[Cyclefrance]

Something tells me that there is a fundamental difference of approach that might explain the frictional misunderstanding that sometimes/often develops between our two cultures.

Put simply, Americans seem to readily embrace systems and processes that improve the way goods are delivered. We Brits tend to think that while these might be good ideas, it is someone else's job to find out if this is really true and to make them work - it is certainly not ours! So the scenario is set for instant dischord

For example, you give us fast food, and we will cock it up monumentally. Not for us the desire to make things happen and to make them happen even better by looking at where we have gone wrong and then improve upon that. No, we would rather gripe at the fact that we have to open another till (point of sale) putting ourselves to all that trouble, for God's sake, just because the bloody customers can't wait a few minutes. Hence we stick to our old quaint ways of waiting on tables, writing down orders on pieces of paper in illegible handwriting, getting the orders mixed-up and then passing them to a cook (chef perhaps) who has no idea how to organise a kitchen (I'm here to cook!) - again, that's someone else's job!

So, poor cousins, you will wait interminably for a meal that ends up half cold when you get it and probably wasn't what you ordered in the first place. The reason you wait so long is because it's being sent back half a dozen times before it reaches your table, in a vain attempt by all those involved in this short yet over-complicated supply chain to get it right, sort-of, eventually.

So as an American, you must wonder at this novel way of conducting both business and life. But at least you know now why it is so expensive - we cannot possibly introduce any cost-saving efficiencies without adding another layer of bureacracy and associated incompetence. This even explains the over-expensive and overlong taxi ride - if the driver isn't going to see you again what's the harm in padding out the journey and adding to the fare. And the fare structure isn't structured in any case to encourage the driver to go for the quick and less costly option (ie wouldn't it make sense/be better to encourage doing three shorter journeys than one long one in the same time scale?) that would prove more attractive to the customer.

We as visitors to your shores will never really appreciate the US style of service and the way it is structured (I, for one, have never got to grips with the tips and taxes thing, but I am sure it is a logical extension of the compartmentalised approach to processes and life). Our arguments in support: how can you possibly get it right in so short a time? - surely you are cutting corners that can only result in a poorer end-product? We don't understand, you see, and when we don't understand we think there is something fishy going on and that then breeds distrust.

We have the same trouble with our attitude to the French only in this case they they are even slower and more resistant to change than us, and, to top it all, we have an even greater language problem. That prompts the conclusion that God knows how the Americans would find the experience of dealing with the French way of life.

Of course, being a laid-back sort of fella, none of this bothers me in the slightest, and I merely observe from a safe and unperturbed distance.