The Grande Arche has a viewing deck in it that you can pay to go up and enjoy the views of Paris. Apparently one lady did not think that the views today were worth paying for. She stood at the ticket counter (just behind where we were sitting) demanding that she get her money back. Before I go further, let me just point out that it has been overcast all day, scattered showers, increndibly windy, and probably not the best day to see Paris in all of its splendor. Just because one is on vacation does not mean that common sense should not prevail...before you spend your 8 euros to go up the tower you should be able to assess from ground level whether or not you will get your money's worth.
This lady failed to make such an assessment and was demanding that somebody reimburse her for being an idiot (as one of my old co-workers used to say, "your piss-poor planning is not my problem"). The kicker of this whole exchange is that she only spoke english to the French speaking staff (I think her native tongue was spanish). As the exchange went on she continued to talk louder and more slowly, but still in english. I guess she felt that people can suddenly learn new languages when it is yelled at them with large spaces left between each word. In fact, I think I will suggest this new technique to my french teacher - I will be bilingual by next week!
It was quite comical (well, for everyone but her). She kept saying, "WHY DON'T YOU SPEAK ENGLISH?", "WON'T ANYBODY SPEAK ENGLISH", "I WANT MY MONEY BACK...I DID NOT SEE ANYTHING." This lasted for about 30 minutes. I left lunch feeling sorry for the lady though. If she gets that stressed out over 8 euros while on vacation I imagine that her entire life is lived in a pretty high state of anxiety...perhaps I should have invited her to join me on my run today to help her destress. This way I would also be gauranteed to have a welcome conversation in english!
Speaking of my run, I have to run 60 miles this week. I figured I would put a healthy dent into tonight by running 10.25 miles in the Bois. I ran between storms, which is why I do not think I saw any "ladies" out tonight either. The run went as follows:
7:15/7:17/7:20/7:17/7:17/7:14/7:10/7:13/7:21/7:06 min/mile
Felt really good tonight despite the wind and odd burst of rain. The goal for this week is to stay healthy and the rest will just fall into place.
Tonight all the clouds have broken up and I am sitting here enjoying this sunset from my window. I hope yours will be just as nice!
A+
No comments:
Post a Comment