This is what I forgot about the gym yesterday
When you walk into the locker room, everybody stops what they are doing, looks up at you, and says in quite a loud voice, Bon Jour/Soir, as if you are long lost friends. They then wait for you to return the greeting. It is a little unnerving at first. It is like on Cheers when someone would enter the bar and the whole placed screamed their name.
You are considered quite rude if you don’t say Bon Jour/Soir right back. I don’t dislike it, but it is hard to get used to. You really can’t just go to the gym unnoticed, slink in and slink out. When you change to leave they do the same. I am always wondering, do I know this person, did I meet them at the dog park, etc. There is such an intensity to the greeting that you are sure they must know you, who would greet you so heartily if they didn’t know you?
Okay, so you are thinking, every gym in France, really? I don’t know but since I have started going to the other gyms in the chain I belong to, I can say all the gyms in the chain have this phenomenon. I asked a real live French person about this and they said yes, it was customary.
Even the staff do it. Yesterday I was leaving the gym. I passed the front desk. Now, normally I would say Bon Soir, au revoir, etc. The worker at the front desk was deeply engaged in a conversation with a member and I thought it would be rude to interrupt just to say good evening. I kept walking past and started down the stairs.She practically hopped over the counter and chased me halfway down the stairs. I thought I had forgotten something. Nope, she just wanted to say Bon Soiré to me. We stared at each other incredulously for a split second. She was thinking how rude it was of me to leave so abruptly and I was thinking, gee you really didn’t have to do that. I said, merci vous de mème, Avec Plaisir she said and she marched upstairs.
I mean I appreciate the social aspect of everything, but if you really want to practice good customer service (I know I know not in France) how about cleaning the locker rooms once in a while. I’d like to hear you say avec plaisir after that.
I would have thought you would have noticed by now; it’s not just when entering or leaving the gym, it’s entering or leaving anyplace in France. It is considered quite rude to walk into a shop without greeting the owner/salesperson, as well as all the other customers. And of course, you must say “merci, au revoir” when leaving.
Of course I have experienced that but this is more intense than that. They really stop whatever they are doing and look at you and say it with such conviction that you are sure they must know you. It is a little more forceful than just the basic hello goodbye greeting. If it was just that then I wouldn’t feel it was so odd.
For example the other day I walked in and a man was about to put on shaving cream and he put his razor and cream down and turned around and greeted me and really waited for a greeting back and at the same time another man was going toward the shower area and when he heard the greeting he turned around and walked back to the locker area to greet me. It was with such intention, not casual or even formal but very direct. In the US I might think it was a little cruisey but I know it is not here. Anyway, just a little peculiar.
Hmm, you are right about the “Bonjour/soir” thing. And your gym has a reputation as not being very clean