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This page was last updated 19 June 2008. | |
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| Living & Working in France | ||
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Information about Living and Working in FranceThis page is a general guide for expats living and working in France. It focuses on things that are different from countries in North America and northern Europe.
The Reality of French MentalityMany foreigners have a rosy anc romantic image of France. Official French information and tourist information project such an image for obvious reasons. Media project such an image because that is what people like to read, so it sells. But while the romantic images are not necessarily false, they only represent a small part of French reality. It may seem needless to say, but I will do it anyway: Don't assume that people are friendly just because they appear friendly. It's tempting to arrive in the beautiful nature and the warm climate of the south and take a word for a word. There are genuinely friendly and honest Frenchmen, and there are Frenchmen who appear friendly so long as everything goes to plan. However, it may not take much to turn relations sour. A dishwasher in need of repair in a rented accommodation may be all it takes. At such an occasion, many Frenchmen will instinctively accuse the client or tenant to have broken the equipment himself, without having done anything to find the cause. In regions or communities where the locals keep a regional or local identity that they may value higher than their French identity, you many find that one local will in general protect another local regardless of who is right. This can for example be the case in Provence, where anyone from outside Provence is regarded with suspicion, and particularly those from the large northern cities Paris and Lille. Parisians may in fact encounter more difficulties getting accepted in Provence than foreigners. While people in Provence consider the northerners, and particularly those from Paris, arrogant, those in Provence have a reputation for not hesitating to shaft others if they can get away with it. Marcel Pagnol, a French author having spent his childhood in Provence, and the producer Claude Berri magnificently demonstrates the Provence character in the double-feature films Jean de Florette I and II, also named respectively "La source en Provence" and "Manon des sources". While showing the natural, splendid nature of Provence, the film also shows the cruel selfishness that makes some people in Provence do everything for money and gain, whatever the damage to others. So don't take anything for granted. You need to be cautious but at the same time friendly until you know that something is wrong. Considerations of what is fair in France may differ from what you consider fair. For the French, their rights are something God-given that come before any duties they might have. Rights are undeniable and mandatory, while duties may be performed if no rights prevent it. You will hear about rights to make mistakes, rights to strike, rights to holidays, weekends, lunch breaks etc., and many more rights. If a garage forgets to tighten the wheels on your car after service, you may be told that they have a right to make mistakes, and you will understand that you are a nuisance for complaining. You are unlikely to be able to change that mentality. It can sound relaxed when you hear about the typical French laisser-faire attitude, but it may not be quite so relaxing if you need something and no one wants to take responsibility for it. After a few years, it may even become stressful, but that depends on your own attitude. Food, French & ExpatOne of the first things expats will notice is that in the country of gastronomy, you cannot get fresh dairy products in the supermarkets. The industry has got rid of them to replace them with long-lasting UHT products that while they can be stored many months do not have the taste of fresh products. Even if you find fresh milk in a corner, it always seems to taste of the plastic bottle. Making whipped cream with UHT cream is a challenge. The only places to get the same quality as you are used to from the UK, Denmark or elsewhere are at local farms or small local shps selling their products. The slightly salted butter that you may be used to does not exist. Either it has no salt - beurre doux ("soft butter") - or it has too much salt - beurre demi-sel ("half-salt"). Don't be fooled by the "half-salt" name. It is in fact so salty that if they sold something called "full salt", there would hardly be any butter in it. If you need slightly salted butter for recipes, mix beurre doux and beurre demi-sel in equal quantities to get a slightly salted result. It gives a good result for example for the English brandy butter for the traditonal Christmas pudding. Beurre tendre means spreadable butter. Danes looking for their buttermilk - kærnemælk - will find it in some parts of the north under the name lait battu. It is the same thing. In other parts of the country, such as the south, they will find that the lait fermenté - literally gæret mælk but correctly translated to mælkevin - comes so close to the taste of kærnemælk that they might not even notice the difference. The lait fermenté is produced in a manner similar to yogurt but is liquid as milk. TippingSome tourist guides try to make you believe that you have to tip all the time. As I just mentioned, all tipping is voluntary, and the French themselves often don't tip in restaurants at all. If you really feel well treated and you had a nice experience, then by all means you can let a reasonable tip fall, but there is no need to start calculating percentages of the bill. Tipping at hairdressers is still customary but again, not mandatory. Many would leave a 10% tip if they are happy with the hairdresser, though. Whether a restaurant or a hairdresser, if you return regularly, you can be almost sure of little "extras" as you go along if you show your satisfaction with a tip. Tipping the postman well may very well assure that you get a better service, particularly at the countryside, where they may only be obliged to dump your mail in a letterbox near the road instead of near your house that may be 300 metres down a path. Tip him well, and he may only be happy to bring your mail to the door and collect your outgoing mail, even registered mail, and bring you back the receipt a couple of days later. I calculated that even giving him 30 € for Christmas is much cheaper than the annual cost - and time consumption - of daily 7 km trips to the post office to post my mail, since I work from home. I cannot guarantee that everybody will do it, and if they don't provide a better service, then there's no reason for tipping either. La PosteThe French post is working quite well. For most types of mail and packets, you have the choice between priority and economy service, although the inland economy service for packets was scrapped in 2006 to increase revenue. While for international destinations there is a clear difference in delivery time, this seems no longer to be the case for national French mail. A first class letter can take a week to be delivered from one end of France to the other - or even from one end of a city to the other, while a second class letter may arrive in two days. My recommendation is that unless a letter is really important and urgent, then don't waste your money paying for first class letters destined for France. Pay the economy rate. And even if it's urgent, then you can't rely on La Poste delivering it 1-2 days later. Next-day delivery is guaranteed with the expensive Chronopost service, although it's not flawless. Letter rates are available at laposte.fr.
Note that the steppings are such that it's sometimes cheaper to split up a
letter or packet into two or even three separate units. Example for a first
class letter to the UK weighing 110g: AugustAugust is the French holiday month. All the most important people go on holiday during this month, and only the least qualified personnel would remain working, if the company doesn't close altogether. Try not to get sick in France in August. You may find it difficult to find a qualified doctor. In case of serious illness, consider urgent repatriation very seriously, as even hospitals will not be working well, and all the experienced doctors will be on holiday. Everything slows down or grinds to a halt, except tourist activities. Your mail arrives later, and some days you just don't get any. Public services cannot close down, but that is no guarantee that anybody competent is left. Bank & School HolidaysAmericans using British English guides should be aware of the different use of the terms "holidays" and "vacation". In British English, "holidays" is commonly used for vacation (vacances or congé in French) and "bank holidays" for public and national holidays (jours féries in French). School holidays are les vacances scolaires in French. Other types of absence from work than holidays and vacation are known as congé (leave of absence in general), possibly qualified, such as congé de maternité (maternity leave), congé de paternité (paternity leave), congé de maladie (sick leave). You will find that there is a lot of congé and vacances in France, something that can be a problem if you need someone to do something for you. The common attitude is that no one will bother to cover for the absent ones, so you just have to wait until they are back.
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