This recent experience is a follow-up to the post “Teach a man to print stamps and he’ll communicate with the world.”
On Sunday I walked into a bakery with a friend visiting from Denmark. Everything looked delicious to him, and to me, so we were slow to choose and let several people go ahead of us. Finally the friend told me what he wanted and I ordered for the two of us since I was treating and could order in French.
I told the seller that we wanted a pistachio crumble (in the case to the left, and so the seller immediately went left) and a brownie (in the case to the right, and so the seller went right). When I ordered the first pastry the seller was already standing behind the case with the brownies, so he went to one direction then returned in the other.
In the scheme of things that mattered little since the cash register was in the middle. Still the seller remarked, “Next time order the brownie first. It’ll be more efficient that way because I was standing right there.”
Perhaps he was trying to be funny, but if so he could have been a lot funnier. No, I think he was actually telling me that I should follow his script for seller-customer “correctness.” I was in fact being admonished for ordering in a way that he saw as inefficient.
I responded, “Sorry, but I thought it more polite to order my guest’s pastry before mine.” In other words, I have my own script for “correctness” that apparently contradicted his own. For me, the customer, my guest trumped his efficiency.
The seller looked at me with a smile and with a slight nod and said, “C’est tout à votre honneur, Monsieur” (“That’s very honorable of you, Sir” or “It does you credit”).
He may have still thought that I’d wrong him with an inefficient order, but it was nonetheless a gracious response.
What a great little tale of how scripts can go a wee bit awry! I do really like the seller’s response, even if he might have still felt wronged, lol.
Yes, it’s a nice line, both gracious and condescending. The Court of Louis XIV used it a lot at Versailles, and here it’s trickled down to a bakery.
Since I never wrote about my “learning” experience on my blog, I’ll share now. One evening at Le Relais de l’Entrecote, my husband made a grand faux pas by asking for a beer (in French). He was the first to order in our group of four and the server said they didn’t have his requested brand of beer. He took his time trying to decide an alternative, when the impatient server said: This is a steak restaurant! You will have red wine!” as she stormed off, not taking any of our drink orders.
Good story. Steak, fries and red wine are basically the law there.
“both gracious and condescending” I think the French have this mastered. LOL.
“The Court of Louis XIV used it a lot at Versailles, and here it’s trickled down to a bakery.” Huh! Wow. You learn something new every day!