<i>

News
World news
France

French cafe offers discounts to polite customers
Sign outside Côte d'Azur establishment lists price of coffee as €7 but 'Bonjour, un café, s'il vous plaît' costs only €1.40

Share 9068
13
Email

Kim Willsher in Paris
The Guardian, Wednesday 11 December 2013 13.28 GMT
Jump to comments (277)

The menu outside the Petite Syrah in Nice
The menu outside the Petite Syrah in Nice. Photograph: NiceMatin Resistance via Twitter

A cafe on the French Riviera has gained international notoriety after reminding customers to mind their manners.

What started as a local joke generated an internet buzz this week after a diner tweeted the sign outside the Petite Syrah in Nice on the Côte d'Azur.

In an attempt to turn the tables on customers who complain that serving staff are rude, the manager warned he would hit impolite customers where it hurts, in the pocket.

A sign outside the establishment states:
"Un café - €7 [£5.90]
"Un café s'il vous plaît - €4.25
"Bonjour, un café, s'il vous plaît - €1.40."</i>

http://www.theguardian.com/world/201...lice-customers.

Having lit the blue touchpaper, I shall now retire to a safe distance.....

Oops didn't mean to copy all that much.

Hey! We're not yet finished with tipping the chambermaid; some of us don't multitask very well.

turnabout is fair play

I guess that's a good idea. At least it will inform travelers that saying "Bonjour" is very important to the French.

I know my only really rude experiences in Paris were because I didn't properly greet the shop worker when I walked in. It took me awhile to figure out why.

It is not actually a discount -- it is a way to avoid a surcharge.

There's am identical sign in a bar near where I live, in Le Marche. In Italian, of course.

These French! First they stole the Mona Lisa, then they stole Carla Bruni, now they're stealing our jokes. We'll let them keep Carla Bruni though.

I am ok with this.

I love it.

I've seen a similar sign here in Lisbon. Clearly the French AND the Italians must have stolen the idea from the Portuguese!

But €1,40 for a coffee? I think our "Bom Dia, um cafe, obrigado" price was only €0,60

I think that is a great idea.

I think it's great and hopefully some tourists will get the point.

It never fails to amaze me how tourists often make no attempt to understand the culture in the places they visit.

This points out a basic difference in what is considered good manners and what is not in various countries.

In France, being polite is very important. One I find difficult to get used to is the Greek way. If you phone someone they will answer with 'horista'. Which means 'what do you want?' It's also often said in a somewhat agressive tone rather than a pleasant, mellow tone if you know what I mean. Going into a bakery for a loaf of bread and you get greeted by 'horista'. Total opposite approach indeed.

But the point is, you could go in to that bakery and just say, 'psomi' (bread) and not be considered impolite. Or in the case of this topic, 'ena nes' (one nescafe). No polite greetings required before 'bonjour' or after, 's'il vous plait' required.

The 'ena nes' would of course be in a kafenion (coffee shop), not in a bakery. ;-)

Ha, and there's me carefully rehearsing my "Kali mera, to miso kilo tomates, parakalo".

I didn't read it as only being aimed at tourists? There would be rude locals too I'd imagine.

I like this blog and this is appropriate in the context
http://separatedbyacommonlanguage.bl...bel/politeness

Missprism, thank you for introducing me to that blog.

cathies.. I read it same way.
The Guardian story says the sign was mostly aimed at people who rush in for lunch in a hurry. That sounds more like locals on a short lunch break than the typical tourist..

Hey PL,

One more example of the general lessening of standards.

PS,

1.4 euro for coffee, at the bar?