My Polish Friend

I was speaking to one of the guys at my workplace who is originally from Poland. Last week he worked 72 hours just to earn enough to stay in his Aberdeen flat and pay for his transport to work. He was telling me how back in Poland he was a qualified teacher at a secondary school and taught students Polish but because Poland is in such a state, in his words "a disaster" there was no way he could survive in Poland as a teacher.

I work for a well known supermarket chain and this guy is the Security guard at the place. He said that if people back home in Poland were working on the checkouts doing full time hours they would be earning £120 a month which is not enough to survive whereas in the UK if you are working it is possible to pay rent, food, bills on the basic minimum wage (only just, in his case).

It sort of sounds a bit sad when i hear things like this and part of me just wanted to help him out in any way i could. Maybe he just wanted to talk to someone. He has no friends and family over here and is always working. 3 days of the last month he has had off just to do his thing, whatever this may be.

To think there are thousands of people who are hard working out there who just want to have a secure life like this guy. He studied, he got the qualifications he needed to become a teacher, yet he is now working silly amounts of hours in another country doing a job he probably doesn't want to do just to make enough to survive here to do the same thing over and over and over while also helping out his wife and children when he can afford to.