On my last trip to Paris, Paul and I ate dinner at his neighborhood bistro, which is such a quaint and cute little place with a chill, laid back vibe. Perhaps it’s a little too chill though. Paul knows the proprietors well and the food and wine are excellent, however, the owner has dogs and those dogs like to get up close and personal. On nice evenings, the accordion doors open up completely so that the outdoor seating sort of blends with the indoor seating. And the dogs roam free from the dirty Parisian sidewalks into the restaurant proper. I could live with that, but are they also going back into the kitchen? And why are they allowed to jump on the seats, in the booths, in our laps, and put their paws on the tables?
This makes me cringe and now I’m wanting a full investigation of all their hygienic practices. It doesn’t seem to just be France, but all of Europe that allows dogs and feral cats to roam everywhere inside and around eating establishments. Maybe they keep the cats around to hunt the mice? During that same trip, I saw a mouse come out of the kitchen of a restaurant where we had just finished eating the meal. I immediately felt sick - yes, probably just the mental effect, but still, it’s gross. If a restaurant or place that serves food in the United States had mice, they would not last very long. In our over litigious culture, someone would for sure be looking to profit from that experience “tout de suite.” So why does no one bat an eye in Paris or other parts of Europe? This is of course the region of the world where the plague wiped out one third of the population…just saying.
Paul and I were not sure what to do with the dogs. We laughed uncomfortably, jaws clenched, and politely shooed them out of our space. To be fair, the owner was calling them off us, but those dogs did not listen. No one else cared or complained. Maybe we are more uptight about these things in the States. Europe still allows smoking everywhere, but then the Europeans have far more strict regulations on what can go into their food. Where here in the States, our food quality is highly problematic - yet our restaurants are more hygienic? It’s a conundrum and we did not do anything about the dogs.
There in lies the cultural confusion "what do we do?" part of this whole thing. Would we be overreacting to politely ask the owner to remove his dogs? Probably not, but the awkwardness of "the ask" made us feel like it would be better to just be quiet. This maybe is an American cultural thing of "having to be polite" all the time and not cause problems. Or it could be that Paul's and my military experience ingrained in us the "don't complain" because it's really not that bad. I'm not sure. The dogs were well groomed, friendly, didn't bark, but I still don't want them sitting in the chair next to me or on my lap in the restaurant. It's one thing to be at someone's house and this happens, but I expect more from a place where I am paying to eat. Paul goes to this bistro a lot, is friendly with the owners, and after five years if he hasn't said anything, is it too late? Perhaps the positive spin is that the owners (and the dogs) feel like Paul is family and are treating him as such - yeah let's go with that. What would you have done?
~Benefsheh