I’ve decided that’s a new (or rather, constant) pet peeve of mine.
This afternoon, I went to get a cheese crepe at a nearby stand. I was famished and patiently waiting for the guy to start on my order, which he did right after grabbing a big handful of change and passing it on to his co-worker. He didn’t wash his hands or put on gloves before throwing a crepe on the grill (with his hands) and then grabbing the cheese from the fridge and again using his hands to put the cheese on the crepe. Gross.
Poor hygiene is another pet peeve.
However, I figured it’s on the grill, the heat will kill off the germs. So I didn’t say anything. As my crepe was heating up and hopefully germ-killing, the crepe-maker took some more money from another client, opened the register, handled even more bills and change, wiped his nose with his hands and THEN proceeded to flip my now-finished crepe—with, yep, his hands.
Seriously disgusting.
So I said to him politely, “I’m sorry, but you just handled that money and then you’re using your hands to make my crepe. I really don’t want to eat it now.” He just looked sheepish, but then some young woman sauntered up and said to me obnoxiously, “Don’t eat it then. Just get out of here.” And told the crepe guy, “Let her leave.”
Meanwhile, I was like, “Who the hell are you?” She wasn’t a co-worker. She’s another customer and what business of hers is it if I do or don’t want to eat an unhygienically prepared crepe?
I was so annoyed, I actually did say (in English), “Who are you, bitch?” But she didn’t understand me and I restrained myself from flipping her the universally recognized bird, which seemed rather undignified for a pregnant woman to be doing.
Well, that was about an hour ago and I’m clearly still fuming. But really, why do people have to get into your business when it has absolutely nothing to do with them? Obviously, I understand stepping in if you see someone being harassed or abused, but why should you care if someone has higher cleanliness standards than you do? By all means, eat a germy, boogie-ridden crepe—I’m not going to say anything unless you’re a family member or close friend.
I’ve noticed a bit more of this kind of buttinski-ness in France than in New York, if only because New Yorkers usually don’t care (about anyone but themselves—ha) and don’t want to get involved. But almost every Frenchie has got a very vocal opinion—about everything. I guess it’s just something to get used to.
N.B. I do want to point out that many crepe-makers use gloves and/or utensils, not their hands, so this guy was an egregious exception to the good hygiene rule.
7 Comments
Monday, June 29, 2009 at 10:42 pm
Are French people like this to people in general, or only to people whom they perceive to be foreigners? Just wondering if gender, race, ethnicity, and overall foreigness is a factor in how rude or interjecting the French are.
Either way, that woman was a nasty bitch, literally!
Sunday, July 12, 2009 at 6:56 pm
Marsha, that’s a good question! Clearly, I’m a foreigner… most people think I’m directly from Asia (as opposed to the States) and I have noticed a difference in how I’m treated once people know that I’m an American/New Yorker–as opposed to fresh off the boat from the East! What’s interesting is that she herself was not native French but Arab, so you’d think she’d be nicer… but then, some people are just nasty bitches!
Tuesday, June 30, 2009 at 5:18 pm
No one should have to put up with germ-spreading behaviour! You were right in voicing your displeasure and the random French woman was intruding in your space by jumping into a conversation/interaction that had nothing to do with her – very rude and unethical.
I have experienced first-hand what you say about some people being ready to butt into others’ affairs, making nasty comments, etc (in my case, it just happened to be an ex-BF who was French!) – v.annoying. Interestingly though, I’ve found this behaviour to be dependent on a wierd sense of what such people with these boorish/unethical personality-traits consider to be “fair”…..which, in true, self-absorbed style, may have nothing to do with what the rest of consider to be ‘reality’. For example, when I was living+working in Country X (where women have traditionally faced high degrees of gender discrimination at home and elsewhere) — I had a male security guard that was working for me (for a pretty hefty salary by Country X’s pay standards), who, I discovered (through my female Housekeeper) was neglecting his wife & 3 young children, for a mistress that he had on the side…..I initially didn’t care about how he chose to live his life as long as he did a good job, but when my Housekeeper informed me that the security guard was withholding all of his monthly salary from his family (not giving them even a dollar of what he earned from me) and was instead spending it all on himself & the mistress (apparently, his wife had contacted my Housekeeper in tears), I intervened and informed the guard that I would pay him half of his salary, and that the other half would go to his wife and children. I thought this was the ethical thing to do while being fair to both parties, and without being a moral-police (I didn’t, for instance, insist that he leave his mistress or any such thing). But this was not a situation that I could just do nothing about – after all, my profession involves me working on issues of women’s rights & to have this play out right under my nose without me taking any action was unthinkable. Interesting, my ex-BF (who thought nothing of passing comments/judgements on random people’s behaviour/attitude at the drop of a hat) thought that I was wrong to give half of the guard’s salary to the wife – he attributed it to his ‘European sense of self & justice’ (whatever that means!) and felt I was being meddlesome & obnoxious to the guard…..suffices to say that that argument, combined with several more, made it clear to me just how far apart we were in our ‘ethical compass’!
Sunday, July 12, 2009 at 6:58 pm
I love this story! You were amazing to confront the guard! And to dump the chauvinistic BF!
Thursday, July 2, 2009 at 1:23 pm
he was bad and she was bad.
you were right and you were right.
Sunday, July 12, 2009 at 4:22 pm
Im sorry to hear about how rude the woman was, you have every right and reason to want clean food, and if the not so nice woman has an appetite for germs, more power to her. But none of this was her business.
I have been to France, but not to Paris, and i was shocked at how nice they were to me. Hopefully all gets better for you.
Sunday, July 12, 2009 at 6:59 pm
Oh, most people have been nice… this was a particularly nasty person. I’m glad that you’ve had a good experience here. For the most part, I have, too!