How to deal with the Rudeness in Cannes France?

Question

I'm currently visiting Cannes, France my first time ever and I they are by far the most rude arrogant people I have ever encounter in my whole life. I'm in total culture shock of the severe rudeness they constantly spew it's 99% of the time. It's nonstop everywhere I go and everything I do,numorous of incidents where I paid my hard earn money for pur rudeness like for instant's I went to a ice cream shop and the waiter was so rude and nasty smart alex questions and when I asked for chocolat sprinkles he said NONO I would get the all on the counter ( I was so shocked I was speechless) it's like they do it to press people buttons. I'm very nice and very polite and speak a little french but they're still mean and evil. I just can't stand it, I'm currently in my hotel and I refuse to go anywhere but on a plane ticket home. The thing that gets me is I always wanted to go to France it's been my dream since I was a lil girl.

I was under this Fantasy that it was a wonderful romantic country, boy was I deliusional

Answer 1

People who live in tourist towns get very irriatated with tourists who act like everywhere should be exactly like home....that being said, you're in France and getting upset over chocolate sprinkles?!? you're saying you'll just stay in your hotel?!?

I think you're not meeting the world halfway and that is sad....I've not been to Cannes, but if I can get by in Paris jetlagged to the point of communicating in a bad mix of French/English/Spanish surely anyone can

Answer 2

Your giving up too easily.  Grow a back bone and try some other towns or more hospitable establishments.  Was everyone nice to you when ever you moved or went to a new school?  Didn't it take time to find the good people in your new area?  Same way here.  Try some small towns.  Go to a tourist agency.  But you have to be open minded too.  If your mind is already closed because of a few bad apples, then save your time and money and fly back to the US.

Adapting to a new land is not easy.  But it is worth it.  Try and push your self more.

I spent a year in France as a foreign exchange student.  When I first got there my french was terrible.  I know for a fact that the French are good people.  Plus I know many more now in the US.

Answer 3

where are you from? well I'm sorry you met rude people but don't believe it's because you're foreign. Shopkeepers are like that with everybody, it happens to me very often to think that a waiter is not kind enough. But Cannes is a very touristy and "bourgeois" place, it's like in Paris you should avoid these expensive cities where noone cares about tourists, except if you're very rich...I think you idealised too much your trip, you should not care too much about how people react, maybe it's a difference of cultures that creates misunderstandings.

(French girl)

Answer 4

That's kind of interesting. My son spent an entire year in Paris attending the university there and never spoke of anyone being rude. He does speak fluent French though, and maybe that allowed him to make people more at ease with him.

Did you try going to  other areas besides Cannes?

And where do you actually live?

Answer 5

Hi, I am a french woman living in Paris, I agree with you, french people are a little rude with tourists, sometimes arrogant,

There are many years that I don't go to Cannes, all that you are saying is true in Cannes, if you come for business, work in Cannes and for the pleasure go to Monaco, to Saint Tropez,

In Cannes there are always too many celebrities and the waiters are arrogant if you are not Sharon Stone, I know well  the problem and I hate Cannes, in quality of french woman I present to you a lot of excuses, sorry.

I am living frequently in New York, I can say the newyorkers are friendly, polite, elsewere, in hotel, restaurants, in the streets, in subway if I need help, I don't know why the french people are arrogant, remember, Chirac was arrogant with States !

Answer 6

I've never been to Cannes in particular, but I was born in France (Paris, specifically), and lived there for a number of years on three occasions. My experience is that although there are rude people in France (as there are anywhere else), it's a good idea to bear in mind the following:

-What's polite or rude is culturally informed. These are subjective judgments. Here in the States, I've seen people walk into convenience stores, fast food restaurants, etc and begin ordering without so much as a "hello" or a "please". (No, I'm not suggesting everyone does this by the way, or that you're doing this necessarily.) My point being, in France and many other places, that's considered extremely rude, and it never seems to occur to people who behave this way that they could feasibly be part of the problem.

-Sweeping generalizations about an entire race, ethnicity, religious group, or, in this case, nationality are seldom if ever justified, and the people who make them seldom if ever have anything other than anecdotal evidence and a few misunderstandings/exaggerations to base them on.

-One can find "justifications" for any negative stereotype if one is predisposed to doing so. I.e. there are people who fight and drink in Ireland, people who are involved with organized crime in Italy, men who engage in machismo posturing in "Latin" countries, etc. The idea is to bear in mind that people are individuals. You'd be amazed how many people you'll encounter who DON'T fit these stereotypes at all, provided of course that you're not blinded by your own tunnel vision and self-righteousness. Food for thought...

Answer 7

Why did you go to C-A-N-N-E-S precisely on the Cote d'Azur ?

This i'll probably never know - but I think that there are in France, as in many other countries, traps for tourists - you fell in one of them - I'm sorry for you -

Cannes is a place where not a single real honest french would go - because it has been corrupted and polluted by invasions of goofie milliardaires, beleiveing that they can have anything with money -

French locals feel this every day - kind of international class-struggle in tehir own country -

Did the ice-cream seller tell you that to live in the surroundings of Cannes is for normal people impossible - to hire a room if you want to work is more expensive than the salary you can get - why would you want the ice-cream seller to be nice with people who basically, without any particular guiltiness, are basically stupid invadors - ( in his POV ) -

How can you be so naive, and expect that people wait for you shaking their little flags ( us ones ) - please remember this, you US people consider the world as a huge hygienic place where everybody must smile and shave armpitts - TRAVEL is not a picnic - travel is a schock - a schock of poor and rich people - a day will come when tourism will become impossible because of world revolt - I'm not sure you understand all - you're still in your ice-cream problem

Answer 8

isn't this like, the third time I've see you ask this question or answer another french question with this?....

...I've never had anything but pleasant experiences with the French (lived in Paris for a year), but then again, I also took the time to become fluent in their language and learn their customs....judging by your question, you can barely speak (or at least type) english!

I'm sure that mexican people in America who only speak a little English are just treated sooo well...and never mocked/ignored/beaten up....

...everything's relative dear. stop complaining.

EDIT;

...and yeah, like the person above said, if you wanted to visit the true, real, romantic France....why in God's name did you choose Cannes?!  That's just bad planning (Paris, Lyon, Bretagne, Toulouse, etc...not cannes!)

Answer 9

It happened to me once too in Paris that I was trying to buy a newspaper and the guy was very rude....but french people are like that....not rude, but they seem to loose patience quickly....not only with foreigners. Don't take it personal....and it's mostly uneducated people that are like that...

In fact, I believe the government had a program to teach people to be nice to tourists....but if it's in their nature I guess some don't learn.

Just go out and enjoy your time...Cannes is a very nice city...