20 years ago...

I know a guy who has a female employee he hasn't even seen for five years (two kids plus six months' holiday plus a bit of sick leave), but she's still an employee.

It comes from the communist work ethic or lack thereof. I worked up until a week before I delivered and no sick leave. ever.

yes, Pip, but you're perfect! )=

Greedy-Needy-Contributor anyone ?

Clearly you aren't Polish.

Tut. Polish women would assume you were mentally ill, or something.

Pregnancy is very much a severe illness that stops people working here!

For what it's worth, I know someone who had a problem with an employee doing this - she went off after 4 weeks on "sick leave". So - instead of letting her screw the country, he paid someone to follow her movements/take photographs/etc and handed it all to ZUS. She got busted.

no, I am not. But I have a good work ethic. Pregnancy in this country is seen as an illness and women become completely helpless. And then once children are born- having young children is the biggest excuse in the book. Something can't be done because "I have young children at home" not to mention all of the ridiculous wives tales that go with having children.

nope, children should be taken good care off - that were it originated. Practice can differ in some cases.

God didn't reward me with children- I had them deliberately.

I am not talking about taking good care of children. I mean the silly excuses that come with having children and the silly wives tales like "you will catch cold if you drink something cold" or the reason that Polish children always have hats covering their ears so they don't catch cold that way either. Or just the basic fear of "the cold."

Besides, isn't it the mother in law that usually takes care of the kids?

They are traitors to their nations of origin and should have their citizenship revoked. Immigrants are failures.

Lets start off with Australia, Canada and the USA the lands of the immigrant. Most people want to get into these countries, so why failure?


Its a bitter pill with the Polish mother in law, the over protection is well intentioned, they grew up in lesser times which made them the solid people they are. My Polish mother in law is a real stalwart on family values.