What are POLISH Really Like?

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• At 10:00 the fixing thing is very true. The Polish gardeners and tradesmen who worked on my old house were excellent; very hardworking, thorough and precise.

• Empty poker faces at times, but I've seen people on the street bumping into friends and they become quite friendly and open then, I actually prefer this, unlike those insincere smiles and empty polite conversations people give each other in the west, at least these people are frank about things.

• I've been in Wroclaw for 2 weeks and I think the people are warm and friendly. They always say good morning or hi when they see me outside.. maybe it is different here

  • yes, Wroclaw is different. Always has been.

• I would like to visit Poland, greetings from Mexico

• The lack of smile is also associated with Finnish, Russian, German, Hungarian, and Ukranian people. The smiles of Americans seem more weird than people who don't have the mandatory customer service smile.

  • "Do they do this where you from"
    "Yes!?"
    "Okie Dookie, what about where else you been!"
    "Yes"
    ......
    "Welcome to Europe, don't talk to strangers."

  • The police came to talk to me, found out I was an American.
    I can't fundamentally grasp the idea of not smiling and talking to strangers.

  • In Poland we find such smile fake. We usually do not interact on streets with eachother. Relationship with Poles is a deep thing. We are looking for friends that will be reliable rather than keeping smile. It might change in future but it's just way we are

• As a Canadian, I remember being shocked by Polish customer service in restaurants. No smile, just straight-to-the-point. Hilarious! However, it's true that Poles may seem stand-offish at first, but are so warm once you get to know them. ❤

  • First impression matters. Why to get to know someone who is cold and unfriendly at first? You just turn your back and go to the next one.

  • go to the Netherlands :)

  • You and me both. I tried smiling at people and they just glanced back with no smile

• Happy Saturday, Marina! Love the video on the Polish 🇵🇱 stereotype and Poland 🇵🇱 is credited as the first country who invented the drink, Vodka. Sending you my love ❤ from Miami, Florida, USA 🇺🇸

• Love your Poland series. Reminding me of the good old days when I lived in NY. I'm Chinese, but I was hanging out in the Polish neighborhoods (such as Greenpoint & Maspeth) like all the time ;)
  Agree with the friendliness & smile thing. I don't think I recall if the Polish ppl I'm more familiar with smiled or not the first time I met then haha! But they definitely are some of the friendliest ppl I've ever met. After drinking, chatting & partying at the same bars for a couple of times at least. XD
  Although I did remember one, major exception. My 'beautiful stranger' who happens to be from Kraków. She smiled at me the first time our eyes locked together. A big, warm smile. That was during the harshest lockdowns of COVID, things were difficult. But her smiley face always gives me a ray of sun. And I still remember the first time she served me a shot of Żubrówka. Which was a little too strong for me at that time, that I had to finish in TWO shots... Too bad she remained my 'beautiful stranger'. ;( (Had nothing to do with the 2 shot vodka drinking thing I swear).

• "They are friendly in a different way". That sums up about polish people, maybe from the outside like they have "Polish smile" or negative vibes, but when you talk to them it's like warm and very welcoming people. Greeting from Indonesia for Poland 🇮🇩🤝🇵🇱

• I feel like the reason we smile here in Canada is more of a friendly acknowledgement; kind of like 'I see you' sort of greeting. Helps people feel less lonely in a highly capitalistic, individualistic society

  • we have such saying in Poland Im not a horse to show my teeth :D it is because of old days :D - so people dont feel like they need to smile neither be always happy, it might be sign of madness for us

  • I feel it’s the same in the USA but there’s also the diversity factor, in my opinion. When you have a country built on immigrants and people who don’t all share the same language , a smile is an easy way to communicate in a positive manner without having to say any words.

    Facial expressions are universal across many cultures and you can read them much easier than trying to decipher a foreign language you’ve never heard before.