Bonjour! A few months back, I published a post about things France does better than the U.S. In the name of balance, today I’ll be getting into a bunch of things the U.S. does better than France. And yes, for all you skeptics out there, there are some, so let’s get into it. 😉
5 Things the United States does better than France:
1. Can-do attitude and ease of getting things done
If you live in France and have had to deal with the bureaucracy, you’ve definitely heard the popular phrase, “Ce n’est pas possible.” It’s almost funny sometimes because you come to expect it as the default response.
If you’re at the préfecture doing an administrative task and don’t have the correct number of copies or ask someone to even slightly deviate from normal procedure, the automatic response is that it’s not possible to do whatever you’re trying to do.
Many times it is possible, but you have to insist a little bit and play the game.
In the U.S., simple tasks just seem easier to get done and there’s less rigidity. The attitude is different and geared at solving the problem and not creating more road blocks. It speaks to the customer service attitude in the U.S. as well, which we’ll get to below.
2. Big parking spaces
If you drive in France, you’ve probably noticed that French parking spaces are a bit narrower than ones you find in the U.S. Depending on how people are parked next to you and how much space you have to turn, you may have to do a quick maneuver instead of just turning right into the space in one fell swoop. In the U.S., spaces are bigger, which I appreciate.
And you might say, “Well, Americans have huge cars so of course spaces are bigger.” Yes, that’s true but not all French people have small cars, and even with a small car, it can still be quite narrow to park — especially when someone is poorly parked next to you.
I appreciate roomier parking spaces no matter the size of your car because it’s easier to park and to not whack the car door next to you when you get out… or the wall of a parking garage. It can be a REALLY tight squeeze.
By the way, I did a post on things that are smaller in France in case you’re curious.
3. Ability to change one’s career and job
In the U.S., if you want to explore different career options, you can do so without a ton of difficulty. It’s relatively common for people to change careers. In fact, my dad went from IT in a corporate environment to being a ferry boat captain. Total 180. I’m proud of him for that and taking action to change his life. I’ll have to tell you that story sometime.
I know people who went from nursing to law and a bunch of other pretty big career jumps. My point is that you can make moves.
On top of that, lateral moves are pretty common too. Even if you work in an industry with a certain set of skills and want to branch out into a different industry, you can apply to a job, explain how your skillset translates, interview well, and have a shot at a job.
But in France, career paths tend to be a bit more rigid and I feel like you see fewer people changing careers. It exists, I don’t want to mislead anyone — you can do a reconversion professionnelle — but what I mean is, if you work in one industry, you pretty much stay in that industry.
Employers are more strict about hiring and if your resume doesn’t have the exact education, experience, and training they want, you most likely won’t even get an interview. There’s no selling yourself in a cover letter and proving you have similar skills that translate. If you don’t have the exact work experience they want, you’re out of luck a lot of the time.
I remember talking to Tom a few years ago about this (FYI he has a master’s degree and speaks three languages). We were talking about his career options and I encouraged him to apply to some companies in the area that weren’t in his exact field but where his skills could cross over to a new job.
He explained he’d never even get an interview because his experience, while relevant and valuable in my mind, wouldn’t be of interest to them because he’d never worked in that exact role before.
That seems counterintuitive to me because if you see a capable person, they can learn anything even if they haven’t done the exact job. Also, someone with a different work history brings with them fresh ideas and new ways of doing things.
In the U.S. as well, in addition to totally changing one’s career, even within the same industry, a lot of us change jobs every 3-5 years to climb the career ladder, and that often comes with better pay and benefits. I’ve seen this to be especially true in startups and tech. But in France, I’ve learned it’s definitely less common.
Employees tend to be happier in France, though, or maybe that’s just my perception. Maybe that’s because they work less than Americans, have work contracts, healthcare is not tied to their employment and all permanent employees get five weeks of paid vacation that they’re expected to use (separate from sick days and holidays). All of that counts for a lot.
4. Friendly optimism
Many Americans are half glass full kind of people where I’d say in France, people’s attitudes are very much half glass empty. After all, the French are known for being complainers. This BBC article explains the mentality perfectly.
I’m not an over-the-top smiley Pollyanna, for the record, and I HATE toxic positivity, but there’s something to be said about having good energy. American optimism is something that doesn’t really exist in France. Yes, sometimes it can be over the top and fake (not a fan), but a lot of time, it’s just a vibe and energy thing.
In France, people are more cautious and critical (not everyone obviously). The French language even has a negative slant at times. For example, when you want to say something is pretty good, you’d say it is pas mal, literally not bad…. which means you like it. Is that guy good looking? Well, he’s not ugly.
It’s just…. a different vibe and default setting that can take some getting used to.
5. Customer service
People love to rag on America and Americans, but one thing we get right is customer service. Most of the time, the customer has the upper hand and companies try to do the right thing, sometimes even bending over backwards and surprising you in the process — to the point of even being excessive.
But what about customer service in France?
The customer is almost always wrong. It’s often frustrating to get even minor issues resolved and French companies seem to have a different definition of “service” than American companies. So for me, France is NOT winning in the customer service department.
In France, companies don’t bend over backwards to make it right. Sometimes they’ll even tell you the problem is your fault. Even if the issue is their fault, such as your internet being down for an entire day, well, beyond a sorry, don’t expect much!
If you have a problem, maybe they’ll give you a 5 euro refund on a 200 euro bill. And that’s after you’ve called three times and been transferred from person to person around the globe.
Companies don’t always seem gracious to have customers. Once when Tom called our internet/TV provider at 7:55pm, the woman literally told him to call back tomorrow to talk more because she was off shift at 8 and had to shut down her computer.
That was after being on hold waiting to speak to someone for 20 minutes! And you pay to make the call! Customer service numbers in France weren’t free when I first moved here.
For makeup and skincare products in France, if you’ve opened the product, forget about returning it unless it’s defective. Sephora comes to mind here. Back in the U.S., if you buy a makeup product, try it, and don’t like it or have an allergic reaction, you can return it to the store — no questions asked — and get your money back.
A return policy like that where the store stands behind what they sell made me feel like I was covered and even encouraged me to try new products.
Not so in France.
If you buy a skincare product that you try and don’t like, it’s not usually possible to return it once you open it. Even if something you buy from Sephora caused an allergic reaction, they won’t take it back and refund you if it’s been used.
Now all that said, I’ve had great customer service experiences in France too and in the time I’ve lived here, it’s definitely improved.
Turning back to the U.S., I think my best customer service experience was with the company Chewy.com, a pet supply company. I had been a customer for years and after Dagny passed away, I let them know I no longer wanted to get their emails and had to cancel my auto-renewal for a couple of things.
To my surprise, they sent me a gorgeous bouquet of flowers and a beautiful card that made me cry. It was so thoughtful and completely unexpected. If I ever need pet supplies, they will always be my go-to store.
Great strategy there. I felt valued and cared for and look, now I’m telling you. Not sponsored, but chewy.com will always get my business.
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Finally, as I always say, I’m not here to judge. We can have our own preferences of course, but I’ll never say one country is inherently better for everyone across the board. There are pros and cons to every place on earth.
Also, it’s important to keep in mind that not everyone’s experience in France, or the U.S., or anywhere in the world is going to be the same. Regional differences count for a lot, one’s job and financial status, family situation, our own preferences and mindset, and all kinds of things have an impact on what our lives are like.
Just because there are a lot of great aspects of life in one place doesn’t mean that by default life is terrible elsewhere. That’s not the case at all. Two things can exist and both be true.
Above all, my motto is to focus on what you enjoy and spend more time on that and try to make peace with the rest.
Now let me turn it over to you… what does the U.S. get right? Just a reminder to please be respectful. My comment section isn’t the place to bash any country or its people, so if you feel compelled to leave a comment like that, please don’t.
Lastly, for anyone planning to visit France soon, I have an eguide with all kinds of practical tips for visiting France on things like transportation, money, French culture and more. It’s called 75 Beginner France Travel Tips for a Standout Trip. It’s a way to support Oui In France and make sure my content stays free, not behind a membership site or a Patreon, so if you enjoy what I do I appreciate the support. 😉
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II just got back from a wonderful trip to Paris and Aix-en-Provence (where I used to be a student). My husband and I had such a great time—the café life, the food, the art and architecture. However…here’s one thing the U.S. gets better than France. We have lanes for driving, and people tend to stay in them! Yes, lanes do also sometimes exist in France, but not always. During our many taxi and uber rides, it was just a bunch of cars converging without rhyme or reason, which made for a hair-raising experience. When we mentioned anything (very politely) to the driver, he (we never saw even one female driver) would just say, “J’ai l’habitude.”
The one thing which the US does markedly better than France (and much of Europe) is plumbing. I miss a nice hot shower with good water pressure and a properly draining drain. Sigh.
Right! Plumbing is bad in France, smells of toilets often hit you in the nose with their odor, warm water lasts only 20 minutes tops, and clogging is frequent.
3. Ability to change one’s career and job
Yes! This is a huge difference between France and the US and one where I find the US has a large advantage.
I attended a Lycee in Paris for a couple years in the 1970s and have kept in touch with a few classmates over the years. One thing that was apparent then was that students were tracked starting in the equivalent of 6-7th grade. They entered a humanities or science or math track and that was going to determine what kind of college and career they could have for the rest of their lives.
Then the French students had to deal with the Bac. Failing it or doing poorly could block many future possibilities.
And, as you said, changing careers after college is extremely difficult if not impossible. One friend went to work in a bank after studying finance in college but, if she had simply wanted to change within the financial world to some other area of expertise, she said it would have been impossible. Becoming a physician later in life, or some other profession, was foreclosed.
Speaking of the Bac, one woman I knew failed it twice, moved in with squatters in Paris, became radicalized (or more radicalized) and went to prison after participating in 2 political assassinations. Articles I read about her later seemed to imply that her life would have gone in a much different direction had she passed the Bac.
I know this is late, but I just ran across this article and wanted to comment about chewy.com. They too sent me a card and gorgeous flowers when our 14-year-old Golden Retriever passed away. Before that, I used to buy his food from them in 25- 30-pound bags. Occasionally the bag would have a hole in it because the box of waste-disposal (okay, poop) bags was thrown in the box.
When I emailed them to let them know (so maybe they would change how they packaged this, which they finally did), they told me to donate the food and they would send another bag. That’s customer service!
A year after our Golden boy died, we rescued a beagle/hound dog mix, Lili. Chewy asked me to register her with them, which I did, sending a picture. A couple of months later, we received a canvas “painting” of Lili made from the photo. It was a complete surprise!