This is from First Post.

http://tinyurl.com/2dc5lf

Great article and well-written.
I have never come across First Post before - looks great.
Thank you.

I agree wholeheartedly, especially about the shopping. We once requested information about a watch at Breguet at the Place Vendome. They showed us various models, gave us chocolates and cofee (my son a glass of orange juice) took us even downstairs to their watch museum and gave us a thick catalogue. We were only making enquiries (albeit very specific) and they were eager to please. Six months later we phoned them beforehand and they had the watch ready for us to pick up.

What a bunch of rubbish IMO and experience. The myth is not a myth to me and to my French in-laws who readily say the French are often rude to each other in shops, etc.

And the bit about Parisians consume more tranqulizers than anyone else - the proof of this is lacking or could be a myth in itself.

I can go into a long litany of encountering rudeness in Paris shops, at tourist offices, cafes, etc. and i do not act like an Ugly American - in fact was passive when these things happened.

I walk into a metro (rapt) info office in a station to pick up a map - but when i did not immediately say 'Bonjour Madame' the young lady clerk lit into me saying in French very rudely "You come into an office and don't say hello?'

well though i've been in Paris for weeks and weeks on a time and have French in-laws i spend lots of time with i didn't realize this was a strict custom and i still seeth at this impetulant clerk's reaction - especially in an information office.

And this is not an isolated incident.

I'm not saying all are rude, not nearly and most are pleasant but to say the myth of Parisians being rude is baseless i doth take issue with.

The article sounds like everything's kumbayoo (sp?) but it's a load of BS really.

Yes in upscale shops they could be extremely polite but not nearly in other places and it's a French tradition, say my French frieds and not some anti-American thing.

My son grew up in France and is now studying here - he went back last Christmas and he said right at the airport he picked up the French impoliteness.

I expect to be skewered by others here but i firmly think this article, making Parisians sound like being Uber polite, is a bunch of rubbish.

Perhaps the OP's heading ahould be amended to say...
"One writer's take on one aspect of Paris merchandizing which s/he has generalized [which is bound to cause controversy and who out there wants to jump in first?]"

Who said PalQ or whatever name is in use today didn't have an opinion about anything?

In forty-odd years of visiting Paris, I've never:
- patronised anywhere posh, or
- encountered a nanosecond's rudeness from anyone.
Fallowell is describing the city perfectly

Now normally, I'd dismiss anything by him: he does rather epitomise the old American "effete snob" cliche.

But one thing the old roue is NOT doing is generalising from one example. He certainly knows the city a very great deal better than previous posters on this thread.

Another load of rubbish from the Cotswolds IMO

I agree that the French are universally though as rude and arrogant, it is not an American thing. The rest of Europe also thinks this way...

any briton who does not think the french are rude (and not complain endlessly about them) needs to surrender his passport. this is an outrage. next we'll be reading warm fuzzies about the germans? my gosh, what's happening here? are all british values disappearing? it's much worse than i thought.

Is it because I live in NYC that I agree, Parisians don't seem particularly "rude" to me? There are cultural differences everywhere. A friend of mine who lives in Madrid says he loves the Spanish, but "friendly" in the American sense? No. They are more aloof, and private.

We all are capable of the cultural - not to mention linguistic - faux pas. I remember a cute little desk clerk correcting my French as I checked into my hotel. She did it with a smile and I appreciated it, because without the correction I'd keep making the same mistake. By the end of the week she and her sister were asking me for help with their English. In Paris, as elsewhere, there are many people who are unimpressed with Americans in general, and many others who gravitate to us. (The French/British relationship is another matter, famous the world over.)

At worst I'd describe the prevalent Parisian attitude as "indifferent" - in the US we expect people to "like" us until we give them a reason not to. In many other places, the norm is to reserve judgment until far later.

Wherever I am, I consider that the only people whose job it is to "make me happy" are the ones being paid - by me - to do so: hotel staff, anyone selling me something, etc. But making me happy does not mean kissing my face - or my posterior.

Yes, I know a Frenchman or two who finds his countrymen cold after spending time in the US.

It is good to remember that in spite of what we see int he movies, the average Parisian does not speak English, or at least not well. Many do, of course, but many more do not. My French is poor to bad, but my rule of thumb when approaching someone for information or service is to say first, "Pardonnez moi", and then ask "Parlez-vous l'anglais ?" This seems to me common courtesy in any culture.

The truth is that when away from home we all - including Europeans - can let the insecurity of language and culture throw us a bit and that leads to locals (whether in France, Fiji or Florida) sometimes getting pretty weary of the invading hoards of tourists. It becomes a viscious circle - which reminds me that sometimes the best thing to pack is an attitude that says "vive la difference" and stop worrying whether the local people are going to be "nice." Sometimes they really are, and sometimes they are having a national bad day.

(By the way, those who want their French to feel more like home should just go to Canada. French-speaking Canadians may have their problems with English-speaking Canadians, but not so with Americans. Canadians in general seem to combine the warmth of US Americans with the manners of the English - not a bad combination.)

Flanner, if your remark is meant for me then I suggest you come right out and say so...I am beginning to think that passive aggressive behavior is something you've gotten down to an art form.

I've met with plenty of rude behaviour in Paris, much (though not all) of it perpetrated by local residents. Most people in Paris just accept it as a way of life - they don't take it personally and, whenever possible, treat like with like.

It's definitely a fact of life there, though.

Sorry Walkinaround but as a Scot the "auld alliance" still holds true. Never encountered anything but pleasant service on my many trips to both Paris and elsewhere in France. Just lucky I guess. Quite like the Germans too!

I've never encountered any rudeness *buying* things in France. But *returning* stuff we've bought, esp. for cash--well that can be another story. Usually it goes ok, if we've discussed beforehand whether something can be returned AND the same staffer is on hand when we come back. OTOH, I once bought a shirt for DH, with many assurance that bien sur, madame, it could be returned if it didn't fit. It didn't. When I brought it back, the salesclerk was quite sniffy that I hadn't refolded and repinned it EXACTLY as it was when I'd bought it and that there was a tear (gasp!) in the cellophane wrapper the shirt had originally come in.

Or like when i bought some peanuts in the shell at a small grocery only to find later that they were all rotten - inedible. When i went back to the same clerk who sold them he refused in no polite terms that that's too bad - get out of here.

Pal - maybe you missed the byline to the article

"Parisians are cordial – unless you’re a thicko"

One would have to wonder why PalenQ even bothers dealing with the French, and what he is doing to be so badly treated.

<The myth of the rude Parisians - I've not met a single one!>

To say anything like this shows that he is Thicko - and shows unlike flanner says simply has not gotten around Paris much and no doubt fulfills flanner's bluster about "American 'effete snob'" stereotype and unfair generalization as he, and flanner no doubt moves in such effete snob circles that no would you never see rudeness in those circles - this shows neither has really gotten out of the nose-in-the-air cacoons they must be in when in Paris.

Get out into the real town and you would never ever make the stupid statement "I've never met a rude Parisian"

him: he does rather epitomise the old American "effete snob" cliche.

He certainly knows the city a very great deal better than previous posters on this thread.

"I've never encountered any rudeness *buying* things in France. But *returning* stuff we've bought, esp. for cash--well that can be another story. "

BTilke, I definitely agree! Most of my Parisian customer service "horror" stories come from trying to return or exchange something broken or faulty...

I don't think the Parisians are extraordinarily rude - they are just a bit up their own asses.

The rudest people I have encountered in Europe are the Bruxellois - by a long chalk.