French café begins fining customers for rudeness

It's said that good manners don't cost you anything and, for the customers of one café, they could even help save the pennies.A café in the south of France has called out its less well-mannered customers by hiking the price of a coffee if they don't say please.The Petite Syrah café in Nice, on the French Riviera, is charging customers €7 for 'a coffee', but a more affordable €4.25 for a 'a coffee please'.But those customers who request their caffeinated beverage with a cheery 'good day, a coffee please' get the best deal of all. Their coffees will set them back just €1.40.The French are well known for their love of pleasantries, even having two versions of the word 'you' depending on how polite the speaker wants to be when addressing an interlocutor.English-language French news site thelocal.fr even says that in the country manners go so far as to make it the done thing to wise complete strangers good afternoon, even when merely leaving their company in a lift.So when standards drop it can be a particularly unpleasant shock, which is why the Petite Syrah has decided to enforce polite deportment by hitting rude customers in their pockets.Fabrice Pepino, manager of the Petite Syrah, told the site of the rationale behind the new pricing system, which is outlined to customers on a board behind the counter.'It started as a joke because at lunchtime people would come in very stressed and were sometimes rude to us when they ordered a coffee,' he said.He added: 'I know people say that French service can be rude but it's also true that customers can be rude when they’re busy.'Mr Pepino says the sign has been a success. He's never been actually had to enforce the novel pricing scheme, he said, but has nevertheless noticed a marked difference in the behaviour of his customers.'Most of my customers are regulars and they just see the funny side and exaggerate their politeness,' he said.(dailymail.co.uk)ANN.Az