Here come the melancholy skies, whether we're ready or not. Since last Monday, the official start of classes, it's been the dreariest, most dismal weather. I'm not so sure I'm prepared for the months ahead where sunshine will become as rare as peanut butter. C'est la vie à Paris.
Here's a Monday anecdote that I have to get off my chest, courtesy of about an hour ago:
Four loud, obviously wealthy Americans came into the Zara store in St-Germain-des-Prés where I was shopping. They shouted across the store to each other and touched everything they walked past. One of them went up to the caisse with a necklace in her hand and said to the woman working, assuming everyone in the world speaks English, "Excuse me, is there a way I can try this on?" The necklace had one of those big, gray security tags on it. The employee then asked for her coworker to come over because she didn't know English. The other employee apologized in English and said it wasn't possible to take the tag off and that she would just have to hold it up to her neck instead. The woman then had an absolute fit and kept saying, "Seriously? Like, I don't understand why you can't just take it off. How am I supposed to buy it?" He apologized again and walked away. The woman then started to complain loudly about the employees, right in front of them, because, St-Germain-des-Prés is in America, remember, and customers have the right to be assholes. The group then started to loudly discuss how this wasn't like Bergdorf's and how mistreated they were. After everyone in the store was staring at her, she decided to just buy the damn necklace anyway, after threatening the employee again, "So, if I don't like it, I'm just gonna return it." After they left the store, the two employees started talking about how impoli the Americans were.
I was so close to telling off the rude customers and now I realize I should have. Good going, guys. Way to not embarrass every American in Paris.
Rachel
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