Qu'est-ce que c'est?

Very successful day, full of fun things...

...now I say fun. What I really mean is trying to sort out paperwork...so not really fun at all! After spending the morning attempting to get my apartment back into a liveable state, I headed off to the MGEN (Mutuelle Générale de l'Education Nationale - pretty much like medical insurance provided by my employer) office to try and sort out my application. Without this application, I cannot receive CAF (Caisse Allocation Familiale - a bit like housing benefit) nor receive my remboursements médicaux...so it is kind of a big deal!

Now my application has been described both as "lost" by one side, and "not sent" by the other...so I decided to bypass my first application and head straight for my second attempt. On arrival, I then had to spend a rather substantial amount of time in the waiting room to wait to be seen by the accueil...with no numbering system and pretty much a free for all - it seemed like the best way to get to see the receptionist in their office was to just run for it whenever anyone else came out! Once I had got the idea of the game, it wasn't long before I was seen by the receptionist. Who was, of course, utterly confused as to what I actually wanted to do and why I was there. After exclaiming very loudly to their mate that I was English and couldn't speak French they got to work trying to find someone else to deal with me. On their return I rather angrily informed them in French that I can both understand and speak French after living here since October it then turned out that I would need to come back tomorrow for an appointment with someone as I had an entire application to fill out...which would be too much work for today. So to MGEN tomorrow I go!

Had an absolutely lovely evening, I think I've managed to convince Thibaud that not all English food conforms to the French stereotype, and we watched a film and had a lovely chilled out night...helped along by the beer brought along by T.


So to finish, some vocabulary to use when dealing with situations in offices (courtesy of 'Talk to the Snail' by Stephen Clarke :-

Phrases you will hear when talking to a relaxed French worker (who does not want to deal with your problem)
- Il/elle ne répond pas. Rappelez lundi/en septembre. - He/she is not answering. Call back on Monday/in September.
- Je vous repasse le standard. - I'll put you through to the switchboard.
- Je suis désolé(e), nous allons fermer. - Sorry, we're about to close
- Vous auriez dû vous en occuper plus tôt.- You should have tried to sort this out earlier.
- C'est pas mon problème, Monsieur/Madame. Ce n'est vraiment pas de ma faute. - It's not my problem, Sir/Madam. It's really not my fault.
- Vous avez fait un mauvais numéro. - You dialled the wrong number.
- Restez poli, quand même. Au revoir. - There's no call to be rude. Goodbye.

Phrases you might need to know (when dealing with a relaxed French worker)
- Non,ne raccrochez pas. - No, don't hang up.
- Mais c'est le standard qui m'a mis en communication avec vous. - But it was the switchboard who put me through to you.
- Ma vie et celle de toute ma famille sont entre vos mains. - My life and that of my entire family is in your hands.
- D'accord, je rappelerai lundi/en septembre. - Okay, I'll call back on Monday/in September.
And I felt like I shouldn't miss this one out...even though the language is not exactly to my taste, and as Stephen Clarke says: 'this is only to be used if you never intend contacting the person again, and if you're sure they won't be able to trace your call.')
- Vous etres un vrai connard/une vraie connasse. - You are a real bastard/bitch.


And also I felt like I should share this little insight: 'And the worse fonctionnaires often have the best careers. It is well known that the only way to get rid of a totally inefficient fonction publique manager is to promote them so that they go and annoy a bigger department.' - we shall see tomorrow whether or not this is true!

Oh, and I'm going to leave you to guess what this photograph is of. I didn't know what it was until someone told me/I figured it out from the name of the tram stop.