Warning – big generalization coming up.
What is it with Parisian women and the high bitchiness/aggression level? A colleague and I went to grab lunch and as I was paying, a middle-aged woman came up right beside me and clearly thought she would be next. This, despite the large number of people waiting in several lines.
When my transaction was done I angled myself trying to block the lady so my colleague could go next, but the lady reached around me to give her ticket resto to the cashier. I could tell the cashier wasn’t going to say anything so I did. I looked at the cashier and the lady and said that my colleague was next in line. The woman behind my colleague also piped in and told bitch-lady that there was a line.
Bitch-lady replied that she already had her money out and might as well pay. When that didn’t work, she acted innocent and said that she didn’t see the line and went to the back.
A couple of years ago I wouldn’t have said anything. But I find this kind of behavior to be not uncommon with women in this city and I was tired of it. Is this taught in Parisian schools? The girls take Intro to Bitchiness while the guys go to Dragueur 101? And it seems to get worse with age- little old Parisian women are professors of bitchiness! If this lady (who looked around 50ish) had been 20-30 yrs older I wouldn’t have bothered saying anything, because after 60 or so, the nastiness level can increase exponentially (each year).
Monday, September 8, 2008
Parisian Bitchy
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
7 comments:
Well, you got it right.
French women are bitches.
Parisian women are worse bitches.
Old Parisian women are the worst bitches and deserve to be slapped more often than not.
Sadly, it's a general Latin thing. Older women in Buesnos Aires, Caracas, San Juan, Madrid, Naples, Lima, Rio...they all act alike.
The theory is that once a woman reaches a certain age in most latin societies, they have to be afforded the same deference and respect we would afford our own mothers. So, they get away with murder.
It's deplorable.
I'm not sure we can categorize the old Parisian lady bitchiness as the Latin mother syndrôme.
They really are two different things to me... (and Parisians are not really Latin, only Southern France is)
Hey there S...
I did something I normally don't do -- I got bitchy back with a bitchy lady on the train coming back from the gym yesterday--- I.E. I called her a salope!! I was on the phone with my friend (and talking in English). The bitchy lady got on the train (RER B) and when she saw that I had my feet propped up on the edge of the seat she did the "No, no, no" thing - shaking her finger at me.. Then she proceeded to tell me in Eng. that it's forbidden to put your feet on the seat and I then told her all in French at that point, "Oh excuse me, I didn't know, etc.... " Since I switched to French she did, too and proceeded to tell me I'd get an amande for that and got more bitchy when I said that I have lived here for two years and never heard of getting a ticket for that.. When she saw she wasn't going anywhere with me, she sat back down and her back was to me... I said in French loud enough for her to hear, "Salope!" and moved away- out of that wagon!! My blood was boiling and I am not usually like that but I hate people telling me what to do like a child..
When I got back to Antony... I asked the guy inside the guichet- he let me back into the office with him and told me.. YES, you can get a fine, but if you take your shoes off and go peid nu, you won't get a fine... GO FIGURE!!! I have to blog about this but I have to get a picture first..
Thanks for letting me vent.. I don't like bitchy people either... But, I can be JUST as bitchy and MORE..
PS... I just read your first comment, David...
I swear I felt like slapping that woman, too!!!
Be careful with what word you use though.
Salope is not appropriate here as it has a sexual connotation.
Connasse would have been better.
Or simply slapping her. ;-)
Leesa - good for you!
Current - I can't really comment about it being a latin thing or not. So far I haven't really experienced this (to such a degree at least) elsewhere, but perhaps I was too much in my tourist awe to notice.
David - be careful! With comments like the last one you might start reading news reports about irritated foreigners slapping old French women. :)
Post a Comment