The benefits of being a foreigner – dodging the Charity Grinners (and other thoughts on charity and poverty)

I hate to say this, but I hate those people who jump in your face on the street and try to sign you up to donate to their charity.

Its not just a French phenomenen, but Paris, being the most visited city in the world, and one with a really high unemployment rate (ie I’ll do anything for work), really does breed a lot of them.

Those garish coloured & branded t-shirts, clip boards, OTT grins, employing tactics like spreading their arms so you cant scoot past them, compliments, hugs….

It drives me insane.

I really want to hit them.

If I want to give to charity, I’ll choose my own charity thank you very much. No amount of grinning is going to get me to give to your charity instead of the one/s I choose.

So one day I said to one of them when I was walking through a really touristy area “I’m sorry, I’m not French, I dont live here, I’m just a visitor”. As soon as he heard my accent, he backed away like I had leprosy. He raised his hands up like a surrender, “oh….ok….you’re a tourist, um.., have a nice holiday!”.

BINGO. I now have instant Charity Grinner (“CG”) repellant. I’ve used it several times since, even when in the company of French friends. I just tell them not to speak and let me do the talking. Works a charm.

According to stats, the French actually have one of the lowest levels of donation to charities in developed world. But this is official donations, recorded by registered charities.

It doesn’t take into account all of the social services that France already provides, which is paid for by taxpayers money (and which services French people take for granted).

It also doesnt account for the unofficial donations that people make. And France, by far, is the most generous place I’ve seen.

People think nothing of giving a few coins to the local drunk. I watched 3 people exit a boulangerie yesterday and each of them delivered several coins into the paper cup of a dude sitting just outside the door. That was just as I was walking past. How much money could he have made in a day?

People in my neighbourhood buy food and drink for the homeless guy across the road from my apartment, delivering it from supermarket to his sleeping nook. The only person I ever saw doing that in Sydney was my Mum, and she’s nuts (in a good way!). Buying food for homeless people you see on the street is certainly not something most Australians would consider doing, let alone ACTUALLY do.

I’ve also seen homeless people selling magazines on the street similar to “The Big Issue”. Not only to Parisian’s buy the magazines, but they stop and talk to the vendors, for ages, discussing how the government is letting down its citizens and how it needs to do much more. They’re also happy to listen to the person’s story – how they got where they are, what their situation is like now.

I also dont think I’ve ever seen garbage bin foraging as frequently, and as openly, as I have in Paris. And not just by long term homeless people. I saw a nicely dressed old lady yesterday, taking a few nice apples out of a big green bin just in front of a fruit and veg store. No one batted a seductive Parisian eyelid, and she continued on her very ladylike way.

My French teacher has had to leave Paris recently because of a massive decline in students this year (a crisis by-product – fewer Americans taking Paris sabbaticals and paying for trillions of private French lessons). Her remaining income just wasnt enough to pay for the very expensive Paris living costs. She described Paris as a big casino, full of dazzling lights, and beautiful gowns, but where the average person just sits and watches, through the window, as the wealthy play with all their money.

I still dont really know what to think about Paris. There certainly is an attitude that it’s the state’s responsibility to provide for its citizens. The idea of starting up your own business to create your own wealth is pretty much unheard of. Marketing and business development are somehow dirty words. Rich people send their children to rich schools which get them into the best universities which get them the highest paid jobs (as a massive generalisation). And how much of these attitudes have to do with France’s current economic problems? Do the attitudes cause the economic problems, which then further encourage the attitudes? I’ve got a whole lot of stuff to say about work and France….thats for another post.

But I also often wonder how much of this attitude is a historical “gene”, which still thinks of wealth in terms of the excesses of Marie-Antoinette and the righteousness, and victory, of the poor during the revolution?

And could Australia’s convict heritage, having to build a nation, and personal wealth from scratch, have something to do with our “can do” attitude, where building wealth is often something to aspire to?

At the moment, given I still dont have a job, all I know is that I’m going to head back to that fruit and veg store and see if their bin contains some nice oranges….