wedderburn Posted July 27, 2006 Share Posted July 27, 2006 Miki - oops... in a thread about sucking up to the Maire, I'm not trying to teach people how to suck eggs! [;-)][:D]. Apologies if it seemed that way. I did join this forum many moons ago under a different pseudonym that I have since forgotten, and there doesn't appear to be a list of members that I can scan through in an attempt to rediscover it - hence rejoining under a new name... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miki Posted July 27, 2006 Share Posted July 27, 2006 No, please don't apologise. I was serious, posting as you did is far more helpful than many might realise. For various reasons, It can take some people just a few years to slot inand be pretty au fait with life here but for some, it can literally benever. Language has to play the largest part in all this. What one canperceive as being told to you, can indeed be the reverse, so one canwalk away thinking one thing when actually it was somethingentirely different (in this case, say a fonctionnaire !) AND not rightanyway !!French sites, such as this one, need people like yourself with experience, forone thing and probably the most important, they have been there, mademistakes (haven't we all and sometimes, they can be a little expensiveas well !!) and can then pass on genuine first hand knowledge. I knowthat quoting from government sites are done with the best of intentionsand for the most part they are certainly the main source but how oftencan you go in to an office and find that it doesn't quite work like thebook says! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Posted July 27, 2006 Share Posted July 27, 2006 I quite agree with what Miki and Wedderburn say. Just as you should never take what is written on the internet as gospel, neither should you rely on the word of just one official, especially in France (unless you can get it in writing, signed and dated, and use it to your advantage, but that's very unlikely).I also think that it should never be necessary to suck up to anybody. The maire, despite what he or she may think, is just an ordinary person. Be firm, stand your ground, but above all be polite. You will be respected far more than if you try creeping or backhanders. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wedderburn Posted July 27, 2006 Share Posted July 27, 2006 On issues with local officialdom, sometimes people do bring problems upon themselves, and this does occasionally come about through a lack of respect for the way of life in your new home, sometimes seen as arrogance by the locals. I mentioned the following in my blog last week, a 100% true story from a nearby village in the Vaucluse.. "...Back in Provenceamusement was tinged with more than a little disdain around the bars ofa small village, when a newly installed citizen of the USA phoned thetown hall to demand immediate action against the ‘menace’ that wasthreatening the area. The Axis of Evil,it turned out, took the form of a coalition force of cricket andcicada, which in concert were conspiring to turn the lives of theAmerican couple into a nightmare. “Not so much as a wink of sleep in a week”,was the complaint, with the cicadae quietening down during the eveningonly for the crickets to take over for the night shift. When –unsurprisingly – the token August Town Hall staff failed to take anyaction, a recorded delivery letter, written in deadly earnest, promptlyfollowed. The Town Hall, insisted the American, had no option but tohave the entire region treated with insecticide…"No suggestion that anything remotely like this took place in the original poster's experience, of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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