I need help!! (problems with my Polish coworkers)

Iv been looking 4 help all over. Im 27 with 2 kids.
I joined catering October 2010 & i LOVE my job so much! I love cooking & learning new recipies with my boss & i love our many customers.

But i have a problem. I am English, as is my boss. 2 other women work there & they r both polish. Being there roughly 4 years. Middle aged women with kids. I like Ewa but when Annas there its hell!!

When im at work neither will approach me to ask 4 help or speak in English to each other. This leaves me excluded & im always being bumped into around the kitchen, they wont move out of the way 4 me if im going through with hot food or big kitchen implements, they wont look at me & wont speak to me when i speak to them. I hang my head & watch them smiling. My boss has tried to tell them that when they r in the kitchen they r to speak English 4 H&S reasons & i am certain they take the mickey in thier own language but they wont listen!! They bang things in the kitchen & make me feel uneasy.

where is this. Poland or the uk

I got so angry today as i could see this was just a pathetic battle of wills :-( i was prepping mushrooms & i came out with it ''Anna whats wrong with you?!'' she ignored me as per usual and i muttered that she was a mean *****.

Iv tried to be nice to her and cant see a way forward. Theres so much hostility in the kitchen!
I ALSO FORGOT to mention that we are in England.
I have to be interviewed now and have a diciplinery. But Ewa & Anna can swear at us in polish and get away with on the grounds of racism/discrimination.

The picture looks dead wrong to me and i dont know what to do anymore

Are you in a union?

Had the women be speaking or at least trying to speak in English since they've been in Uk for so long they would be fluent in English by now!

And they dont really have much problem speaking to my boss or anything. They just throw the language barriers up whenever it suits them.
I dont want to lose my job im very afraid of this. Iv never been diciplined and follow rules by the book. Im so sad this is happening

No im not. Our kitchen is contracted by a factory we work for.
I thought about contacting OUR head office but i dont want to overstep the mark. Should i?

cheer up. just explain in a few words that there is a communication problem. nothing more.

u don't know what they are saying, so half the stress is caused by your immagination.

Exactly.

Maybe. Thank you for your advice wroclaw

They do sound rude. I think you should bring up the language thing at your disciplinary hearing. fecks sake they are working in england.

Alas, it's not your problem to deal with.

Tell your boss that it's an uncomfortable working environment, but there's not much you can do if your boss won't sort it out.

Bang them, too.


Hey, that`s fascism!!

Thanks guys. As of today i realized its not a problem i myself can resolve as i may lose my job in doing so, i will bring it up in my diciplinary though.

But rest assured!! If i get fired ''bangin Anna out'' will be the first thing on my things to do list on the way out lol

Do you want him to get fired?Sorry I meant "let go" like Americans say.

Im a girl lol :-)

Oooops! lol I too thought you were a guy!

strange, but I never did;).

Anyways, women are all the same everywhere.

As someone suggested, use the same language as they do- if they bang the pots, do that too, if they don't step away- do the same - but you are way too nice - so I am not sure you can handle them.

another solution: wait for the interview and don't be afraid that you will loose your job - if Anna is evil - then she might have done this to another worker. Just be patient and see how things will develop.

Don't be too nice to them, they don't deserve it.

useful vacab: kurwa mac;)

you're not strange :)

pawian obviously I am a fascist, I am English ..;))

Just prop up your phone and start videotaping when you're ready to ask them something.
If they ask, tell them you're videotaping. Make sure it's not illegal... is it?

it is simple , they dont like you and not because you are english , it is just because how you are, and that it .


if you lose your job , dont worry , they always can get another polish person for do your job :)

wredne małpy

UK is famous for cctv surveillance. Don't you have it there? or ask your boss for camera (even fake, they are cheap) Yes i know I'm a pure evil because I install cameras but what I can say finally it improves atmosphere.

We all have our Annas in workplaces ;)

Sheet! I thought you are a lost boy that`s why I told you to bang them.

But, as a woman, can`t you bang them anyway?


As a Pole, I am wary of any suggestions of fascism or communism. :):):)

Do you know that Polish prisoners in Nazi camps were not allowed to speak Polish and they even had to count the blows in German during beating? When they made a mistake, the beating was restarted again and again.

Banning the Polish language, no matter if it is faking England or frigging Greenland, is pure fascism to me.

Woman! I swear, so you started out on a wrong foot, big deal. If it was guys problem would’ve been solved by now either in a pub over beer or on some dark street. I know! How about catfight I’ll watch :)) seriously; you have to resolve this matter, it’s not healthy to come back home all stressed out from a job. I suspect there’s more to this story though, someone’s been naughty, otherwise it would not escalate to this.


Seriously? That’s the best advice you can come up with? Put some more tension into situation by telling them to snitch? I suspect this had a very trivial beginning in the first place. Someone feels they’ve been wronged somehow, somewhere. Trust me, I know. We constantly get that from woman blissfully oblivious to what just happen till we get those not so subtle clues. Knowing woman they will hold that grudge forever till someone apologizes for whatever trivial thing they may have done and most importantly, for what the other side thinks they have done.

Złość piękności szkodzi, don’t you know?

hmm i see where u are coming from with that one, but surely in an English workplace.....? well they could at least try to include her .....

I wasnt suggesting a "ban" on any language I was just talking about common courtesy..:)
You are so dramatic Pawian..;))

Remind them of this in the interview love. Anyone playing this down doesnt understand how a proffesional kitchen works. dangerous places if your not switched on and comunicating easily with all around you.


Unfortunatly this is far too common..........

Tell anna to grow the fek up......(nah,dont,but she should,she is acting like a l'il schollgirl whispering in her playmates ear.....)

It has another meaning in English.

To "bang" someone is like saying "punch" someone

Example....."I banged him out!!"

Are you serious?? Obviously, you have never worked in a kitchen. It is no place for weak, or meek, apologetic or uncommunicative.
The battle lines have been drawn - they already snitched on her once, for cussing, which as far as I'm concerned is a God-given right in a kitchen.

So, Emma, protect yourself, pick one and burry the other, or they'll push you out of a job.

Smell my finger.

aha. that gives a really whole new perspective... ;)

Tell your supervisor about their swearing. Sounds like they should be confronted and written up for their malicious behavior.


Southern may be a volunteer to take a whiff!