On Jul 16, 6:43*pm, sf > wrote:
> On Sat, 16 Jul 2011 20:52:17 -0400, George >
> wrote:
>
>
>
> > That *"we officially need to speak French" thing is why I will never
> > spend $0.05 in Quebec. Montreal isn't a far ride from here. I have been
> > to numerous foreign countries and have never been faced with that sort
> > of nonsense (the expectation that you should be totally fluent in *a
> > language just to visit a place) anywhere else especially in a situation
> > when you are trying to give someone your money.
>
> We did a car trip up Quebec City a few years ago and stayed at the
> Hyatt in old town. *We were out driving one day and got lost in spite
> of having a map to guide us, so we stopped at a gas station where we
> conducted a conversation in *English* with the attendant about how to
> get back to where we were headed. *Later that day, we stopped at a
> shopping center where I bought a coat (I wasn't prepared for such cool
> weather). *Anyway, the first sales person I dealt with either wasn't
> willing to speak English or wasn't comfortable speaking in English -
> but she was *not* rude. *She brought over a co-worker who completed
> the sale in English. *I wasn't ignored and being handed off wasn't a
> problem for me. *I bought my coat and went on my merry way.
>

You were not a maudit Anglais, merely an Ameri-con.