first day of spring; french shopkeeper

i am behind in my blogging. but i HAD to put this in right away.

i know the french are accused of being terrible at being shopkeepers. i am usually quite forgiving of them. one of the guide books said you must understand and accept that they are doing you a favor in waiting on you.

today i went into a small office supply shop. i usually don’t go in the smaller shops because they are always more expensive. but at the same time, as p says, we need to support the small businesses. this shop is just around the corner from our apartment. i needed some printer paper and large envelopes. i went in, leaving maynard, the dog, obediently sitting outside. the lady was on the phone, behind the counter. i waited politely. several minutes passed and she made NO eye contact to let me know she was aware of my presence in the shop (standing, waiting in front of her). she made quiet “hmm, oui, hmm” noises on the phone and it did not seem to be a business call. it seemed to be a long friend discussion. she clicked her mouse on the computer. i figured she was doing some work at the same time, so very occupied. i waited some more. no eye contact, no acknowledgement of my presence. i waited some more and started to wonder whether she was doing this on purpose. i peeked over at her computer screen that held her attention. she was playing solitaire... so i took the hint and walked out. i have to admit i am shocked and shocked. totally rude! i won’t go back. in france, as p explains, it is not a “service” economy. in the US, the “customer is always right” and if you serve them well, they will come back and spend more money. here it is about the employees. the jobs are there to give them money to live. the world revolves around them and their hours, not around how well the job is done. i know this is not really true, but it certainly seems like that sometimes!

meanwhile, the first day of spring was lovely. flowers and trees are blooming. the weather was sunny with temperatures around 60. it promises to get warmer through the week. i taught an art lesson this morning in our apartment. we did pen and ink drawings (using felt tips) using cross hatching. trying to force the students to think in terms of light and dark tones. even though one could get more uptight about not being able to erase, i was hoping it would make them loosen up a bit instead. afterwards, we worked in color conte crayons, which are like pastels, but slightly harder. this is the first time we have used color. the still life was vegetables – eggplant, red pepper, carrots and zucchini, on a bright yellow/orange tablecloth, so the color exercise was appropriate. it all worked very well.

afterwards, i rushed off to my first french lesson at a school many of the expats use. i want to really try a last gasp effort in improving my french before we move back. the class was full of middle aged english speaking women... like me. the class was ok, but i’m not sure if i’ll go with it or not. there are only around 8 lessons because of the way the holidays and vacation fall and maybe i should get a tutor instead (for less money!). the schedule is a little tight with my art class.

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