When I met my visiting cousin in Paris last december, I was surprised, no flabbergasted (only because it's one of my favorite words) on how she kept telling me that the French are so nice. Even after encountering a store cashier without courtesy, not even a sly grin. Now nice is likewise somewhat relative here. Nice is when there is customer service. As tourists, it is evaluated with services on shopping, dining & lodging. "You should see how it is where I live!" She assuredly told me. Where she lives, a pleasant physical appearance is a personal necessity. "Sometimes they even literally ask you if you stole something," she continued. There is a thin line between bad customer service & plain rudeness. Sometimes you cannot even tell because you can have both. After meeting my cousin in Paris & back in the south, I also was a "suspect" of shoplifting in Castorama. Their grounds? I absolutely have no idea.
Both my husband & I wore decent clothes. We looked around, picked something we thought we might need, countinued looking around & somewhere between my deciding to go out & pay then ending up with my husband handling all the items, there was a suspicion of conduct. I went out of the hardware department, went to the car to get my jacket & on my way to the garden department, the security, like with utmost urgency, ran after me & curtly asked, "Madame, what did you put in your car?" Interrogation came when I'm already out of the store & came back. After 10 years, in all of France's dreadful customer service, I literally freaked out on this rudeness & lost it. My husband couldn't stop me from arguing with the incompetent security team & my tears of rage. I have always been lenient on normal days except this one. In short, we boycott Castorama Antibes. Not that they really care but customer service in Leroy Merlin is such a breath of fresh air & I prefer spending our money with that. Apparently, nice is not only for tourists evaluated on shopping. In this society of consumerism, shouldn't customer service be vital?
But this is our society. All with its prejudice & stereotyping. It's everywhere. Not only in France or where my cousin lives. It is even present in our our personal circle. Apparently, kindness is relative by degrees - comparison of the worse. But in all this, I've encountered many random acts of kindness. It touches me in the deepest way because it is becoming more rare. And I find it so saddening how we get surprised of kindness in our daily routines. It's as if we have to earn it.
"I have never noticed really," my cousin said & she's right. It's nothing personal. It might be waking up on the wrong side of the bed or a hard day. Unhappy with work. Family problems. Health issues. Or just a bad hair day, we forget to be nice. And I am always reminded everytime I receive an act of kindness that kindness will inspire goodness. It is synonymous to respect. Like rudeness begets arrogance. Then sometimes we just don't allow enough people to be kind to us.
I didn't really think that kindness is relative until my cousin showed me.
I should travel more.
Both my husband & I wore decent clothes. We looked around, picked something we thought we might need, countinued looking around & somewhere between my deciding to go out & pay then ending up with my husband handling all the items, there was a suspicion of conduct. I went out of the hardware department, went to the car to get my jacket & on my way to the garden department, the security, like with utmost urgency, ran after me & curtly asked, "Madame, what did you put in your car?" Interrogation came when I'm already out of the store & came back. After 10 years, in all of France's dreadful customer service, I literally freaked out on this rudeness & lost it. My husband couldn't stop me from arguing with the incompetent security team & my tears of rage. I have always been lenient on normal days except this one. In short, we boycott Castorama Antibes. Not that they really care but customer service in Leroy Merlin is such a breath of fresh air & I prefer spending our money with that. Apparently, nice is not only for tourists evaluated on shopping. In this society of consumerism, shouldn't customer service be vital?
But this is our society. All with its prejudice & stereotyping. It's everywhere. Not only in France or where my cousin lives. It is even present in our our personal circle. Apparently, kindness is relative by degrees - comparison of the worse. But in all this, I've encountered many random acts of kindness. It touches me in the deepest way because it is becoming more rare. And I find it so saddening how we get surprised of kindness in our daily routines. It's as if we have to earn it.
"I have never noticed really," my cousin said & she's right. It's nothing personal. It might be waking up on the wrong side of the bed or a hard day. Unhappy with work. Family problems. Health issues. Or just a bad hair day, we forget to be nice. And I am always reminded everytime I receive an act of kindness that kindness will inspire goodness. It is synonymous to respect. Like rudeness begets arrogance. Then sometimes we just don't allow enough people to be kind to us.
I didn't really think that kindness is relative until my cousin showed me.
I should travel more.
