analogue

<b>French authorities close doors on best baguette.</b>

I don't understand the title of this thread. The bakery can open 6 days a week. Surely that is enough for people to be able to buy this bread if they want it.

FrenchMystiqueTours

Man, I need to get a job where if I worked 52 days a year I could gross 250,000 euros. This bartending gig I've got just isn't cutting it, although we are open 7 days a week.

rialtogrl

Right? 4807 euros a day selling baguettes? I am in the wrong business!

Nikki

"you are also agreeing that everybody has an identical right to criticize all of the business laws in your own country."

I have no particular beef with this French law, but I don't see how that has any bearing on the right to criticize. Posters here regularly criticize US laws, customs, and the fact the the US operates under its original constitution. They have that right, of course, as do people to disagree with them. I find these discussions enlightening.

What I find disturbing is the generalization that all Americans or any other group believe one thing or another or are dense or superficial or whatever.

Michael

<i> If an artist wishes to paint and sell his paintings seven days a week</i>

He can enjoy painting, he just can't sell seven days a week.

I believe that another reason for the law is to protect employees--and that would be particularly true of small businesses who might not have enough employees to set up a rotation to cover all the days. It seems that your social conscience was on vacation for this particular thread.

northie

I wish our stores would go back to 6 1/2 days a week opening. Why do we need all this time to shop? when my father was a baker he worked 5 days a week and the recent arrived bakers usually from Italy started baking at weekends and the unions included my father picketed their bakeries. Eventually the laws were changed and now people can have fresh bread 24/7 and shop every day . Don't we realize that there is still only so much money to go around???

IMDonehere

I am an American and and I am so unpatriotic I do not watch the Oscars. I could care less about the 10 best lists and I will take your word for that you do not care abiut best lists except... For maybe how many stars are awarded by the most American company Michelin. Oh, yes what about Gault Millau? So maybe the French do not care about the 10 but maybe the care about the top 2,000.

Yes, the French are always superior about everything, especially about criticizing others while ignoring what goes on in their country.

Robert2533

Frankly, it's not one of my concerns. I know a few other good bakers in Paris.

jtpj777

In my town, bakers close on different days of the week. I enjoy being forced to walk to different ones for my bread.

chartley

" Yes, the French are always superior about everything, especially about criticizing others while ignoring what goes on in their country."

There's a bit of pot and kettle about that, don't you think?

ribeirasacra

"I couldn't imagine tolerating a government that dictates"
Tell me one that does not.
And as for stupid food laws.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddr...chocolate.html
Again the smaller entrepreneur falls on the sward of big business.
I do know that both Cadbury and Hershey are giants. It is the small "niche" shops that will suffer. Plus the consumer.

kerouac

Some people might be wondering what can stay open 7 days a week in France. Restaurants, food stands, bars, cafés, cinemas, theatres, service stations. Those are pretty obvious. But also any place without employees (i.e. family operated). That's why so many little convenience stores are open every day, as well as the little 1 or 2€ bazaar shops. Supermarkets (but not variety stores like Monoprix) can open until 13:00 on Sunday. On my street, there are both a Franprix and a Dia that stay open all day on Sunday, quite clearly illegally, but they have probably filed papers about being 'family operated' by extended Indian families. In the Marais also, the employees of all of the little shops have been told to say that they are cousins or nieces of the owner if anybody asks. Most of Chinatown in the 13th arrondissement is open on Sunday using the same strategy.

There are 7 tourist zones in Paris where <I>most</I> of the shops can be open on Sunday, including the Champs Elysées, some streets of the Marais, rue de Rivoli from Place de la Concorde to the Louvre, the Viaduc des Arts along avenue Daumesnil, and the main tourist section of Montmartre.

A new law is about to be voted which will probably expand to a few more zones. The department stores of Boulevard Haussmann are dearly hoping to be able to open on Sundays. the luxury streets will also probably receive an authorization to open on Sunday: rue du Faubourg Saint Honoré, avenue Montaigne and maybe most of the 'Golden Triangle' in the 8th arrondissement. The government has been hinting that it will be based on the percentage of tax free sales made in certain sectors of the city.

So anyway, things are changing, but there is never a time that everybody will be happy, whether they want things to be open on Sunday or not.

kerouac

I should add that rather than whining, the baker in question could easily sell some of his baguettes to another shop that opens on Sunday for resale.

IMDonehere

" Yes, the French are always superior about everything, especially about criticizing others while ignoring what goes on in their country."

There's a bit of pot and kettle about that, don't you think?
______

I admit my and my countries shortcomings. You?

IMDonehere

Some US cities still have what are called "blue laws." These were laws imposed on the citizenry and commercial establishments die to capricious religious intrusions.

The laws governing liquor are often the subject of all sorts of historical (read: nonsensical) reasons.

kerouac

Like forbidding the sale of alcohol when the polls are open on election day?

chartley

IMdonehere

"I admit my and my countries shortcomings. You?"

I prefer the word "idiosyncrasies" to shortcomings. Or perhaps it is a case of "I have idiosyncrasies; you have shortcomings".

IMDonehere

However you wish to characterize your failures is a matter of euphemisms.
_____________

In NY State for example you are not allowed to sell alcohol on Sunday before 12 PM, as it might interfere with prayer.

In PA, they have package stores to sell liquor to make liquor less attractive.

In Utah, you must join a "private club" in order to drink.

And, of course, Prohibition help create organized crime in the US.

I think North Dakota is a dry state.

There are many other laws governing the use and sale of alcohol.

kerouac

Anyway, the <i>Assemblée Nationale</i> passed the new trading law yesterday that authorizes shops to be open 12 Sundays a year instead of the current 5. Now it has to go to the Senate.

The new law, if finalized, is not an automatic right, though -- the mayor of the town has to approve the opening days. I imagine that most tourist towns will set the extra Sundays during the tourist season, in addition to the Sundays of the month of December.

elizzie4000

<<The Americans love contests and rankings and awards. They consider them a way to reduce the world's complexity. They are crazy for superlatives. Where is Europe's "best" beach? What is the "best" cathedral, the "best" attraction, the "best" village, the "best" wine, the "best" beer, the "best" baguette?>>

<<For Europeans, there can't be anything "best".>>

HA - That would be laugh out loud fumny if it weren't so ridiculous !!

I can't count how many times Europeans come on the USA Forums and ask for the "best" of just about everything. In San Diego they ask "Where can I get the Best fish taco in San Diego?" "Where is the Best beach in San Diego?" "Which is Best to go to. SeaWorld or the Zoo?" "Where can I get the Best Seafood?" "What restaurant has the Best steak?" "Which casino is the Best?" "Where is the Best Outlet Mall?" On and On and On.

In NYC Europeans ask "Which is the Best deli. Katz or Carnegie for the Best Pastrami sandwich?" "Where can I get the Best pizza in NYC?" "Where can I get the Best bagel in NYC?" "Where is the Best Irish Pub in NYC?" "Where can I get to Best hamburger?" "Which steakhouse is the Best?" "I want to try an American breakfast. Who serves the Best breakfast?"

One thing I have never asked in all my trips to Europe, UK, Indonesia, etc. is for the "best" of anything ! The "best" is subjective.

But, in this case it is whatever FRENCH (or European) powers that be that voted this bakery as having the "best" baguette. I feel pretty sure that Americans had nothing at all to do with the vote.