This is Poland #2

Yesterday my laptop decided to call it a night while I was watching Breaking Bad on my tv through the HDMI cable. So the screen on the laptop went black while the tv screen was still vibrant as ever with scenes from this fine show I was watching. A while after I finished the episode and went on to do something else the tv screen also let me know that there was no signal between the two devices. So here I am with two black screens and Pharmacology videos that I won't be needing anymore as I can't even watch them! Wishing myself good luck for friday's midterm....

But this post really does not have anything to do with academia or the lack of studying that was last night. I thought fixing my laptop should be a number one priority so I called this laptop-repairing-place a friend of mine suggested before actually going there since it's on the other side of town after all. And a wasted journey is the last thing I can be bothered with this week....

I call and a lady with the softest voice picks up: "serwis, halo?"
"Hello!!............................." dots indicating me thinking whether or not I should try speaking in polish or english and secretly cursing myself for not having planned out a conversation before calling. "Uhm, hi, so.... do you speak english? Angieeeeeelskoooo?" Awkwardface....
She gets all stressed and I can hear the worry in her voice "uhm.. nOOOOoooo...."
"Anybody nearby speaking english.....?"
"Noooo"
"Nobody?"
"No..."
"Okay so no english then"
...
...
...
...
...
...
Waiting for 5 seconds and she still awkwardly has not hung up on me yet so I try "so I have  laptop..... with black screen..."
"Yes black screen?"
"Can you fix it?"
"YEeees, uh huh"
"Uhm... okay... so how much? Ile kosztuje?"
"Trzysta trzydziesci!"
"Okay, so three hundred and thirty?"
"Yes" she says, sounding very pleased with herself. Then I made some silly remark about potentially going over to hand in my laptop soon which she probably only caught parts of, and hung up.

Now that was not so hard now was it? I still wonder why it is a tad difficult for the general population to realise that it takes such little effort to communicate or simply help a stranger out without perfect language skills. My polish is embarrassingly limited yet I still tryyyy to get my point across as iften as I can.
To be honest I actually salute this lady for not hanging up on me (has happened 142537times in the past), while wishing others would think twice before saying "NIE' and move on in total ignorance.

This whole thing is not exactly news for non-polish speakers, but I thought it might amuse those of you who live elsewhere :p