Why Trophee Eric Bompard is no longer

[viennaskater]

This really is a sad state of affairs, treating a sponsor in this way. And the French Skating Federation needs to up their game - their representation at the moment is not good. Apart from Papadakis/Cizeron, they have few skaters who are likely to be 'in the frame' in the current Grand Prix. It used to be loads better.

 

[SarahSynchro]

What does FFSG stand for? I know it's the French fed, but I'm curious as to what it's actual name is.

My opinion on this whole situation and the French fed in general: they're a hot mess. Always have been and always will be.

 

[FlattFan]

I encountered so much rudeness everywhere I go in France, from the greeter in Galleries Lafayette to the people manning the subway. I just didn't know they would be rude to named sponsors. That kind of je ne sais quoi attitude is not helping.

 

[Mango]

What does FFSG stand for? I know it's the French fed, but I'm curious as to what it's actual name is.

My opinion on this whole situation and the French fed in general: they're a hot mess. Always have been and always will be.

Fédération Française des Sports de Glace

 

[TGee]

What does FFSG stand for? I know it's the French fed, but I'm curious as to what it's actual name is.

My opinion on this whole situation and the French fed in general: they're a hot mess. Always have been and always will be.

La Fédération Française des Sports de Glace [=French Ice Sports Federation]

It looks as though they are also responsible for luge and bobsleigh, curling as well as speed skating.....

And they also list extreme, freestyle non-ISU skating with 3 different disciplines a freestyle program of figures; a jump competition, and an timed obstacle course race...

For an organization that focused so much of it's resources this year on trying to get it's president elected to the ISU, they don't seem all that focused on / committed to figure skating...

 

[TerpsichoreFS]

I encountered so much rudeness everywhere I go in France, from the greeter in Galleries Lafayette to the people manning the subway. I just didn't know they would be rude to named sponsors. That kind of je ne sais quoi attitude is not helping.

What is that 'je ne sais quoi' attitude you speak about? Curious to hear that, as someone who will got to North America soon, I'd like to know more. (sorry for hijacking).

The French Fed is honestly a hot mess, and they are way too imbricated in their own internal conflicts to take real care of their sports. I know figure skating is not the only one they badly mismanage.

 

[TGee]

What is that 'je ne sais quoi' attitude you speak about? Curious to hear that, as someone who will got to North America soon, I'd like to know more. (sorry for hijacking).

The French Fed is honestly a hot mess, and they are way too imbricated in their own internal conflicts to take real care of their sports. I know figure skating is not the only one they badly mismanage.

I think FlattFan is referring to the "I don't know what you are talking/asking about and why do you think I should be answering you anyway" attitude that many non-French visitors feel is the classic response to visitors or tourists.

While the wording in French is more or less accurate, the connotation is very different. . .

Uhm, TerpsichoreFS ...Is this the first time that you've heard that France has a reputation as being a really appealing place to visit, but that one can't expect gracious hospitality for the most part?

Thing is, while I'm not sure where tourists are truly liked, one has the sense that in many countries, folks working or just being in areas where visitors and tourists are likely to be, at least feel that it's their duty to both be helpful and act like it is a pleasure and not a burden.

Some places folks really try even when the language barrier is significant......but in France, not so much...

Other places, like the province of Canada where I grew up, understand that tourism is a leading industry, and insist that everyone who may come in contact with tourists must pass a hospitality course before having contact with the public. Seriously. a full day of lessons in manners, and case examples of scenarios followed by a test. Just to work in a minimum wage summer job as a student.

I hope your experience in the US will be pleasant. My experience there is that folks in sectors that see tourists tend to be polite there.

 

[lavoix]

But doesn't that just happen in Paris? I've visited smaller areas (Strasbourg for instance) and usually people were friendly.

 

[charmblade]

I was in Paris for a week last month and everyone was super nice. We used as many common French phrases as we knew, and my husband practiced his very minimal and rusty high school French, and it seemed like it was appreciated. We didn't meet a single rude person in Paris.

 

[TGee]

But doesn't that just happen in Paris? I've visited smaller areas (Strasbourg for instance) and usually people were friendly.

Was going to qualify with urban France....but the attitude isn't necessarily limited to that, and the perception abroad doesn't distinguish that from my observations....

It may not be fair to generalize, but FlattFan's experience represents a fairly common reaction, that is at the level of a cliché.

 

[stella luna]

We visited Paris and tried to speak French, and never met a rude person there.

What is that 'je ne sais quoi' attitude you speak about? Curious to hear that, as someone who will got to North America soon, I'd like to know more. (sorry for hijacking).

The French Fed is honestly a hot mess, and they are way too imbricated in their own internal conflicts to take real care of their sports. I know figure skating is not the only one they badly mismanage.

 

[stella luna]

Our French was quite bad, btw.

We visited Paris and tried to speak French, and never met a rude person there.

 

[FlattFan]

If you truly think people in France are super nice, check out a few more places. Everything is relative. And once you see what truly nice means, you'll have a different opinion of France.
Generally, the attitude is laissez-faire. Sometime, they are not following through what I'm asking them to do. Sometime they are having too much attitude. I'd say most shouldn't be in customer service field. I can imagine why Eric Bompard is not getting his response. No one is following through. Ask them to do something that is in their job description and see how your mileage vary.

 

[mrrice]

FlattFan, the first time I went to France, we had gone just for the day. We had taken the train from London and were just there to shop, have lunch under the Eiffel Tower and take a river cruise. I don't know if the people who work in the heavily visited area's just don't like their jobs but, I swore I'd never go back to France and I was dead serious. Not only were they rude to me, they were rude to the Russian's and Japanese in our group as well. Several of the members in our group did not want to do the French section of our tour. Fortunately, we were given some good French wine and told to avoid the tourist areas as they weren't really French.

One of my Favorite stops was at an amusement part called Parc Asterix. It was away from the city center and had several employees from all over the World. The staff was so nice to all of us and took the time to find staff members from our Country and it made us all feel very special. I often think of how people from outside the US feel when they land at LAX and realize that "Hollywood" is 20 miles away and it can take you an hour to get there because of the LA Traffic. Hollywood and Sunset Blvd's are horrible tourist traps that no true Californian will step foot in unless they have to. I think the Eiffel Tower and the park it sits in are very similar to the tourist traps in every big city.

 

[sabinfire]

FlattFan, the first time I went to France, we had gone just for the day. We had taken the train from London and were just there to shop and have lunch under the Tower and take a river cruise. I don't know if the people who work in the heavily visited area's just don't like their jobs but, I swore I'd never go back to France and I was dead serious. Not only were they rude to me, they were rude to the Russian's and Japanese in our group as well. Several of the members in group did not want to do the French section of our tour. Fortunately, we were given some good French wine and told to avoid the tourist areas as they weren't really French.

The French are well-known for their disdain toward tourists. Though TBH, sometimes tourists get on my nerves too. I can't imagine what that must be like for Paris locals, to deal with crowds of them day-after-day... (one the 'perils' of living in one of the most famous cities in the world...)

 

[viennaskater]

In most parts of rural France, particularly in the south, the locals are usually nice and helpful. However, not a good chunk of the Cote d'Azur. Sad really, it's so hyped and overpriced that it's not so nice to go to any more. So many tourists that most locals are heartily sick of them and just tolerate them to take their money. I even experienced a bad attitude a little bit inland, which was really not on.

For the most part, I love France!

 

[Lysambre]

topic:
France's attitude toward tourists/foreigners stems from a very long history of being "one against everyone".

I'm not going to trun this thread into a history lesson, but if you take some time to do a bit of research, you'll soon discover that for centuries, France has had to fight from all sides against the rest of Europe, who tended to unite against the country, even though they also couldn't stand each other (I'm so sorry for the history people, for shortening this into a couple of sentence, forgive me XD).

That has meant, over the centuries (yes, we are talking a good 1000 years of history here, maybe even more), the French people have had to be weary of anything that comes from the outside. Considering the World today and how extremes some countries become after barely 50 years of not getting along with other countries, I don't think it's that extreme...

In today's world, that sometimes translates to rudeness.
But as Nathalie Portman reminded us not long ago : she didn't understand why she needed to say "hello" (or rather, "bonjour") when entering a shop. And that, to us, is the most extreme form of rudeness. So let's not throw stones, shall we?

We have cultural differences, that's for sure. And we have some rude people, that's also for sure. I don't think we're the only ones in the world (that's also for sure, just in case you doubted it ). I've traveled to nearly 30 countries so far, and I've found from the most abhorrent people to the most perfect souls, in almost every country I visited.

There's 60 million of us, we can't all be a**holes

 

[FlattFan]

FlattFan, the first time I went to France, we had gone just for the day. We had taken the train from London and were just there to shop, have lunch under the Eiffel Tower and take a river cruise. I don't know if the people who work in the heavily visited area's just don't like their jobs but, I swore I'd never go back to France and I was dead serious. Not only were they rude to me, they were rude to the Russian's and Japanese in our group as well. Several of the members in our group did not want to do the French section of our tour. Fortunately, we were given some good French wine and told to avoid the tourist areas as they weren't really French.

We aren't alone. Even Oprah had to deal with some serious rude customer service when she was in Paris.
It's the attitude. It is what it is. So I understand what Eric Bompard is dealing with. Even if you give them money, you can't expect them to be nice. For example, tourists. So don't be shocked that they don't care about their named sponsor.
I really like Paris for the scenic walks, the food, the vibe. I try not to mind the locals anymore. Again, not all are assholes, but there are a lot of them. Don't be offended, French people. It's who you are.

 

[shiroKJ]

It's funny because I just came back from a week long vacation in Paris last week and I had a great time. Given, we stay at a local area where there was barely any tourists but we did visit all the touristy sites as well. Most of the people we came across were pretty nice and some were so sweet. Even in some local restaurants where the servers barely spoke any English, we had a great time and shared some laughs with them. One of our local tour guides even went out of their way to recommend their favorite "secret" places to eat and gave us lots of tips.

It's not Japan, but it's not as if the French go out of their way to be rude, at least in my experience. The only negative experience we had was a pickpocket attempt on the metro, but both times we caught them red handed, and it wasn't even the Parisians.

And we did visit the infamous Chanel Cambon and the lady we were assigned was just the sweetest thing from the very start.

Maybe we were just lucky but I would love to visit again.

 

[lyndichee]

Don't be offended, French people. It's who you are.

I think a lot of people can't help but to be offended that they are told being rude is part of who they are. There are lots of mean people around the world. Don't attribute FFSG's incompetence as a quality of a country. Why does it have be attributed to the country? I think we've always known that Didier Gailhaguet is not a good leader.