The French are quite formal at work, unless they really are with close workmates who they have worked with a long time or are super stressed.
“Nous sommes obligés de reformer tout le monde” “We need to retrain everyone,” said one of the senior managers, conversationally as I arrived back at work, my first day after some holidays. Retrain everyone meant retrain 2000 people.
“Tu te fous de ma gueule?!” I blurted out without thinking.
He seemed a little taken aback. Rightly, as it turned out.
“Je vois que tu as enrichi ton vocabulaire pendant tes congés” “I see you have enriched your vocabulary on your holidays.”
I quickly corrected myself. “Uhhhhh tu te fous de moi? Tu te moque de moi?”
“Non. Je ne te moque pas.”
I’d just blurted out the equivalent of “Are you f***ing kidding me ?” To a senior manager. instead of the more sedate “Are you kidding me? You’re making fun of me?”
I got him back though. He went on leave for a while. We were working together on our laptops in a meeting room when he, speaking perfect English with his lovely French accent, stared at his screen and blurted out loudly:
“Ferking ‘ell!”
Quick as a flash I couldn’t help but jump in with “I see you have enriched your English vocabulary on your holidays.” Fortunately this didn’t turn out to be a career limiting move and he laughed.
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