When we first came to Paris, we spent seven weeks at a hotel in Courbevoie, not necessarily the most happening place but accommodating enough for a momma and her boy. A quick five-minute walk away was the local Monoprix (grocery store), where I learned the ins and outs of shopping for food in Paris…… and that not all French people are unfriendly.
One of the security guards helped me out so many times. Like the time I put the wrong bar code sticker on my tomatoes; he took me to the scale/bar code machine and helped me figure it out. Or the time HJ decided it would be fun to run away from me while standing in line; the security guard stopped him and kept him busy while I paid the bill. Whenever he saw us, a huge smile would come across his face and he’d squeeze HJ’s checks and ask him all sorts of things in French.
When we moved to our apartment, the closest Monorpix had no security guard with a friendly face, but offered up plenty of stone-faced French women with too much money and too many sour looks at my spirited child making car noises from his stroller.
About two weeks ago, I was having a rough time, feeling super homesick and so over the French “summer” we’ve been having. I packed HJ up into his stroller and headed to Monoprix. While I was grabbing some popcorn off the highest shelf in the snack area, I saw a big man dressed in black approaching me. When I finally got a good look at him, I immediately recognized our favorite security guard. He was so thrilled to see HJ and I, between his poor English and my poor French we figured out that he was transferred to our local store. There was a lot of smiling and cheek pinching, and when we left the store, I burst into tears. The Frenchman made me cry.
I’ve thought about this at least 5 times and what it truly comes down to is having someone recognize you and be genuinely happy to see you. I haven’t felt that way since moving here, except of course with Papa and HJ. I think when we finally get home for our USA vacation, there will be lots of tears… all good ones of course.
Wow, what a crazy coincidence! And I was so glad to see you were crying for a good reason, I was worried this was going to be a “mean Frenchie” story!
Being recognized is one of the things I like most about Paris – after spending so many years in the countryside with no one wanting to be seen talking to “l’américaine”, it was such a relief to be able to walk into my neighborhood store here and be recognized by the cashier or the owner. People always think big cities are so cold, but I’ve found my small-town feeling here!
It’s true, you have these little communities within the big city…. I’m glad that there are people who recognize you!! (and me too)
I LOVE THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks Jodi!
Oh! Im so happy that your security guard was transferred! What good luck – i totally know what you mean. I never thought I’d be excited to go to the dry cleaners but they are SO nice to me and patient with my French that they make my day!!!
I guess we Americans love our marshmallow based products? lol. Very moving, it would be great for him to know how important his recognition and small effort to come say hello meant to you. Hopefully he could tell
Thank you for sharing your experiences. I just love it! It’s very therapeutic for me. I am sorry to hear that it has been hard but I am glad that you now have a friendly face to make the shopping days easier.
So true. You forget how important a friendly face is. I agree with the first comment, there is definitely a small town feel here at times. You will definitely get more and more people recognizing you. Hang in there!
What a sweet, sweet story! I’m so happy you had a bright spot at that time. Is your security friend still at your store??