Differences in France To My Expectations

Greeting The Shop Keeper

Also feels like this isn’t true. While it may be a bit more than the US, which I’d normally greet a small shop owner if we made eye contact, it’s also the same here. Being pleasant goes a long way.

Haven’t seen any case personally where a look was given because of a lack of a greeting, mostly people are busy doing their work and don’t pay you attention.

Style

From online material, I had the impression that French folks dressed smartly and would judge jeans, ballcaps, and other things typical in casual American attire. Maybe in some fancy restaurants or areas that exists, but it’s pretty much people just being people and I’ve not seen any of this.

They dress similar, excepting the fact they hate cold weather and drafts and bundle up far more than even I as a Texan do. I probably stick out more for walking around with short sleeves in 48-55F weather than I do for my clothing.

Attendants

This is odd to me. There’s attendants for all sorts of places. I’ve seen multiple bathroom attendants.

Lack of Support for Tourists

There’s a remarkable lack of catering to tourists in my opinion. Disorganized lines, being accosted by the transit controllers (terrible experience for another post), and more make me think how it would be different to what I’d expect from a highly touristed area.

This shows my American mentality, where places catering to tourists focus on the experience of making it as pleasant to spend your time and money there as possible.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve met some stellar Parisans. Just saying the service culture in America definitely feels different than here. Haven’t yet experienced “the rude server” at a restaurant I think, just more the metro. I guess the metro brings out some of the worst in humanity anyway, no matter the country. 🤣