I tuned into the French girls’ bitchy conversation in the office kitchen at lunchtime today, while pretending to read my book (Stella Descending – Linn Ullmann, brilliant). It went something along the lines of:
“And I told him (boyf) that if he couldn’t be bothered to come over (I gather he was on the other side of Paris at a friend’s appartment and it was midnight) and get the keys, then he shouldn’t have offered to stay in to wait for the plumber in the first place….we argued and I hung up…”
“…and then the next day he wouldn’t come ’round and pick me up for tennis and I had to carry all my stuff there myself so we had another fight and I slammed the phone down on him again…”
“..then he told me that he didn’t have the kids next weekend after all and so we could have gone away and now I’ve made other plans and he is just sooo inconsiderate and I always come last in his list of priorities….”
I don’t know how French blokes cope. They are not allowed to see their friends, have to provide a chauffeur service, deal with tradesmen and take their girlfriends away for the weekend on a regular basis and in return, they get nothing but grief . High maintenance doesn’t begin to cover it.
So engrossed in the conversation was I (usually their discussions are conducted at a not quite audible whisper which is quite frustrating) that I took a plastic cup and microwaved it for a minute instead of putting it in the coffee machine and pressing the button.
I pray they didn’t notice.
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petite anglaise 
ha ha, how i miss them! just got up to date on your site now i’m halfway through the tefl – it’s looking good!
Comment by suze — September 23, 2004 @ 10:58 am
Did it melt?
Comment by Tim — September 23, 2004 @ 10:59 am
Sounds like women in Southern California who expect to be treated like princesses, with roses sent to the office on their birthdays, or else they start a big fight. Also the men are not allowed to even look at another woman or have any woman friends! Rough.
Comment by Emily — September 23, 2004 @ 11:00 am
Aren’t French mistresses even worse than French girlfriends? Or is that a myth?
Comment by Claypot — September 23, 2004 @ 11:00 am
It didn’t melt actually. So I just stuck it under the coffee machine and prayed it wouldn’t disintegrate on the way to my desk…
claypot – don’t know any mistresses. I’ll ask the Frog if he’s got one.
Comment by petite anglaise — September 23, 2004 @ 11:01 am
uuuhhh….. That must be a parisian thing!
Comment by emilie [mimile] — September 24, 2004 @ 9:57 am
I sincerely hope my comments don’t offend French readers – I’m aware that I make sweeping generalisations and that sometimes I am treading a very fine line…but it’s
all about getting cheap laughsnot meant to be taken too seriously.And I think the girls in my office are truly in a league of their own.
Comment by petite anglaise — September 24, 2004 @ 1:41 pm