Barefoot in Paris

France fights back against bad manners

Long criticised for their rudeness, the French are becoming more and more annoyed by bad manners. Judging by a new campaign on Paris’s public transport network, the French have decided to fight back against impoliteness.

Note to visitors from abroad: you are not the only ones annoyed by snotty waiters, aggressive commuters and shameless queue-jumpers in France.

The French – although long stereotyped as bad-mannered – are exasperated, too. And now they’re fighting back.

“Lack of manners” was quoted as the number one source of stress for 60% of French people, according to a recent study by French polling institute Ipsos.

Last month Paris’s transport company, RATP, said 97% of its passengers had witnessed “uncivil” behaviour on the French capital’s buses and metro lines.

The company even published a “Top 10” list of the behaviours that most annoyed French commuters.

Unsurprisingly, loud mobile phone chatter topped the list, irking 86% of people surveyed. Refusing to let passengers off a train before jumping on – a classic Parisian nuisance – also featured high up in the table.

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