Today's spicy story takes place here along the boardwalk in La Ciotat…
faire un doigt d'honneur à quelqu'un
: to flip somebody off
Click here to listen to the following sentence
The driver–a woman in her 50s–flipped us off.
La conductrice–une femme d'une cinquantaine d'années–nous a fait un doigt d'honneur.
A DAY IN A FRENCH LIFE by Kristi Espinasse
Oh, this wind! It's Day 2 of Le Mistral and this morning my husband actually said a prayer to protect us from people's humeur or moods!
Cranky, irritable, rude–my daughter and I witnessed the gamut yesterday, after Jackie invited me for Mothers Day lunch.
(Our 21-year-old is back home from Colorado and, having worked all season at The Ritz Carlton–where she won an award for excellence in service!–she is now waitressing on the beach. She'll work sept sur sept and long hours all summer, but she doesn't mind. The only thing is, we are finding it difficult to spend time together–and we didn't see each other at all last Sunday, which was Fête des Mères here in France.)
At a local restaurant here in La Ciotat, Jackie and I chose indoor seating after seeing the dining room was almost empty (nice and quiet). But once we sat down, we heard the blaring radio. So when the waitress appeared, I asked if she would mind turning down the music…just a little bit.
'Well, hopefully not so low that the rest of us can't enjoy it,' she snapped, before barging off.
Alors, laissez-le! I snapped right back (was the Mistral wind getting to me too?). Jackie told me to shush, and we brushed off the initial greeting…but not for long.
'Vous avez de la daurade?' Do you have sea bream on the menu, I asked, searching for the familiar fish.
'Il faut regarder.' You'll have to look, came the cheeky answer, as the waitress pointed to the menu.
'But it is usually your specialty', I countered.
'I don't know. I usually work at the bar,' came the reply. Next, the waitress stomped off to check with the chef. I widened my eyes, making eye contact with the couple in the next table, who seemed as baffled as we were.
Bon, I said to Jackie. Let's just get cheeseburgers and enjoy our time together. From that point on, we were extra nice to the waitress, who must have been having a bad day. Jackie left her a nice tip and we left, to stroll along the boardwalk, arm in arm.
Returning home, we jaywalked across the street–as every local does–only the car coming towards us would not slow down. I looked beyond le pare-brise and saw a middle-aged woman at the wheel. Jackie made eye contact, too, and added a few choice words directed at the driver who, having let us pass, abruptly blared her horn. Turning we watched the driver reach out of the window….
And flip us off!
Elle nous a fait un doigt! Un doigt d'honneur! I said. I can't believe it! Who would flip off a mother and daughter walking arm and arm? That is so bizarre!
Jackie didn't seem to find it so unusual. Laughing, she offered, Maman. Ça a pimenté notre sortie mère-fille.
Looking at it from my daughter's angle, I lightened up. True, it only spiced up our mother-daughter outting.
***
Book update:
Speaking of spice, things are heating up in our memoir! Midway into chapter 4, this is the perfect time to jump in and read our book-in-progress. Read about it, here.
FRENCH VOCABULARY
le Mistral = a cold and strong northwesternly wind
sept sur sept = seven days a week
la Fête des Mères = Mothers Day
alors = well then
laissez-le = leave it
Vous avez toujours de la daurade = do you still have sea bream?
le pare-brise = windshield
pimenter=to spice up
WINE TASTING IN MARSEILLE
Jean-Marc will be pouring his latest wine, Ephemera, at Le Vin Sobre wine shop where he works. You can also taste a selection of some of the other wines on offer–this June 6th at 6pm.
2, av. Maréchal de Lattre de Tassigny
13009 MARSEILLE
Tél. 04 91 30 68 35
Thanks, Eileen deCamp, for this wonderful picture of Jean-Marc's Ephemera wine!
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Wow! I can’t believe Jackie is 21 already and returned from CO and The Ritz Carlton! Congratulations to her and her Service Award! And what a lovely mother-daughter outing you luckily ended up having!! You’re the best, Kristin!! xoxo
Hi Kristi,
I’m glad you and Jackie had a nice Mother’s Day together and with a little added spice to your outing! haha
I’ve heard that the Mistral can make people go crazy! I know when we have winds here my husband gets extra cranky especially when he is trying to lay bird netting over our blueberry bushes!!
I thought that photo looked familiar! I wish I had ordered more bottles of Jean-Marc’s wine! We drank all ours already!!!
Dear Kristi,
When I encounter someone who is cranky or rude (usually a sales person) I will ask, ‘’ Are you always like this or are you just having a bad day? ’’ I usually get a glare and I just smile back. Although one day a very rude lady actually burst into tears. I almost felt bad for asking!
Jackie is a dear with a refreshing sense of humor…just like her mère!
Our dear Kristi,
A belated but very heartfelt Fete des Meres!!What a beautiful mom,what a gorgeous daughter–your love and devotion to each other just a blessing and a gift!
Love
Natalia xo
True , it is good to spice things up occasionally- but the ‘piment’, depending on its strength can be hard to swallow. Glad that you got to spend some time together at least.
As someone who works in retail, please don’t say condescending remarks like “are you having a bad day?!” to someone who clearly is. It’s very hard to be a public servant because that is what you are treated like, a servant. You don’t know how rude the last customer was, what ridiculous hoop they made her jump through, what thoughtless remark she was forced to endure. Believe me, the public as a whole can say some very cruel things without even thinking about what they are saying. LOL
Just a FYI! Have a great day!
But, despite the negative experience the server might have had prior to Kristin and Jackie’s arrival, she does not legitimately have the right to dump that bad vibe on her newly-arrived customers. I also was a “servant” to the public, but I did not allow bad days to ruin another customer’s contact with me. I would have been fired!!
To remain a professional at whatever you do, you should, in my humble opinion, resist the temptation to punish the next person for something that happened earlier. This server obviously was not able to do that.
Thank you, Jeanne! 💕
I think Jackie has inspired me. What if, when we run into a cranky person, we can just say to ourselves, “Voilà! Le piment du jour!” It wakes us out of our stupor, like a shot of espresso.
I had a wonderful cousin who defused road rage by waving and smiling whenever anyone honked at her. She took it to be a friendly hello from someone she might not have recognized, ESPECIALLY if it was clearly hostile.
Can we get Ephemera here in the states?
Years ago when I worked in a bookstore, I was surprised that some of the customers were pretty rude (most were wonderful). There was one button on the cash register which didn’t have a specific function – maybe it was put there for some future purpose. One of the other cashiers had written a little note on it, and when we started to be bothered by a disagreeable customer, we would push the button a few times. It didn’t affect the ringing up of the books. What was on it? “Have a nice day – somewhere else!”
Love the button! What a great idea. 🙂
I agree with you completely. I don’t see why, as customers, we must pause to sort out the psychology of an individual who is supposed to be providing courteous service but seems reluctant to do so.
dear Kristin: Although this is a blog from a few months ago, I always enjoy reading your stories. I would like to donate, but I don’t do PayPal; is there another way? Merci beaucoup; bon journee! Ann