The Petite Syrah café in Nice, on the French Riviera, charges customers $12 for 'a coffee' if they don't say 'please' and 'thank-you' when being served. If you do manage to squeeze out a little courtesy when ordering that same cup costs a 'mere' $7 bucks.
Oh, but wait, there's more... If you're hip to this and are willing to prostitute yourself completely with a 'good day, a coffee please' your cup-o-java will get rung up for a bargain $2.30.
Fabrice Pepino, manager of the Petite Syrah says, 'It started as a joke because at lunchtime people...were rude to us when they ordered a coffee...I know people say that French service can be rude but it's also true that customers can be rude...'
Get this pompous puke! Well, Fabrice can be assured this American tourist won't be spending his coffee buck in his little snob-shop anytime soon. I'd rather get a cup of truck stop motor-oil from a sneering, mustached mid-western waitress than fly to France and be assaulted by a bunch of ungrateful French femmes.
If you do wake up one day with a craving for French abuse, the phrases to take are: s'il vous plaît (please), merci (thank-you), and bonne journée, un café s'il vous plaît (good day, a coffee please).
But if you're more like me you'll march into Petite Syrah in a huff and say, l'un de vous bâtards français capables de servir une tasse de café?
Ya gotta look that one up for yourself...
