That's reasonable for very good food and a reasonable tip. What would you have tipped when the service was even better (sugar, French)? A preposterous tip?
Dare I ask what language the waiter who refused to speak French spoke?

dens

English. Not his first language. His mother tongue was French.

maybe the waiter didn't understand your french ? It happens that people think they talk a language,but for the native speaker it sounds like chinese or worse !

Josiane

If my French had sounded like Chinese he would not have been able to answer my questions in English. Also I would like to mention that his colleagues communicated in French with me without any problem.

refused? did you actually ask him to speak French with you? he wanted to practise his English just like you wanted to practise your French. Yeah, against the common well known thing that frenchspeeking people don't speak any other lingua. good for him!

En français ...

Cette anecdote linguistique suscite bien de passions!
Les serveurs répondent (s'ils le peuvent) dans la langue utilisée par le client en régle générale.
Francette

a bird once taught me that generosity is only real if it is reciprocal

Out of nostalgia, this weekend I had a modest dinner in the old socialist ‘8 Hours House’ in Ostend. Present were 5 octogenarians and myself.
I tipped the waitress for showing me the way to the movies (Agora, not a bad movie, but only 2 spectators).

In Brussels ...

... I have the same problem. I am used to always speak French in shops, restaurants, ... but as soon as they find out I speak Dutch, they start speaking Dutch ... and they think they please me.

Bernard

I appreciate your comment...

@f p
Thank you.

Lila

Do you have the dutch or belgian nationality? If every flemish man/woman would speak dutch in Brussels, it would make Belgium work. After all, Brussels has the bilingual status.

To Mieke

"If every flemish man/woman would speak dutch in Brussels, it would make Belgium work. "

Are you joking?

Flemish in Brussels

@ Pjotr
No, I think she is right

@Mieke

I do not really understand what you mean with your statement. I do not think Belgium is about language. The problem in Belgium is the politicians ...
I am Belgian. I came to Brussels 18 years ago in a whole other climate and I prefer to speak French. Even if some people speak Dutch, their Dutch is not always that good. I prefer to communicate and say more than just 'hello', 'goodbye' and 'thank you'.

Lila

Lot's of flemish don't feel at home in Brussels because they can't communicate there any longer in their mother tongue. May I remind you that the official status of Brussels is bilangual. I speak as much dutch in Brussels as I can and I feel very comfortable when I do so. I still dare to walk the streets of Brussels on my own in the middle of the night .

Dear Mieke

I live in Brussels for almost twenty years now and my observation is that more and more people speak Dutch (or try to speak Dutch) and do their best to serve the Flemish in their mother tongue.

All I want to say is that I as a client want to speak French and I want to be served in French. And I do not like it when they start to speak Dutch to me as soon as they find out I speak Dutch to my son. That's all.

You can go on walking the streets alone at night. I do it for twenty years now and I never had a problem ...

To f p

In order to avoid any misunderstandings, I shall paraphrase M. Dutoit’s strain of thought.

The failure of Belgium as a political project could be countered if both language communities respected the bilingual status of their shared capital.

As much as I sympathise with the importance of recognising Brussels bilingual character, I fear that Dutoit’s statement as I have understood her, is no less than preposterous.

Let us imagine that we will wake up tomorrow in a world wherein both language communities do respect it’s bipolar character. That doesn’t

1: refute the lack of transparency of governance
2: resolve the ongoing controversy of ius soli versus ius sanguinis
3: have any effect on what in Dutch is called the ‘Grendelgrondwet’ – which is by far, from a democratic point of the view, the most disturbing element of the country’s political inertia.

I hope that these three arguments convince the reader of the lack of sufficiency intrinsic to Dutoit’s claim, which you supported.

Pjötr

Thank you.

Restaurant waiters

I tried speaking Dutch to a waiter in Zandvoort. I know how you felt.