[ankimal]

Credit where credit's due.

In my time travelling in France (Paris, Nice and surrounding areas), I made every attempt to say the little things in French. "Bonjour" , "Le menu pour Anglais" or "L'Addition s'il vous plait", "Parlez vous anglais?" etc. The idea was to start any question or conversation in french and then switch to English.

Never did I have a problem over my 2 weeks with anyone. Everyone appreciated the effort to speak the language and was super polite and warm.

[weberc2]

I speak French reasonably well, but I was often treated rudely, particularly by people in customer service roles (my wife and I studied abroad). Clerks seemed agitated to have to deal with foreigners, taxis would blow off appointments, and even simple questions (e.g., asking for directions to a nearby building/office/etc) was met with "c'est impossible". In one case, my wife and I booked a hotel online, but upon checking in the clerk told us we had to pay for two rooms because my wife and I couldn't share a room. When I asked for an explanation, he said, "It's like putting 3 people on a 2-person motorcycle, it's just impossible!" (clearly he'd not been to India).

My French friends speculated that it could have been xenophobia or specifically that I was mistaken for an Englishman (I'm American, but apparently the French particularly dislike the English?).

At any rate, I had many positive experiences, and even these "negative experiences" weren't particularly negative (this was before being easily offended was fashionable among university students in the U.S.); it was more a neutral, cultural observation.