Another in an endless string of studies that discover -- Mon Dieu ! -- the French are rude and boring, unpleasant (and this), unwelcoming, unfriendly, unhelpful, and/or unprofessional (and here). Without all the bother of scientific method, no one knows these things better than the French themselves.
Pave, of course, is shocked. Shocked!
January 28, 2007 (Paris LInk) - A report published this week says that Parisian taxi drivers can do better. Apparently they don't smile enough, and they don't speak enough English. We can think of a few more problems...So, the humble "Taxi Parisien" is taking a bashing. And not before time. Criticised by an independent body for being monoglot and unfriendly, the cab is hardly the preferred mode of transport within Paris.
... Indeed, when you do want to take a cab in Paris, it is increasingly difficult to find one. The queues for a taxi on a Saturday night at Châtelet stretch around the place de Châtelet itself, as one taxi driver rolls up every five minutes. Try hailing a cab on the rue de Rivoli after dark, it's next to impossible. Even the ones who claim to be available will slow down to take a look at you and move on if they don't like you. And if there are more than three of you, you can forget it. No cab for you.
Once you finally do get a taxi, you very often have to explain where you want to go. Not for the Taxi Parisien "the knowledge" that London cabbies have to assimilate before being allowed out on the road.
Imagine if studies were commissioned non-stop to report on, say, the wetness of water. Each report discovers anew and solemnly confirms that water is indeed wet, has been wet, and remains wet as of the date of the dated report. Another report is immediately commissioned to confirm these latest findings.
Yes, well, Pave is quite convinced the French are rude.
PFFT (What is this?): Old news is news 3 | French still true to stereotype 4 | Rayonnement français 0
