The Fired "Rude" Waiter Was Not "Just French"
Stereotypes form harmful boxes for containing entire peoples, but some can establish a chicken-and-egg relationship when paired with observation bias. The waiters of Paris have a peculiar stereotype that is as flattering as it is problematic: Apparently, Parisian waiters perform seriously and with pride; so much so that this sense of authority translates as disrespect to the uninitiated. This stereotype has proven so pervasively true that it has inspired a corrective campaign by the Parisian board of tourism and chamber of commerce , as well as a psychological condition wherein Japanese tourists suffer culture shock when confronted by rude Parisians . The stereotype of a haughty French waiter collides with another stereotype in the case of Guillaume Rey, a Paris-trained waiter who was fired from a Toronto restaurant for rude behavior: The overly-serious French waiter was fired for clashing with overly-polite Canadian coworkers. Rey claims that his termination in August 2017 was base...