I used to hate doing business in France. The buggers would speak only French until they wanted to insult me, then switch to perfect English. When I explained "je gallois" (I'm Welsh) or that I'm from payes de galles (Wales), they'd be a little more forgiving. But, having travelled in Quebec province, I can say "come back France, all is forgiven".
Anywhere in the province, if the first syllable out of your mouth isn't French, they ignore you in a very unmistakable way. If you're at the checkout in the supermarket, the clerk will turn her back on you and refuse to check you out unless/until you parlez Francais. I was having to dig very deep into my memory to recall grammar school French.
When we were in Metis, a small town on the Gaspe peninsula, we pulled into an empty parking lot at a local store. While I was checking out I heard a very loud voice, coming from the direction of the door, speaking some obscenities at me. I looked up and the guy was staring at me and speaking in French. I went outside and found he'd deliberately parked his car across the front of ours to block us. That's when I found he'd also said something to my wife who was waiting in the car. I considered going back in the store and dragging him outside to have a word in his ear, but decided I didn't want to get in trouble in a "foreign country".
The licence plates on cars in the U.S. show the state of registration, so it's easy to spot where they're from. We decided we didn't need to take this crap from the locals in Quebec and drove to the next province, New Brunswick. As soon as we crossed the provincial line, the change was dramatic; Folks were coming up to us in store parking lots and greeting us (in English). "I see you're from California. You've come a long way. How was your trip? Are you enjoying New Brunswick?" etc. One chap even approached Chris in the car and told her about his California family.
When we were camped alongside a NB couple I asked them if we'd experienced an anti-American phenomenon in Quebec, and they said "No, we're Canadian, we live on the NB/Q provincial line, and they do the same to us". The wife went on to say that she worked on the Quebec side, and explained what she had to put up with at work every day.
Some friends of ours were originally from Quebec. She's the French-speaking side of the family and he's the English-speaking side They retired to Ottawa and, on hearing my story, he told me "that's why we moved from Quebec".
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Tom
Last edited by TJ-RV : 11-03-2008 at 03:17 AM.
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