(not)only in Poland...
 

very good example .. but I was in Poland and I faced similar things when I bought PKP tickets .. I was holding a card which is called "Internation Student Identification Card" I should have student ticket on all PKP travel but I paid full :( :( same was in Wawel Cathederal :D

But in general things it should be there .. like i bought some cheese from a lady she gave me on same price .. moreover I was welcomed so warm at some place .. like I was on a Ciasto shop and this lady served me 3-pieces of ciasto free of cost :)

With Wawel Cathedral there is a problem, they don't give any discounts for foregines, while for polish students and retired there are dicounts.
Ehen I gudes some retired tourists from US, I just told in pilosh the nun selling ticets please 4 tickets for retired (without telling her from where they are) she sold me discount tickets.

hehehe It is nice trick .. but I thought that it is for noble cost, with this money they would maintain whole cathederal .. so I didnt resist much .. but I'd try this one on PKP :P

do you know why polish PKP and warsaw buses MZK don't accept ISIC as proof of student status?

because POLISH Students learnt how to use it in wrong way... how ?

ok you have right to have cheap tickests while you are a student. you finish your last year of studies, your student ID is still valid (they take it away from you when you collect your diploma). using this student ID, just before loosing your official status of a student you go to for example my office and ask to have ISIC card issued (for authority issuing ISIC it's still ok to do it, if in the day of issuing the card person is still a student). then you give your "real" student ID back to your uni and even though legaly you are not a student any longer, you still have isic card valid - if you are lucky to have it issued in September - untill end of the following year.

So without being a student, and legaly not having right to student discounts - you still have isic card saying you are a student for another year !

cheeky, and working well with student tickets abroad but in Poland, obviously many people used that trick too much (I'm not surprised with prices of tickets...) and PKP realised it's being cheated on and stopped that procedure by not accepting international student cards... with a hurt to many honest students...

That a logical explanation of misuse, but what about those who are not intended to make any misue. I surprised when this woman told me "This card is valid only for Polish Students who study in abroad" .. I tried to explain everything .. I could see a discount label on counter and couldnt get discount :D .. it was bit funny! but thats what happened with me!

Well this doesnt work either (talking from experience here). Also, having Edinburgh Uni Student Card, obviously Polish surname, my National ID card stating I am below 26and ISIC youre pretty much in the same situation. Ah, and try buying tickets without speaking Polish.
He says: 'Can I get two tickets to Oswiecim through Trzebinia first class please?'
Well, the lady only understood 'Oswiecim', 'Trzebinia', 'two' and 'first class'.
So she said (in Polish,but real loud, so he can UNDERSTAND hahaha ): 'So, in the end, you want them to Oswiecim or to Trzebinia? And which class do you want?
was standing right by him and couldnt help but do this: hahaha
(no need to mention she refused to serve me and I had to go to a different desk? but it was well worth it :))

nsc23 this is really funny story...
but those situations happening everywhere in Poland, even govt offices, for example in foreginers dept. i cannot understand how this people can work like that.
they have to suppose to serve (helping) to foreginers, but how can they if they dont know english or other foregin language?

aishah123, well, I was gonna take Welly to foreigners depatement in my county council but thought that would be a bit too hard-core :)
In Wroclaw the door labelled 'Information Desk' is permanently locked (with a piece of wire :lol: ) and all the doors are labelled in... yes, you guessed right, the new lingua franca of the world - POLISH hahaha

Well about PKP I once had a really funny experience in Zakopane station. An american guy wanted to buy ticket for himself and one for his bike (obviously someone explained to him earlier that in Poland you need ticket for bike as well). Lady seling tickets didn't speak ANY English. but was trying hard. really!

we were standing right behind him and getting more and more amused to what "solutions" she came up to trying to understand what he meant. But as much as I was trully enjoying myslef I had to join in and interfere just in time for her not to issue the ticket to ROWY... :mdleje: (a tiny village by Polish seaside)

(a hint for those who need it - only polish word the guy knew apart from "dzindobry" was rower - polish for bike, but the way he said it...)

kiwigirl, Yeah similar thing happened to me when i tried to buy some chandies and this candy girls didnt know English at all .. but I learnt few things very fast .. I start understanding people by gestures, you wont believe i stayed with one family in Poland Neither this family nor me had any problem. This family didnt know English and I didnt know Polish .. but we still understand most of the things by gestures, and this lady took care of me like my real mum .. its really so great.

nsc23, I needed some VISA extention at some moment and these people are sitting for extending visa but they dont know english .. eventually I had to give-up and drop that idea.

nsc23, About ISIC card, well so many companies endorsed with it and I guess they should give benifit to the students .. if they cannot then they shouldnt endorses, why they are creating confusion.

now it's (not)only in Poland, I "allowed myself" to cut it out from only in India, as it should (I think) develope further. Some strange things we have or do in this country might not be understandable for foreigners or would be at least strange (as we already know from one other topic in Poland) so we are here to help and explain \:D/

I already mentioned it in some other topic: I read somewhere about Indians in the 80-ies coming to Poland... In times there was nothing in the shops, difficult to buy any food and so on...
So those Indian students are exchanging their observations about POland, complaining it is not easy to find vegetarian food... And one of the boys states: these Poles are eating lots of meat... they even eat elephants!
?????????

Well, you know in Polish baran (ram) - baranina, ciele (veal) - cielecina, jagnie (lamb) - jagniecina... and finally slon (elephant) - slonina hahaha
Slonina in Polish is lard. ehehe It has nothing to do with elephant whatsoever :)
Poor Indian boys :P

sis-x, You know when I was coming to Poland .. I met with a 30 year old guy whoe lived in Poland in 2000 ... and this guy totally scared me. I just eag veg and he said 1. Polish chleb are so hard and bad, 2. In veg you can only eat Potatoes, 3. Dont go to bars there is mafia in warsaw, 4. You'll die of hunger if you dont eat meat.

I just came to Poland and I fell in love with Polish Chleb and Ciasto, I loved potatoes with Koperk and there are so many veg bars, I love Polish bars there is no mafia at all, Polish people served food with great love .. even I started to eat meat and meat is the best thing which I ate (after pierogi) in Poland :)

Deepaczku, you would be a good ambassador of Poland! :D

deepaczku, my boyfriend was told by his friends he should bring some meat as a present for my parents, because they probably cant afford to eat it very often ( :stop: !!!). Luckily he knows more about Poland than his friends and trusts my opinion more than theirs :)