BF told me this story the other day that his professor recounted to him many years ago:
CreditIn France, he went in to buy stamps for his business.
Since it was a Saturday, he waited 30 minutes in line, and when he got to the counter, he asked for 100 stamps.
The cashier gave him a side-eye and said:
“Well, what are you going to do with 100 stamps!?”
He replied he was going to use it for his business.
“Oh non, monsieur. Stamps for businesses are only sold between noon and 2 p.m. It’s now 3 p.m. so I cannot sell them to you. We are only selling stamps for personal use right now”
“Well what if I want to buy them for myself? I’ll pay for them now.”
“No, it’s too late now.”
“What?!”
“Monsieur, it’s too late. I already know what you’re going to buy the stamps for. You will have to come back tomorrow during business-specific hours.”
He had to leave that uber long line and come back the next day.
This is exactly the kind of thing that happened to us at least 4 times when we visited France.
People adhering to the rules so strictly that they would forfeit business for the sake of rules. It’s like they don’t want our money, which is the same problem I’ve encountered to a certain extent, while living in Quebec.
At the train station trying to pick up tickets we already paid for (SNCF), at the dollar store (Tati), at the best ice cream store in Paris during summer hours (Berthillon), and at the currency exchange place (Bureau de Change) all within a space of 2 weeks.
This is why at the end of my trip, I could NOT imagine living in France. Ever. Visiting, yes. Staying there? HELL NO. I’d bust a blood vessel.
Just a girl trying to find a balance between being a Shopaholic and a Saver.
I cleared $60,000 in 18 months earning $65,000 gross/year.
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2 years ago I was looking for night table. I found a nice one at Leon’s at Vaughan (Bass Pro Road, Vaughan Mills). I saw it on display and sales rep told me they have 53 in a stock available. But I was very surprised as they couldn’t found any in warehouse. Then I asked for manager. And now I had a shocked. He told me all 53 pieces is used on the floor for design and he can’t sale me one, as it will mismatched the design on the floor!!!
I’ve just had a chat with my French colleague about this and she has never come across post offices who differentiate between stamps for personal and business use, or have different hours for personal/business purchases. It sounds like your BF’s experience might have been quite unusual.
Also I think it’s always worth bearing in mind cultural differences. To be honest when I’ve been over in the States I’ve found service operations creepy, actually. I’ve found waitresses too smiley and over-eager for my liking. My immediate inclination is to think ‘wow they don’t mean that. What are they trying to get out of me?’ This is because I am British and we’re culturally cynical. In much the same way we find American patriotism very difficult to stomach, because such national pride is so alien to us (ask a Brit to pay homage to the Union Jack and they’ll laugh in your face and complain about the weather/the Queen/David Cameron).
When in France, sometimes I’ve found service providers rude, but that’s because the French are naturally more abrupt in their language choices than us Brits who fill up our demanding phrases with ‘softening’ terms. It’s a case of understanding why people/cultures are different and respecting that.
When I worked in a shop I must say we did not accept bills of 50 euros when people were making a purchase of 2 or 3 euros. You don’t have any change left if too many people pay with 50 euro bills.
I usually pay with my debit card or smaller bills for small payments – I would never dream of trying to pay for something small with a 50 euro bill. That’s why I always go to certain ATMs where you can choose the bills you want and I usually only take out 10 and 20 euro bills.
That’s horrible.
I disagree with Erin, this isn’t about being an irritating customer. This is about stringent and ridiculous rules. It would drive me crazy as well. I think that’s why American businesses are so successful, they are willing to do anything to make a customer happy.
I used to work at Blockbuster and one day a lady came in saying she wanted to buy a movie that we had for rent in the store. She explained that she had looked for it everywhere and couldn’t find it. Our manager said okay. It was unusual but our manager was able to sell it because its ultimately about pleasing the customer.
I haven’t been to France, but I was born overseas and the last time we went to Russia, I couldn’t wait to leave and go back to the U.S. I grew up in the U.S. and I have naturalized U.S. Citizenship and this is the best place in the world to live. IMO American businesses go above and beyond. Yes I’m biased but I can’t help it.
The U.S. has its problems but what country doesn’t? But I think American businesses are better at catering to customers. That’s my personal opinion.
Well, you’ll like the US then when you move here because I’ve never heard of such a thing!
Aha I lived in France for 4 months and Quebec for 3 years so I know exactly what you mean!
seems kind of silly.
OK, I don’t even get this. What’s the point of only selling business things during certain hours? I mean, I get that it’s a different culture with certain rules, but what’s the advantage of it?
One a family holiday to France we were going around a supermarket and suddenly the lights were being turned off! It was the middle of the afternoon and they were closing for a break, to re-open a few hours later. Opening times didn’t seem structured like those in England – quite a few times we’d go into the local town only to find a few places open. It was quite strange for us given that we’re so used to 9am-5pm kind of hours. I don’t know if it’s like that in the bigger towns (Paris, Remes etc) but many places we visited were hard to get used to. Nice place to visit but like you I’ll never move there!
I’ve had similar experiences in Italy, but the thing you have to realize is that’s their culture. You just have to roll with it – yes, there are little inconveniences like this that you have to deal with, but in the long run, how much does it really matter? It doesn’t, and once you get used to these little “quirks” they don’t really bother you anymore.
And to those who are saying, “What, don’t they want my business?” the answer is, “No, not really.” In these types of cultures, their business is sustained by their regular customers, not tourists or visitors. If you lived in Italy, you go to a particular coffee bar and that is the only coffee bar that you go to for pretty much your entire life, unless you leave the town. Their regular customers know the hours, know the rules, and they abide by them. The attitude of “the customer is always right” is very American and does not prevail in Europe.
Really France does such aberations too? So THAT’s where my fellow countrymen got their inspiration from. Perhaps not the issue with the stamps… but a lot of little things, when it comes to clerk (especially those working in government bureaus) are the worst. It’s like they receive this special kind of training on how to treat people with the utmost disgust.
Re large sums of money: I was warned of this by my parents. I always leave with cash from home, never exchange there and always make sure I have at least a few smaller notes. If not, I take a deep breath and enter the first “tesco” to buy a bottle of water… with a 50 euro bill 😛
I remember encountering similar situations on my (very limited) travels to Europe. And being from the US — living in/near big cities where there are ALWAYS things opens 24-7 — I remember being soooo annoyed and thinking exactly what you wrote: “Don’t these people WANT my business?!!”
My parents just came back from Europe and had a similar experience. They said it was more that people just couldn’t be bothered to care at times.
I traveled through Italy and had similar issues around change. I tried to pay with bills and in both situations the clerk didn’t have change, so they didn’t want to take my money. The first time it happened, a stranger gave me one euro so I could buy what I wanted. The second time was at a little grocery store, and the clerk was pretty irritated that they had to go next door to get change.