Rude? Mais Non!

I am baffled by the ongoing complaints about rude French waiters and rude French people. In 20 days we spent in France in July, the people we met were unfailingly friendly, charming and helpful. I can name half a dozen people who stopped what they were doing to point out directions to us, or even show us the way. Complete strangers were happy to recommend a charcuterie. And charcuterie employees offered to heat food for us, even though this verbal exchange required a tremendous struggle, as my French is limited and appalling.

Now, I’m just guessing here, but I wonder if the American we saw in a starred restaurant in Dijon who was wearing sweatpants and athletic shoes, and then pulled out a cell phone at his table, is one of those tourists who encounters rudeness. The French seem to still honor the notion of a social contract, e.g. when you go to a good restaurant, you wear your good clothes and are on your good behavior.

Finally, I wonder if tourists who encounter rudeness suffer from a theme-park notion that everyone in France is in the employ of a French tourism board and is at their service to ensure that they have a really good time in France. Certainly few Americans on their home turf display such an attitude.

KITTY BLASSEY

Upland