I live in Poland & can confirm that cash payment might be an issue. They don't refuse cash yet, but I am frequently asked whether I can pay with card with the claim that they do not have enough change which might be true considering that almost everybody prefers to pay with card.
Regarding ATM's, we also noticed that they are getting fewer and fewer.
You live in one of the larger cities? I was almost everywhere from Sczeczyn to Gdansk, Poznan to Warsaw, Krakow, to Wroclaw,… Warsaw was the worst for cash, but other than that it was really ok… not any worse than in Czechia and we hold strong position on cash - we also endured Communism, as well as you, Poles.
I think it is more related to age, older people still pay with cash, but young ones do not even use card, they just use their phone (google pay or apple pay).
