All I wanted was Ketchup!
Its the truth... All I wanted was Ketchup!... How do I explain to all of you the sheer frustration that comes with being labled "American" when all you want is a simple bottle of Ketchup! Two days ago, Molly, Maddy and I went to one of the side walk cafes to sit, talk and relax But of course it couldn't be that simple. Our relaxing time turned into culture shock 101. Our waiter decided, once he heard our American accents, that we didn't deserve the same service that all the French people around us deserved. I ordered french fries (i was in the mood for a snack) and when they came... they stunk! They were the worst tasting, most expensive french fries ever! We asked several times in french if we could get some Ketchup, and continually we kept getting the evil eye and the shut down. Finally, after literally 5 times of asking, he brought us out this massive bottle of Ketchup that was unopened. It was a French bottle of ketchup, which turns out to be a lot harder to open up than an American bottle. After 5 minutes of fighting with the Ketchup bottle we decided to take action at the poor service we were reciving. When our fine waiter finally brought us our ticket, we left what change we had and left the building, one of the guttsiest things I've ever done. After turning the corner on a local street, we relized that our waiter had chased us out onto the street. When he finally caught up to us he, politely asked us "stupid Americans" to pay the rest of our check--- which we did... POINT MADE! This is a story that embodies all steriotypes- French and American alike. This is a story that I will remember for the rest of my life... (parents, don't worry... Dr Davis said that we handled it with American class) Next time I write will probably be once we reach Provance!!! Hope all is well in the USA and thank you all so much for the encouraging comments and emails, the make me smile!
posted by Karen Murphy at Friday, July 29, 2005
2 Comments:
Karen---So things in France are as they were 22 years ago! What you just described happened to me in Paris and to this day is one of my worst memories. However after traveling to south western France I found that there are French people who see that Americans are human beings,they acutally smiled at us! A much nicer memory! Nana
what i'm gonna say may be hard to take, or even do.. but try.... don't be an american while you are there. the only way you will gain the respect of locals is to swallow your pride, and adapt to what they see as being normal. no, the waiter should not have treated you like that, i agree, but by making a stand like you did, all you did was reinforce in his mind the idea that all americans are rude and pushy... i know that we're taught while growing up in the US to stand up for ourselves, but europeans (and the french especially) see that mindset as nothing but extreme pride. swallow that pride, and you'll see a change in the local people you encounter. be careful karen... fall in love with europe, but don't expect ANY of america to be there for you.
all that said... HI! i'm sorry that i haven't posted on here much yet. i envy you like you wouldn't believe. summer in seattle is fun, but i'm working a lot, so i wouldn't know... hehehe. i've loved reading your posts so far. i hope you're having an amazing time. peace.
- danny
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