Waiter fired for being too rude says he was 'just being French'

A waiter fired for being "aggressive, rude and disrespectful" has insisted there was nothing wrong with his manner - he was just being “French”.

Deserved or not, France’s reputation for producing surly waiters who eye customers with suspicion, indeed disdain, is known the world over and has stood the test of time.

Now one waiter has taken that reputation to another level by appearing to claim that a grumpy “garçon” is a cherished French national trait, not a sign of unprofessional conduct.

Guillaume Rey, who worked at a Vancouver restaurant on Canada's Pacific coast, filed a complaint with British Columbia's Human Rights Tribunal against his former employer, saying he is the victim of "discrimination against my culture".

The restaurant, operated by Cara Operations, accused Mr Rey of breaching its code of conduct; it argued that he persisted in unacceptably rude behaviour despite verbal and written performance reviews and that it had no option but to fire him.

However, Mr Rey said his employer was being culturally colour blind as the French approach just "tends to be more direct and expressive".

Au contraire, his "direct, honest and professional personality” was, he insisted, drummed into him at French hospitality school and he was simply following their guidelines.

Grumpiness aside, both parties agreed Mr Rey was good at his job.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/03/26/waiter-fired-rude-says-just-french/

Hahaha...that is sooo true.  Rudeness is just a hallmark with waiters in Paris.  Mon dieu, so manee stupideed Angleesh I must put up weeth.

Doesn’t matter what he thought he was being, rudeness isn’t a part of any job description unless you’re into S&M.

He sounds like an arrogant sod to me.

When we went to Paris a few years ago I found the waiters to be really nice and patient.
One (knowing we were English) waved and shouted 'Tara' when his shift finished....he looked like a younger version of Lionel Blaire, but he was definitely French.

Original Quill wrote:Hahaha...that is sooo true. Rudeness is just a hallmark with waiters in Paris. Mon dieu, so manee stupideed Angleesh I must put up weeth.

Good grief that is NOT an approachable demeanour!!
Got arrogance & snootiness written all over that visage.
He'd probably instantly frogmarch you out the building if you ever did owt chavvy .... like request some ketchup for your canapes & hors doevres.

Offtopic but his pic reminded me of another French guy with an equally haughty look. I was reading up about Queen Victoria's children recently and I came across this pic of a napoleonic prince who requested marriage to princess Beatrice,  QV's youngest daughter. She turned him down!







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In all seriousness tho, I'm sure this is just lazy stereotyping. Most people were quite polite and helpful to us during all our holidays in France!