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Business Insider - January 07, 2026
"In 2017, I quit my job as a paralegal, packed up my life in England, and bought a one-way ticket to Paris. The new chapter was full of surprises, and though most of them were positive, I was in for some unexpected challenges in those early months — from navigating the notoriously tricky French bureaucracies (and supremely unhelpful bureaucrats operating them), to the weird and wonderful world of the Parisian soirée. However, the strongest culture shocks came in the workplace, and even now, after eight years in France, I still find aspects of French office culture surprising.
Getting to grips with office etiquette was my first major challenge — and the most urgent to overcome. I was starting a completely new role, in a completely new company, barely three days after arriving in France. My title was still paralegal, but even there, my remit couldn't have been more different. To say I had a steep learning curve ahead of me would be an almighty understatement.
I had, at least, anticipated some difficulty addressing people correctly, but that didn't make my (frequent) blunders any less embarrassing. In French, there are certain words for "you" and different versions of verbs depending on the level of politeness/deference needed. The rules around who you "tu" and who you "vous" feel nebulous at best — and a total minefield for a (foreign) new recruit.
Meanwhile, social norms I wasn't expecting included greeting everyone who joins you in an elevator, and then wishing them a good day/evening when they/you leave. (People do this in medical waiting rooms here, too. I still haven't gotten used to it.) In England, people mostly awkwardly avoid eye contact at all costs in these situations. And if you do accidentally acknowledge someone else's existence, at the very most, you offer them a tight (also awkward) smile. You absolutely do not, under any circumstances, talk to them[...]"
