People ask me, sometimes before they ask anything else, what language we can do this in.
The honest answer is two. Polish. English. That is the work I actually do.
I live in Haarlem. The desk is here, in the Netherlands. The person on the other end is often already tired before they start the sentence. The last thing they need is to hunt for words in a language that is not theirs. If Polish is easier, we do it in Polish. If English is easier, we do it in English. I will meet you there.
I am not going to give you a row of flags. I am not going to invent a little chart. Two languages. Daily. That is the whole announcement.
Wanna know more. Fine.
What the day actually sounds like
I have loved customer service for a long time. I always did. This part — the language part — is not something I added on top of the job. It is how the day sounds. Someone writes. I open the mail. I hear them before I answer, even on a screen. Are they tight. Are they trying to be polite while they are angry. Did they already explain this twice to someone who did not stay. I take that in. Then I answer in the language they used, unless they asked me to switch.
That sounds small. It is not small.
When you are frustrated, you should not also have to perform. You should not have to make your problem prettier in a second language so that a company can file it. People don’t want to be managed or processed. They want to be understood. Understanding starts with the words they already have.
I stay calm when others panic. That is easier when I am not also translating myself in my head, and it is easier for them when they are not translating either. I listen. I see the situation. I own the outcome. I come back. The language is the door. The work is what I do after I walk through it.
There are days — many days — when someone writes in Polish at a time that is already too late in their own evening. The order. The login. The thing that should have been simple. They are not rude. They are done. I write back in Polish. I use their name. I repeat what they asked in their words, not in ours. I say what I can do tonight, and what has to wait until morning, and I do not hide behind a portal. They do not have to become a different person to be helped. That is the job.
English is the same muscle. A call. A pause. The person searching for the polite version of this is broken and I need you. I do not rush that pause. I let them land. Then I talk like a human. Not a script. Not a brochure. If I cannot do it today, I say so. If I can, I do it. I follow through until it is actually resolved.
I treat every one of those conversations as if it matters, because it does. That combination — real care, personal responsibility, and the language they already live in — is how a difficult moment becomes a smooth one. It is not something I learned from a manual. It is how I naturally operate. Honestly. Directly. With full commitment.
I will not invent the rest
I will not pretend I do this work in every language that happens to live in the Netherlands. I will not decorate a CV with stars I cannot defend on a call. Polish and English. If you need something else, I will tell you that too, instead of smiling and guessing.
Haarlem is home. I like that people can find me here and still speak the way they speak at the kitchen table. Some of them are Polish and have been here for years and still think faster in Polish when something goes wrong. Some of them work in English all day and want the problem in English so it stays exact. I do not correct that. I join it.
A first week with a client has a language too. If we start in Polish, we do not randomly switch to English in week two because a template did. If we start in English, I do not drag you into Polish because it is easier for me. The first week is a person, not a process. I already wrote about that. Language belongs in that week. It is part of not disappearing.
Orders, vendors, the clock — that work has a language. Someone is waiting. They already told their own customer a date. If I update them in a language they have to decode, I have made the wait worse. I tell the truth in the language they can use at twenty to five on a Friday. Late is late. Then we fix the next step. Panic does not move a backorder. Neither does a paragraph they have to reread three times.
When something breaks and there is no script, I still start with their words. I repeat what I think I heard. I narrow it. I try it. I fix it. I check that it helped them, not only the system. That is troubleshooting. It does not get easier if I also make them act as their own interpreter.
And if we are talking about a CV, because people do: I list Polish and English because those are the ones I use at the desk. I do not invent the rest. If you write a CV for this job, do the same. Put the languages you can actually work in. The person hiring you will hear it the first time someone is loud on the line.
How you can write to me
You send a mail to info@kozdrach.com. Polish or English. You do not need a subject line that sounds like a ticket. You can just say what is going on. I read it as if it matters. I answer. If I need something from you, I ask for that one thing, not a list. If I need to check, I say I will check, and I come back. Within a day.
If you call, you will get voicemail first. Leave your name, your company if you have one — skip that if you are a private person — why you are calling, and a number I can actually use. I will call you back. In the language that fits.
I do not dump twelve links on you and call it done. I do not celebrate a closed ticket as if you are finished. I stay. That is the honest version of client service, in any language I actually speak at work.
If you want the rest of the desk, it is here. How a first week starts with a person. How an order moves when someone is waiting. What troubleshooting without a script sounds like. And if you are putting this on paper, how I write a CV for this job. All of it is the same person. This page is only the part people ask before they ask anything else.
I’m Patrycja Kozdrach. Nice to meet you. In whichever of the two feels easier.
How can I help you today?
I won’t sell you a poem. Customer service is hard. If you want someone who stays calm when it gets loud, and still treats the person like a person — write to info@kozdrach.com. I am in Haarlem. I reply.
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