| Part I Starting Off on the Right Foot -- 1. Six Codes: Rudeness is in the Eye of the Beholder 23 -- 2. French Space: Private, Public and Working 37 -- 3. French Time: "Why Does Everything Take so Long?" 47 -- Part II French Way in Public -- 4. Street Strangers and Neighborhood Tradespeople: The Good News and the Bad News 59 -- 5. Misery in the Big Stores: Your Weapons and How to Handle them 71 -- 6. Blame Paranoia: Truth and Consequences 83 -- 7. You and the Bureaucracy: The Systeme D 91 -- Part III French Context: the Formation of Frenchness -- 8. History Matters: What Was, Is 101 -- 9. Family: Rules, Closeness and the Esprit Critique 125 -- 10. School Days: the Survival of the Smartest 135 -- 11. Grandes Ecoles: the Selection of the Elite 143 -- 12. Music of Their Tongue: a Passion or a Religion? 153 -- 13. Plaisir: Flirting, Food, Language and Love 165 -- 14. Two Dinner Parties: Food, Style and Protocol--Back to Versailles 173 -- Part IV Office Life -- 15. Logic of French Management: Why the Thunderbolts are Coming 201 -- 16. Tricky Wickets: Foreigners' Complaints and French Executives' Suggestions 209 -- 17. Executive Roundup: Reflections From Six Multicultural U.S. Veterans 229 -- Part V Other Side of the Mirror -- 18. How the French See the U.S. 239 -- Coda: Marvels for 16 Headaches 255 -- Coda II: Vignettes of Recent France -- Business Life 2003 273 -- French Exceptions 1998-2003 280. |
