France - Take 2 - Take 2

Another massive difference between the last period when I worked in France (2003-7) and this upcoming period starting in June is the fact that I now speak the language fluently. How silly of me to have forgotten this in the initial France – Take 2 posting. Surely that is going to make life simpler even if it is quite clear that the more work that is done in English the better this is for me personally.

The other thing which got my thinking about the original posting again was a conversation with a friend of my Dad’s last night. He is a senior barrister from Scotland who carries the title of QC (Queen’s Counsel) and another Francophile. He was asking my view on the difference between working in France and the UK. I shared my long held view that I felt the French were penny pinchers and fundamentally more dishonest that Brits. Jim seemed taken aback on this second point and asked for further clarification. As I started to share examples from my past, I started to wonder if the difference between the two cultures is actually not that great….not that the Brits are more dishonest than I thought, but that maybe the French aren’t as bad as what I my initial view….maybe all that has changed in the intervening period is my own level of seniority and responsibility. Maybe all of that coffee machine decision making and showpiece meetings that frustrated the hell out of me all those years ago, well maybe that’s just the way to do business regardless of location. I will be keen to start work again in June to see if this is actually the case or not. However I still believe that they are penny pinchers!

The QC also talked very briefly about his own job and his need to make snap decisions on people in a court room setting. This reminded me of the book Blink and my favourite topic of Action Units. I must ask him about that today over another homemade hamburger at my Dad’s second BBQ in two days. The summer is definitely upon us!