.... are you going to be jerks or not?! Over the past two days, I had one very GOOD and one very BAD experience with French people. Here's what happened:
On Monday, after a long day of French class and a sketchbook review, my roommate Brittany and I decided to go out to dinner. We forgot that most restaurants shut down on Mondays, so we were only able to eat at this one rather touristy restaurant (it was called "Garden Café Ice" and the whole menu was translated in English). Our waiter was very nice, and the food ended up being pretty good, but we had to ask three times for water (just tap water!) but it never came. In France, or at least around Paris, it is actually illegal to not offer water and bread at a restaurant. There was almost no one else in the restaurant, so this guy clearly did not forget. He knew we were American and decided to leave us dying of thirst, and therefore very angry. Only now do I appreciate America's system for tipping waiters -- because in France, if they don't have to work for that 20% tip, they're not going to! Brittany and I spent the entire walk home venting about what we would have said, and how we could have made a scene, if we had spoken better French. What's even worse is that we had to tip the guy 20 cents because we didn't have enough change. What a ripoff.
So as of yesterday morning, my illusions about France -- my belief that the bad stereotypes couldn't be true -- were shattered. I realized, Oh my goodness. Everyone is right. French people are arrogant and stupid.
BUT then last night I had a mini-crisis when I needed to buy a new charger for my Mac laptop. The only legitimate Apple store in Paris is in the Louvre, so as soon as I could after school I got on the RER train and got off at the Musée d'Orsay stop. I was sprinting towards the Louvre with my heavy backpack at this point, because the train had been slow and it was 7:45pm (the store closed at 8). I arrived at the pyramid entrance, but it was closed; so I ran around the other side, but the other entrance was closed; so finally I found some random dude and asked him in broken French where I could get in. I guess the Louvre museum and the Louvre shopping mall entrances are separate, so he showed me the correct side entrance. I seriously got into the Mac store around 7:58... but everyone working there was SO HELPFUL nevertheless! There were 5 guys trying to figure out what to do, and they ended up giving me a charger for free without even verifying that I had insurance on my laptop. Even better, I navigated the entire conversation in French!
So thank you, Mac people. You are my favorite French people ever. (I was actually surprised that they were French at all... I was hoping for some Californians.) For the time being, my opinion of French people is remaining neutral.
I actually got a new Mac charger the other day too--and also for free! Mark told me initially that they'd just give me a new one for free, but I didn't want to believe him...I mean, that's a $84 charger, how could they just hand it over like that?! But, lo and behold, I go in there, show there my charger cord started melting (yes MELTING lol...can you say "safety hazard"?!), and the guy was super sweet and told me he'd just give me a new one. I guess Apple compassion is universal! :D
ReplyDelete...can't say the same for that waiter who wouldn't give you water, sheesh! Make a scene next time! ;)
You know that waiter probably DID speak English and just chose not to. So next time you get treated this way, go ahead and insult and complain in loud English. No doubt he'll understand. "It's a good thing our arrogant, rude waiter isn't smart enough to speak English or he would understand that we are #@!! unhappy to be treated like #&!!$ and we are going to tell everyone we know in America never to come to this ?!$#! stupid cafe with the rude waiter again! It will be all over the internet in 20 minutes! Muahahahahahah!"
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