Last week, the cast and crew of ABC’s show “What Would You Do?” set up hidden cameras around several Parisian cafés and sent in two actors posing as Texans visiting town on their honeymoon. They snapped their fingers and called the waiter “Garçon!”, sent back their steak tartare to be cooked, asked for Freedom Fries, tasted the wine at neighboring tables (and spit it out), wore Crocs and “Paris Texas” T-shirts that said “Bush 08″ on the back, and generally made spectacles of themselves in an effort to get a rise out of the other diners and unsuspecting waiters.
I was asked to participate as a local “expert” to comment on what visitors should and shouldn’t do in Parisian cafés if they want to feel welcome. In my interview with the show’s host, “Primetime” co-anchor John Quinones, I explain that being loud isn’t polite in France, and that calling a waiter “Garçon” is insulting. Amazingly, it was harder to ruffle French feathers than we all suspected.
Source: The ParisBlog.Com
