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Irish people and time keeping...

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Comments

  • Closed Accounts Posts: 5 DLC69


    Irish tradesmen are notoriously bad for not showing up...not doing a thorough job...not cleaning up...and not coming back to fix things if they weren't done properly. What's really shocking, the recession hasn't changed their behavior at all!

    The only good thing about this is...the tradesmen who do show up and get the job done properly have a very loyal customer base. My best advice is ask around and see who other people trust. I've found some great plumbers, electricians and auto mechanics by word of mouth...and yes, they are Irish.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,008 ✭✭✭not yet


    Biedronka wrote: »
    -and if they won't change their attitude they wil ever get out of recession!

    Seriously, maybe I was just unlucky with people lately, but I am just mad at this stage. One guy was supposed to fix the gas boiler and he told me he will come on Tuesday at 5. He came at 5.40 and said he won't be able to fix this that day, so we agreed he will come at the same time next day.
    He never came on Wednsday, but on Saturday moring at 9am and was ringing the bell like crazy when I came back home at 2 the night before!
    Didn;t let him him, that was a joke!
    Locksmith came 1.20h late - the same story, said its too late to do the job and told me he will come next day at 7. He called me at 7.20 and said his kid is sick, so he is not coming. Ridiculous!

    Landlords are just the whole different story and I will not even start on this.. :/

    ps: I know there is probably MANY decent irish repairman who are always on time, but I wasn't lucky to meet eve one unfortunately.
    When I called polish electrician , he wasn't even one minute late and he did job in 20 minutes and cleaned after.

    Well then the answer is simple..............

    Only deal with polish tradesmen job done.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 71 ✭✭Biedronka


    Kasabian wrote: »

    You must learn to adapt to your new surroundings and learn the culture and ways of the country you have decided to make your home in.

    If you would live i Poland for few years and you would tell me that polish people are grumpy, they don't smile much and customer service in shops sucks -I would't tell you "you should addapt" -I would tell you you are right and that I hope this will change in near future...
    Bad time keeping has nothing to do with culture - maybe lack of good manners.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 71 ✭✭Biedronka


    DLC69 wrote: »
    I've found some great plumbers, electricians and auto mechanics by word of mouth...and yes, they are Irish.

    That is good idea, but we have moved recently and we don't know to many people around, but I will try.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,024 ✭✭✭shannon_tek


    Cua! Irish people. Typical. What else could you say about them. jeez. Just typical.

    Anyway on another topic you should move to Germany i hear they are very good time keepers.

    I like my time keeping and 81% the other end is late. so i agree. Typical :D:pac:


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,623 ✭✭✭maninasia


    ejmaztec wrote: »
    I thought that furniture there consisted of a big mat.

    Yeah you have to use strong nails to keep them down.


  • Posts: 17,378 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    The Irish aren't so bad... In Laos or the Philippines, the bus doesn't leave until it's full.


  • Registered Users Posts: 403 ✭✭Mensch Maschine


    It's the only fashion I can afford - to be late :(


  • Registered Users Posts: 110 ✭✭adomino


    Biedronka wrote: »
    -wow :rolleyes:

    hmm, it is not such a sh*thole you know, its over 3 times bigger then Ireland, there are mountains, there is sea, there are beautiful historical towns.. ;)

    a bigger sh*thole than i imagined then


  • Registered Users Posts: 110 ✭✭adomino


    I've done it myself but I don't go about slagging off the natives and making out their all lazy work sky idiots who can't work a clock either. My problem is not someone coming to Ireland, it's his/her attitude generalising about Irish people I have a problem with.

    exactly, and i know where it always comes from... why do the irish do this, why do they etc etc, what IS their problem? its like they are constantly trying to find faults. they hear about irish music, irish economy when it was good, irish actors, film? i don't know what the inclination is with them to constantly try and find faults and COMPLAIN! yes we're crap at football, ok at rugby, we have our faults along with every other country and its peoples too.

    even when Barak Obama was here, i had a brazilian friend complaining about all the fuss there was about it here??? or perhaps their country weren't getting all the attention or because they just can't figure it out how every 3rd person from N. America has an irish relative? beats me really. is it jealousy or what?


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 37,214 ✭✭✭✭Dudess


    adomino wrote: »
    Biedronka wrote: »
    -wow :rolleyes:

    hmm, it is not such a sh*thole you know, its over 3 times bigger then Ireland, there are mountains, there is sea, there are beautiful historical towns.. ;)

    a bigger sh*thole than i imagined then
    Awful to criticise Irish people, but no prob for you to call Poland a sh1t-hole.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,565 ✭✭✭losthorizon


    ........ sorry I'm late for this thread. Too many glasses of wine last night! :(


  • Registered Users Posts: 110 ✭✭adomino


    Dudess wrote: »
    Awful to criticise Irish people, but no prob for you to call Poland a sh1t-hole.

    well warsaw aint exactly pretty, i was talking about the buildings, people? nah

    irish=people
    poland=not people


  • Registered Users Posts: 110 ✭✭adomino


    Biedronka wrote: »
    polish people are grumpy, they don't smile much and customer service in shops sucks

    and this is good manners too?

    whatever about been 'always' on time, that does not mean they are great 'reliable' workers.

    i worked with a hungarian, he was nearly always on time, but a clock watcher. when 5pm came, you bet he was out that door on the dot!

    now, apart from pretending he couldn't do a certain job, a famous one was 'i'll try' after been showed how to do the job before, he would always try to land some job he pretended he couldn't do on to someone else.

    no paid overtime existed here, but jobs would often run until 5.30 maybe even 6. as it turned out, the boss wasn't strict on start time or lunch breaks etc.

    so, which employee is the most valuable here? the clock watcher or the one who won't leave till the job is done?

    i often stayed till 8pm cause i loved my job and wanted it done right, an understanding thats called 'responsibility'.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 71 ✭✭Biedronka


    adomino wrote: »
    and this is good manners too?

    Did you read my post? I think it was clear I don't like it, how I could think its good manners.. :rolleyes: its hard to have any discussion with some people..


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 71 ✭✭Biedronka


    adomino wrote: »
    well warsaw aint exactly pretty, i was talking about the buildings, people? nah

    irish=people
    poland=not people

    No, Warsaw is not pretty, because it was ruined by germans durind 2WW and rebuild during comunism, so it isn't all pretty, but you havent seen it all for sure, so.. and Poland is not only Warsaw but much more..
    I will leave second part of your post without a comment.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 71 ✭✭Biedronka


    adomino wrote: »
    a bigger sh*thole than i imagined then

    Your imagination sucks


  • Registered Users Posts: 110 ✭✭adomino


    Biedronka wrote: »
    Your imagination sucks

    where is the thread where you complained about Irish stereotypes of polish people?

    another poster mentioned this on page 15.

    may i suggest this thread for you:

    http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055986590

    go for it! complain you seem to like it :)


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 559 ✭✭✭Miss Olenska


    Taking the piss lateness annoys me but if a friend is 5 mins late meeting me, I don't care.

    Regular lateness for work is pretty bad though - though everyone sleeps it out at some stage in their life, I reckon.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 221 ✭✭revell


    kfallon wrote: »
    As a matter of interest is there ever a story about UPC that has a happy ending???


    I was served by a UPC technician one day between 1-6. Have to stay at home and wait for him. Luckly my boss was away that day so this is an excuse for me not to go to work.:o He showed on time at 2pm and finished job quickly. I was a happy man.:p


  • Registered Users Posts: 574 ✭✭✭SWL


    As a foreigner living here I find the time keeping being one of the appeals of Irish culture. OP YOU have decided to live in Ireland if time is so precious to you then I suggest you finalise a time and explain your reason when making an appointment. What really annoyed me was your generalisation about Irish people is not nice. This is developing into a problem in Ireland because Irish people are too accommodating IMHO.
    The number of patently untrue and unkind things you hear such as the Irish are lazy is really astonishing and the urban myth has grown legs and developed that many foreigners actually believe it.
    You and other foreigners show Ireland and its people zero respect, but are happy to live here and benefit from the society both culturally and monetary that this country provides. I work in a multi-national with a lot of foreigners some nationalities are better than others but the EE are the most vocal when bad mouthing Ireland. In the canteen when I hear it I just get up and leave. :mad:


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 37,214 ✭✭✭✭Dudess


    Yeah I don't understand why a person who is living long term in another country by choice would bitch and moan regularly about its people, unless they're putting up with regular sh1te from a number of them.


  • Registered Users Posts: 110 ✭✭adomino


    Dudess wrote: »
    Yeah I don't understand why a person who is living long term in another country by choice would bitch and moan regularly about its people, unless they're putting up with regular sh1te from a number of them.

    on form this morning dudess i see :)


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,710 ✭✭✭weisses


    SWL wrote: »
    I work in a multi-national with a lot of foreigners some nationalities are better than others but the EE are the most vocal when bad mouthing Ireland. In the canteen when I hear it I just get up and leave. :mad


    Now you do exactly what you hated from the OP ;)


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 71 ✭✭Biedronka


    SWL wrote: »

    You and other foreigners show Ireland and its people zero respect, but are happy to live here and benefit from the society both culturally and monetary that this country provides.

    As I mentioned before I am married to Irish man, so please don't start with me having no respect etc, because this is just simple thinking and has nothing to do with anything. My husband thinks the same as I am and and is just as much upset with it when it happens.
    Who has no respect is the people who waste your time!


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 22,929 ✭✭✭✭ShadowHearth


    2 Irish lads that had to start at 11:00 still not here lol.

    Just saying.... :D


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,279 ✭✭✭Lady Chuckles


    The Irish way of taking it easy and tossing away the timetable has been so liberating to me. I'm not Irish. I'm from one of those countries where we do everything according to the clock and I must confess I'm sick and tired of always following a timetable - even in my sparetime (just because that is the way I'm "supposed" to do it) :)

    However, this isn't always a good thing... And I totally get why the OP is upset about it. If you decide a place and time, you have to be there (on time) out of respect for the other person (especially if it's work-related). That's just the way it is. If you can't make it, call and say so in advance! :)


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 22,929 ✭✭✭✭ShadowHearth


    Still not here, and I am not even trolololing :D


  • Registered Users Posts: 574 ✭✭✭SWL


    Biedronka wrote: »
    As I mentioned before I am married to Irish man, so please don't start with me having no respect etc, because this is just simple thinking and has nothing to do with anything. My husband thinks the same as I am and and is just as much upset with it when it happens.
    Who has no respect is the people who waste your time!

    The nationality of your husband is irrelevant. Go back and re-read your OP you made (and other nationalities especially those for the new accession states) made sweeping generalisations about Irish people. As I suggested when making the appointment state your preferences for a time.
    To be honest you sound like a nightmare to work for, something tells me you would never be happy with any outcome. Many nationalities that moan and complain about this country are happy to benefit from equality legislation, equal rights between the sexes, employment opportunities that their own country could not provide children’s allowance etc., it is the Irish people who have put those procedures in place yet you and many others refer to them as lazy, thick, and alcoholics.
    To me it is unacceptable if you’re not happy leave.


  • Registered Users Posts: 4,466 ✭✭✭Snakeblood


    SWL wrote: »
    The nationality of your husband is irrelevant. Go back and re-read your OP you made (and other nationalities especially those for the new accession states) made sweeping generalisations about Irish people. As I suggested when making the appointment state your preferences for a time.
    To be honest you sound like a nightmare to work for, something tells me you would never be happy with any outcome. Many nationalities that moan and complain about this country are happy to benefit from equality legislation, equal rights between the sexes, employment opportunities that their own country could not provide children’s allowance etc., it is the Irish people who have put those procedures in place yet you and many others refer to them as lazy, thick, and alcoholics.
    To me it is unacceptable if you’re not happy leave.

    She doesn't complain about them being lazy, thick or alcoholics. You shouldn't assign arguments to people that they didn't make, it makes you look like a defensive kneejerk reactionary who doesn't take criticism from furriners well.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,279 ✭✭✭Lady Chuckles


    +1

    There's nothing in the OP about anyone being lazy, thick or an alcoholic.


  • Registered Users Posts: 574 ✭✭✭SWL


    Snakeblood wrote: »
    She doesn't complain about them being lazy, thick or alcoholics. You shouldn't assign arguments to people that they didn't make, it makes you look like a defensive kneejerk reactionary who doesn't take criticism from furriners well.

    I am a foreigner, as I said go back and read her OP, she does make generalisation about Irish people maybe not the three most common which I hear almost on a daily basis, but her generalisations about Irish people have infuriated a lot of posters and rightly so.


  • Registered Users Posts: 574 ✭✭✭SWL


    +1

    There's nothing in the OP about anyone being lazy, thick or an alcoholic.

    I said many nationalities I was making a general point not specific to the OP, but I do disagree with her general views


  • Registered Users Posts: 4,466 ✭✭✭Snakeblood


    SWL wrote: »
    I am a foreigner, as I said go back and read her OP, she does make generalisation about Irish people maybe not the three most common which I hear almost on a daily basis, but her generalisations about Irish people have infuriated a lot of posters and rightly so.

    Then I'd suggest you don't get on her case (again) for arguments she's not making. It makes you look like you're sticking your anger at the other three generalisations into that one specific one. Especially if you tell someone to get out of the country if they don't like it.

    Edit: I removed me getting annoyed, because I don't like that 'if you don't like it leave' thing.

    She started the thread because of a consistent stream of people being late for appointments she made. It wasn't a singlehanded assault on the Irish nation, it was a peeved observation about how timekeeping doesn't seem to be as important to the Irish people who she makes appointments with (so she has a group she has experienced this with). She's not making things up, she's not calling anyone a horrible name, insulting an entire nation or doing anything wrong. The reason this has gone on as long as it has is because people notice she's foreign, and give her **** over her right to insult Ireland and its Irish people. She'd still have gotten some if she was in dublin, and speaking about her experiences with people from the country (or vice versa) but not as much.

    It's bollocks is what it is.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,279 ✭✭✭Lady Chuckles


    SWL wrote: »
    I am a foreigner, as I said go back and read her OP, she does make generalisation about Irish people maybe not the three most common which I hear almost on a daily basis, but her generalisations about Irish people have infuriated a lot of posters and rightly so.

    I belive she says "almost every single person I make appointment with is not on time!"
    That doesn't say all Irish people are like that, just the ones she's making appointments with:
    Biedronka wrote: »
    It really drives me crazy -almost every single person I make appointment with is not on time!
    People who provide any kind of service and coming to my house, to fix something etc -I try to make appointment with them and I hear -
    between 4-6.. WHAT>??? Are you kiding?I am not going to sit all afternoon and wait for you -forget!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 22,929 ✭✭✭✭ShadowHearth


    I love how any argument or just a little "bitching", turns in to racism fight on AH.

    What happened to old good Irish ways like in father ted? Having a good lough or discussion, without involving this racism ****.

    " I hear you are a racist now, father " !!!


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 156 ✭✭Arfan


    Hi I'm here to fix the OP's plumbing. Sorry I'm a bit late, I was supposed to be here earlier but the traffic was a killer.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,427 ✭✭✭Morag


    Dublin had it's own time zone, it was 25 mins behind london and when it was abolished many irish people objected and did so by turning up 15 to 25 mins late. The Dublin mean time was calculated from the Dunsink Astronomical Observatory and was changed after the events of the 1916 easter rising as the time difference caused issues with the deployment of troops and getting the gunboat up the river.


    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dublin_Mean_Time

    UTC−00:25 was used in Ireland as Dublin Mean Time.

    Dublin Mean Time was introduced by the Statutes (Definition of Time) Act, 1880,[1] which also defined Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) as legal time in Great Britain. This Act replaced local mean time, which had been held to be the legal time since Curtis v. March in 1858, throughout the United Kingdom.

    From 2 am Dublin Mean Time on Sunday 1 October 1916 the Time (Ireland) Act, 1916[2] changed the time used in Ireland to be the same as that used in Great Britain, both during Summer Time and at other times.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,279 ✭✭✭Lady Chuckles


    Sharrow wrote: »
    Dublin had it's own time zone, it was 25 mins behind london and when it was abolished many irish people objected and did so by turning up 15 to 25 mins late.

    That would certainly explain a lot of things... :rolleyes: :pac:


  • Registered Users Posts: 248 ✭✭07438991


    Biedronka wrote: »
    So, why is this so difficult for most of you? It really drives me crazy -almost every single person I make appointment with is not on time!
    People who provide any kind of service and coming to my house, to fix something etc -I try to make appointment with them and I hear -
    between 4-6.. WHAT>??? Are you kiding?I am not going to sit all afternoon and wait for you -forget!
    This happens all over again
    -with delivery man, plumbers, electricians, babysitter.
    I thought its recesion and people should really care about their customers, but no -they just dont care, there are busy, they alway have exuse!
    From now on I will not let in anybody who is over 5 minutes late, thats it. :mad:

    I completely understand what you mean but there is a reasonable explanation for this...

    Will wb to your message between 12-5pm Tuesday; until then just sit and wait for me to get around to you... :D


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  • Registered Users Posts: 110 ✭✭adomino


    Snakeblood wrote: »
    it was a peeved observation about how timekeeping doesn't seem to be as important to the Irish people who she makes appointments with (so she has a group she has experienced this with). She's not making things up, she's not calling anyone a horrible name, insulting an entire nation or doing anything wrong. The reason this has gone on as long as it has is because people notice she's foreign, and give her **** over her right to insult Ireland and its Irish people.

    she was generalising and imo had the cheek to (sure whats new)

    get over yourself mate and don't be so angry :cool:


  • Registered Users Posts: 110 ✭✭adomino




  • Closed Accounts Posts: 37,214 ✭✭✭✭Dudess


    adomino wrote: »
    Snakeblood wrote: »
    it was a peeved observation about how timekeeping doesn't seem to be as important to the Irish people who she makes appointments with (so she has a group she has experienced this with). She's not making things up, she's not calling anyone a horrible name, insulting an entire nation or doing anything wrong. The reason this has gone on as long as it has is because people notice she's foreign, and give her **** over her right to insult Ireland and its Irish people.

    she was generalising and imo had the cheek to (sure whats new)

    get over yourself mate and don't be so angry :cool:
    Why should he get over himself? That's his view which he's entitled to. I don't like attacks on Irish people or any people, or Irish self loathing, but the OP is simply regaling her experiences. And while there are collective good aspects to any culture, there are also collective bad ones. Pointing one out with back-up is not the same as attacking a people. If the OP experiences much more poor time-keeping in Ireland than in Poland, so be it. I'd well believe it. Things are laid-back here and it's great, but not always.
    If the OP said "Irish people are bad time-keepers, nobody else is" it would be unreasonable, but all she's saying is that she sees a more prevalent pattern of it here than elsewhere. Offence is not intended.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,688 ✭✭✭Kasabian


    Biedronka wrote: »
    So, why is this so difficult for most of you? It really drives me crazy -almost every single person I make appointment with is not on time!
    People who provide any kind of service and coming to my house, to fix something etc -I try to make appointment with them and I hear -
    between 4-6.. WHAT>??? Are you kiding?I am not going to sit all afternoon and wait for you -forget!
    This happens all over again
    -with delivery man, plumbers, electricians, babysitter.
    I thought its recesion and people should really care about their customers, but no -they just dont care, there are busy, they alway have exuse!
    From now on I will not let in anybody who is over 5 minutes late, thats it. :mad:

    Have your expected appointments turned up?

    If they have can the thread be closed, it is well over due.


  • Registered Users Posts: 8,207 ✭✭✭The King of Moo


    I think the reason for the strong reactions in this thread is not because people disagree that we're not the best at timekeeping. I'm sure if you look at the "What you hate about Irish people" thread it's mentioned there, and well-thanked to boot.

    The reason is humans have a knee-jerk defence mechanism which allows us to freely criticise things we feel attached to, but makes us unable to accept criticisms about them from others.

    It's the same with family: if I said to my friend "My brother's such an idiot!" I'd get pretty annoyed if my friend agreed.

    I'll admit that my instinctive reaction to the original post was to get defensive and say to myself "Oh yeah!? Well, if you don't like it..." and argue that we're not the only culture with this attitude (which I still maintain!).

    But the thing is that I knew right away that I agreed with the OP, and that she was just as entitled to make her point as any of us.

    If anything, people should be happy that she's engaged with our culture to the extent that she can recognise this trait.
    I always read and hear people complaining about foreigners not engaging with Irish culture, always sticking with their own compatriots and speaking their native language.

    But here we have someone who's engaged enough with our way of doing things to have married one of us, observed us enough to notice out general cultural traits, and craziest of all, come on here to talk to us!

    So I say criticise our poor timekeeping all you want!


  • Registered Users Posts: 110 ✭✭adomino


    Dudess wrote: »
    Why should he get over himself?

    get over being angry, oh hold on... he wasn't :rolleyes:


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 71 ✭✭Biedronka


    To all the people who think "how dare she come here, live and complain", I just want to make something clear for you:

    -there is even more things I don't like about polish people habbits and every time I've heard any foreigner saying something or complaining about one of those things I was never upset or accusing this person of having something against Poland or polish people in general - I was only saying that I agree and I think this is annoying and should change!
    I don' understand your reactions -is this because you are so sensitive about what people (foreigners) think about you, or is it because you think I shouldnt have anything to say because I don;t belong here in your opinion anyway?
    I really don't get it!
    By the way -this happened again today:D (somebody was going to come and collect something I bought online recently and didnt like between 1-4, now is 4.06 -nobody showed up. It was 4 hours they had. :rolleyes:


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,619 ✭✭✭LaVail


    I agree it's annoying when people don't keep appointments but on the flip side I have a mate and everything has to be so precise with him..."see you at 08.04am" "I was cruising around the town in my jeep yesterday at 63kph" I mean come on man, stop being so f*****g anal about it :mad:


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 71 ✭✭Biedronka


    LaVail wrote: »
    "see you at 08.04am"

    That is strange time to make appointment at. :pac: Why not at least 08.05!?


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,619 ✭✭✭LaVail


    Biedronka wrote: »
    That is strange time to make appointment at. :pac: Why not at least 08.05!?

    That's what I'm saying :D

    Same guy doesn't like waiting even for 30 seconds but could keep you waiting on him for 30 mins.

    Oh dear.


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