Rude surprise: French fed up with own incivility

KOMO News ^ | July 27, 2012 | THOMAS ADAMSON

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

PARIS (AP) - It's a July evening on the terrace of the legendary Cafe Flore. A coiffed woman sips chilled wine, another savors her chocolate eclair.

The one thing to complete a perfect picture of Parisian life? A dash of French rudeness.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

In related news, France continues to not want me to vacation there. Works for me.

[RC2]

I was in Paris once, will never go back. I had a rude waiter and we told him to take his food and stick it where the sun don’t shine. We left and went some place else.

[Talisker]

Sharia will fix it.

Karma can be a bitch.

[expat2]

Incivility is an urban thing, prevalent in big cities everywhere, and probably due to their overcrowding. There is the old joke about the Canadian tourists in New York. One of them goes up to a New Yorker to ask for directions: “Could you tell me which way to the Empire State building — or should I just go f— myself?”

[samtheman]

Overpriced and overrated.

[omega4179]

I think I will go order some Freedom Fries at McDonald’s

[expat2]

I have been to Paris many times and only ever had one rude waiter. I persevered with him and he ended up giving me a liqueur at the end of the meal.

[jdsteel]

I misread the title at first; I thought it said INVINCIBILITY. Thought it was some kind of joke!

[kabumpo]

A silly article, the equivalent of one that writes about New Yorkers to represent Americans. And it ignores the fact that for more than a century, Paris has been overrun with rowdy, druken tourists - and then there were two German occupations.
The French, even the Parisians, are wonderful when you get to know them. Remember that Paris for more than a century was the international capital of the arts and of modernism, and that was in part because Paris welcomed, and made space for, artists and writers who could not find a place in their own countries.
I consider that to be more than hospitable.

[wideawake]

As a New Yorker, you learn at an early age that nine out of ten people who approach you on the street with a friendly smile are trying to scam you in one way or another. Hence the default curtness with strangers.

[vbmoneyspender]

I’ll bet if the French created a new government cotillion bureau all of these problems would go away.

[tumblindice]

“French fed up with own incivility ..”

Can you surrender to yourself?

[The KG9 Kid]

I suppose that I seem to only meet the polite people in Paris, and every Parisian I encountered was really friendly and interested that I was vacationing there and wanted to know what I thought of France and their nation's capital.

Paris has still got to be the world's most magnificent city. I can't wait to return. Only one world city astonished me at every turn like Paris did, and that's New York City. Until you see the landmarks of Paris with your own eyes, no photographs can do them justice. I also admired how no Frenchwoman would dare go out in public for any reason without dressing to look her best.

I did whisper to my wife several times in the Metropolitain subway that I was taller than everyone on the train. Walking through Paris I noticed that I seemed to be taller than almost everyone except other tourists and Africans.

[originalbuckeye]

When visiting Paris in the mid-80’s, we were double charged for our meal at a sidewalk cafe on the Champs Elysees. Lucky my husband spoke French. He saw the scam and spoke in perfect French to the waiter. Problem fixed. But after having lived near LA for 19 years, I almost expect people to be rude or try some criminal act. Sad to say, cities are short on respect for honest people. Life is cheap in SoCal. How do we get back to the nice, wholesome place that America used to be?

[Chode]

paris is simply trading on the beauty of centuries old architecture without which, even the french wouldn't live there...

[X-spurt]

Exactly!
What the hell do the French have that we should expend our effort, blood and treasure to protect from muslims? Nothing!
The French and the muslims deserve each other.

[a fool in paradise]

But Paris's public transport authority is leading the fight-back in a summer-long publicity campaign against rudeness. Billboards depicting Frenchmen with animal heads have dominated metro stations; they target passengers who are rude to staff and push and shove. "If you shove five people getting onboard," the posters say, "it won't make us set off faster." Bus ads read: "One bonjour doesn't cost a penny, and it changes your day."

I'm SHOCKED!

[a fool in paradise]

"We used humor to not be moralistic," says Isabelle Ockrent, RATP communications director.

Because if there is anything French Socialists don't like, it's MORALS.

[Winstons Julia]

I visited Paris quite a bit in the 80’s. I found many of the Parisians to be needlessly rude. I was attempting to speak French, but that didn’t seem to matter.

You are correct in that tourists can be rude, but we were not rude.

Some say that the French got their noses out of joint BECAUSE they were the center of law and culture, but those days are past.

Outside of Paris, I found French people to be more friendly, though still quite reserved.

I would still recommend visiting the country, as it is so interesting.

[Exit148]

Another —”one of the many ways France is changing” -— most of the names in the article are not French names.

Is the attitude the same in the rest of the country, or is it just Paris? (similar to a New York City attitude?)