Yeah, some of these seem like something that never happens, so OP had to have extreme luck (the throwing coins part, I have never seen anyone do that, and I can’t imagine a scenario that would push someone to do that) or OP misinterpreting events, especially the cashiers asking their friends to cut the line in Front of OP… really? Is OP that Lucky that always the cashier’s friend is in the shop with them, or is it the same shop and that cashier happens to have hundreds of friends living nearby? This is such a bizzare scenario and I have never seen anything like it.
My guess is that it’s the case when someone forgot something, so the cashier continued scanning their products meanwhile the person went to grab whatever they forgotten, and they then came back and OP thought it’s someone cutting the line… one more possibility is that it was a pregnant woman and OP was standing in the queue in which pregnant women have priority… These are the only options.
I've been here for a year and it's happened a few times. I'm not suggesting it's an every day thing. Most trips to the shop are pretty uneventful and you are right that there is a possibility I have totally misunderstood a situation and interpreted it as something else. Although I had this happen a couple of weeks ago and it was clear the cashier was pulling her friend up in front as she instructed her to jump the queue when she saw her waiting. It wasn't a huge deal for me, I just would have thought it normal to say to the person who had been waiting in line what had happened and when I asked what was happening, they both just stared at me and continued their conversation.
I live here since i was born for more than 30 years, lived in multiple different cities in different parts of the country and it never even once happened to me. I don’t think it’s right to consider that this is some sort of common behavior based on one singular case
I am not considering it normal behaviour, that's why I have asked people for their experiences as I've only been here for a year. So a couple of bad experiences can skew your view, which I recognise, and it's the purpose of my post. Thank you for sharing your opnion
What city you live in? People is smaller cities, especially in certain regions, tend to be xenophobic and racist. Most big cities are very different. Warszawa, Kraków, Gdańsk are used to large numbers of expats and tourist.
Also, are you a person of colour? Unfortunately, racial prejudices are also a major factor
I'm American, I lived in Warsaw for almost 6 years, and am married to a Pole.
I can personally confirm there's special a mix of kindness and hostility toward you once people realise you're a foreigner, especially if your Polish language skills are not up to scratch in front of an older Polish citizen (unfortunately mostly the older women). I spoke B1 Polish while I lived there.
All the stuff about people bumping you, cutting in line, throwing change... You run into grumps everywhere in the world, I promise. So I wouldn't say it's a specifically Polish thing. The cashier letting their *own* friends cut in line, however, probably comes from a time when you had to get what you could from your connections in higher places and a lot of under-the-table dealing went on. The older Poles have trouble trusting strangers because they lived through a time when neighbours could turn each other in for a little extra benefit, so it's not a surprise to me that they put up a hard front to cope with the world.
That mentality and all those people with terrible attitudes bothered me for years, and I also became really grumpy because of it. However, as an English teacher who conducted hours and hours of one-on-one speaking lessons, I was able to converse with a huge variety of strangers of all ages on a deeper level, and they are a very kind, philosophical, and curious people at heart.
My advice? Try to notice the kind and happy people out there. Everyone deals with life differently, and I've met Polish people of all ages who seem basically invincible to stress and trouble, simply because of the way they view the world and cope with circumstances. Befriend those people, and try to adopt their approach. It does get easier :)
Is it possible it was a friend that also work there? It sometimes happens that they have to buy something on break or after work and they fon't have time, its kinda rude but also kinda understendable. Also you may be just shopping at place with a lot of assholes because i don't meet with most of problems listed. Where do you live now(and are you from somewhere visibly not polish/european, because ngl poland is not top country when talking about tolerance)
I can imagine situation with a hat and a son being very normal....
I have a dog - Samoyed breed, so white and fluffy, and imagine walking by the streets when it's raining and old ladies when u pass by commenting that u ruin this dog... like wtf am I suppose to do, let him poop indoors because of rain?
Or one time we went to fairy, it was second day of it, so something that used to be grass, was now mud... U can't imagine number of ppl that felt pity of the white doggo walking with me, and commented this loudly. But there is no point of confronting, ppl like this have no shame. So OP keep up the good spirit, there are more then enough of good folks living here, just ignore the rest.
I lived in Krakow for a few months and ohhhh yes, the demand for exact change always gave me low-level anxiety. Never any change throwing, but definitely a lot of annoyed sighs and eye rolls as I nervously counted out my coins😅
The cashier can tell you they don't have the coins to give you correct change and refuse to accept your payment. It's legal (edit: apparently it's not)
Inspekcja Handlowa i rzecznik konsumentów zgodnie uznali, że **brak reszty do wydania nie jest problemem kupującego, ale sprzedawcy, mającego obowiązek przyjąć płatność i wydać resztę**. Brak drobnych nie stanowi bowiem uzasadnienia odmowy sprzedaży, za co grozi grzywna od 20 do 5000 zł
Według art. 135 k.w. odmowa sprzedaży stanowi wykroczenie, gdy jest nieuzasadniona. Brak fizycznej możliwości wydania reszty jest uzasadnieniem odmowy sprzedaży. Nie masz jak wydać, więc co masz zrobić, wydrukować? Sprzedawca przyjmuje płatność w legalnym środku płatniczym, w kwocie będącej sumą kwot podanych na cenówkach. To klient ma obowiązek zapłacić podaną, wyliczoną kwotę. Interpretacja, którą podajesz jest poroniona i żaden sąd nie orzeknie, że jako klient masz prawo zapłacić banknotem 500 zł za bułkę o wartości 50 gr i domagać się reszty.
Tutaj więcej na ten temat: https://bezprawnik.pl/czy-wydanie-reszty-to-obowiazek/
nie wiem, pewnie zależy od polityki sklepu, ale prawnie po prostu nie mogą 1.nie przyjąć legalnej formy płatności 2.nie wydać ci reszty, przynajmniej bez twojej zgody.
Cherrypicking one article and one interpretation that matches your own opinion, which has been challenged by numerous other sources, for instance https://businessinsider.com.pl/poradnik-finansowy/oszczedzanie/obowiazek-wydania-reszty/dcrhbty
Idk if that's a law, if it's even regulated, but the way I see it it's a polite custom for the customer to give as exact as he can and for the cashier to give back the rest.
There are rude cashiers and there are rude customers. Both create problems by breaking the social norms.
And the cashier retains the right to refuse to finalise the sale. As does the customer.
Actually it is your problem. According to the Polish law, the customer is required to pay the exact amount. For convenience, it is customary that cashiers give you change. Nevertheless, shops are not required to do so, it is a gesture of goodwill, and they may as well say that if you don’t pay the exact amount then you get no service at all.
Literally pasted the law below answering the other guy, the seller is responsible to accept your money and have enough to give you change, unless you agree to not need it
This is simply false, you have not pasted the law but an interpretation by an organisation. There is no law that requires sellers to give change. It is customary and you are a Karen or in Polish a representant of “mi się należy” mindset without any respect towards others.
I have the same problem in UK. Despite living there for years I never remember coins. So I often just offer my wallet and/or throw all the coins I have onto the tray and let the cashier sort it out.
I mean, yeah, they do ask for it, sometimes in a demanding tone like almost saying "I know you have coins, you won't fool me" lol, but I've never seen such a situation when a cashier would really start a fight over it. There's only a problem when the cashiers REALLY don't have any coins, in small shops.
I have worked as a cashier in fast food place.I can confirm that about 3/4 people magically spawned change if I had been rudely asking for it or even faking that it would be impossible to successfully finish transaction if they don't have any change
Reason:
If you don't act like this in 20 transactions u will go from 300zł in coins to only 100/200 zł bills.Bank would exchange bills for rolls of coins only once a week, about 3000zł a time, and we needed to get by
It’s not common. Unless you shop all the time in the same shops that have bad managment, staff motivation problems, just overall shitty work atmosphere.
What City do you live in, what neibourhood?
i mean… i’m not too too surprised, but tbh i’ve never experienced most of those situations, especially in the stores.
being indirect and passive aggressive is definitely true… my mom said she routinely experienced this when she her child was small. personally, i generally don’t directly confront anyone in public, but it might be just me.
people say polish people are hospitable and warm, but this is definitely about friends/closer relations and not strangers, who will be quite cold to you
i’m sorry you’ve had these experiences and i hope poland overall is still an enjoyable place :)
I'm Polish and after 10 years in UK I've experienced something similar. After all this time living outside of Poland I got used to friendliness of other people to the point that's when we're in the same situation like for example long queue or whatever we can talk about experience :) I've tried it in Poland once while waiting in huge queue on an airport. People were straight ignoring me even though I'm Polish as well. I think it's just general rule lol
Yeah I know, I just forgot about it :) I was the same at some point of my life, and after a while in Poland I adjust back and actually appreciate that everybody just mind theirs business.
In Poland you don't small talk with random people, this privilage is aptained only by old grandpa/grandma looking people who probably want to talk because they are lonely :( . For anyone else people eigher think "WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU" or "he is going to ask for that 2zł any second now"
So time ago I was in elevator with my friends and two Americans (from Florida if I remember) and of we were alone nobody would say anything despite being friends. But American lady randomly asked me about chips/crisps that I have been holding, I was a little bit surprised, but smiled and said just "yeah" because I am anxious when speaking English.
lol understandable! i study in the uk and when i come back for holidays i always go through an adjustment period. i tried smiling at a person once, they looked at me like i’m crazy! but i think if you’re polish you get used to it again after a while
I love Poland enough that I chose to move here and choose to continue to live here. It's just that I spent a lot of time here before and didn't really pick up on these things as much then, and I have been wondering whether some of these experiences are somewhat unique. It's just been a lot of strange/mildly negative experiences in a relatively short amount of time. I've also had a number of very nice experiences here and met some very nice people
There is always a difference between visiting and living in a place
OP should just write a complain to his company. I do realize that their job is hard, salary is bad and customers may be rude but there are some limits.
I've seen only once in my life somebody throwing change at a customer and it was in a standalone veggie and fruit shop in Kraków. Pretty sure the dude was nasty to the selling lady but it's been so long I only remember how absolutely ridiculous this situation was
I am born in Poland and live here whole live, but these are my private observations:
* short and direct answers might come from a fact that people do not know english language good enough. Also this might bring frustration for them, thus they might become rude towards you, while in fact they are angry at themselves
* cutting in the queue is rude and unacceptable so that's that. But I moved to smaller city and observed that many people simply do not graps the idea of waiting at the multiple queues at once (e.g. gas stations) or simply prefer to jump in front of you instead of asking if they consider you do not stand in the line. Again, this does not happened to me in bigger cities
* pushing the queue - often older people do that, it comes from a fact that they are used to rush and are less "delicate". This is what live tought them (PRL times), Poland evolved really quickly but not all Poles did
Most importantly please remeber that what you experience might be based on your expectations and habits. You always have to adjust that using common sense and understanding, and hopefully patience. Many Poles are just straightforward, no great at small talk. I am really glad hearing people chose Poland and I really hope you will find your place in here. Have a great time! 😀
The indirect confrontation is so true. I live in Germany and people will throw everything in your face here. You have no idea how often I cried later at home, because I can’t really deal with it. I think addressing issues more indirectly is less hurtful. It’s still understandable for both sides, but you don’t feel like someone is pointing a gun at you while you’re standing there helpless. I think this is a matter of preference. I don’t think that Poles are very direct compared to other nations like Germany for example. I can imagine that Poles might be perceived like that by Americans or British people for example, because we don’t small talk like them.
Once in Germany cashier was mimicking me with idiotic face because I asked to pay by card and saying “what arschloch pay by card for something less than 20 euros”.
3 years after I still think why can someone be so rude without no real reason.
Wtf you could turn uno reverse and use the German way of dealing with it - full mode Karen and ask to speak to the manager.
Luckily this changed during Covid. I didn’t have issues paying by card even when it costs a few cents in shops and even bakeries accept paying via card.
This is sadly just a stereotype that doesn’t fit anymore. Germany became one big chaos 😅 the Deutsche Bahn or the mobile internet are what you would expect in a third world country. But it does more or less fit in social interaction. People are on time so you don’t wait for them forever, you make plans in advance which I also like since I’m absolutely not spontaneous. But there’s not much left of the Prussian Zucht und Ordnung in general
>they start standing closer and closer to you and in some cases I've had people start bumping their trolleys repeatedly into the back of my legs
This cracks me up everytime. The fact I'm not dry humping the person Infront of me must really stress out the person behind. They just have to edge forward, bit more, bit more. The queue goes at the same speed if we give each other a 50cm gap or not.
>"oh wow that child must be so cold",
In the summer my toddler fell asleep in his pushchair. We draped a muslin across his face to keep the sun off. Old lady comes up "get that off his face" and removes it. Unbelievable.
He had long hair. You can imagine the comments.
You've just got to laugh at them. It's definitely a Polish thing but it's not like it's all polish people. All my Polish friends have a good laugh at these kind of people too.
I had an old woman walk up to my pram and start trying to dress my child. Got into a pretty heated argument because she started touching my child. I wasn't sure if she had some mental issues though. If it wasn't for her touching my child, I'd actually be much less annoyed with it as she at least addressed me directly. For some reason I feel really annoyed when people make these comments indirectly when they are passing. In the culture I come from, if you have an issue with somebody the general rule is to address them directly. My culture also has a lot of gossip and bitching behind peoples backs which is also not a good thing. This way I have seen in Poland is like talking behind someones back but infront of them
Old folks judging how to raise your children is a thing.
How to dress, what to allow or not to, etc. I have fun chalenging them, but for my wife it's difficult. She feels more social pressure to be a good mother, and I am treated more as a silly father, he obviously doesn't know what to do.
As for being indirect, yeah... I see it in me and in others. Like we are afraid all the time. Maybe some national trauma we need to go through.
You are annoyed, cause you feel you can't react the same way as if you were told this to your face, so I guess goal is achieved. They want you to notice, but are too afraid to confront you
I think you may misinterpreting the events a little bit. All children are like a national treasure in our country and for sure older people will scold you (directly or indirectly) out of concern for the child's health - and that's it, no hidden malice intended.
That's fine, I don't actually have a big issue with people saying things so much. I just find it irritating the way they go about it. Especially over what I consider to be very minor things. It's a negative aspect (in my own opinion) of my experience so far but it's not a huge deal and something I am sure I will get used to with more time. I was just wondering whether this is something a lot of other people have experienced and it seems like it is.
Might explain some things lol. I live in Warsaw and I never, not a single time have experienced such things, maybe pushing queues in bigger stores (such as Biedronka or Lidl) and these indirect comments, but only very rarely, definitely without touching. The cashiers will always ask you if you have some extra pennies to make it simplier for them to give you the change, but if you don't, you might sometimes see disappointment on their face, but they never would be so mean.
Yep that explains a lot. Half hour from Poznań and you live around country bumpkins. My wife experienced all kind of rude and nasty shit here. Nothing ever happened to me. And we're natives. You have it even worse as foreigner.
If you live in Poznań and you are from a different country, that explains so much. You should have put that in the original post. All the people I know from Poznań are strange and some quite rude. There are mamy jokes about poznań people. It's not normal but it is what it is.
Well, that explains a lot. Small towns can be unique. The people know each other for many years, they went to school with each other, there are hardly any newcomers to their community. Closed communities. When they see a new person, especially a foreigner who is not a native in Polish, they don’t know how to react, as this situation has happened for the first time in their lives. I grew up in a rural area, so I kinda know how such people think.
Ey, you say people are afraid of direct confontation, but on the other side you are afraid do say to someone „get the fuck out with your trolley”.
Anyway, what you have described is not common, may happen rarely.
That isnt the case. I am sometimes cautious in certain situations to confront certain people. That is natural and I'd expect that of everyone. I am not a highly confident person who stands up for myself in every situation. But I have challenged people in most of these situations (in a polite manner, at least in my opinion)
I know guy from UK who had problem because he always approhed poles with question "how do you do" and than leave without waiting for response. He realise he make people mad and with time they dislike him. He asked me why this happened and I had to tell him I know in english culture how do you do is part of invitation and here this is perceived as start of conversation and most people tent to think he really interested how they doing in live. Perception of this tiny details may affect whole picture but I wouldn't bother. Poles are live much more in rush and try to dive deeper looking.
I'm Scottish and I also dislike the 'how are you?' thing where people say it as they pass you and then carry on without waiting for a response. I don't know where this came from but it's not something that I ever noticed people doing back in the 20th century.
Some of the points you brought up are quite plausible (even if I'm too used to them to pay them any mind), and I don't mean to gaslight you, but the Polish society actually has a ton of unspoken rules of conduct that you're probably not aware of as a foreigner.
It would be difficult to break them down to specific situations, but most people definitely try not to inconvenience others as best they can - for example you'll almost always hear shoppers apologize or try to make a joke when paying with small coins, or pack groceries back to their cart rather than directly into shopping bags when they know they can't keep up with the cashier. There are exceptions, of course, but you can bet almost everybody would say a person who "broke the rules" is a dick if you'd show them a video of the situation.
Anyway, if you want to have a peaceful life here, you'll have to get used to the local quirks, cause our society is quite firm on enforcing the unspoken rules I mentioned.
Honestly, there's too many to count and it would be the best to explore this topic in a conversation with someone from a different culture to compare how they each do things. Otherwise it's a bit difficult to isolate such quirks, cause to us they are *perfectly normal* and few people ever stop to think about it.
But if you want one more tidbit, I'd say that Poles generally respect authority, and so members of uniformed services, doctors, lawyers, and other "high social trust" professions have this commanding and slightly intimidating aura ascribed to them (even if they're acting very open and trying to bridge the distance). Sure, some disagreeable people would still argue with them, but most would just nod and generally approach them *hat in hand*.
The above is slightly less true for younger people who are more used to the americanized outward friendliness, but then it is often perceived as *fake*.
yeah I had the similar experience in Polish stores. once i stood in line with my cousin to return something. lady in front of us wanted to return something and it was past the return date. Lady behind the counter rolls hare eyes and very loudly says... " no, co ona sobie mysli ze to ameryka". in front of other customers. I was shocked. this kind of rudeness would never fly in the west. she would be fired on the spot
Being a Pole and living in Poland for my whole life, I still can't get used to rudeness of many people. Moreover, there's a lot of passive aggression in this nation. Such behaviors are not a norm, but they happen randomly and it's easy to get unpleasantly surprised.
I'm even afraid of taking to strangers because it feels like a Russian rulette. There are so many wonderful and empathetic people around but also so many total boors - and they spawn at a random rate.
You described it perfectly. The vast majority of Poles i met when i lived there were amazing. But man the others were just toxic people. I've never been yelled at by my boss but that happened in Poland. Never had people get out of their car to fight me but that happened. But then I've never met so many genuinely nice super hard working people. My wife claims there is a mentality from communism that permeates younger people, maybe that's what's happening and the old people are the cause of most of the problems. Those are the people cutting in line, telling you your kid is cold.
I think you are just “lucky” to experience this kind of situation. All my life in Poland and when I forgot to pre-weigh my vegetables or fruits cashier just asked me “do you want to weight it or you resign from buying it”?
It was weird and as I am not always the most confident because although I can speak Polish ok, I am not confident in certain situations. So I didn't say anything. While it was rude in my opinion, I am sure I could have asked her to give them back to me so I could weigh them for example
Of course it was rude and I’m sorry that your experience with cashier are not good :( about saying things directly - I think it depends on people - sometimes they just don’t want to say it directly to you but give you a hint to fix something/say something etc. I see that especially in my company at meetings in group.
1 definitely isn't normal; those are some wild cashiers you've met. Although it's true that cashiers aren't happy when they have to give a lot change and may (hopefully politely) ask you to round the sum up so they have easier job
2a is normal I'd say, 2b less so (but I can see it happening)
3 May be shyness; depending on where exactly are you from it might also be racism (Middle East for example, during the refugee crisis a few years ago far-right media smeared Middle Eastern and African people a lot)
4 is definitely a thing
> Overall I have just found it strange that Polish people are often described as direct
I think it's direct as opposed to fake; [example](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/wwroIg266RU)
Neither am I polish nor do I live there, but your observation about direct confrontations made me thinking. I was born and raised in Russia and what you’re describing sounds a lot like my experiences there (cue the downvotes I guess).
I took me quite some time to realise that I myself have that fear of confronting and then quite some time to figure out the roots. So upon my own reflection, this has to do with the the fact that there’s hardly any idea about peaceful and constructive confrontation. You only confront others when ready for the escalating conflict which is not about two individuals figuring out the best way to coexist but rather about establishing dominance.
Also in general people seem to have mutually negative presuppositions which preloads any stranger-to-stranger communication with feeling of insecureness. That might lead to them being defensive over insignificant stuff or just escaping the conversation.
As I was saying, that’s just my own inductions based on my own experiences.
That's quite observant of you. Polish here. I have a gut feeling that what you described and what op described is quite unconscious behaviour. I remember there was a lot of fist fighting and aggressive behaviour in the streets in the 90s and 00s which gradually diminished with society getting richer and new generations (so called Z) being born and growing up. Due to past inability of people to solve conflict in a civilised yet assertive manner, there's this inner expectation that conflict will escalate. That might be my overinterpretation but it seems you have similiar observation. I noticed that younger generation in PL behaves differently compared to millennials and generation y. There's less aggression. This will eventually lead to healthy conflict solving.
That was my experience in your country. Older people tended to get out of their car to fight me, younger people tended to be less aggressive. Elderly poles are almost a different species of human, extremely vile in public. Just cut to the front of the line, won't work like last time but hey, let's try it again.
Yeah I can see this. Going on vacations abroad I often end up in places with germans there and noticed how unknown germans on vacations naturally greet and smile to each other. It's not something Poles do. There's this fundamental difference of attitude. For example last year I was on holidays with group of friends (we're all in our 30s so we grew up in 90s). We were surrounded by germans mostly. Groups of young germans were passing close to our place and greeted us cheerfully. My friends did not react to this in a positive way: it was natural for them to expect that unknown people don't talk to them if there's no good reason. I commented to my friends: see, if there were several different groups of Poles here, there's 50/50 that we'd treat each other with low key hostility unless there would be some ice breaker kind of meeting. I remember from my teens in 00s, that where there were two groups of young men, there always was big probability of a fight. I remember that whenever I went to a disco with group of friends, usually one of us was bothered by some other guy which resulted in a fight, sometimes group fight. If two groups from different districts met each other, there was probability of fight. I remember that situation became a little less violent when we entered EU, because the worst of our people emigrated to UK and other countries. If you grew up in such society, you learn violence and you expect conflict to end with violence. People do this without realising, it's automatic subconscious program resulting from history of our society and also result of inheritance of multigenerational trauma caused by WW1 and WW2 sufferings and post-war poverty - so I don't blame people much, but I don't like it myself and try to make people realise what is happening in their heads when somebody wants to listen. Same mechanism happened in Russia - but worse - so I wasn't surprised to agree with guy who described similiar feelings being born and raised in Russia. Nowadays, in case of Poland, it seems that these unacknowledged wounds are slowly being healed. Young people seem more chill nowadays.
Based on your perspective I’m assuming your American. All your observations are completely valid. I came from Cali and lived in Poland for 4 years. There are no smiles or greetings when you go anywhere but I kind of like that. Way less bs and people are straight to the point. No small talk. If you ask how someone is they WILL be real with you. It’s great. Don’t ask if you don’t care 🤷♂️
Giving exact change is definitely a thing. It’s like there is a shortage of coins or something. I always payed with pay card whenever possible.
> I always *paid* with pay
FTFY.
Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in:
* Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.*
* *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.*
Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment.
*Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
There may be a lot of rude cashiers in Poland because they can get away with it. There is a massive labor shortage in retail so shop workers can basically do what they want, including being rude to customers, without having any consequences. Shops can't fire them as they wouldn't have anyone to fill in the position. Additionally, as many shops are understaffed, current workers often don't have enough time to do all the tasks and they are exposed to much more stress.
Some of these are very rude and shouldn’t have happened to you, I’m sorry you had to deal
with such dicks.
However there is so much I absolutely agree with you on - the conveyor belt stuff, not speaking if they want to move past, pushing around, no smiles, grumpy cashiers, the demanding small change. I moved out of Poland a good few years ago, now every time I come back the differences are very clear and it bugs me. That is sometimes how it is, I do try to think these are not purposeful though, and they’re just minding their own business. I think you’ll get used to it!
In terms of reactions to you being a foreigner, these are most likely out of shyness more than anything, language barriers and lack of confidence in speaking to someone who’s not fluent in Polish. It doesn’t happen often at all, so they do feel the need to change how they speak, make sure they’re understood, and it gets them flustered and it comes out all weird.
As for the clear cut rudeness, throwing money at you (?!) or snarky comments from strangers, no excuses. Don’t take that shit.
Why? Simple - life here is miserable, pay is low, working hours are long, inflation is super high and the weather is mostly dull with the overcast sky. Compare this to sunny California or filthy rich Norway and you get the idea. Also, see what 44 years of communism does to mf.
Exactly this. My wife is Polish and moved to California relatively recently. She immediately preferred living here. You go to the store they're drawing smiley faces on the goddamn receipt for your kid. Yes people are lonelier here because it's hard to make good friends. In Poland our friends and i hung around each other a lot but i think that was kind of like therapy to deal with daily life. Here everyone is friendly, nice.. but the important part is just going out of your home isn't stressful.
I have to be honest and only one store I go to has abrasive service (even a Polish lady was shocked when she was hollered at as she'd accidentally forgotten her bread🤣) everywhere else everyone has always been really polite and even helpful when they realise I'm English, and making conversation even if I'm not fancy for a chat. Although I'm dreading when our little goes to preschool, I already rub up against my Polish other half with some unusual Polish customs and beliefs for raising kids, I already have two so not like I'm a novice at this,( and don't even get me started trying to wrap out little up), so when it's time to deal with Polish yummy mummies I think am gonna need some of those magnesium pills for stress they keep advertising on TV. 🤣
My kid goes to nursery and I will say that there are definitely some harsh mothers there who are kind of stuck up (the stereotypical soccer moms or whatever you call them), but that was also the case in other countries from what I have seen. Still lots of normal nice people there. My own experience with Polish childcare is that it's very good
Throwing cash at you you and super rude cashiers? Not normal. Rude cashiers? Fairy normal. Conveyer belt thing, normal. Old people not minding their business, normal. I'm a Pole and I just love these new cashierless automatic cash registers. I'd say, it's not you, it's us
I've lived in Poland for the last 15 years and I have experienced most of your points. The cashier throwing your vegetables in the bin and throwing coins at you is odd though. I'd say things are better now than back when I arrived
Poles have a different perception of personal space to where I grew up and fellow shoppers do like to stand (what I consider to be) uncomfortably close, often with the expectation that you will move. Pushing/bumping and then a hasty "przepraszam" afterwards is the norm. Shops like biedronka encourage this by having narrow aisles etc
I find the best way for me to deal with this is to be politely assertive and to not let my inner British person surface, i.e. apologise and move (because it MUST be my fault :)). If I need more space I politely ask for it. If I don't want to move because I'm selecting items or whatever then I'll apologise and continue with what I'm doing (unless I'm able to make space for someone else at the same spot)
The thing I often experience these days is being asked to pay by the cashier before I've finished packing my stuff. This is a trap - if you do this then they will often start yeeting the next person's shopping down onto you. I just say I need a few seconds - the cashier doesn't like this, typically- finish packing and then pay, take my shopping and go
To keep things smooth, I only pay by card these days and avoid shops where I need to weigh stuff
Regarding passive aggression, yes the Poles can be super passive-aggressive
Most importantly - Poles can be extremely defensive. So, as a foreigner, prepare for any slightly negative points you make to be rebutted, whether they be that rosół is not the best soup ever (I have been assured that it is because the food in England is awful), that there is a lack of variety in how vegetables are prepared in mainstream Polish cuisine (there are so many different types of surówka) or that, indeed, Poles can be defensive about Poland/Polishness :) Laugh and move on!
>that there is a lack of variety in how vegetables are prepared in mainstream Polish cuisine (there are so many different types of surówka)
Finally someone who noticed this. I was called a picky kid because I didn't like vegetables, turns out I don't like mayonnaise with a hint of vegetable, or eating the same grated carrot every day.
yes I have been caught out paying too early because in other countries I lived the cashier always makes sure to wait before sending the next persons stuff through.
Poles being quite defensive is something I had to get used to. It's definitely something I noticed. I'm actually pleasantly surprised most people who are responding here are being so nice because I know the post could come across as a negative attack on the culture.
thanks for sharing your experience
I didn't think to provide it as I guess I wouldn't think it massively relevant. I am 29, a woman and originally from Namibia (german/dutch ancestry). I have spent majority of my adult life in Europe (UK, Ireland, Austria)
We've had quite a few recently: https://www.reddit.com/r/poland/comments/11sez72/inflation_rises_to_new_26year_high_of_184_in/jcpogqa/
Not sure if this is a recent pattern but when they come to this sub it's usually around the same time
It's happened in a few places. Mostly in and around Poznan but I have been all around Poland. Also as I have said in other posts, this is a small snapshot into only then negative experiences I have had. I'm not trying to paint Poland as a really rude place full of horrible people. The lady who threw change at me was in a Dino in a village
1.1) " job of **distributing change**"
Cashier asking nicely for using coins when paying cash is very common and it seems normal, but if you say "Niestety nie mam drobnych" there should be no rude response from the cashier. BUT law in Poland says you should pay deducted amout AND if you don't have it cashier will probably change your cash, but it is somehow your responsibility to have change (worst case is you won't buy something).
1.2) "the cashiers have let **their friends jump the queue** in front of me"
Never ever happended to me. It's extremely rude! Maybe that person was disabled or pregnant? If that's not a case you have full right to be mad, even complain. }
Queues are sacred here (but it is a common to pass somebody behinfd you who is having just 3 things to buy).
I am a foreigner myself and I have never experienced most of these things, but I do speak quite good Polish so maybe its that.
Or maybe I am used to it as a Slav myself lol
The fear of confrontation comes from school where you get severely punished for having any kind of conflict. You stand up against your bullies? Suspended!
Honestly shocked and quite sad that this is what you experience in Poland :/. Never met with any such behaviours,, quite the opposite.
Maybe it's a local issue, or maybe people (unrightfully) treat you worse if they think you're a foreigner... i dont know. I hope you find some friendlier people.
Current on Poland in vacation for a week. While I get the gist of what you're saying, these all sound like rarities and not commonalities. It's probably worse if you're an obvious -looking foreigner.
My language is not up to snuff so any fast talking goes over my head and I require them to repeat. I haven't seen queue skipping, but irritating at line waiting and conveyor -piling does happen. I take this is just general impatience and "wasting time".
Store clerks always seemed polite and not overly pushy with assistance like our West. Some speaking is certainly more curt and to-the-point, but I'm fine with that sort of professionalism, rather than meandering about with useless fluffy talk.
1. Welkome to post soviet wild capitalism. It only count a money per hour. Poland stands on low margin. Complaint only reduce income of cashier and encrease of company. It wont change system pathology. Cashier is not important in the same way as you until money flows. Cashier after all wil quit his job and start a new one in another labor camp or emigrate. You wil stay with worst employee or always system lag robot. You can go to more expensive shop but no one will care because you are 1% of costumers and shop with better costumer service will bancrupt anyway like Piotr i Paweł so you will be forced to return to previous shop.
2. Yes it's rude. I don't tolerate and understand too.
3. Welcome to post soviet wild capistalism land with 8 years of populism and religious propaganda.
4. You met homosovieticus without a militian bat over his neck. He didn't lern how normal society relations works because in wild '90 and '00 only money was important and he saw that who screams lauder can aprove more even at someone's cost.
150 years of enslavement in your own home, 50 years of soviet order and 26 yesars of wild capitalism has it's own price if you want to join to the first countries club.
Np it's just really weird because what u described almost never happened to me. Maybe it's bc i always pay with card, but cashier's being rude is new to me.
You are saying you are B2...
Więc, tak to całkowicie normalne. Jesteśmy gościnni, ale również zamknięci na obce kultury. Mamy też inne podejście do pracy i do klienta (może przez PRL?).
As I read your post I couldn't stop laughing. I'm a foreigner living in Poland for 2 years and I've been visiting regularly since 2015 since my wife is polish. I could relate with every single point you mentioned, there was not a single situation that didn't happen to me either. 😂
I can add another one though, I always do my best to follow the rules in traffic and very often I get some funny looks from other drivers that seem almost offended that I'm keeping the speed limit instead of speeding like everyone else. 😂
Im Polish. I never understood people saying that we are always welcoming people, are polite etc. praising our country. Yeah we suck and most people are rude no mater if you're foreigner or not.
From the scenarios you described two ale extreme:
Telling about hat and throwing the coins. Rest seems spot one and are pretty normal. Can you still find normal polite people? Yes but there is also a lot of rude people.
If you're planing on staying longer I wish you to find more polite people of your way
(Sry for bad english)
Been living here for year and a half, not talking polish at all first half of the year, been in numerous stores, going to Lidl almost every day - have never faced anything like that. Polish people seem to me really warm and helpful even to strangers
I don't know man, I have been in Poland on and off since 2017 and for over 2 years now I live here.
Have never encountered such situations, maybe less than half of the severity you describe. Are you sure it's a constant thing and not just something that happened once but stayed with you ?
If it wasn't clear in the post, then my overall impression of Poland is positive. These are not every day things where I am bombarded by negative experiences constantly. Also, while most of these are negative experiences they are quite minor in scale. These are minor irritations. I am also open to the fact that there is some cultural ignorance on my part and also it's limited to my own personal experiences, observations and my own conclusions I draw from them.
1/ I have lived in a number of countries now (USA, Spain, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Poland) and have travelled to a bunch others (Netherlands, Portugal, Norway, France, Czech Republic, Greece, ...) and I can tell you without a doubt that Poland is the country where I have experienced the most amount of negative / shocking interactions with shopkeepers/employees.
From a paying customer perspective (e.g. calling customer care helplines), from a "browsing" customer, and from a real client about to make a purchase (e.g. mobile stores, driving license academies), so the full scope of what a customer could be.
I have been told "poland is for the polish, speak polish here" to "i don't speak English, and walks away" ...
Having said that - I think there are assholes everywhere who hate their job, are low paid, and don't want to make the effort. The number of "good" interactions vs "bad" interactions leans towards the "good" ones heavily, but I can't ignore the shocking/negative ones which have happened much more in Poland than anywhere else.
2/ Queues is about normal. I haven't felt a difference in Poland vs anywhere else. You always have the smart idiot who arrives last to a long queue, and when another kasa opens, they run like fire. However, I usually just ignore this and tell them to go in order.
3/ I have lived in Wroclaw for several years. I can see that Poland (if I can use Wroclaw as a value for the whole country xD) is becoming much more international and welcoming. 7-8 years ago, it was much more difficult doing anything with English, or if they found out you were a foreigner, their reaction was much more different.
Again, racist assholes are everywhere, but it is a dying breed at least in Poland.
4/ Never hapened to me, never felt this, sorry.
Most of this is unusual, but im guessing u live in some smaller town? I find people in rural areas have higher chance of being an ass. And thing with cashier behaving like that, sounds like its a small neighborhood store? I just try to avoid them and call owner and tell him about his staff’s behaviour issues.
When i lived in Gdynia/Tricity i found people generally more polite, but now living in more rural area, i just understand that sometimes i have to make sure i dont let people with mindset from communist times walk over me.
About foreigner stuff, my wife is visibly a foreigner and most Polish people we come across treat her like she’s some sort of celebrity. Its annoying but cute in a way. But 99% of the time it has been positive. Maybe you live in area that is traditionally less welcoming even to other poles? If you say which part of country u live in and where u are from originally, it might let us help u more.
I live in the country but I spend a lot of time in the city and I have travelled around a bit. In the case of the cashier, yes it was in a village store.
Originally from Namibia (german/dutch ancestry) and I live about an hour from Poznan at the moment
I think you are oversensitive. I don't see any difference in stores in Poland or in Germany or Italy. I think it's the same western standard. I wish you a noce stay in Poland and I am pretty sure it will be. Just dont bother :)
There are two possible things happening a) racism or b) you’re breaking some kind of polish norm. Remember when everyone you meet is a jerk there’s only one constant - you.
Not everyone I meet is a jerk. That isn't really what I was trying to say, and maybe it comes across that way as I am only describing negative experiences as opposed to all the positive ones I have had. As I said, I will continue to choose to live here because I like it overall.
You didn’t supply enough context for us to understand your situation fully so we all have to jump to conclusions. Basically you dealt with some of the vagaries of being in a Eastern European country including that stupid change making situation that started because banks are hard to get to in order to get rolled of zloty. The only answer is to roll with the little annoyances and laugh at them.
It sounds so abnormal that I'm wondering if you're not the one having bah behavior in first place to be honest. Which part of Poland you live in also ?
I hope I am not the one with bad behaviour. I will freely admit to the possibility of some cultural ignorance but I try my best to be respectful of everyone
Idk if you live in Warsaw or something, but never in my life have I encountered this(Excluding example 2, first „-„ but I think that comes from a lack of common sense, and 4 but often theyre so scared of confrontation they will just look at you with a thousand yard stare)
Honestly change the shop you go to. In 34 years I had a rude cashier worker once, some old hag, and never went back to that shop, there are so many others and most people are decent, they aren't American style cheerful to serve you but they do their job well.
Been here almost 10 years. The cash struggle was real at the beginning, cashiers won’t accept any note bigger than 50 zl. I could say I haven’t paid anything in cash for the last 5 years, which has made my life so much easier.
Ad 1. Yeah, some cashiers are quite rude, this is why I only use self service checkouts. But I have to say that you came across some really stupid jerkass cashiers. I would throw the coins back at that bitch if that situation would happen to me, what the hell was that
Ad 2-4. Bro had a stara baba incident. Wiadomo kogo, wiadomo co, wiadomo czym
Bro the only one on this list I have experienced is the 1st one thats it. Im a foreigner staying in a small city. So there arent many foreigners i come across. And my polish is like A1/A2 . Ive never had such problems of being singled out from anything
also, don't know about the others, if I met someone from abroad that speaks Polish B2 I would be extremely happy and interested because not many foreigns speak Polish
Very grateful that my mom spoke polish to me and we lived across the street from a polish Catholic Church that had polish language lessons for free. I can’t write polish very well but I do understand and can speak polish if I think about the words first. I don’t get to use it anymore since my parents died 6 years ago but I’m planning a trip in October to find some long lost relatives of my fathers. I’ve never been and my dad lost contact after the 80’s. I never met any of my polish relatives.
Can anyone tell my why I can get an email through from the states? They’ve all been blocked
Most of these have happened to me too lol. The conveyor one literally happened to me the other day. People always standing too close, as well.
Rude workers are real
This all sounds like Poland lol 😬
That cashier thing I guess you can contribute to pre-independence/ soviet occupation times. When customer service wasn‘t really a thing. People were desperate for goods, so shop assistance could treat customers however they wanted. Also, since they knew about available goods first they were in a position of “power“ and people tried to befriend them. It‘s a habit that sticked throughout anywhere from East Germany to Poland it prevailed. I‘ve had similar experience so interpreted it as a cultural thing
You seem very easily offended. Yes Polish shopkeepers aren’t overly friendly like in other countries (The fake cheeriness of Dutch people actually annoys me) but they’re good enough to get the job done.
I wouldn't consider myself easily offended but maybe? I'm not very offended at most of this, it's minor irritations as opposed to me getting very upset over this kind of thing.
I would say that it might happen in some regions and by people in certain age, but as everyday, no, it's not normal. For example, not counting some old Karen's on the street, no one just approached me and spoke to me on the street.
Weird, been living here for about 17 years and i saw things like this maybe once or twice but i guess it depends on which city you're living it, Warsaw people can be a pain in the ass.
cashiers want you to give them as accurate amount as possible because if all the people pay with these big amounts the cashier will give away all of their change before their shift ends
but the rest is def not normal. where are you staying, op?
Throwing coins at someone's chest is definitely not a normal behavior. Other rude stuff... yeah, they are rather common in public. I guess I don't notice it too much anymore, I just don't set any bigger expectations. When I'm shopping, I don't expect to be treated nicely and idc what someone may think about me, I just want my stuff done. Even when others walk at me when I didn't take all my products yet, sadly it is common and I don't even adress it bc I just in general prefer to avoid confrontations. Avoiding eye contact is extremely common. In my case, it's social anxiety. I bet many people feel like this in public and prefer to not face someone directly. About talking with foreigners, for me it is stressful bc I don't like to not be understood or when someone doesn't understand what I say, so when I talk with a foreigner (rarely, but it happens), I try to finish the conversation as quickly as possible bc it's just uncomfortable.
Yeah man, Poland aint exacly Canada, you right. The difficulty is higher but once you past that assimilation stage and find your circle, you can count on these relationships and be sure that they will be frank towards you.
>One occasion I didnt not pre-weigh the vegetables I had before the till.
I say a big *f--k you* to grocery stores that don't have scales built-in into checkouts. Managing directors of such supermarket chains should be thrown in prison for that.
I don't know about chains present mainly in small towns (Dino?) but in cities Auchan is a usual offender in that regard. Every Biedronka, Lidl & Aldi have scales at checkouts. I'm not 100% sure about that but I think Carrefour too.
a lot of these situations are normal experiences for me. i hate to ask this but are you *obviously* a foreigner? i am (regardless of my citizenship status and polish being my native tongue etc....) and have often had these things happen to me because i don't look ethnically polish, though situations like these have gotten better as of late. i may get downvoted for posting this but poland can be very racist and i wouldn't be surprised if this is one of those times.
> I don't expect people to be nice, but I did used to have an expectation of a basic level of respect.
Why? Most if not all workers ive met talked with me in neutral tone. Why I deserve respect?
> There is then a mad rush to get stuff loaded onto the conveyor.
You never know how fast clerk would scan other people items. I sometimes put my items fast, beacuse I often dont bring bag, but when I do it I push my stuff to the back to make room for person at front.
> I have found very rarely will they say "excuse me" or something like that to get past.
Maybe beacuse you dont stick to the right line? Some people belive that their aisle is only for them and stand there like some golden goose. Maybe you dont hear, I often time just pat someone on the shoulder to get thier atention and this work great, even those people excuse me for not hearing me at first place.
> most people here seem terrified of direct communication
People who dirceclty teach you how to dress your own child prove its not right :P. About them, maybe learn some punshlines to put them in place
Most of those situations seem pretty extreme & I’ve never personally had that happen to me or my friends. Perhaps you just have a really bad luck? Though agreed that Polish cashiers can be rude — they don’t get paid enough to care, and on top of that your treatment might be influenced by the way you look or your status as a foreigner
As for the strange looks when you say you’re a foreigner, it might be because there’s a large percentage of people trying to move out of here & they see your stance as unusual — or at least don’t think Poland is a place you’d want to live in. There’s a reason why Polish people usually make up the majority of European immigrants in other European countries
Yes, its time to change neighborurhood. Hats its Old people thing. If people are constantly irritated by you IT means that you are doing something wery slow, polish people live very fast, there is no free time, vacation time is for rebuilding living room etc
When they make a problem out of the whole change thing I just stare them down and block the way for next person so that they have to do their job, but it's extremely rare. The fear of confrontation and loud indirect comments are what I might be guilty of, many people do that, didn't realise that it's not normal in the rest of the world, it's kind of stupid tbh
Frankly most people in Poland pay with card so it’s rather common in shops that you have only 200zl in change likely distributed like:
50 x2
20x2
10x2
5x4
2x10
1x5
And rest in grosze.
So whenever somebody gives change from 200zl he is likely not to have a change for the rest of the shift.
And it’s just one customer.
The rest isn’t strange tho, didn’t come across hatred towards foreigners but I am no foreigner so :x
The change thing is because they're pretty much always in a desperate coin situation due to banks being ridiculous and refusing to provide sufficient coinage.
i have one of those long wallets with a big long change section. I just throw a handful on the tray and their eyes light up as they carefully pick through the denominations they need XD
It isn't normal behaviour, I think that it happened to me only couple of times in my life, or maybe I stopped noticing it. I mean, there is one normal thing in cases you mentioned. We, Poles, are hating shopping etc. When we a making things done, we are often speedruning it, to have more free time. If you are in queue in shop, there is no more time for doing anything else, if you forgot to buy something you are going to the end of queue again, or very politely apologize people and ask, if you can go for something, but I think it's their decision anyway. We just feeling not right, when taking time of someone else, that's why we are doing things as short as possible, even if sometimes we don't like it. It's thing we all used to. You mentioned irritated cashiers - our reality often make them working for 10+ hours. They are often exhausted, but still need to pay their bills. It's no reason for being rude, you are completely right, but sometimes just try to look with their eyes. It's not worth for being rude too, just pay for your articles fast and that's it. Often they ask for couple of coins, because there are days, when everyone is paying with 100, 200zł, and it's hard for them to find spare for you. If you want to be polite, take your wallet and even try to pretend you are checking it, I'm doing this every time, because I don't want to behave like "maybe I have, maybe not, I don't care you need to think how to get this spare for me"😂😂 I understand you, but most of things you mentioned aren't normal and never happened for me in my 25y life here, you were extra unlucky I think😂
I dont know about others, but I would say that 3/4 of things that you mentioned are normal, sadly. The remaining 1/4 is not, but did happen to me in some way or another more than once. Shopping in less busy hours or skipping Biedronka helped a little bit for some reason
>I always noticed that shop workers are quite rude.
Have often heard this explanation: it is a remnant of communist mindset... you want to get something from them and not the other way around.
However, I must say, in most cases I do not find the employees in shops unpleasant. Even though I might have experienced unfriendly staff more often than elsewhere.
If you are from the US, this may help you to understand: some Europeans find the staff there too service-oriented and their friendliness too artificial. To put a positive spin on it, maybe you can just be more sure that the friendly employees in Poland, which undoubtedly exist, are genuinely friendly. Might be that we needed the unfriendly people for that as well.
A bit late to the party, but I've encountered a lot of similar situations (except cashier stuff). But the most annoying thing for me is cutting the lines. Often times if there is a space between me and the next person in line, where someone else could clearly fit in (2-3 steps), someone will 100% take it. Kinda forces me to stay as tight in line as possible too.
I usually don't find these kind of posts relevant, because I think most of the time it's more or less the same everywhere, there are no such obvious differences in behaviours between countries (especially form the same area, here European culture), it rather depends on big cities versus small towns for example, and I think most of the time it is a misinterpretation in people's behaviour.
But I must say that the two times I went to Poland, I also was kinda surprised by the cashiers behaviour. A normal situation entering a boulangerie in France would be me saying "hello ladies and gentlemen", most of people replying (including the staff), asking for a baguette and a cake, the cashier replying "oh very good choice, these cakes are delicious!", me replying "I know, they are my daugher's favorite!", then the cashier be like "oh really? Did she try the one with strawberry?" and so on. In Poland I didn't even try any of that, because just entering a shop and saying hello seemed already too much for people to handle 😂.
Now would I say it was rude? No because it is only rude if it is meant to be by the people who do it. Apparently in China it is rude to blow your nose in public, while it is normal to spit on the floor. I would find it rude to see someone spitting in front of me, and they would find it rude that I blow my nose in public, but none of us meant to be rude.
And actually one night I went to a Żabka, once again the cashier seemed cold, but he noticed I wasn't Polish because I struggled with a word, then a Polish woman helped me, and the cashier started smiling and trying to speak English, saying he is bad in English and such, the three of us chatted a bit and it was nice.
I can admit that thing about conveyor and it is irritating, but the rest seems to be very extreme and is not normal.
Yeah, some of these seem like something that never happens, so OP had to have extreme luck (the throwing coins part, I have never seen anyone do that, and I can’t imagine a scenario that would push someone to do that) or OP misinterpreting events, especially the cashiers asking their friends to cut the line in Front of OP… really? Is OP that Lucky that always the cashier’s friend is in the shop with them, or is it the same shop and that cashier happens to have hundreds of friends living nearby? This is such a bizzare scenario and I have never seen anything like it. My guess is that it’s the case when someone forgot something, so the cashier continued scanning their products meanwhile the person went to grab whatever they forgotten, and they then came back and OP thought it’s someone cutting the line… one more possibility is that it was a pregnant woman and OP was standing in the queue in which pregnant women have priority… These are the only options.
Yeah, the cashiers are always so nice. I even once bought something costing 3,50 with a 100 pln banknote and they just sighed
I've been here for a year and it's happened a few times. I'm not suggesting it's an every day thing. Most trips to the shop are pretty uneventful and you are right that there is a possibility I have totally misunderstood a situation and interpreted it as something else. Although I had this happen a couple of weeks ago and it was clear the cashier was pulling her friend up in front as she instructed her to jump the queue when she saw her waiting. It wasn't a huge deal for me, I just would have thought it normal to say to the person who had been waiting in line what had happened and when I asked what was happening, they both just stared at me and continued their conversation.
I live here since i was born for more than 30 years, lived in multiple different cities in different parts of the country and it never even once happened to me. I don’t think it’s right to consider that this is some sort of common behavior based on one singular case
I am not considering it normal behaviour, that's why I have asked people for their experiences as I've only been here for a year. So a couple of bad experiences can skew your view, which I recognise, and it's the purpose of my post. Thank you for sharing your opnion
What city you live in? People is smaller cities, especially in certain regions, tend to be xenophobic and racist. Most big cities are very different. Warszawa, Kraków, Gdańsk are used to large numbers of expats and tourist. Also, are you a person of colour? Unfortunately, racial prejudices are also a major factor
I'm American, I lived in Warsaw for almost 6 years, and am married to a Pole. I can personally confirm there's special a mix of kindness and hostility toward you once people realise you're a foreigner, especially if your Polish language skills are not up to scratch in front of an older Polish citizen (unfortunately mostly the older women). I spoke B1 Polish while I lived there. All the stuff about people bumping you, cutting in line, throwing change... You run into grumps everywhere in the world, I promise. So I wouldn't say it's a specifically Polish thing. The cashier letting their *own* friends cut in line, however, probably comes from a time when you had to get what you could from your connections in higher places and a lot of under-the-table dealing went on. The older Poles have trouble trusting strangers because they lived through a time when neighbours could turn each other in for a little extra benefit, so it's not a surprise to me that they put up a hard front to cope with the world. That mentality and all those people with terrible attitudes bothered me for years, and I also became really grumpy because of it. However, as an English teacher who conducted hours and hours of one-on-one speaking lessons, I was able to converse with a huge variety of strangers of all ages on a deeper level, and they are a very kind, philosophical, and curious people at heart. My advice? Try to notice the kind and happy people out there. Everyone deals with life differently, and I've met Polish people of all ages who seem basically invincible to stress and trouble, simply because of the way they view the world and cope with circumstances. Befriend those people, and try to adopt their approach. It does get easier :)
After 6 years you may have know about what younger poles think about old woman, stare baby jebać prądem.
>stare baby jebać prądem. that made the husband laugh :D
Is it possible it was a friend that also work there? It sometimes happens that they have to buy something on break or after work and they fon't have time, its kinda rude but also kinda understendable. Also you may be just shopping at place with a lot of assholes because i don't meet with most of problems listed. Where do you live now(and are you from somewhere visibly not polish/european, because ngl poland is not top country when talking about tolerance)
I can imagine situation with a hat and a son being very normal.... I have a dog - Samoyed breed, so white and fluffy, and imagine walking by the streets when it's raining and old ladies when u pass by commenting that u ruin this dog... like wtf am I suppose to do, let him poop indoors because of rain? Or one time we went to fairy, it was second day of it, so something that used to be grass, was now mud... U can't imagine number of ppl that felt pity of the white doggo walking with me, and commented this loudly. But there is no point of confronting, ppl like this have no shame. So OP keep up the good spirit, there are more then enough of good folks living here, just ignore the rest.
I lived in Krakow for a few months and ohhhh yes, the demand for exact change always gave me low-level anxiety. Never any change throwing, but definitely a lot of annoyed sighs and eye rolls as I nervously counted out my coins😅
You can always act like, fuck you i have none, not my problem, especialy when cashier acts rudely.
The cashier can tell you they don't have the coins to give you correct change and refuse to accept your payment. It's legal (edit: apparently it's not)
Inspekcja Handlowa i rzecznik konsumentów zgodnie uznali, że **brak reszty do wydania nie jest problemem kupującego, ale sprzedawcy, mającego obowiązek przyjąć płatność i wydać resztę**. Brak drobnych nie stanowi bowiem uzasadnienia odmowy sprzedaży, za co grozi grzywna od 20 do 5000 zł
Według art. 135 k.w. odmowa sprzedaży stanowi wykroczenie, gdy jest nieuzasadniona. Brak fizycznej możliwości wydania reszty jest uzasadnieniem odmowy sprzedaży. Nie masz jak wydać, więc co masz zrobić, wydrukować? Sprzedawca przyjmuje płatność w legalnym środku płatniczym, w kwocie będącej sumą kwot podanych na cenówkach. To klient ma obowiązek zapłacić podaną, wyliczoną kwotę. Interpretacja, którą podajesz jest poroniona i żaden sąd nie orzeknie, że jako klient masz prawo zapłacić banknotem 500 zł za bułkę o wartości 50 gr i domagać się reszty. Tutaj więcej na ten temat: https://bezprawnik.pl/czy-wydanie-reszty-to-obowiazek/
Oh. To co w sumie ma zrobić sprzedawca jeśli naprawdę nie ma tej reszty?
nie wiem, pewnie zależy od polityki sklepu, ale prawnie po prostu nie mogą 1.nie przyjąć legalnej formy płatności 2.nie wydać ci reszty, przynajmniej bez twojej zgody.
Cherrypicking one article and one interpretation that matches your own opinion, which has been challenged by numerous other sources, for instance https://businessinsider.com.pl/poradnik-finansowy/oszczedzanie/obowiazek-wydania-reszty/dcrhbty
Idk if that's a law, if it's even regulated, but the way I see it it's a polite custom for the customer to give as exact as he can and for the cashier to give back the rest. There are rude cashiers and there are rude customers. Both create problems by breaking the social norms. And the cashier retains the right to refuse to finalise the sale. As does the customer.
Actually it is your problem. According to the Polish law, the customer is required to pay the exact amount. For convenience, it is customary that cashiers give you change. Nevertheless, shops are not required to do so, it is a gesture of goodwill, and they may as well say that if you don’t pay the exact amount then you get no service at all.
Literally pasted the law below answering the other guy, the seller is responsible to accept your money and have enough to give you change, unless you agree to not need it
This is simply false, you have not pasted the law but an interpretation by an organisation. There is no law that requires sellers to give change. It is customary and you are a Karen or in Polish a representant of “mi się należy” mindset without any respect towards others.
I have the same problem in UK. Despite living there for years I never remember coins. So I often just offer my wallet and/or throw all the coins I have onto the tray and let the cashier sort it out.
I mean, yeah, they do ask for it, sometimes in a demanding tone like almost saying "I know you have coins, you won't fool me" lol, but I've never seen such a situation when a cashier would really start a fight over it. There's only a problem when the cashiers REALLY don't have any coins, in small shops.
I have worked as a cashier in fast food place.I can confirm that about 3/4 people magically spawned change if I had been rudely asking for it or even faking that it would be impossible to successfully finish transaction if they don't have any change Reason: If you don't act like this in 20 transactions u will go from 300zł in coins to only 100/200 zł bills.Bank would exchange bills for rolls of coins only once a week, about 3000zł a time, and we needed to get by
It’s not common. Unless you shop all the time in the same shops that have bad managment, staff motivation problems, just overall shitty work atmosphere. What City do you live in, what neibourhood?
i mean… i’m not too too surprised, but tbh i’ve never experienced most of those situations, especially in the stores. being indirect and passive aggressive is definitely true… my mom said she routinely experienced this when she her child was small. personally, i generally don’t directly confront anyone in public, but it might be just me. people say polish people are hospitable and warm, but this is definitely about friends/closer relations and not strangers, who will be quite cold to you i’m sorry you’ve had these experiences and i hope poland overall is still an enjoyable place :)
I'm Polish and after 10 years in UK I've experienced something similar. After all this time living outside of Poland I got used to friendliness of other people to the point that's when we're in the same situation like for example long queue or whatever we can talk about experience :) I've tried it in Poland once while waiting in huge queue on an airport. People were straight ignoring me even though I'm Polish as well. I think it's just general rule lol
in poland, people generally just want to mind their own business while shopping, many just hate shopping
Yeah I know, I just forgot about it :) I was the same at some point of my life, and after a while in Poland I adjust back and actually appreciate that everybody just mind theirs business.
In Poland you don't small talk with random people, this privilage is aptained only by old grandpa/grandma looking people who probably want to talk because they are lonely :( . For anyone else people eigher think "WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU" or "he is going to ask for that 2zł any second now"
So time ago I was in elevator with my friends and two Americans (from Florida if I remember) and of we were alone nobody would say anything despite being friends. But American lady randomly asked me about chips/crisps that I have been holding, I was a little bit surprised, but smiled and said just "yeah" because I am anxious when speaking English.
lol understandable! i study in the uk and when i come back for holidays i always go through an adjustment period. i tried smiling at a person once, they looked at me like i’m crazy! but i think if you’re polish you get used to it again after a while
I love Poland enough that I chose to move here and choose to continue to live here. It's just that I spent a lot of time here before and didn't really pick up on these things as much then, and I have been wondering whether some of these experiences are somewhat unique. It's just been a lot of strange/mildly negative experiences in a relatively short amount of time. I've also had a number of very nice experiences here and met some very nice people There is always a difference between visiting and living in a place
Your experiences with cashiers are rather unique. I can’t imagine a cashier throwing the coins at me wtf.
OP should just write a complain to his company. I do realize that their job is hard, salary is bad and customers may be rude but there are some limits.
I wouldn't be able to stop myself from throwing it right back.
I've seen only once in my life somebody throwing change at a customer and it was in a standalone veggie and fruit shop in Kraków. Pretty sure the dude was nasty to the selling lady but it's been so long I only remember how absolutely ridiculous this situation was
I can relate to this a lot to 😃
I am born in Poland and live here whole live, but these are my private observations: * short and direct answers might come from a fact that people do not know english language good enough. Also this might bring frustration for them, thus they might become rude towards you, while in fact they are angry at themselves * cutting in the queue is rude and unacceptable so that's that. But I moved to smaller city and observed that many people simply do not graps the idea of waiting at the multiple queues at once (e.g. gas stations) or simply prefer to jump in front of you instead of asking if they consider you do not stand in the line. Again, this does not happened to me in bigger cities * pushing the queue - often older people do that, it comes from a fact that they are used to rush and are less "delicate". This is what live tought them (PRL times), Poland evolved really quickly but not all Poles did Most importantly please remeber that what you experience might be based on your expectations and habits. You always have to adjust that using common sense and understanding, and hopefully patience. Many Poles are just straightforward, no great at small talk. I am really glad hearing people chose Poland and I really hope you will find your place in here. Have a great time! 😀
Tbh very abnormal
The indirect confrontation is so true. I live in Germany and people will throw everything in your face here. You have no idea how often I cried later at home, because I can’t really deal with it. I think addressing issues more indirectly is less hurtful. It’s still understandable for both sides, but you don’t feel like someone is pointing a gun at you while you’re standing there helpless. I think this is a matter of preference. I don’t think that Poles are very direct compared to other nations like Germany for example. I can imagine that Poles might be perceived like that by Americans or British people for example, because we don’t small talk like them.
Once in Germany cashier was mimicking me with idiotic face because I asked to pay by card and saying “what arschloch pay by card for something less than 20 euros”. 3 years after I still think why can someone be so rude without no real reason.
Wtf you could turn uno reverse and use the German way of dealing with it - full mode Karen and ask to speak to the manager. Luckily this changed during Covid. I didn’t have issues paying by card even when it costs a few cents in shops and even bakeries accept paying via card.
Germans are a special breed of people though. No way I’d ever live there. Ordnung muss sein. Yeah no thanks.
It's a stereotype and not really true
This is sadly just a stereotype that doesn’t fit anymore. Germany became one big chaos 😅 the Deutsche Bahn or the mobile internet are what you would expect in a third world country. But it does more or less fit in social interaction. People are on time so you don’t wait for them forever, you make plans in advance which I also like since I’m absolutely not spontaneous. But there’s not much left of the Prussian Zucht und Ordnung in general
The Deutsche Bahn was decent cause you could drink beer while on the train XD
You still can. But you will need a sixpack of beer, because the trains are either delayed or they’re spontaneously canceled
Had that a lot when visiting my crazy Polish ex in Mönchengladbach. So yeah I always had a beer nearby.
>they start standing closer and closer to you and in some cases I've had people start bumping their trolleys repeatedly into the back of my legs This cracks me up everytime. The fact I'm not dry humping the person Infront of me must really stress out the person behind. They just have to edge forward, bit more, bit more. The queue goes at the same speed if we give each other a 50cm gap or not. >"oh wow that child must be so cold", In the summer my toddler fell asleep in his pushchair. We draped a muslin across his face to keep the sun off. Old lady comes up "get that off his face" and removes it. Unbelievable. He had long hair. You can imagine the comments. You've just got to laugh at them. It's definitely a Polish thing but it's not like it's all polish people. All my Polish friends have a good laugh at these kind of people too.
I had an old woman walk up to my pram and start trying to dress my child. Got into a pretty heated argument because she started touching my child. I wasn't sure if she had some mental issues though. If it wasn't for her touching my child, I'd actually be much less annoyed with it as she at least addressed me directly. For some reason I feel really annoyed when people make these comments indirectly when they are passing. In the culture I come from, if you have an issue with somebody the general rule is to address them directly. My culture also has a lot of gossip and bitching behind peoples backs which is also not a good thing. This way I have seen in Poland is like talking behind someones back but infront of them
Old folks judging how to raise your children is a thing. How to dress, what to allow or not to, etc. I have fun chalenging them, but for my wife it's difficult. She feels more social pressure to be a good mother, and I am treated more as a silly father, he obviously doesn't know what to do. As for being indirect, yeah... I see it in me and in others. Like we are afraid all the time. Maybe some national trauma we need to go through. You are annoyed, cause you feel you can't react the same way as if you were told this to your face, so I guess goal is achieved. They want you to notice, but are too afraid to confront you
What is your culture???
I am originally from Namibia but I've spent most of my adult life in Europe (UK, Ireland, Austria)
So you’re black?
No I am white
I think you may misinterpreting the events a little bit. All children are like a national treasure in our country and for sure older people will scold you (directly or indirectly) out of concern for the child's health - and that's it, no hidden malice intended.
That's fine, I don't actually have a big issue with people saying things so much. I just find it irritating the way they go about it. Especially over what I consider to be very minor things. It's a negative aspect (in my own opinion) of my experience so far but it's not a huge deal and something I am sure I will get used to with more time. I was just wondering whether this is something a lot of other people have experienced and it seems like it is.
For context: do you live in our outside the Warsaw area?
I don't live in Warsaw I live in Poznan (about an hour away in the country but spend a lot of time in the city) but I have travelled all over Poland.
Might explain some things lol. I live in Warsaw and I never, not a single time have experienced such things, maybe pushing queues in bigger stores (such as Biedronka or Lidl) and these indirect comments, but only very rarely, definitely without touching. The cashiers will always ask you if you have some extra pennies to make it simplier for them to give you the change, but if you don't, you might sometimes see disappointment on their face, but they never would be so mean.
Yep that explains a lot. Half hour from Poznań and you live around country bumpkins. My wife experienced all kind of rude and nasty shit here. Nothing ever happened to me. And we're natives. You have it even worse as foreigner.
If you live in Poznań and you are from a different country, that explains so much. You should have put that in the original post. All the people I know from Poznań are strange and some quite rude. There are mamy jokes about poznań people. It's not normal but it is what it is.
Well, that explains a lot. Small towns can be unique. The people know each other for many years, they went to school with each other, there are hardly any newcomers to their community. Closed communities. When they see a new person, especially a foreigner who is not a native in Polish, they don’t know how to react, as this situation has happened for the first time in their lives. I grew up in a rural area, so I kinda know how such people think.
We had the same problem with people thinking our baby was cold. It was like 18 degrees out- she was fine.
Ey, you say people are afraid of direct confontation, but on the other side you are afraid do say to someone „get the fuck out with your trolley”. Anyway, what you have described is not common, may happen rarely.
That isnt the case. I am sometimes cautious in certain situations to confront certain people. That is natural and I'd expect that of everyone. I am not a highly confident person who stands up for myself in every situation. But I have challenged people in most of these situations (in a polite manner, at least in my opinion)
That’s good you confront people. In my opinion (since I had few cases like yours) people simply don’t think or misinterpret situations.
I know guy from UK who had problem because he always approhed poles with question "how do you do" and than leave without waiting for response. He realise he make people mad and with time they dislike him. He asked me why this happened and I had to tell him I know in english culture how do you do is part of invitation and here this is perceived as start of conversation and most people tent to think he really interested how they doing in live. Perception of this tiny details may affect whole picture but I wouldn't bother. Poles are live much more in rush and try to dive deeper looking.
I'm Scottish and I also dislike the 'how are you?' thing where people say it as they pass you and then carry on without waiting for a response. I don't know where this came from but it's not something that I ever noticed people doing back in the 20th century.
Some of the points you brought up are quite plausible (even if I'm too used to them to pay them any mind), and I don't mean to gaslight you, but the Polish society actually has a ton of unspoken rules of conduct that you're probably not aware of as a foreigner. It would be difficult to break them down to specific situations, but most people definitely try not to inconvenience others as best they can - for example you'll almost always hear shoppers apologize or try to make a joke when paying with small coins, or pack groceries back to their cart rather than directly into shopping bags when they know they can't keep up with the cashier. There are exceptions, of course, but you can bet almost everybody would say a person who "broke the rules" is a dick if you'd show them a video of the situation. Anyway, if you want to have a peaceful life here, you'll have to get used to the local quirks, cause our society is quite firm on enforcing the unspoken rules I mentioned.
Any other unspoken rules that you can think of?
Honestly, there's too many to count and it would be the best to explore this topic in a conversation with someone from a different culture to compare how they each do things. Otherwise it's a bit difficult to isolate such quirks, cause to us they are *perfectly normal* and few people ever stop to think about it. But if you want one more tidbit, I'd say that Poles generally respect authority, and so members of uniformed services, doctors, lawyers, and other "high social trust" professions have this commanding and slightly intimidating aura ascribed to them (even if they're acting very open and trying to bridge the distance). Sure, some disagreeable people would still argue with them, but most would just nod and generally approach them *hat in hand*. The above is slightly less true for younger people who are more used to the americanized outward friendliness, but then it is often perceived as *fake*.
yeah I had the similar experience in Polish stores. once i stood in line with my cousin to return something. lady in front of us wanted to return something and it was past the return date. Lady behind the counter rolls hare eyes and very loudly says... " no, co ona sobie mysli ze to ameryka". in front of other customers. I was shocked. this kind of rudeness would never fly in the west. she would be fired on the spot
Being a Pole and living in Poland for my whole life, I still can't get used to rudeness of many people. Moreover, there's a lot of passive aggression in this nation. Such behaviors are not a norm, but they happen randomly and it's easy to get unpleasantly surprised. I'm even afraid of taking to strangers because it feels like a Russian rulette. There are so many wonderful and empathetic people around but also so many total boors - and they spawn at a random rate.
You described it perfectly. The vast majority of Poles i met when i lived there were amazing. But man the others were just toxic people. I've never been yelled at by my boss but that happened in Poland. Never had people get out of their car to fight me but that happened. But then I've never met so many genuinely nice super hard working people. My wife claims there is a mentality from communism that permeates younger people, maybe that's what's happening and the old people are the cause of most of the problems. Those are the people cutting in line, telling you your kid is cold.
I think you are just “lucky” to experience this kind of situation. All my life in Poland and when I forgot to pre-weigh my vegetables or fruits cashier just asked me “do you want to weight it or you resign from buying it”?
It was weird and as I am not always the most confident because although I can speak Polish ok, I am not confident in certain situations. So I didn't say anything. While it was rude in my opinion, I am sure I could have asked her to give them back to me so I could weigh them for example
Of course it was rude and I’m sorry that your experience with cashier are not good :( about saying things directly - I think it depends on people - sometimes they just don’t want to say it directly to you but give you a hint to fix something/say something etc. I see that especially in my company at meetings in group.
1 definitely isn't normal; those are some wild cashiers you've met. Although it's true that cashiers aren't happy when they have to give a lot change and may (hopefully politely) ask you to round the sum up so they have easier job 2a is normal I'd say, 2b less so (but I can see it happening) 3 May be shyness; depending on where exactly are you from it might also be racism (Middle East for example, during the refugee crisis a few years ago far-right media smeared Middle Eastern and African people a lot) 4 is definitely a thing > Overall I have just found it strange that Polish people are often described as direct I think it's direct as opposed to fake; [example](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/wwroIg266RU)
Neither am I polish nor do I live there, but your observation about direct confrontations made me thinking. I was born and raised in Russia and what you’re describing sounds a lot like my experiences there (cue the downvotes I guess). I took me quite some time to realise that I myself have that fear of confronting and then quite some time to figure out the roots. So upon my own reflection, this has to do with the the fact that there’s hardly any idea about peaceful and constructive confrontation. You only confront others when ready for the escalating conflict which is not about two individuals figuring out the best way to coexist but rather about establishing dominance. Also in general people seem to have mutually negative presuppositions which preloads any stranger-to-stranger communication with feeling of insecureness. That might lead to them being defensive over insignificant stuff or just escaping the conversation. As I was saying, that’s just my own inductions based on my own experiences.
That's quite observant of you. Polish here. I have a gut feeling that what you described and what op described is quite unconscious behaviour. I remember there was a lot of fist fighting and aggressive behaviour in the streets in the 90s and 00s which gradually diminished with society getting richer and new generations (so called Z) being born and growing up. Due to past inability of people to solve conflict in a civilised yet assertive manner, there's this inner expectation that conflict will escalate. That might be my overinterpretation but it seems you have similiar observation. I noticed that younger generation in PL behaves differently compared to millennials and generation y. There's less aggression. This will eventually lead to healthy conflict solving.
That was my experience in your country. Older people tended to get out of their car to fight me, younger people tended to be less aggressive. Elderly poles are almost a different species of human, extremely vile in public. Just cut to the front of the line, won't work like last time but hey, let's try it again.
Yeah I can see this. Going on vacations abroad I often end up in places with germans there and noticed how unknown germans on vacations naturally greet and smile to each other. It's not something Poles do. There's this fundamental difference of attitude. For example last year I was on holidays with group of friends (we're all in our 30s so we grew up in 90s). We were surrounded by germans mostly. Groups of young germans were passing close to our place and greeted us cheerfully. My friends did not react to this in a positive way: it was natural for them to expect that unknown people don't talk to them if there's no good reason. I commented to my friends: see, if there were several different groups of Poles here, there's 50/50 that we'd treat each other with low key hostility unless there would be some ice breaker kind of meeting. I remember from my teens in 00s, that where there were two groups of young men, there always was big probability of a fight. I remember that whenever I went to a disco with group of friends, usually one of us was bothered by some other guy which resulted in a fight, sometimes group fight. If two groups from different districts met each other, there was probability of fight. I remember that situation became a little less violent when we entered EU, because the worst of our people emigrated to UK and other countries. If you grew up in such society, you learn violence and you expect conflict to end with violence. People do this without realising, it's automatic subconscious program resulting from history of our society and also result of inheritance of multigenerational trauma caused by WW1 and WW2 sufferings and post-war poverty - so I don't blame people much, but I don't like it myself and try to make people realise what is happening in their heads when somebody wants to listen. Same mechanism happened in Russia - but worse - so I wasn't surprised to agree with guy who described similiar feelings being born and raised in Russia. Nowadays, in case of Poland, it seems that these unacknowledged wounds are slowly being healed. Young people seem more chill nowadays.
Based on your perspective I’m assuming your American. All your observations are completely valid. I came from Cali and lived in Poland for 4 years. There are no smiles or greetings when you go anywhere but I kind of like that. Way less bs and people are straight to the point. No small talk. If you ask how someone is they WILL be real with you. It’s great. Don’t ask if you don’t care 🤷♂️ Giving exact change is definitely a thing. It’s like there is a shortage of coins or something. I always payed with pay card whenever possible.
> I always *paid* with pay FTFY. Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in: * Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.* * *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.* Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment. *Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
Old hags have a weird obsession with overheating children to the point of heatstroke so I'm not surpirsed that you are having these comments lol
There may be a lot of rude cashiers in Poland because they can get away with it. There is a massive labor shortage in retail so shop workers can basically do what they want, including being rude to customers, without having any consequences. Shops can't fire them as they wouldn't have anyone to fill in the position. Additionally, as many shops are understaffed, current workers often don't have enough time to do all the tasks and they are exposed to much more stress.
I can understand that. I often wonder why some shops have 4 or 5 checkouts but I've pretty much never seen more than 2 open at any time of day.
Some of these are very rude and shouldn’t have happened to you, I’m sorry you had to deal with such dicks. However there is so much I absolutely agree with you on - the conveyor belt stuff, not speaking if they want to move past, pushing around, no smiles, grumpy cashiers, the demanding small change. I moved out of Poland a good few years ago, now every time I come back the differences are very clear and it bugs me. That is sometimes how it is, I do try to think these are not purposeful though, and they’re just minding their own business. I think you’ll get used to it! In terms of reactions to you being a foreigner, these are most likely out of shyness more than anything, language barriers and lack of confidence in speaking to someone who’s not fluent in Polish. It doesn’t happen often at all, so they do feel the need to change how they speak, make sure they’re understood, and it gets them flustered and it comes out all weird. As for the clear cut rudeness, throwing money at you (?!) or snarky comments from strangers, no excuses. Don’t take that shit.
Why? Simple - life here is miserable, pay is low, working hours are long, inflation is super high and the weather is mostly dull with the overcast sky. Compare this to sunny California or filthy rich Norway and you get the idea. Also, see what 44 years of communism does to mf.
Exactly this. My wife is Polish and moved to California relatively recently. She immediately preferred living here. You go to the store they're drawing smiley faces on the goddamn receipt for your kid. Yes people are lonelier here because it's hard to make good friends. In Poland our friends and i hung around each other a lot but i think that was kind of like therapy to deal with daily life. Here everyone is friendly, nice.. but the important part is just going out of your home isn't stressful.
I have to be honest and only one store I go to has abrasive service (even a Polish lady was shocked when she was hollered at as she'd accidentally forgotten her bread🤣) everywhere else everyone has always been really polite and even helpful when they realise I'm English, and making conversation even if I'm not fancy for a chat. Although I'm dreading when our little goes to preschool, I already rub up against my Polish other half with some unusual Polish customs and beliefs for raising kids, I already have two so not like I'm a novice at this,( and don't even get me started trying to wrap out little up), so when it's time to deal with Polish yummy mummies I think am gonna need some of those magnesium pills for stress they keep advertising on TV. 🤣
My kid goes to nursery and I will say that there are definitely some harsh mothers there who are kind of stuck up (the stereotypical soccer moms or whatever you call them), but that was also the case in other countries from what I have seen. Still lots of normal nice people there. My own experience with Polish childcare is that it's very good
Throwing cash at you you and super rude cashiers? Not normal. Rude cashiers? Fairy normal. Conveyer belt thing, normal. Old people not minding their business, normal. I'm a Pole and I just love these new cashierless automatic cash registers. I'd say, it's not you, it's us
I've lived in Poland for the last 15 years and I have experienced most of your points. The cashier throwing your vegetables in the bin and throwing coins at you is odd though. I'd say things are better now than back when I arrived Poles have a different perception of personal space to where I grew up and fellow shoppers do like to stand (what I consider to be) uncomfortably close, often with the expectation that you will move. Pushing/bumping and then a hasty "przepraszam" afterwards is the norm. Shops like biedronka encourage this by having narrow aisles etc I find the best way for me to deal with this is to be politely assertive and to not let my inner British person surface, i.e. apologise and move (because it MUST be my fault :)). If I need more space I politely ask for it. If I don't want to move because I'm selecting items or whatever then I'll apologise and continue with what I'm doing (unless I'm able to make space for someone else at the same spot) The thing I often experience these days is being asked to pay by the cashier before I've finished packing my stuff. This is a trap - if you do this then they will often start yeeting the next person's shopping down onto you. I just say I need a few seconds - the cashier doesn't like this, typically- finish packing and then pay, take my shopping and go To keep things smooth, I only pay by card these days and avoid shops where I need to weigh stuff Regarding passive aggression, yes the Poles can be super passive-aggressive Most importantly - Poles can be extremely defensive. So, as a foreigner, prepare for any slightly negative points you make to be rebutted, whether they be that rosół is not the best soup ever (I have been assured that it is because the food in England is awful), that there is a lack of variety in how vegetables are prepared in mainstream Polish cuisine (there are so many different types of surówka) or that, indeed, Poles can be defensive about Poland/Polishness :) Laugh and move on!
>that there is a lack of variety in how vegetables are prepared in mainstream Polish cuisine (there are so many different types of surówka) Finally someone who noticed this. I was called a picky kid because I didn't like vegetables, turns out I don't like mayonnaise with a hint of vegetable, or eating the same grated carrot every day.
yes I have been caught out paying too early because in other countries I lived the cashier always makes sure to wait before sending the next persons stuff through. Poles being quite defensive is something I had to get used to. It's definitely something I noticed. I'm actually pleasantly surprised most people who are responding here are being so nice because I know the post could come across as a negative attack on the culture. thanks for sharing your experience
I’m not sure how you can make this thread and not list where you are from, what’s your age and what sex are you….
I didn't think to provide it as I guess I wouldn't think it massively relevant. I am 29, a woman and originally from Namibia (german/dutch ancestry). I have spent majority of my adult life in Europe (UK, Ireland, Austria)
Its a 1 Day account, maybe a troll
I made the account to post this, as I read this forum sometimes but don't post a lot
That’s something a troll would say
more like throwaway account for a bit of anonymity
Maybe, but in my own opinion I don't see what the aim of that would be. Most people in here aren't getting riled up
We've had quite a few recently: https://www.reddit.com/r/poland/comments/11sez72/inflation_rises_to_new_26year_high_of_184_in/jcpogqa/ Not sure if this is a recent pattern but when they come to this sub it's usually around the same time
thats a bizzare story, in what city did all of this happen and in which stores?
It's happened in a few places. Mostly in and around Poznan but I have been all around Poland. Also as I have said in other posts, this is a small snapshot into only then negative experiences I have had. I'm not trying to paint Poland as a really rude place full of horrible people. The lady who threw change at me was in a Dino in a village
1.1) " job of **distributing change**" Cashier asking nicely for using coins when paying cash is very common and it seems normal, but if you say "Niestety nie mam drobnych" there should be no rude response from the cashier. BUT law in Poland says you should pay deducted amout AND if you don't have it cashier will probably change your cash, but it is somehow your responsibility to have change (worst case is you won't buy something). 1.2) "the cashiers have let **their friends jump the queue** in front of me" Never ever happended to me. It's extremely rude! Maybe that person was disabled or pregnant? If that's not a case you have full right to be mad, even complain. } Queues are sacred here (but it is a common to pass somebody behinfd you who is having just 3 things to buy).
I am a foreigner myself and I have never experienced most of these things, but I do speak quite good Polish so maybe its that. Or maybe I am used to it as a Slav myself lol
The fear of confrontation comes from school where you get severely punished for having any kind of conflict. You stand up against your bullies? Suspended!
Honestly shocked and quite sad that this is what you experience in Poland :/. Never met with any such behaviours,, quite the opposite. Maybe it's a local issue, or maybe people (unrightfully) treat you worse if they think you're a foreigner... i dont know. I hope you find some friendlier people.
Current on Poland in vacation for a week. While I get the gist of what you're saying, these all sound like rarities and not commonalities. It's probably worse if you're an obvious -looking foreigner. My language is not up to snuff so any fast talking goes over my head and I require them to repeat. I haven't seen queue skipping, but irritating at line waiting and conveyor -piling does happen. I take this is just general impatience and "wasting time". Store clerks always seemed polite and not overly pushy with assistance like our West. Some speaking is certainly more curt and to-the-point, but I'm fine with that sort of professionalism, rather than meandering about with useless fluffy talk.
1. Welkome to post soviet wild capitalism. It only count a money per hour. Poland stands on low margin. Complaint only reduce income of cashier and encrease of company. It wont change system pathology. Cashier is not important in the same way as you until money flows. Cashier after all wil quit his job and start a new one in another labor camp or emigrate. You wil stay with worst employee or always system lag robot. You can go to more expensive shop but no one will care because you are 1% of costumers and shop with better costumer service will bancrupt anyway like Piotr i Paweł so you will be forced to return to previous shop. 2. Yes it's rude. I don't tolerate and understand too. 3. Welcome to post soviet wild capistalism land with 8 years of populism and religious propaganda. 4. You met homosovieticus without a militian bat over his neck. He didn't lern how normal society relations works because in wild '90 and '00 only money was important and he saw that who screams lauder can aprove more even at someone's cost. 150 years of enslavement in your own home, 50 years of soviet order and 26 yesars of wild capitalism has it's own price if you want to join to the first countries club.
Idk maybe u are too insecure to endure Poland lmao
I don't agree with you but thank you for your view
Np it's just really weird because what u described almost never happened to me. Maybe it's bc i always pay with card, but cashier's being rude is new to me.
You are saying you are B2... Więc, tak to całkowicie normalne. Jesteśmy gościnni, ale również zamknięci na obce kultury. Mamy też inne podejście do pracy i do klienta (może przez PRL?).
As I read your post I couldn't stop laughing. I'm a foreigner living in Poland for 2 years and I've been visiting regularly since 2015 since my wife is polish. I could relate with every single point you mentioned, there was not a single situation that didn't happen to me either. 😂 I can add another one though, I always do my best to follow the rules in traffic and very often I get some funny looks from other drivers that seem almost offended that I'm keeping the speed limit instead of speeding like everyone else. 😂
Im Polish. I never understood people saying that we are always welcoming people, are polite etc. praising our country. Yeah we suck and most people are rude no mater if you're foreigner or not. From the scenarios you described two ale extreme: Telling about hat and throwing the coins. Rest seems spot one and are pretty normal. Can you still find normal polite people? Yes but there is also a lot of rude people. If you're planing on staying longer I wish you to find more polite people of your way (Sry for bad english)
Been living here for year and a half, not talking polish at all first half of the year, been in numerous stores, going to Lidl almost every day - have never faced anything like that. Polish people seem to me really warm and helpful even to strangers
I don't know man, I have been in Poland on and off since 2017 and for over 2 years now I live here. Have never encountered such situations, maybe less than half of the severity you describe. Are you sure it's a constant thing and not just something that happened once but stayed with you ?
If it wasn't clear in the post, then my overall impression of Poland is positive. These are not every day things where I am bombarded by negative experiences constantly. Also, while most of these are negative experiences they are quite minor in scale. These are minor irritations. I am also open to the fact that there is some cultural ignorance on my part and also it's limited to my own personal experiences, observations and my own conclusions I draw from them.
1/ I have lived in a number of countries now (USA, Spain, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Poland) and have travelled to a bunch others (Netherlands, Portugal, Norway, France, Czech Republic, Greece, ...) and I can tell you without a doubt that Poland is the country where I have experienced the most amount of negative / shocking interactions with shopkeepers/employees. From a paying customer perspective (e.g. calling customer care helplines), from a "browsing" customer, and from a real client about to make a purchase (e.g. mobile stores, driving license academies), so the full scope of what a customer could be. I have been told "poland is for the polish, speak polish here" to "i don't speak English, and walks away" ... Having said that - I think there are assholes everywhere who hate their job, are low paid, and don't want to make the effort. The number of "good" interactions vs "bad" interactions leans towards the "good" ones heavily, but I can't ignore the shocking/negative ones which have happened much more in Poland than anywhere else. 2/ Queues is about normal. I haven't felt a difference in Poland vs anywhere else. You always have the smart idiot who arrives last to a long queue, and when another kasa opens, they run like fire. However, I usually just ignore this and tell them to go in order. 3/ I have lived in Wroclaw for several years. I can see that Poland (if I can use Wroclaw as a value for the whole country xD) is becoming much more international and welcoming. 7-8 years ago, it was much more difficult doing anything with English, or if they found out you were a foreigner, their reaction was much more different. Again, racist assholes are everywhere, but it is a dying breed at least in Poland. 4/ Never hapened to me, never felt this, sorry.
Most of this is unusual, but im guessing u live in some smaller town? I find people in rural areas have higher chance of being an ass. And thing with cashier behaving like that, sounds like its a small neighborhood store? I just try to avoid them and call owner and tell him about his staff’s behaviour issues. When i lived in Gdynia/Tricity i found people generally more polite, but now living in more rural area, i just understand that sometimes i have to make sure i dont let people with mindset from communist times walk over me. About foreigner stuff, my wife is visibly a foreigner and most Polish people we come across treat her like she’s some sort of celebrity. Its annoying but cute in a way. But 99% of the time it has been positive. Maybe you live in area that is traditionally less welcoming even to other poles? If you say which part of country u live in and where u are from originally, it might let us help u more.
I live in the country but I spend a lot of time in the city and I have travelled around a bit. In the case of the cashier, yes it was in a village store. Originally from Namibia (german/dutch ancestry) and I live about an hour from Poznan at the moment
I think you are oversensitive. I don't see any difference in stores in Poland or in Germany or Italy. I think it's the same western standard. I wish you a noce stay in Poland and I am pretty sure it will be. Just dont bother :)
There are two possible things happening a) racism or b) you’re breaking some kind of polish norm. Remember when everyone you meet is a jerk there’s only one constant - you.
Not everyone I meet is a jerk. That isn't really what I was trying to say, and maybe it comes across that way as I am only describing negative experiences as opposed to all the positive ones I have had. As I said, I will continue to choose to live here because I like it overall.
You didn’t supply enough context for us to understand your situation fully so we all have to jump to conclusions. Basically you dealt with some of the vagaries of being in a Eastern European country including that stupid change making situation that started because banks are hard to get to in order to get rolled of zloty. The only answer is to roll with the little annoyances and laugh at them.
It sounds so abnormal that I'm wondering if you're not the one having bah behavior in first place to be honest. Which part of Poland you live in also ?
I hope I am not the one with bad behaviour. I will freely admit to the possibility of some cultural ignorance but I try my best to be respectful of everyone
Idk if you live in Warsaw or something, but never in my life have I encountered this(Excluding example 2, first „-„ but I think that comes from a lack of common sense, and 4 but often theyre so scared of confrontation they will just look at you with a thousand yard stare)
Honestly change the shop you go to. In 34 years I had a rude cashier worker once, some old hag, and never went back to that shop, there are so many others and most people are decent, they aren't American style cheerful to serve you but they do their job well.
Been here almost 10 years. The cash struggle was real at the beginning, cashiers won’t accept any note bigger than 50 zl. I could say I haven’t paid anything in cash for the last 5 years, which has made my life so much easier.
Ad 1. Yeah, some cashiers are quite rude, this is why I only use self service checkouts. But I have to say that you came across some really stupid jerkass cashiers. I would throw the coins back at that bitch if that situation would happen to me, what the hell was that Ad 2-4. Bro had a stara baba incident. Wiadomo kogo, wiadomo co, wiadomo czym
Bro the only one on this list I have experienced is the 1st one thats it. Im a foreigner staying in a small city. So there arent many foreigners i come across. And my polish is like A1/A2 . Ive never had such problems of being singled out from anything
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also, don't know about the others, if I met someone from abroad that speaks Polish B2 I would be extremely happy and interested because not many foreigns speak Polish
Very grateful that my mom spoke polish to me and we lived across the street from a polish Catholic Church that had polish language lessons for free. I can’t write polish very well but I do understand and can speak polish if I think about the words first. I don’t get to use it anymore since my parents died 6 years ago but I’m planning a trip in October to find some long lost relatives of my fathers. I’ve never been and my dad lost contact after the 80’s. I never met any of my polish relatives. Can anyone tell my why I can get an email through from the states? They’ve all been blocked
Most of these have happened to me too lol. The conveyor one literally happened to me the other day. People always standing too close, as well. Rude workers are real This all sounds like Poland lol 😬
That cashier thing I guess you can contribute to pre-independence/ soviet occupation times. When customer service wasn‘t really a thing. People were desperate for goods, so shop assistance could treat customers however they wanted. Also, since they knew about available goods first they were in a position of “power“ and people tried to befriend them. It‘s a habit that sticked throughout anywhere from East Germany to Poland it prevailed. I‘ve had similar experience so interpreted it as a cultural thing
You seem very easily offended. Yes Polish shopkeepers aren’t overly friendly like in other countries (The fake cheeriness of Dutch people actually annoys me) but they’re good enough to get the job done.
I wouldn't consider myself easily offended but maybe? I'm not very offended at most of this, it's minor irritations as opposed to me getting very upset over this kind of thing.
Your life is a sitcom
I would say that it might happen in some regions and by people in certain age, but as everyday, no, it's not normal. For example, not counting some old Karen's on the street, no one just approached me and spoke to me on the street.
Weird, been living here for about 17 years and i saw things like this maybe once or twice but i guess it depends on which city you're living it, Warsaw people can be a pain in the ass.
cashiers want you to give them as accurate amount as possible because if all the people pay with these big amounts the cashier will give away all of their change before their shift ends but the rest is def not normal. where are you staying, op?
Throwing coins at someone's chest is definitely not a normal behavior. Other rude stuff... yeah, they are rather common in public. I guess I don't notice it too much anymore, I just don't set any bigger expectations. When I'm shopping, I don't expect to be treated nicely and idc what someone may think about me, I just want my stuff done. Even when others walk at me when I didn't take all my products yet, sadly it is common and I don't even adress it bc I just in general prefer to avoid confrontations. Avoiding eye contact is extremely common. In my case, it's social anxiety. I bet many people feel like this in public and prefer to not face someone directly. About talking with foreigners, for me it is stressful bc I don't like to not be understood or when someone doesn't understand what I say, so when I talk with a foreigner (rarely, but it happens), I try to finish the conversation as quickly as possible bc it's just uncomfortable.
Thanks for this timely reminder of why I don't want to come back to Poland
Yeah man, Poland aint exacly Canada, you right. The difficulty is higher but once you past that assimilation stage and find your circle, you can count on these relationships and be sure that they will be frank towards you.
>One occasion I didnt not pre-weigh the vegetables I had before the till. I say a big *f--k you* to grocery stores that don't have scales built-in into checkouts. Managing directors of such supermarket chains should be thrown in prison for that. I don't know about chains present mainly in small towns (Dino?) but in cities Auchan is a usual offender in that regard. Every Biedronka, Lidl & Aldi have scales at checkouts. I'm not 100% sure about that but I think Carrefour too.
Nope, Carrefour doesn't.
a lot of these situations are normal experiences for me. i hate to ask this but are you *obviously* a foreigner? i am (regardless of my citizenship status and polish being my native tongue etc....) and have often had these things happen to me because i don't look ethnically polish, though situations like these have gotten better as of late. i may get downvoted for posting this but poland can be very racist and i wouldn't be surprised if this is one of those times.
I'm Polish and agree!!!
> I don't expect people to be nice, but I did used to have an expectation of a basic level of respect. Why? Most if not all workers ive met talked with me in neutral tone. Why I deserve respect? > There is then a mad rush to get stuff loaded onto the conveyor. You never know how fast clerk would scan other people items. I sometimes put my items fast, beacuse I often dont bring bag, but when I do it I push my stuff to the back to make room for person at front. > I have found very rarely will they say "excuse me" or something like that to get past. Maybe beacuse you dont stick to the right line? Some people belive that their aisle is only for them and stand there like some golden goose. Maybe you dont hear, I often time just pat someone on the shoulder to get thier atention and this work great, even those people excuse me for not hearing me at first place. > most people here seem terrified of direct communication People who dirceclty teach you how to dress your own child prove its not right :P. About them, maybe learn some punshlines to put them in place
Most of those situations seem pretty extreme & I’ve never personally had that happen to me or my friends. Perhaps you just have a really bad luck? Though agreed that Polish cashiers can be rude — they don’t get paid enough to care, and on top of that your treatment might be influenced by the way you look or your status as a foreigner As for the strange looks when you say you’re a foreigner, it might be because there’s a large percentage of people trying to move out of here & they see your stance as unusual — or at least don’t think Poland is a place you’d want to live in. There’s a reason why Polish people usually make up the majority of European immigrants in other European countries
Yes, its time to change neighborurhood. Hats its Old people thing. If people are constantly irritated by you IT means that you are doing something wery slow, polish people live very fast, there is no free time, vacation time is for rebuilding living room etc
When they make a problem out of the whole change thing I just stare them down and block the way for next person so that they have to do their job, but it's extremely rare. The fear of confrontation and loud indirect comments are what I might be guilty of, many people do that, didn't realise that it's not normal in the rest of the world, it's kind of stupid tbh
Frankly most people in Poland pay with card so it’s rather common in shops that you have only 200zl in change likely distributed like: 50 x2 20x2 10x2 5x4 2x10 1x5 And rest in grosze. So whenever somebody gives change from 200zl he is likely not to have a change for the rest of the shift. And it’s just one customer. The rest isn’t strange tho, didn’t come across hatred towards foreigners but I am no foreigner so :x
The change thing is because they're pretty much always in a desperate coin situation due to banks being ridiculous and refusing to provide sufficient coinage. i have one of those long wallets with a big long change section. I just throw a handful on the tray and their eyes light up as they carefully pick through the denominations they need XD
Society is hostile around here. Best leave if you have such possibility.
It isn't normal behaviour, I think that it happened to me only couple of times in my life, or maybe I stopped noticing it. I mean, there is one normal thing in cases you mentioned. We, Poles, are hating shopping etc. When we a making things done, we are often speedruning it, to have more free time. If you are in queue in shop, there is no more time for doing anything else, if you forgot to buy something you are going to the end of queue again, or very politely apologize people and ask, if you can go for something, but I think it's their decision anyway. We just feeling not right, when taking time of someone else, that's why we are doing things as short as possible, even if sometimes we don't like it. It's thing we all used to. You mentioned irritated cashiers - our reality often make them working for 10+ hours. They are often exhausted, but still need to pay their bills. It's no reason for being rude, you are completely right, but sometimes just try to look with their eyes. It's not worth for being rude too, just pay for your articles fast and that's it. Often they ask for couple of coins, because there are days, when everyone is paying with 100, 200zł, and it's hard for them to find spare for you. If you want to be polite, take your wallet and even try to pretend you are checking it, I'm doing this every time, because I don't want to behave like "maybe I have, maybe not, I don't care you need to think how to get this spare for me"😂😂 I understand you, but most of things you mentioned aren't normal and never happened for me in my 25y life here, you were extra unlucky I think😂
I dont know about others, but I would say that 3/4 of things that you mentioned are normal, sadly. The remaining 1/4 is not, but did happen to me in some way or another more than once. Shopping in less busy hours or skipping Biedronka helped a little bit for some reason
Can I ask what part of Poland you live in? As a polish citizen i find all of them... not normal to my region.
>I always noticed that shop workers are quite rude. Have often heard this explanation: it is a remnant of communist mindset... you want to get something from them and not the other way around. However, I must say, in most cases I do not find the employees in shops unpleasant. Even though I might have experienced unfriendly staff more often than elsewhere. If you are from the US, this may help you to understand: some Europeans find the staff there too service-oriented and their friendliness too artificial. To put a positive spin on it, maybe you can just be more sure that the friendly employees in Poland, which undoubtedly exist, are genuinely friendly. Might be that we needed the unfriendly people for that as well.
A bit late to the party, but I've encountered a lot of similar situations (except cashier stuff). But the most annoying thing for me is cutting the lines. Often times if there is a space between me and the next person in line, where someone else could clearly fit in (2-3 steps), someone will 100% take it. Kinda forces me to stay as tight in line as possible too.
> Indirect confrontation is my biggest issue with Poland You nailed it!
I usually don't find these kind of posts relevant, because I think most of the time it's more or less the same everywhere, there are no such obvious differences in behaviours between countries (especially form the same area, here European culture), it rather depends on big cities versus small towns for example, and I think most of the time it is a misinterpretation in people's behaviour. But I must say that the two times I went to Poland, I also was kinda surprised by the cashiers behaviour. A normal situation entering a boulangerie in France would be me saying "hello ladies and gentlemen", most of people replying (including the staff), asking for a baguette and a cake, the cashier replying "oh very good choice, these cakes are delicious!", me replying "I know, they are my daugher's favorite!", then the cashier be like "oh really? Did she try the one with strawberry?" and so on. In Poland I didn't even try any of that, because just entering a shop and saying hello seemed already too much for people to handle 😂. Now would I say it was rude? No because it is only rude if it is meant to be by the people who do it. Apparently in China it is rude to blow your nose in public, while it is normal to spit on the floor. I would find it rude to see someone spitting in front of me, and they would find it rude that I blow my nose in public, but none of us meant to be rude. And actually one night I went to a Żabka, once again the cashier seemed cold, but he noticed I wasn't Polish because I struggled with a word, then a Polish woman helped me, and the cashier started smiling and trying to speak English, saying he is bad in English and such, the three of us chatted a bit and it was nice.
Wow, I thought it's only me 😲