Why are Poles always so miserable? Why do they never smile?

Hi,
I spend a lot of time in Poland. Far too much time. One factor has an overwhelming negative influence on my experience here. No one ever smiles. Everyone has a long face and seems to be constantly miserable. You see it everywhere, on the buses and trams, even on the streets of this wonderful, bustling city of Warsaw.

Going back to the UK, I can now spot a Pole from about 100metres. (Happens about every 3.5 seconds, there are so many of the buggers here). They don't need to open their mouth. It's just the way they walk, their posture, how they 'hold themselves'. Unless they're drunk, or getting married (or both), they're all uniformly miserable...

The reason Poles appeared miserable is because you were there, in Poland.
They learned about your anti-Polish attitude. :(

Completely agree with the first paragraph above. The second paragraph is true most of the times too. I go on vacations to Poland (once every couple of years) and it's hard to have fun there (but it's cheap to go to other places in Europe to have fun, eg. South of Europe).

Went to Croatia in July. The gals there are amazingly beautiful - far more so than in Poland (and Polish gals are famous). But in general everyone is also pretty miserable, and it's very difficult to meet people, even at the most buzzing places in Croatia. It seems to be a post-Communist thing. Or maybe a Slavic thing? I don't know, that's why I'm posting here.

Anyways, if you want fun in the summer Greece, Italy, France, Spain are all full to the brim of far more cheerful, open-minded and optimistic people... and it's far easier to make fun connections... Unfortunately, it IS a little more expensive than Eastern Europe.


Hey Opts,
I forgot to mention I *am* Polish. I just sometimes wish I wasn't. Especially since May 2004.


It's got so bad that I'm seriously thinking of changing my name to something non-Polish. How's that for the downfall of a former Polish patriot?

It is very unfortunate that you are Polish.

:)

You make it sound like a medical condition!

Well there's nothing that a lobotomy, seven pints of Guiness daily and six months in a yurt in Outer Mongolia can't cure Mrs. Smith.

Anyone know of cheap airlines flying to Ulan Bataar?

Have you considered seeking professional help?
I do not like to see a fellow countryman inflicted with a disability.

Yes Opts,
I'm seriously thinking about it. I'm really not a happy bunny.... any more.
(And I used to be so extrovert and full of life before moving to Poland N years ago. Perhaps I should leave this country before I go completely nuts - which won't be long judging from the bile dripping from all my posts.....)

Anyway Opts... talking to you has been free. Many thanks:)

What happened on May 2004?

wow!!! i can't understand how this life is ...... i'm not polish but i wish to be from there......

i also wish not to hear that from a polish guy/girl ..... so i hope you're not polish!!!

You are welcome to share in this forum anytime.
There is no fee; no need to thank me.
Safe your money for a good bottle of vodka.


bty,

To be Polish, you must learn to drink vodka.
Cheers!
Sorry. In Poland we say "na zdrowie"

P.S.
Are you British?


On a serious note, you can be from "there". Immigrate to Poland. Learn the language.
Submerge yourself in Polish culture. You will be from there.


Dumbass is a very good last name. No one will know that you are Polish.

You are more miserable than the people you accuse of being miserable.

I wish you well.

Mister AntiMonoPole#1, I think that you have a lot of explaining to do.

It seems that there are some imprecision’s occurring in your posts. In some of them you state that you are currently living in the UK. For example:



While in others you state something completely different:


Are you really a Pole, and have you ever been in Poland in your life, AntiMonoPole#1? After reading your lies, I'm starting to think that the answer to both of my questions is NO.

And in the future, if you want to lie, do it at least properly. :)

she is

Hello everybody,
As you can deduce from my name, I am Polish, and although I never felt very patriotic (that's not one of the things we are taught at school, unlike other nations, which I think is good anyway), there definitely are many things I am proud of about my origin (some very valuable things I was taught that kids growing up in the cheerful countries will never learn). However, since I moved to the US I saw some things more clearly. First of all, I think that Polish people ARE a little bit grouchy and negative about life. They complain so much and about so much that it really makes me depressed after a while. I never noticed that when I lived there, but right now, it's pretty obvious. Depression is a national epidemic I think. However, the younger generation is not so much like that, they are doing much, much better (sorry, you won't see the 'made in the US plastic smile' though).

It has definitely to do with our past with communism, it was hard not to be pessimistic and angry at those times! Those were horrible times to live in!

I visited this summer and I am happy to see that things are overall really improving. Yes, unemployment makes people really desparate - hard to blame them for it and the government is useless, but overall people are doing a good job adjusting to the new situation. I've seen people being really nice and friendly in stores and coffee shops, although they still push each other while waiting in lines... but even the office workers are nicer these days! - that is REALLY a huge milestone. I think that as long as people have jobs, everything will be only getting better.

When I was in Poland last year I was waiting in a VERY nice bank to deposit money for 2 (TWO fcuking hours!) -- the bank was very nice indeed - PKO - but people there were SO SLOW; it seemed the clerks vere like on vacation in a nice campus. I was so mad. It was miserable experience for me.

yes, I agree... :( not all are like that though.

Thanks -- I mean, I'm a business owner and don't understand some customer service people in Poland do not have THE SLIGHTEST idea about working with people to actually "serve" them better. Don't know who hires them - it seems they are not flexible at all (unless you start yelling at them or talking to the manager).

Yes, as a businessman, you have a different view on these things and I completely agree - the laws about hiring and firing in Poland are probably quite ancient and don't live up to the demands of today's market economy. That might be one of the reasons why they have employees that get away with inappropriate attitude to the customers.

Customer Service if probably like a completely new idea there. They are just learning what the word means... to be sarcastic :). These are quite turbulent times in the changing market structure in Poland, I think, but maybe you can teach us more about it.

Who says poles never smile????
I keep smiling all the time :) :) :)

As i've said before....I haven't noticed that poles don't smile much except for some of the older generation. But, maybe it's just my cuteness that made them smile.

Hey Polaca,
You've got the right idea! Keep it up. Only 39,999,999 more Poles to convince....

(OK I exaggerate for effect, but my point stands. Youger Poles do on the whole smile more than older ones, hopefully the effects of communism are beginning to wear off...) You guys do understand what exaggerating for effect means - or are you all Americans who take everything literally? (There you go, just offended two national groups in one message!)

There was an interesting comment made by a British pub owner back in the Summer of 2004 (soon after Poland joined the European Union in May 2004) and the flood gates were opened for Polish imigration into the UK. He was stunned by the number of Poles that kept knocking on his pub doors looking for work. He said he couldn't possibly hire any of them as they all had such miserable looks on their faces and they would scare off his customers!

Perhaps things have changed since, as now there's barely a pub in the UK that doesn't employ Polish bar staff. And its nice to see some of them do occasionally smile.

I really wouldn't mind being German at all.

Only problem is they are probably one of the few nationalities in the world who don't have a sense of humour. They do smile occasionally though, and Germans from the former West Germany seem not be miserable. Whenever I go to Germany I still here them complaining that all the Ozzies (ie former East Germans) are all miserable oiks, who do nothing but complain and never smile... Very much like my opinion of the Poles in fact.

Perhaps not German, but I certainly wouldn't mind being Dutch or Danish... both 'mild' forms of German.


I agree. They have all got used to it. Nay, I think they were born into it and don't even notice that they're miserable. They've got so used to seeing long faces everywhere that they think it is the normal way to behave in public. Which is exactly the problem. Poles in Poland, particularly those who live on those endless hideous housing estates - which is the majority - have forgotten how to be happy in an open manner, how to enjoy bantering with people they just meet on the street, how to be civil to each other.

The fact I am more miserable than they are is all the worse in that I used to be an overall happy, open person. I can feel tangibly how much more of a misery guts I've become since living in Poland.


Are you kidding? You really don't know? Are you an American or something?

Poland entered the European Union, and Poles got the legal right to live and work in the UK, which they immediately proceeded to do, en masse, not the 15,000 that UK gov expected, but more like 600,000 (which may be a conservative estimate, cos they've lost count)...


Yes FISZ don't worry, I'll get bored and leave soon. Then you can get back to less challenging questions. If you think I'm writing nonsense then don't read it. Nobody's forcing you to.

It may surprise you to know that some people have different views to you. Amazingly enough some people actually share my views... or at least sympathize with them. Just read some of the other posts on this thread...

I've become deeply unhappy as a result of living in miserable Poland, and really I was looking for some answers...
What can I do about it, short of going on Prozac or leaving this country?
Why are the people here so miserable? When if ever will the Poles change their behaviour to each other in everyday situations (nearly 17 years since the fall of Communism, and progress is abysmally slow); when will Poles start to react to each other with civility. Is this a forlorn hope, or is something the Brits have acheived only after X hundred years of peaceful urban culture?


Hey Dude,
Have you never heard of dual nationality? I'm of Polish origin, born & educated in Britain, but made the error of moving to Poland back in the 1990s, back to my roots so to speak. First year or two was OK, a novelty even, but then reality began to sink in.

As I said before, I now believe moving to Poland has been the most serious error I've ever made in my life... and I've made a few. (Such as wasting my time posting on this board it seems...)

I'm Polish -- don't dig politics though. People think they actually make any decisions while in fact politicians pull all the strings.

I don't recall saying anything or responding to any of your posts..except for maybe 1. My comment was geared more towards the people that come here and feel the necessity to type BS in all caps with no explanation or validity to any of the posts. Like freddy. At least you'll stay and voice a valid opinion. Very few may agree but we're all different and do have other views on life. I think at some points I may be just as guilty by posting some 1 liners here and there...but hey, I'm bored at work sometimes.

What exactly is forcing you to stay if you're so miserable? Are you bound by child and wife?


And what's wrong with being American anyway?

How right you are! I'm not interested in politics myself, especially Polish politics, which is even more full of sh1te than British politics.

All the same I'm slightly alarmed that you don't know anything about the date when Poland's fairy tale dreams became true, and Poland became part of Western Europe...

1 May 2004 is when all your compatriots, especially all the clever and more active ones, began packing their bags to head West.... for the streets of London, all paved with gold, as Dick Whittington did in the nursery rhymes. Or perhaps there isn't a Polish Dick Whittington - a Rysiek Witkowski?


Most Americans think Helsinki is the capital of Stockholm... They don't have a clue what's going on anywhere outside of the USA. And they don't really seem to care either...


I never use caps, except to STRESS a point.


Something very much like that. And also the fact that if I cash in my Polish appartment, all I'll be able to buy for it is a small shed in Kingston upon Hull. There won't even be the space to house my priceless collection of rare Polish beer bottle labels...

Ahem, sorry instead of 'priceless' read 'worthless'....

So lets go people keep smiling!!!:)

Geeeee.... here we go again. Antimonopole - I think you're very angry about something in your life and stuff completely unrelated to you bothers you more then it even matters. First of all, you're saying you're Polish but lived in Uk and now in Poland... whatever. You have control over your life and SHOULD actually change it instead of bitching about it, if it's so terrible. You are actually making all of us here miserable with your depressing, over-generalizing, exaggerated, negative attitude.

By the way, whatever your nationality or origin is... I wonder if you know what's going on in China these days (hopefully you know, since you never mentioned being an American).

Another cheerful Pole.. :)

Actually Marzena, I went to China 2 years ago. And boy it's even more miserable than Poland! It's a terribly dispiriting place. Really, really miserable. Much much more miserable than Poland. In comparison, Poland is like Capri or Ibiza! Actually China is probably even more miserable than Russia.... and that's really saying something.... There are few places in the world worse than Russia!

I'm so glad that China has not yet applied for membership to the European Union. I couldn't bear another 600,000 mainland Chinese immigrants in the UK on top of all you futsking Polaks...

(Most Chinese immigration has been from Hong Kong, but HK Chinese are all really cool... mostly because they had British rule for 99 years, and learned to be civilized... And HK Chinese food is delicious, which is more than I can say for mainland Chinese which is ghastly.)

So in summary, I think communism has really screwed up a lot of countries. Russia, China, Albania, and of course Poland....
Another 2 generations and you Polacy z Polski may all recover your normal civilized senses again... you may even become humans....
Unless you actually make a conscious effort change that is, which is unlikely with dupeks like the Kaczynski twins at the helm.

Just make an effort to smile and be cheerful and the rest of Western Europe may yet open its arms to you all...

I'm just amazed at how seriously you are all taking my comments. It's just another symptom of how the Communists have got to you all.

For futsk sake you Polaks have no sense of humour! You are worse than the Germans!

In fact, I think I will change my nationality to German. And my name too.
"Obnoxious Von Dumbass" - doesn't it sound good?

I think I would prefer to be German rather than Polish. The Germans take themselves less seriously than most Polacy z Polski! And I must say I've had a lot more fun in Germany than I ever had in miserable Poland. And the Germans take themselves much less seriously than all you dumb Polaks.

Auf Wiedersehen, all you sad sad people!

AntiMonoPolo#1,

I don't usually resort to this: You are so full of shite.

Yeh Dudes.

Some days.
In fact most days. I wish I would love to have been born echte Deutsch....

Deutschland, Deutschland uber allles, uber alles in der Welt!
Deutschland, Deut.....


Hey dude,
Guvno rules the world

It's a sad sad thing none of you have a sense of humour.

Another legacy of communism...

Don't take things so seriously! Or are you all really so humourless?
Has the humour gene been bred out of the Polish population?
Perhaps all Poles with a humour gene were shot at Katyn?
What a great shame....


Just look at the present Polish government:
Kaczynski, Giertych and .... gosh I've erased his name from my memory. I'm sure you all know who I'm talking about. ... Yes, that wonderful man..... Lepper!

Deutschland, Deutschland uber allles, uber alles in der Welt!
Deutschland, Deut.....