One of my class mates was half Polish. He went down there when they were still communist. He said it was incredible how slow people could work. There were several men that was making small walkpath of some kind. They had started before he arrived and was still not finished after two weeks. He found it very amusing and strange. Just like it was a game going on who can work the slowest. It could be three people working in a small shop and you still didnt get service even if you were the only one there.
When I was a university student in Poland, one day I was sitting on the bench in the lobby of the institute with couple friends talking on various subjects.
Then one of the professors was passing by, he stopped before us looking annoyed and said "why don't you do something useful instead of wasting your time". He apparently was very busy doing something very important and left in hurry.
One of my friends explained, "he was too long in America and now he acts strange". I am sad to inform you but this professor did not live long - he died young because of some heart problems. I guess all this stress killed him.