Les parisiens, toujours surprising

I was in the night bus last night, coming home from a late dinner with Lionel and his friends, when the Parisians in the bus managed to once again shock me by their lack of common sense and their lack of concern for anyone but themselves.

A man got on the bus and he was noticeably drunk.  He had a full beer in his hands and as soon as he got on the bus he set it on the ground so he could roll a joint.  Nothing strange here...it's the nice bus quand même.  But the bus driver suddenly slammed on the brakes to stop at a bus stop and pick up some other people.  He braked so hard that the can of beer fell over and poured out all over the floor of the bus while it rolled across the open middle section.  And how did the Parisians react?  Well, they started grumbling about the beer on their shoes (or feet for one girl wearing sandals) and they all stared in shock at the beer can that was rolling across the floor, continuing to spill beer all over the place (it was a full pint-sized can after all).  They kept jumping around trying to avoid the beer that was already on the floor, and spreading around with the movement on the bus, as well as staring and grumbling about the beer that was still pouring out of the can.

This continued for nearly a minute when I realized that these people truly were idiots and that though they were unhappy having beer everywhere, they would much rather complain about it then use a bit of energy to bend over and pick up the damn can of beer so it would stop pouring out.  So what did I do?  I walked across the middle of the bus, bent down and picked up the can of beer, all the while mumbling about the lack of common sense exhibited by the Frenchies who were right next to the can.  While I did this they all stopped complaining, got very quiet, and followed me with their eyes as if they were amazed by the fact that anyone would pick up the offending beer can.  And when I got to my stop I went one step further and I took the can off the bus and threw it in the trash.

The Frenchies had almost certainly never seen such common sense in action or such an act of benevolence.  Sometimes I wonder how these people even manage to function...