(Not Quite) Mastering the Art of French Living by Mark Greenside

Author:Mark Greenside
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781510731110
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
Published: 2018-04-24T16:00:00+00:00

10 Things I’ve Learned about Money in France

1. I like to think of myself as a humanist—“From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs”—and in most things I am, except when following the value of the euro. I read the newspapers secretly hoping for problems in Greece, Spain, Italy, Ireland, and Portugal, because if the value of the euro drops, I’ll have a few centimes more . . . This is how capitalism works: I hope for someone else’s loss so I can gain. The good news is I have not had to feel bad about my bad thoughts because since Bush II and 9/11, I’ve been the loser most of the time. That’s also the bad news. On the other hand, the euros I have in the bank and the value of my house have increased. If capitalism doesn’t get you coming, it gets you going, or the other way around, or both.

2. Before buying anything expensive, I make sure the establishment accepts U.S. credit cards. This is especially true at fine restaurants, because unlike jewelry and clothing, the food I just ate is not returnable in any form they want. In the U.S., I carry my Visa card and driver’s license everywhere. In France, it’s my checkbook. I’ve seen French people write checks for the equivalent of a dollar-fifty and less, and the clerk or owner happily accepts them.

3. The sales tax is 20 percent. The good news is the posted price includes the 20 percent, so I don’t see or feel it when I pay it. The bad news is I’m paying a 20 percent sales tax. The best news is I can get much of it returned at airport customs when I leave France. The worst news is there is only one person handling a line of hundreds of people waiting for their reimbursements. Mostly, they’re people from Asia, people who know how to wait forever and entertain themselves with electronic devices. I figure this is part of France’s grand economic recovery plan: pay one person the minimum wage to handle the never-ending line, and pay out as little as possible. To facilitate that goal, the customs official has multiple breaks to ensure the line never shortens. It also helps that signs to the “Douanes” are harder to find than the elevators at Charles de Gaulle, Terminal One. Unless I have hours to kill and I’m saving thousands of dollars (neither of which I do) it’s not worth waiting—so I and thousands of others don’t, and that’s worth millions to France. Not so happily, I’m paying my part.

4. I am no longer fooled by Duty Free signs in shop windows in Paris and other cities. Those places will promise me a full refund of the 20 percent sales tax and will fill out all the paperwork to qualify me—but I still have to wait in that line to get it, which means I never do. I’m not fooled by Duty Free signs at the airport anymore either.

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