Travel with award-winning author Gail Thorell Schilling as she jaunts alone to Paris and southern France to ransom her self-confidence and learn how to age in her engaging memoir, Do Not Go Gentle. Go to Paris: Travels of an Uncertain Woman of a Certain Age. Rattled by fears that she is losing her keys, her job, her looks, this 62-year-old American with a little French and less money transcends mishaps ranging from botched connections to a fickle sweetheart. Her travels expose her to the wisdom of feisty Frenchwomen, still vital in elder years. Joie de vivre, she learns, has no expiration date. Click here to order the book, Worldwide distribution via Amazon.
Today's Word: culotté (koo-loh-tay)
: cheeky, daring, sassy
Sound File: listen to Jean-Marc read the example sentence from Larousse.fr
Culotté, cela veut dire "avoir du culot, être effronté ; manifester cet état d'esprit : C'est plutôt culotté de venir sans être invité." Culotté, it means "to be cheeky, to be daring; to manifest this state of mind: It is rather cheeky to come without being invited."
A DAY IN A FRENCH LIFE by Kristi Espinasse
Robot Panties (or Les Culottes en Fer)
By now we are all familiar with the automated side of life, as increasingly machines replace people. But do you ever wonder how Old France is faring in this new world? In the past week, I've been surprised by the degree to which public areas are automated–from fast food to fast doctors we are going to have to have more than steel nerves to function in the coming robotic world….
For now, we must resist while we can.
On our way home from the Alps, I agreed we could stop at Mac Do (as they call it here) on one condition: we would not do the drive-through but would go inside, sit down and eat our lunch (with linens if possible…). This intention to slow down was foiled when we encountered the computerized self-service stations where extra seating used to be. Taking a deep breath, I searched for the "Royale" burger I had the last time I was here (a year ago?). Not finding it, I went to the front counter to order from a human, only to learn that was impossible. All of the registers had been removed, and the counter now served as a barrier. It wouldn't be the first barrier we would run into….
Arriving home a few hours later, I unpacked in time to accompany Mom to the doctor. At the medical center I searched for a secretary when another patient pointed to a dull gray tablet near the exit. Studying the screen I was explaining to Mom how to use the computerized check-in when we ran into another pépin: the instructions were, of course, in French.
"Don't worry Mom. If you ever have to come here alone somebody will help you!" I assured her. With that I offered a pleading look to the two patients, who smiled in solidarity.
From there Mom and I went grocery shopping only for one of us to become frustrated upon learning that every fruit/veg had to be weighed electronically and self-labeled. My feisty Mamacita, having moved here from Mexico (where she had only to reach out her kitchen window to pick papayas) returned everything to the bins and grabbed a prepackaged sack of pears. Harrumph (well, I'll say harrumph. Mom exclaimed a much more colorful word!). If this automated society is challenging for the French, it is baffling for immigrants. Thankfully we aliens could stick together on this changing planet.
On the way to the checkout, we were eager to pay and leave only to learn no humans were available (owing to a broken cash register. The newly remodeled store put in two cash registers and five self-checkouts… Mom and I headed to the second register, only to find it abandoned; we would have to use the self check-out stations. Knowing this would take a while (our motley duo attempted self check last time. If you think weighing 3 apples back at the produce section was complicated, try typing in 46 tiny digits when the scan code doesn't work). Taking another deep breath, I asked if they had a public bathroom (a pressing question since arriving to the store 45 minutes earlier…). Non, the manager smiled, they did not. Now I ask you, who smiles when delivering bad news if not a robot? Which leads me to the point I am trying to make….
Looking around the shiny new store (which included a beverage stand and snacks for sale), I wondered how it was possible to put so much effort into supermarket efficiency and so little thought into human beings? You might say the company's decision to forgo a public restroom was culotté –cheeky on their part! Humor aside, I (and my bladder) can't help but think: In order to keep up with this futuristic society, we'll need more than nerves of steel, we may need robot panties!
* * *
I leave you with an image of Mom, in her favorite place to shop–the farmers market. The warmth and conviviality cannot be weighed or labeled with a machine. And (at this one, in St Cyr-sur-Mer) the public toilettes are at the end of the leafy lane. 🙂
FRENCH VOCABULARY
Mac Do = Mc Donald's
les culottes = panties, underpants, knickers
le fer = iron
le pépin = glitch, hitch, snag
culotté = cheeky
les toilettes (nfpl) = restrooms, bathrooms
Improve your French pronunciation with the book Exercises in French Phonics
Thank you very much for reading these stories, especially via email. Each week, more people sign off the email listserver–yet another sign of the changing times. It is a crowded world out there and a chaotic inbox only makes it more overwhelming. So merci encore for hanging on, for being a subscriber to this journal. Without you I would not be writing. I leave you with a rainbow, un arc-en-ciel, spotted here in La Ciotat a few weeks ago. I am leaving, now, to visit our daughter in Miami, and hope to post some photos on my Instagram if you would like to follow me there.
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Understand the dilemma. When the supermarché made the scanners available for us to do the work, I knew that job eliminations were forthcoming. How are people going to make a living when everything is so full of machines!
Hi Kristi,
Loved the story today! I like to use the self checkout at the grocery store when I’m in a hurry. We have a “real person” who stands at the end of the row of self checkout to help people when they have problems. If you want to buy wine or beer they have to put in a code before you can scan it anyway. I agree with Jules and love to shop at the farmer’s market!
Beautiful rainbow!
Eileen
Hi again! I just bought Gail Schilling’s book…looks great!
Merci, Kristi! If you had ended with your image of robot panties, I don’t think I could have forgiven you!
If you want to see pictures of a truly wonderful farmers market, look for “Wild Oats Farmers Market”. It’s in Sedgefield in South Africa, which is where I have lived, since retiring 25 years ago. We also have stunning beaches and mountains to the north of us. Sedgefield is part of the district of South Africa known as the Garden Route. This name says it all
Ouf. Good to see your note, Joanne. I did have my doubts about ending it there 🙂
Enjoy the book. I will be reading mine at the same time you are!
We still have clerks and self-check. As I read somewhere, I go to a human, don’t do their work for them, and keep a non-robot working. But them, i’m a ‘boomer’!!
Mike, This is totally going on my bucket list! A plus would be if you would show us around your beloved market 🙂.
Great story ! And I always love it when you write about the incomparable Jules! She sounds like so much fun to be with, and has the joie de vivre that you must have inherited along with her other genes!
Bon voyage! Look forward to beach photos of mother and daughter from Florida! 🙂
100% with you and Jules on this one. I love this story – they are putting in self serve check out at my grocery and I refuse to use it. If I am going to spend my money in a store they can at least provide a human being to check me out and bag the groceries. The prices have not been reduced to reflect the management savings. So it sure does not help me – the customer.
Have a great time in Miami – we will all be here when you get back.
I remember when California turned their gas stations into self serve. They thought it woud keep gass prices down but it didn’t and they lost many, many jobs . both part time and full time!
Thank you, Nancy. 💕
Love your take on life! New York City just made “cashless” stores illegal.
The shop where I usually go now only has two checkouts with a person. As I refuse to use the job killing auto ones I end up waiting for ever to pay merde!. A more profane word comes to mind however I’ll stick to merde here.
Love the markets in La France…they are the best…I hope and pray that they never become
“ferrous!” Thanks again and bon voyage!
I agree with you 100%. I figure if I wanted to work as a cashier in the store I’d take the job, and at least get paid!!!! (and have told them so at the store). At least here at Smith’s (Kroger) they periodically offer a survey, and I’m quick to say my opinion of the auto-check out concept. And when there is no cashier (Walmart the other day) I go find someone from the store to do it for me (there usually is someone who is managing the self-check machines). At least that way it has been made as inconvenient as possible. Definitely is a pet peeve of mine.
About the only other way of fighting the trend (beside playing dumb and getting help) is to leave the store without making a purchase, but then you need to find someone to whom to make the point that that is what you’re doing, or leave a note on your cart full of un-purchased items.
Unless we organized with others of like-mindedness, we fight a losing battle.
Our dear Kristi,
Oh,your post–and those BEAUTIFUL pictures! — wrapped me in both smiles
and head scratching on how in the world did things progress to this point???!Yikes!!
As I do with every chapter,I so enjoyed latest one of Lost Gardens!!
I do not want this terrific book to end!!
Also am going to get Gail’s new book.Sounds like a perfect read for a sunny day with puppies sleeping on my lap.
Thank you!
Please hug Jackie for us and have a safe trip.
Love
Natalia. Xo
Kristin, whenever I have to use the self-checkout, I ask whomever I can find if I get a discount for doing the cashier’s work. Un peu culotté, n’est ce pas?
Enjoy your voyage à Miami!
Thank you, chère Natalia. This is so helpful. Sending hugs.
Susie, I love it. Wonderful example of culotté !
Just to let you know how much I love your emails, I erased about a dozen this morning before I found yours. A smile appeared on my face and the thought that I must unsubscribe from the others but Never from yours. It is refreshing and keeps my nerves calm and happy.
Having lived in Mexico for a large part of my life I concur with your Maman. The farmer’s markets (Mercado where I come from) is far less stressful. Merci!
Thank you, Gail! This is most reassuring and so motivating. 💕
John, those Mercados sound wonderful !👌
And then you travel to Oregon and you are not allowed to pump your own gas there….no self serve….and of course their prices are LOWER than California.
Give me a farmer’s market any day. Since I am choosing February of one of three months of the years that I will not buy anything in plastic, I don’t think I will run into the “robotic problem” too much. In many ways it is sad, not only economically with people losing jobs, but more and more the lack of personal communication. Communication face to face is essential to our well being. Technology can be great, but greatly overused or should I say abused.
I admire your determination, Jerry! Keep up the good work. Merde!
I refuse to use those self-checkouts. If they say they don’t have any people available to check me out, then I leave. I’m stubborn and I don’t want people to lose their income! Krogers is almost out for me, Target is as well. I’m finding very few stores still have cashiers! Aldi’s, Trader Joes and HEB for me and I have a good little Ace Hardware that is still full service!
Loved today’s topic–also one of my pet peeves! Here in Oregon self-serve gas stations are not permitted–which I so appreciate! I believe they are trying to pass legislation that will require stores to have a certain number of regular cashiers to offset the machines–something I favor. By the way, I also bought the book. Looks like a really good one!
One of the joys of shopping in farm markets in the States and in the marches, boulangeries, boucheries, etc. in France is the human contact. I’m with you, Kristi.
Rest assured, Kristin: I’m de-listing myself from the myriad eblasts from retailers just so I can find yours! They’re an island of reason in an inbox flowing with rubbish.
I grew accustomed to weighing produce au prisunic when I lived in France. I thought it was a better idea than having the checkout person sigh while flipping through the long list of produce codes. I also liked that the checkout person had a chair on which to sit—much more civilized than the American checkout folk, I thought.
We’re resigning ourselves to so many self checkouts here, and in some cases, I welcome them over standing on line (a way of life in New York, nearly). I had to show my mother how to use one over the holidays when the queues looked daunting, and her 85-year old brow wrinkled with skepticism.
Your culotté offering today was so perfectly-timed! I just got pummeled by a couple of Quebecois Twitter nuts over the literal translation of “culottes” in conjunction with a French literary passage. They think they’re akin to “pantalons,” and were offended when I suggested (oh so covertly) that Québécois bears little resemblance to French. Tant pis!
Merci infinement!
Thank you, Thatgirl. Much appreciated!
I was surprised to read that you had to weigh your produce. I haven’t had to weigh mine in France (or the US) in ages. The regular and the self-checkout registers have scales built in.
One thing I don’t understand, though, is why the big stores like Carrefour, any supermarché, Leroy Merlin, etc. don’t put in restrooms. I’m not sure what the French are thinking.
I agree with everyone who misses the “personal element” in shopping, and other elements that connect people in our communities. No wonder so many people feel lonely, and that senior citizens struggle with everyday activities, faced with technology. This doesn’t even include trying to connect with a real person by phone.
The Chicago Sunday Tribune this week included an article in their business section about the number of businesses that are giving up personal interviews in hiring. Instead, applicants must make a video posted to a website where algorithms determine if the person uses enough “key words” to be worthy of continuing in the application process. While the article says that this avoids cultural biases, it is another step away from a personal connection.
I find this all discouraging…
I wholeheartedly agree with many of the comments.
But I also wanted to share my experience. I work at the register and we have a self-checkout as well. There are quite a few customers who treat us, humans, as if we were machines. That is no “Hello”, no “Thank you”, no “Please” (Yes, I am old school, I believe in civility). If one decides to use a human cashier, one should make an effort to be polite, at least, or just go to the machine instead, where no human interaction is needed.
………that is SO true! I hate automated checkouts as well as all the other automated things I have to deal with. We really NEED more human contact, and less automation!!!
Good reminder, Maria. Thank you! It reminds me of what happens when you forget to say, Bonjour Madame or Bonjour Monsieur here in France: you may be treated to a lesson 😂
Joan, this is indeed discouraging!
Thank you for your comments on humanity. Tres bon! And for using email!
Loved this piece. Its nice to know that this is happening in France as well!
How true- pretty soon everything will be automated- and there will be no need for us humans-just more efficient robotic versions of us with an expiration date. Reminds me of those automated phone trees you get when you call certain businesses. You want to scream “ I just want to talk to a real person!!!!” Merde!
Your mom is so cute! I think that she and I are about the same age, but she certainly looks better in her hats than I do! However, I do love hats and wear them for practical and fashion reasons.
I really enjoy hearing about your children and your mom.
Bette
Just catching up rather late. Interesting story. As shops become more and more less personalised, they lose their appeal. Just one more obstacle to convivial and convenient shopping that drives us all eventually to Amazon.com. Lets hope the markets keep going, even though, they are, on the whole. more expensive.
And finally, be careful at MacDo’s and similar places with those ordering touch screens. They are full of germs from thousands who went there before you, including those who previously visited the toilet and never washed their hands. (Or touched door handles used by others who had not washed their hands.)