Are Parisians Rude?

There is a pretty popular stereotype that the Parisian people are rude and arrogant. We've been in Paris for a total of about 8 days and we have yet to meet one. We're sure they are out there, but perhaps they are the exception and not the norm.

A stereotypical French waiter... (not our experience so far)

We've also heard the [kinder] sentiment that Parisians don't easily let people "in". Well, they've never met my wife. Melanie is very friendly and outgoing and she loves people. And they seem to love her. She can, and will, make friends with just about anybody.

Melanie made friends with our waiter at Le Peirrot the day we arrived and at lunch this afternoon he greeted her like an old friend. He even brought another waiter over to chat with us and at one point they both broke into a song about her name "Melanie", but we didn't recognize the tune.

My wife absolutely LOVES spontaneous stuff like that so the experience had her smiling from ear to ear all the way back to the hotel.