I’m preparing for another short trip to Gdańsk (Poland), so instead of my usual Scandinavian rants, today I’m in the mood for something Gdańsk-related.

I still remember the sourpuss ladies at the Warsaw Tourist Office. And the even grumpier women working the desk at the Warsaw Royal Castle. What a bunch of meanies! When my traveling companion asked for a book in Japanese (to purchase, not just to look at), the woman behind the counter made a series of nasty comments to her co-worker. She didn’t realize that I could understand her. And because I despise racists and she was definitely one, I gave her a piece of my mind. It wasn’t pleasant.

So imagine my surprise when I dashed into the tourist office in Gdańsk about 3 minutes before closing time. I didn’t expect much. I had many questions and needed all sorts of really ridiculous info – like where the natives go for Chinese food and where to get a good but reasonable haircut on a Sunday. There was one other customer in there besides me. The lady behind the counter, who judging by her Coke-bottle glasses must have been legally blind, was patiently explaining something to him in German. About opera tickets, I gathered. The German seemed very pleased with the info he received and left.

Then she noticed me and immediately rattled off a greeting in three different languages, none of them being Polish. She didn’t smile, but it didn’t really matter. After hearing me out, she went about searching for the appropriate information with something very close to surgical precision. She didn’t seem to mind it was already after closing time and that a lost and confused group of Spaniards just walked in.

The tourist office lady prepared a massive bag of books and brochures for me, and even asked in what languages I wanted my materials. Then she excused herself and went to help the Spanish group. Turned out they were in Gdańsk only for one day, but decided to stay for the whole weekend. They needed a place to sleep. The woman actually asked what their budget was and then proceeded to give them their choices.

Up until that day I had heard only bad things about customer service in Poland. So, I just stood there with my mouth open, not quite sure if what I was witnessing was real. But in fact, during my brief stay in Gdańsk, I received nothing but excellent customer service from everybody – from hospitality workers to government officials. I explained it to the nearly blind tourist office employee and asked about her opinion. She said something along the lines of: “How they do it in Warsaw or Kraków is none of our business. In Gdańsk we’re trying to do it right.”

And Gdańsk – you’re definitely doing it right.
The tourist office I visited is located at 45 Długa Street nearby the famous Neptune Fountain. Now if they could only do something with the English version of their website, I would be really pleased.