A word on French waiters

I love them.... OK that was three words. I don't know where the sterotype...that French waiters are rude.... came from. We had some great ones. They are very busy and seem to run non-stop, but I think Lou got it right when he said that rude waiters start with rude customers.

After we went to Saint Chapelle, we stopped at a cafe across the street and I ordered my typical Coca Light. When the waiter brought it he teased me about it...calling it American Beaujolais and he teased Lou that his beer was spicy lemonade. He was very nice. Another waiter at the same place stepped in when he saw a father trying to take a picture of his family. He took the camera and made the father sit down so he could be in the picture too.

At another place, the waiter couldn't figure out if he should talk to us in French or English so he used both on just about everything he said. When we left he said..."OK...Au Revoir, Bye-Bye". That stuck with us and we kept repeating it during the whole trip.

At another cafe we stopped in for drinks and when we were done the waiter kept forgetting to bring out the credit card machine to run Lou's card. He would bring food out for someone, look at us and slap himself in the head. After about the third time he remembered. But the whole time we were laughing about it. Then Lou asked him for some matches and the whole scene repeated itself. But we finally got out of there with lots of smiles. We stopped back a few days later for lunch and even though he wasn't our waiter he came out to say hello and shook our hands. I picked up the tab that day and the waiter we did have was giving Lou the thumbs up and patting him on the back that I was paying. I guess French women don't pay....ever.

Then at another restaurant we had a Chinese waiter who spoke French. He took very good care of us. When he ran Lou's credit card something went wrong and he starting talking to Lou in French and saying "Abandon". Lou looked at me and asked me for help. I started laughing because I only know the very basics. The waiter finally said "No Good". I smiled at the waiter and said "Comprends pa..No Good" which hopefully meant..."I understand No Good". He understood because he starting laughing and then we started laughing. I had Lou give him the card again so he could re-run it.

We thought they were great.....OK...Au Revoir, Bye-Bye