Why You Should Never Say Garçon (to signal a waiter)

[@pariswalkabout]

I always call the waiter/waitress "monsieur" or "madame", followed by a "s'il vous plait" and don't forget the "bonjour" followed by a smile, basic politesse.

[@msworldtraveller3264]

There are two things I remember about the waiters in Paris. 1. they insisted on speaking English even though I gave my order in French 2. they referred to Coca Cola as "the American champagne".

[@knucklehoagies]

As an American, I never encountered rudeness from any French waiters. I found as long as you make the effort to speak French, they are very nice. Also, don’t try to act like you have the upper hand cause you’re the customer. In the US, that mindset is expected but in France, people don’t put up with it at all.

[@WingITFlightSim]

Yeah. It's called a sense of entitlement. As an American, I'm embarrassed that people treat other people like garbage just because they (the employees) 1. have made a mistake or 2. the customer simply doesn't get his/her way. It's embarrassing- for the Karens, not the employee(s).

[@knucklehoagies]

@@WingITFlightSim yep exactly. I was at a restaurant in France once and I saw this other American couple in the table near us. They were so weird and awkward about the way dining culture in France is and complained about everything. When the waiter asked them in their broken English if they are finished, they responded with "We're good." And the French waiter was confused and didn't understand what "We're good" meant. The couple got progressively louder more frustrated and had a horrible attitude with the waiter. I was so embarrassed as an American because observing how our own people act in other countries, it really puts into perspective how childish and ignorant we really look to other countries. Who goes to another country and thinks everyone will interpret the phrase "we're good" the way we want them to even when English is not the language they speak on a day to day basis? A simple "yes sir. We are finished eating" would have sufficed.

[@pauloamaral6069]

My MY, you'd be amazed to see that here in Brazil, a country where french was always influential until 50s years ago, GARÇOM is not a clichê, but the real word we use to call the waiter in bars and restaurants. There is no real word for waiter here, so we always used GARÇOM, specially in restaurants (wich are more formal and strict), as for bars and street business we mostly use informal and intimate words for waiters in general, we literaly call them wathever like AMIGO (friend), CHEFE (boss), CAMARADA (comrade), Querido (dear), and they call us "FREGUÊS/FREGUESIA" (specific and informal word for freguesia), AMIGO, AMIZADE, ME CHEGADO, MEU CHEFE. Dont be surprised if you hear someone in a high standard restaurant calling the waiter as AMIGO or those others, we are a very informal and cozy people. :D

[@juliehorn2240]

Thanks for clearing up my long held confusion about ‘plus’.

[@emersondovale]

That's so interesting. In Brazil we say Garçom (with m) for waiter and that's the actual word for waiter in portuguese. and I didn't know that in french, despite being oldfashion, we could use Garçon to call them. In Brazil, Garçons (plural of Garçom) are always supposed to be friendly and willing, by the away, calling them by this name might sound very formal, some would call 'Ei, amigo (hey friend)', or even use hierarchical words like 'meu chefe or meu patrão ( my boss)' . Do you guys have a specific word for waiter in French?

[@pauloamaral6069]

Acho que eles usam UN SERVEUR, que dá na mesma que SERVO. Sendo UNE SERVEUSE o feminino.

[@mariereid5178]

I love watching these short French videos and I am glad I signed up for the French crash and the weekly course I have learned so much from these emails bonjour Geraldine

[@robertoconnor2669]

Being Irish holidaying in France for the last 6yrs indicating you’re Irish and not English usually helps in restaurants. But we encounter rudeness in a lot of restaurants even though we try our best to order in french..

[@deniscolares]

Although I've read a lot about the rudeness of the french waiters, whenever the restaurant is not busy I would always ask his opinion about one or two dishes and was surprised with how much they treated me better afterwards! Just basic human conection, I guess

[@undeadblizzard]

French are not rude. They use to be a Mighty Empire. A language that was a diplomatic language.

[@hzuzh]

I watched Hélène et les Garçons when I was a child in the 90's! It was really popular: everyone at school watched it. Such a throwback

[@rehabalsaleh166]

En syrie, on appele encore les serveurs "garçon" mais peuple qui utilisent pas ce mot pensent que ce n'est pas un mot sympa pour appeller les serveurs.

[@warutwarut6510]

Merci pour les vidéos. Je les trouve très informatives.

[@ogunsadebenjaminadeiyin2729]

Very helpful lesson. 😎

[@josepartida1711]

Good to know. I took French in high school but that was 20 years ago.

[@debbief9861]

I've always found politeness works, garcon or no garcon.

[@janedmunds4218]

I’m working with some old - I guess - Pimsleur French language CDs and was wondering about how garçon is used currently... merci Geraldine

[@Ploon72]

I find that waiters in France are professionals who are proud of their work. They don’t treat it as just a bit of pocket money. I appreciate it and will accept some ‘snootiness’ along with it. :)

[@thomkb]

Being a waiter in France is a proper profession. You can raise a family on a waiter's salary. I've always found waitstaff in France to be helpful when needed, invisible when not needed.

[@mika_7846]

Me personally, in a country where we use french a lot in our daily basis, i use the word "jeune" to call a waiter or some other part-timers

[@wk4r3nw]

Oh wow, j'ai vu beaucoup des belles choses sur ton plateau. Salutations du Mexique.

[@bilahn1198]

Same thing in English. Calling someone "boy" would be just horribly insulting and condescending.

[@HalOBrien]

“...and despite its title, it’s not a retelling of ‘The Iliad’.” - Oh, tres drôle. (Is that right? Anyway. I found it very funny.)

[@lordfreedom001]

Merci. My teacher makes this "mistake". Have you any video with letter "R" sound pronunciation? I can´t find any. Greetings from Czech Republic. :)

[@debramoss2267]

Being English and female, I cringe whenever I have to call a waiter over and will stare at them like a stalker, for an inappropriately long time in the hope of 'catching their eye' . And that's in my own country, heaven help me! 😕

[@overlordnat]

Bien expliqué! La verbe Anglaise ‘dude’ est prononcé ‘dood’, c’est pas ‘dyood’, mais c’est un plus petit faux pas.

[@marcelozilinski5449]

Merci pour le video! In Tintin - Le Crabe aux Pinces d'Or Dupont et Dupond called un serveur "garçon" and that made me really confused! Now I know it is just outdated. :)

[@Akephalos204]

In Portuguese Garçon is the only word for waiter and the feminine form Garçonete.

[@bugsby4663]

This was pointed out in Pulp Fiction.

[@josepartida1711]

True but Pulp Fiction was made around ‘94 when French textbooks still had “garçon” for waiter. I was in high school 98-2002 and that was still the case. Had I not seen this video I wouldn’t have known this word was outdated.

[@rauldempaire5330]

Bonsoir Geraldine, desole I missed the live stream!.... this internet penurie is killing me!

[@Geker3]

"... some French waiters may be rude..." Gurl, have you ever been in Prague? (And I don't mean the one in Texas)

[@leey7h]

i guess I should be throwing out my french grammar books, they are more than 40 years old!!

[@Commeunefrancaise]

Bonsoir Herb, not mandatory but we have to bear in mind that language evolves.

[@alexmancunian7774]

Hélène et les garçons is one of my favorite.

[@dougarnold7955]

...I always wondered about this years ago...

[@MrEsMysteriesMagicks]

So I take it yelling, "Gargoyle! Oh, gargoyle!" is totally out of the question...

[@Commeunefrancaise]

Seems worth a try. 😂

[@MrEsMysteriesMagicks]

@@Commeunefrancaise I tried that once in a French restaurant. The Hunchback of Notre Dame came out and smashed a concrete statue on my head. 😃😃😃

[@L.M1792]

I found myself turning away from people as I was saying merci (at the end of an interaction) when I was visiting France recently. I’m not sure if this is considered rude or not, and I didn’t really notice it at the time (well not immediately anyway), but on reflection I’m wondering if it was.... perhaps.... taken as being a little rude. As a native French woman do you think it would have been considered rude? Kind regards LM

[@romiagua2746]

Ficou muito bem explicado 😄👍

[@petegtorcan]

Servers in France aren’t your friends and are like ghosts and don’t tell you their names and just serve you and that’s it? 👏👏👏 Bring that to Canada!

[@mikeydread62]

Ooh, it would be bad enough to to say in a café, 'garçon!', but to call out 'gar-con!' ooh, ooh, ooh. I think one should be driven straight away to CDG

[@jimdonovan3092]

En général, il vaut mieux être poli et généreux, ça ne coute rien et les serveurs comme le reste du monde respondent d’une façon pareille

[@lazeylazey]

Funny to see how they say "don't do something in France". Who the hell wants to go to France at all? I am amazed that French people are prudent enough to demand something from people who kind enough to visit this emm... country(?) Go tell each other what to do and what don't do. If I ever visit this place I will do whatever (legal) I want

[@funnyman613]

Géraldine je veux savoir si c'est faux ou bizarre si je décide d'aller au restaurant tout seul en France. Vous avez dit vous-même qu'en France les repas sont sociaux. Parfois, je mange au restaurant tout seul ici aux États-Unis. Aux États-Unis ce n'est pas bizarre pour un homme comme moi-mêmes mais un peu bizarre pour une femme, malheureusement. Merci, j'adore vos clips !

[@lukaszpokoju]

Je pense que c'est à peu près pareil en ici en France. Cela dépend du contexte aussi, dans les restaurants "bon marché" les "snacks" ou des restaurants normaux, sur les terrasses il n'est pas rare de voir des hommes ou des femmes manger seuls. En particulier au milieu de la journée, car il ne peuvent pas manger sur leur lieu de travail ni rentrer à la maison. Le soir dans des restaurants plus huppés ou plus sophistiqués, cela se remarque davantage. Ce n'est pas forcément mal vu. Mais le fait que le repas ait une valeur sociale forte en France, n'exclut pas le fait que certaines personnes puissent manger toutes seules.

[@michelehaliche4988]

Je suis Française et je vais parfois manger seule au restaurant, rien de bizarre ou mal vu.

[@vicinvesta8349]

Garcon! je ne mange pas six jours, s'il vous plait!

[@magomedmighty9711]

Bianvenu

[@jrr3558]

Glurps : à Paris c'est les garçons de café et moi je les appelle toujours garçon !!!

[@kobaltkween]

As an African American, I don't think I need much of an explanation as to why yelling "Boy!" at a grown man is insulting, but I appreciate it nonetheless. ;D

[@knucklehoagies]

I don’t think being African American has anything to do with it. No adult male likes being addressed as boy.

[@glenngardner4721]

@@knucklehoagies Some Latin Americans will call out to a waiter: "Joven!" (even if he´s advanced in years, NO insult intended, just making him feel younger). If they badly transler that to "Boy!" in the US, it may go bad for them. But, it´s a bad translation, not disrespectful as in English

[@jeffkardosjr.3825]

Heh! It's just waiter or waitress in Quebec French.

[@galier2]

I use garçon all the time, especially when there are only waitresses, but that's because I'm a little provocateur ;-)

[@sirisaksirisak6981]

Parlez excuse moi, encore une.. si vous plait

[@howtubeable]

I don't understand the humor in the scene from the Untouchables. Why are these men making fun of an elderly waiter? Out of context, their behavior seems disgusting.

[@Nynex47]

Actually, the title is "Intouchables". This film is great, really funny & heartwarming. Alot better than the horrible American remake with Kevin Hart "The Upside".

[@Commeunefrancaise]

The character of Omar Sy right after the scene, makes the waiter think he's so uneducated that he doesn't understand the cake is supposed to be "undercooked". He's not making fun of the waiter himself as a person, he's making himself ridiculous to make his friend (and employer) laugh.

[@babkebab2659]

Je suis français mais je dévore tes vidéos 😅😂

[@norbutsering4561]

It's irritating your hair to me, the way it touches your eyes

[@josepartida1711]

Now this is rude

[@carolhanlon6871]

RudencommenL

[@carolhanlon6871]

Sorry! Meant to say, Rude Comment! Love her hair, but regardless, rude to comment on appearance!