Is it just me?
I know the French are rude, and I am living with it and yes I know it is not wrong just different, but… this takes the cake.
For any of you who may have checked on Unlikely Nomad lately you will see that my daughter and I spent yesterday at the Cite des Sciences in Paris. We did have a great visit and the museum is fabulous. I would highly recommend it …that is except for one thing…
Our visit started inauspiciously enough with a visit to the information centre to scope out the lay of the land. In true French style the ticketing procedure is immensely complicated. Several different combinations of prices for the several different areas of the museum, combined with prices for different age groups, as well as student discounts, under 3 are free and than annual memberships…Ay yi yi!!! Combined with a 4 A.M start, the pre lunch hungries and another language I was just was not getting it.
When I requested a family membership form from the lady at the ticket desk, she became a little nasty and asked me to move aside so she could serve the next person…(Cultural misunderstanding I’m thinking??)
Well…HELLO….I AM the next person!!
A little annoyed none the less I moved aside to fill out the form. Then I made the mistake of asking another question about the annual membership and well…she just lost it. I was standing there just stunned at the diatribe and the angrier she became the less French I was able to understand…
I have never been spoken to so rudely by anyone in a service position in my life and when I asked her if it was in fact her job to answer the questions of the public well…you’d a thought I’d suggested she give the janitor a blow job every night…
OH.MY. GOODNESS.
I know the French are rude, and I am living with it and yes I know it is not wrong just different, but… this takes the cake.
For any of you who may have checked on Unlikely Nomad lately you will see that my daughter and I spent yesterday at the Cite des Sciences in Paris. We did have a great visit and the museum is fabulous. I would highly recommend it …that is except for one thing…
Our visit started inauspiciously enough with a visit to the information centre to scope out the lay of the land. In true French style the ticketing procedure is immensely complicated. Several different combinations of prices for the several different areas of the museum, combined with prices for different age groups, as well as student discounts, under 3 are free and than annual memberships…Ay yi yi!!! Combined with a 4 A.M start, the pre lunch hungries and another language I was just was not getting it.
When I requested a family membership form from the lady at the ticket desk, she became a little nasty and asked me to move aside so she could serve the next person…(Cultural misunderstanding I’m thinking??)
Well…HELLO….I AM the next person!!
A little annoyed none the less I moved aside to fill out the form. Then I made the mistake of asking another question about the annual membership and well…she just lost it. I was standing there just stunned at the diatribe and the angrier she became the less French I was able to understand…
I have never been spoken to so rudely by anyone in a service position in my life and when I asked her if it was in fact her job to answer the questions of the public well…you’d a thought I’d suggested she give the janitor a blow job every night…
OH.MY. GOODNESS.
All I wanted was information and the more I tried to sort it out the more pissed she got until I finally asked to speak to her manager. She called the manager all right but not so I could voice my complaint ...so she could complain about a hostile (HOSTILE!!) customer…I am thinking…OMG I am going to get thrown out of the science centre for asking about an annual membership…(and in front of my stunned 3 year old….)
*cringe*
Reality is slipping away for me here...
(Yeah I know any guys reading this are thinking...oooh, WAY too much estrogen floating around here...and I must confess I thought of that too...)
Why I did not just walk away I do not know…I thought of it about an hour later…sometimes when you get into something I suppose. So the manager drags me (literally) off to one side and I am trying to explain to her through frustrated tears of anger and EMBARRASSEMENT …that I am not some crazed person and that I was just asking for information. The more I tried to explain the harder I cried and well… the worse it got.
So there I am in bad French saying over and over again, “Je suis une femme NORMAL…je juste voudrais l’information et et…SOB SOB….La dame labas elle n’est pas de tout gentille!!
HOW awful…
6 comments:
maybe this mean lady is the sister to the mean lady at the bakery!!!
Man, do I wish I would have went back and given her the finger!!!
Oh my dear, how absolutely awful. Was Lily very freaked out? You both seem to recover judging by the later photos....
Poor thing.
Oh you poor thing! That's one thing I DON'T miss about France.
Hope the rest of your visit was better.
Diva Eva - I had a run in with that woman at the bakery too. She is nasty!
Oh Hon....that sounds terrible!
You poor thing. I would have been in tears too...
I think it's the combination of anger and frustration that brings on the tears - and you had the added "bonus" of a language barrier.
I think every female can relate. (Okay, maybe not the ignorant female information clerk...)
So sorry it happened but you went on to enjoy your day with your little girl, right?
It reads awful, indeed. Some French people are really "special"... to say the least!
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