Sacre Bleu!

I've lamented upon this subject in the past, so I shan't beat a dead horse over the subject. Or in this case, beat a dead beret. Or croissant. Or bottle of champagne. You get the idea.

I'm not hating on France itself. I've several French friends. Mon amis. However, there are those stereotypical arrogant and rude French people. As was the case last night.

I bartend at a French restaurant named after a French city. (Marseille.) We have one person who speaks French, whom was not present. A couple came in and sat at the bar. I greeted them and they immediately start jabbering on in French. I maybe picked up one word. I apologized and said I didn't speak French and tried to explain that I would try to find someone. Before I could even finish, they got pissed off. The man yells in English, "THIS IS MARSEILLE!"

Yeah.

I tried to explain again that I would try to find someone. I turn to help others and the couple huffed off. Other customers witnessed this and commented on how they acted like assholes.

I mean, I don't walk into a fucking McDonald's and ask for Shamus O'Hara to come help me! And by their logic (that everyone in a French restaurant should speak French), if I were to go to an Italian restaurant in Paris, they would all speak Italian. As they say in France..."IDIOT!"

I'm sympathetic that they didn't speak much English. Be humble and ask for help. Learn basic words. Don't come in all arrogant and expect to be helped in your way. Not surprised they ran off like they did. What with the history of surrender. OH! ZING! MON DIEU! Our recently deceased Captain America had something to say about that in The Ultimates #12 awhile back.

An enemy thinks he's beating Cap and asks for him to surrender. In the pic over there, Cap replies: "You think this letter on my head stands for France?!"

Oh, Cap! You cut to the quick! If only he had been at my bar last night. He would have put those arrogant fucks in their place.

Remember, kids. If you're traveling. Learn a little something about the culture, the language, the people, etc. Maybe you'll be much better received and have a nicer, less difficult time. If not, then I'll send Captain America to kick your ass.

Comments

[Chiarascura]

The most ridiculous thing is that this is usually the French people's complaint about Americans - that they come to Paris without bothering to learn a few token words and then expect everyone to speak English.

BTW, is it totally lame that the first thing I thought of after "This is Marseille!" was "This! Is! SPARTAAAA!"

[jimmy]

ha! i just saw 300 for the 2nd time! re-reading this post, i thought the same thing! :)