Originally Posted by
RickR
2. French hauteur can be off-putting. Example: outdoors at a cafe a few blocks from the Arc de Triomphe I mistakenly asked for "cafe con leche." The waiter immediately corrected me, saying (in French) "In France we say cafe au lait" with what could be a sneer at my stupidity. On closer inspection, however, I concluded: a) there was a bit of humor behind the sneer; b) he was helping me; c) like a New Yorker, he was not so much rude as just not wasting any time with me. The next morning we were friends.
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Perhaps some of you french people can jump in here, but I've never ordered cafe au lait in a restaurant. I order cafe creme. I thought cafe au lait was something one had at home. (or maybe it's just for breakfast?)
BTW Rick, a friend of mine and her husband went to Paris for the first time and kept waiting to experience some rudeness, but it never happened.... until the last day when it was really, really hot and they went into a cafe and ordered a cofeee and then asked for a glass of ice (glace). The waiter about died when he saw her pour her coffee over the ice and put his hands on his hips and loudly delared "CAFE AVEC GLACE?????.....QUELLE HORREUR!!!"
My friend and her husband laughed til tears ran down their cheeks and she said to him "Je desole, je suis american". (I'm sorry, I'm american). Well he cracked up laughing too and they became "fast friends" and they chatted for quite a while and told them to come back to see him the next time they were in Paris.