The thing that tends to shock Americans the most is the unimportance of age - the fact that elderly gentlemen find it absolutely normal and appropriate to come on to a girl half (or even one third) their age. While such propositions can be alarming, repulsive, or disturbing, they are hardly ever made with serious intent.
"Flirting is a fact of life in French culture," writes Naughty Paris author Heather Stimmler-Hall, "in most situations [it] is merely a pleasant form of communication."
As much as I complain about the attention that I receive in Paris, there are rare occasions where the innuendo-filled banter is funny, or just nice. Today was a good example.
Overseeing the production of my lunch at the street-side counter of l'As du Falafel in the Marais, I was asked by the chef (a man in his late thirties) if I wanted the spicy sauce. "Je veux tous les sauces" I replied, hoping for an extra generous application of Tahini. "Et moi aussi?" he retorted hopefully, going on to describe how he was good for the housework, for making dinner... clearly as good an investment as the five euro falafel I was about to devour. I declined with a sardonic smile, took my plastic fork, and proceeded on my way.
After lunch, I made my way over to Angelina, the Belle Epoque tea salon across from the Tuileries, for chocolat and a pistachio Financier. The host, a formally clad man in his late forties, greeted me in the foyer.
"Vous êtes seule, mademoiselle?"
"Oui."
"Ahhh... moi aussi," he replied with a forlorn sigh as he showed me to my seat.
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