Friday, April 27, 2007

About the French

In response to my 4/19/07 posting on The French presidential election, I have received comments from two sources:

One was from a family member:

My recent trip to England for an International Sales Meeting was quite eye opening. While most of my counterparts around the globe had questions about President Bush and his policies (which you will be happy to know I addressed to their satisfaction), the ONLY UNQUESTIONED COMMON THEME worldwide was that EVERYBODY had a mutual hatred for the French. I found that amusing. Who cares who their president is? On the world stage, I've learned that France is irrelevant (at least by popular opinion)

Another was from a long-time friend and a fellow Sherlockian:

I see that you have comments about the deplorable fact that France is in imminent danger of suffering their first woman president ... but then ... who deserves that indignity more than the French?

Why all this animosity toward the French?

I have heard a number of people (Americans) complain about rudeness of French people whom they encountered while traveling in France, especially when they (the Americans) tried to use English to converse with them. With one minor exception, I have never had that problem when traveling in metropolitan France or in the following DOMTOM (départements d'outre-mer, territoires d'outre-mer: overseas departments, overseas territories): Martinique, Guadeloupe, French Guiana, and St. Pierre & Miquelon. In fact, I have found most people that I have encountered in those travels to be very nice (just as I have found people everywhere I have traveled).

Part of the reason is probably because I speak French, and, thus, don't get into any language problems. However, when I first went to Dakar, Senegal (then part of French West Africa) in 1953 to work for the international oil company, Texaco, I knew only a little French, so for awhile, as I was improving my ability, I had to use English with the few French people with whom I came in contact who could speak it. I never experienced any unpleasantness from those people. (Hearing French spoken around me and seeing it in print every day--and also being in a sink-or-swim situation--I learned it quickly.)

I suppose some of the Americans who experience rudeness in France do so because they unconsciously carry a chip on their shoulders and, thus, get what they expect. The French have the habit of showing courtesies when approaching someone, such as saying the equivalent of "good morning," "excuse me," "if you please" before engaging them in any further conversation, whereas Americans are apt to just ask a simple question--"How do I get to Main St.?" or "Where can I find...?"--outright, without any preliminary pleasantry.

One thing Americans (and any others) who dislike the French might consider is that the French have been ahead of us in providing some amenities of everyday life.

--Direct deposit to bank accounts. When in Dakar in 1953-54, we paid our European (white) staff by direct deposit to their bank accounts; likewise, we paid most bills from vendors by such direct deposits, rather than by mailing checks. These transactions were handled by the local branch of our French bank years before there were computers--they used manual procedures and mechanical office machines to do it. Direct deposit only came to the United States many years later. Also, our French bank paid interest on checking accounts--again before there were computers--something which some US banks have only recently begun to do.

--Unlimited subway trip tickets over a certain number of days. The Paris metro has had such tickets for many years (and also the London underground), but it was many years later before they were available on the New York subway.

--Paying highway tolls with credit cards. In 1993, when my wife and I were about to return a rented car in France, I used all my French francs to fill it with gas (we were leaving France and I didn't want to keep any francs). Just as I started to drive away, I remembered that I had a toll to pay ahead, so I went back to the office at the gas station to ask if I could get my francs back and pay for the gas with a credit card. The people there told me I had no problem--that I could use my credit card to pay the toll. Voilà! The toll collector swipes your card, prints and hands you a receipt, says merci, and you're on your way. The whole procedure takes about 10 seconds. Even today, I'm not aware of any toll roads in the US where this can happen ("EZ passes" are the closest that I know of).

--Development of the "hyperstore". A "hyperstore" is a store under one roof that offers such diverse merchandise as food, hardware, building materials, electronics, and various items typically carried in a department store. The huge French department store chain Carrefour, which began operations in France in 1957, and which opened its first "hyperstore" in 1962, according to Wikipedia, now operates numerous of these stores around the world: 535 in Europe, 169 in Latin America, 181 in Asia, and 5 in Africa.

How much of an amenity "hyperstores" are can be debated; the same arguments against them are those made against Wal-Mart (they drive traditional, established stores out of business, exploit workers, exert unfair pressure on vendors of their merchandise, etc.). I have been to Carrefour stores in France but never to one of their "hyperstores" there, but I did go to one in a suburb of Madrid, Spain in 1988 (where Carrefour operates under the name "Pryca"--Precio y Calidad: "Price and Quality"). I was amazed at its vast capacity--it was like a Safeway, Target, Home Depot, and Best Buy all rolled into one.

Chew on those thoughts a bit, you French haters.

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Mycroft Watson is the nom de plume of a man who has seen many winters. He is moderate to an extreme. When he comes to a fork in the road, he always takes it. His favorite philosopher is Yogi Berra. He has come out of the closet and identified himself. Anyone interested can get his real name, biography, and e-mail address by going to "Google Search" and keying in "User:Marshall H. Pinnix" (case sensitive).

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