Author Peter Schoenmaker from Holland lives in the Gers region and has learned, occasionally the hard way, that life in France can sometimes be tricky for expats – it’s not all sitting around eating cheese and wine in the garden! One thing he always advises:
Never annoy a Fonctionaire…
I read somewhere that 20% of the French population work for the government.
If you buy a home in France, you will eventually come across at least one of these 9,000,000 fonctionaires, as we did when we wanted a telephone installed. When we bought our house it came with water and electricity connected, but no telephone landline. We had to visit the nearest office of France Telecom, an hour’s drive on empty roads with pleasant views through a department as big as Devon in southern England, but with only a fifth of its population.