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FOOD AND DRINK

Fonduegate: Why customer service is different in France

An argument in a Paris cheese shop over a fondue taught The Local's Europe editor Ben McPartland that the phrase "the customer is always right" just doesn't apply in France.

Published: 20 December 2017 23:51 CET
Updated: 24 November 2023 16:52 CET
Fonduegate: Why customer service is different in France
A couple enjoy a fondue in Bern, Switzerland (Photo by STEFAN WERMUTH / AFP)

As a veteran of fondues I know what I want in there: Comté, Beaufort and Appenzel. Forget Emmental, it’s not strong enough.

But a few years ago, my usual Paris cheesemonger put a spanner in the works of my fondue plan.

When I asked him for some Beaufort he just looked at me and shook his head. The conversation went roughly like this.

Monsieur fromage: “The Beaufort is just too good.”

Me: “Ah great. I’ll have 200 grams please”.

Monsieur: “No it’s too good for a fondue. It’s so tasty. It would pain me (faire mal au coeur) to see it melted.”

Me: “Ha ha, OK that sounds amazing. I’ll have 400 grams please.”

Monsieur: “No, no. It would be a waste. This is a 2015 Beaufort. And at €39 a kilo. It’s too expensive for a fondue.”

Me: “Ah that’s OK I don’t mind paying.”

Monsieur: “No, No. I’ll give you some Abondance. It’s a similar cheese and cheaper.”

Me: “Errrr. OK, but can I have some Beaufort too.”

Monsieur: “Are you going to put it in the fondue?

Me: “Errrrrr (I can’t lie), oui.” 

Monsieur: “Sorry can’t do it.”

Me: “Wait, you are meant to be a cheese-eating surrender monger.”

Monsieur: “What?” 

OK that last bit was made up. But in my head I was thinking “Cheeses Christ. Is he for real or is he totally Emmental. Does he not want my money?”

Isn’t the customer meant to always be right? What would have happened if I had insisted? Would he have thrown me out for his principles and told me to go and spend my €44.53 in another cheese shop?

Could he report me to the préfecture and scupper my future attempts to get French nationality? I feared I would be banished to cheese hell (Holland) if I pushed it too far. I was left in shock but also awe of the man who protected the welfare of his cheese.

In the end we reached a kind of compromise. He gave me Abondance for my fondue and agreed to sell me 200g of his special Beaufort as long as I signed a “compromise de vente” (sales agreement) that it wouldn’t be grated or melted and would only be used to be put on display on the mantelpiece.

Well not quite, but almost.

He did also take the time to explain to me why a 2015 Beaufort is just too good for fondue – good Beaufort aged for two years are becoming harder to find these days, apparently, because they are expensive to make and store.

Producers are under pressure to earn money and they know the name Beaufort will sell anyway, so they are not bothering to keep them and age them. The ageing process can be risky and it can go wrong and lead to the cheese being ruined.

He invited me to pop to a supermarket and buy a 6-month-old Beaufort for a fondue, but not his 2015 vintage. The taste would be lost forever in that melting pot.

Because this happened in the social media heyday of 2017, the story of ‘fonduegate’ spilled over onto Twitter where many sided with the shopkeeper and some even felt sympathy with my position.

Even France’s Ambassador to Sweden got involved and as you’d expect he was very diplomatic.

Anyway I might not have come away with the cheese I was after but I certainly learnt a thing or two.

The reaction of the French shopkeeper was not of course a total surprise. Most people who have lived in France will have a story of having been corrected or even told off by shopkeepers, waiters or chefs after trying to order something.

FACTCHECK Do French waiters really tell you what you can order?

There are the chefs who refuse to do a steak well done. A waste of good meat, they say. There are wine sellers who refuse to sell you a bottle of Bordeaux if they find out you are cooking Boeuf Bourguignon and the clothes store staff who simply tell you: “Sorry you are just too big to fit in that size”.

While everyone who has been to France has probably had the experience of a moody waiter or a shopkeeper who seems affronted you entered his/her store to spend money, they do have an unfair reputation of being impolite and snooty.

They generally know their stuff, especially when it comes to food and are a lot more passionate about what they are selling than we perhaps are used to in stores in “Anglo-Saxon” countries where might get the works in terms of politeness, but do we always get the expertise?

So respect to the Paris cheesemonger. A man who puts fromage above fric.

READ ALSO: Best Briehaviour: A guide to French cheese etiquette

For members

LIVING IN FRANCE

How to prove to French authorities that you are alive

If you live in France you'll be used to official requests for all sorts of documents, but one that may come as a surprise is being asked to prove that you're still alive. Here's how to do that.

Published: 19 September 2024 15:57 CEST
How to prove to French authorities that you are alive

Official processes in France usually involve collecting together a big dossier of documents, and requests for certain type of certificate are common (the one for ‘a birth certificate issued within the last three months’ regularly baffles foreigners).

A request that is less common – but still vital – is the request for a Certificat de Vie – a certificate of life, which is basically a piece of paper asserting that you remain within the mortal realm.

Here’s how to get it and why you might need one.

Who needs it?

You only need to provide this certificate if it is requested from you.

The people most likely to get a request for a Certificat de Vie are pensioners. Pensioner providers regularly ask for proof that you are still alive, and if you don’t provide it it’s highly likely that they will stop paying out your pension.

The people most commonly asked to provide this are people living in a different country to the one paying out the pension (so for example people who have worked in France but then moved to another country, or pensioners who have moved to France) but they are fairly widespread for all types of pension.

The other people most likely to ask for it is the benefits office, especially if you are receiving a French Assurance invalidité (disability benefit) or Allocation de solidarité (top-up benefits) – as with pensions, failing to send the certificate can result in your payments being stopped.

Some people may instead be asked for an Attestation sur l’honneur de non-décès (sworn declaration of non-death). This is simpler to provide because it’s not a specific form it’s just something that you write out in formal French declaring that you remain alive, and then sign and date.

You can find templates for creating an attestation in the correct format and legal French here.

How to get it

There are two ways to obtain the Certificat de Vie – in person or online.

If you live in France, you go along in person to your local mairie and ask them to complete the form for you – it’s form Cerfa n° 11753*02, but the mairie staff will know that. Be sure to take with you official ID (ie passport or French ID card), and depending on your circumstances mairie staff may ask for extra paperwork such as proof of address.

Once you have the form, you can send it to whoever has requested it, either by registered mail or a scanned copy uploaded to an online portal.

You can find a sample copy here to show you what the form looks like.

If you live outside France, you can request the certificate at the French consulate, while some police stations will also provide it (depending on the country).

But for those living outside France there is also an online option, which now includes the option to verify your continuing life via your biometric details, meaning that you don’t even need to leave the house.

This would be useful to people who have worked in France for part of their career, meaning they get a partial French pension, but have then either returned to their home country or moved to another country.

In order to use this, you need to download the app ‘Mon Certificat de Vie’ – find full instructions on using it here.

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