# The Parisian postal shrug

- Author: Joichi Ito
- Date: 2004-11-27T03:26:27Z


We were sitting in a cafe in Paris today having a meeting. The service was somewhat rude and as we sat around, a waiter came and said he wanted us to either agree to stay for lunch or leave to make room for people coming to have lunch. (Even though there were a lot of extra tables) My friend mumbled something and shrugged. The waiter walked away. He explained that when you go to the post office in Paris and you're really in a hurry, but the postal worker really doesn't feel like worrying about your problems, they shrug and sort of ignore you. He said he perfected this body language and it seems to have the effect of making people give up on you. It seemed to have worked, although I doubt I could do it...





---

#### Categories

Joi's Diary