TallyMan wrote:
Sylkat wrote:
Dear TallyMan, Please help me to picture this; you are in France, they make and sell designer handbags for $500 and up. They make and sell designer shoes for $1500 and up. They make and sell designer clothing whose prices are appalling ( I recently read about a designer blazer that was $4000), and they can not fix their telephone lines?? Please explain the French mindset to me, 'cause I just don't get it! Sylkat
France is known for its high fashion, but only a tiny minority of people can afford such things. The majority of people in France wear the same as everyone else - cheap Chinese imports.
France is a nation run by bureaucrats. Every aspect of French life is ruled by bureaucracy and lots and lots of rules. The French love nothing better than to fill in forms and create endless organisations to process these forms. If there is a problem they create a new organisation to handle it, or rather to create more forms. The French are drowning in pieces of paper. You can't go for a piss in France without getting written permission countersigned by the French president and ten organisations, each of which takes months to process.
Regarding the telephone lines, France Telecom (aka Orange) has the monopoly. Their only interest is providing infrastructure in large towns where they can make a huge profit. They make no investment in the the telecommunications in rural areas. I'm stuck with 1950's telephone lines here. The insulation is falling off the wires. However, because it "works" they won't replace the lines. The wire was hanging off the pole a couple of years ago due to broken connectors - the cattle were using it as a skipping rope in the field - the neighbour had to hook it back to the pole using a washing line prop because France telecom said "But the line still works - so no problem". French technology at its best.
Believe it or not, this is making want to move there. Sounds like a trip back to the fifties technology wise, and everybody would be so busy filling out papers, nobody would have time to bother ME!
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I'm not likely to be around much longer. As before when I first signed up here years ago, I'm finding that after a long hiatus, and after only a few days back on here, I'm spending way too much time here again already. So I'm requesting my account be locked, banned or whatever. It's just time. Until then, well, I dunno...