Do French people suck?

I've seen a lot of anti-French sentiment floating around America. I first noticed it when France stood up to the United States and said invading Iraq was a le crape idea.

At that point I figured it was just Bible thumping, right winging, war hawkish, ultra nationalist neo-cons bashing Frenchie without basis. But I was wrong.

I'm half French. Most of the people I grew up with and knew were of French heritage. But we weren't actually FRENCH. And, believe-you-me, a French person would be the first to point that out. You see, the French CULTURE is abrasive.

Going from the US to Egypt I spent about four hours in an airport in Paris. It's hard to describe... I felt like I was walking through High School and I was the "unpopular kid" but the only people who actually looked down on me were the people wearing airport staff uniforms. Then the girl behind the counter at a snack shop borderline refused to get me a drink. All of this would be fine, but a random airport employee waved my mother off when she asked for flight information.

The snobbish employee didn't point to a sign listing flight times, he didn't say "I don't speak English" he didn't say anything in French. He simply waved my mother off, as if sayng "bah! I have no time for your silly American games!"

When I was in Egypt our tour guide--who was fluent in French--said that he had lead a French tour group down the Nile once before and would never do it again: they were too rude and demanding. This is a tour guide who calmly handled a 68-year-old backup dancer throw a hissy fit in the desert.

While studying in England, everyone in the dorm was cool. Except the French kid. He picked some people he thought were good enough (Ex. my friend John) and ignored everyone else (me and everyone else).

Then some people I was studying with traveled to France where bakeries wouldn't sell bread to them. Because, in the (English) words of the bakers: "Sorry, no one in this store speaks English."

Think I'm imagining things? Read this!



JULY 10TH BBC ARTICLE
'Rude' French are worst tourists
BBC: French tourists are the worst in the world, coming across as penny-pinching, rude and terrible at languages, according to a new survey.

And apparently the Japanese are awwwweesome. I believe it.