There is a stereotype that French people are snobs towards foreigners who don't speak French, but I…read morehave not had that experience. All the French people I met in Strasbourg were lovely. I had a mission while in this city to buy a special bread called Pain à l'Ancienne. My grandma had requested that I bring her a loaf of this bread, as it's her favorite and I would be able to get it to her fresh. Before even coming to France, I had a written itinerary of things for each city, and buying Pain à l'Ancienne for my grandma was one of the main things.
I asked a local resident where the best boulangerie is and they pointed me to one. I went there, and they didn't have Pain à l'Ancienne, but they told me to go to this Au Pain De Mon Grand-père location. I went as they instructed.
There was an older lady and possibly her adult daughter working there. As respectfully as possible, I asked them in French if they spoke English - they made it clear that they didn't speak English, and they also didn't hide their annoyance. I was embarrassed, and yes I accept that I'm an awful, ignorant American for not having studied French in school so that I could utilize it to buy this special bread, but ultimately no, I don't know French. I respect that they don't know English and I don't think that should be expected - this is France, where people have their own beautiful language.
I excused myself from the counter and called a friend of mine who speaks French so that she could interpret. I explained the situation to her and went back in to the counter. I held up my phone and gestured to it, explaining that my friend speaks French. The older lady refused to take the phone and shook her head at me and moved on to the next person, ignoring me.
I was shocked and confused. I've never seen someone behave so inhumanely and rudely before. I approached the other person working, but she ignored me to talk to other customers. This is exactly the stereotype that people say about France. I don't believe this is true for most of the lovely people here, but these people behaved very shamefully and I would not return there.
Thankfully, I was able to locate the special bread at another bakery. But this interaction left a bad taste in my mouth about this place after an otherwise wonderful visit.
In sum, I would recommend that you not go to this business decency and hospitality are things that you value and wish to patronize.
