can't stand this place anymore

[boobles]

Russwhitehouse said:

boobles said:

I have always said that France was a dirty smelly st hole of a place along with the rude people.

Silly person speaks.

Sorry, didn't mean to hit a nerve.......

[Expatloon]

We've been here seven years (retired) and love it, sure the French do things differently but none of it should have come as a surprise if you'd done your home work.

If that's the way some of you feel then quite honestly the sooner you fk off the better, you give the rest us us a bad reputation !

[Driller]

Says the bloke receiving the retirement fund whilst sponging off the securité social

I had booked myself on an implantology conference this Friday which cost several thousand euros and the day of work "lost" = is several thousand more.

Just had a message tonight:train controllers on strike and my train for Lyon cancelled.

What the fk more do you want you lazy, whinging scroungers? retirement at 40 and a 20 hour week?!

[smifffymoto]

And that is the problem.France is great if you retired.Not so if you are of working age.

[loughran]

Driller said:

....and the day off work "lost" = is several thousand more.

You only earn several thousands a day? No wonder you feel so miserable

[Sheepshanks]

Driller said:

Just had a message tonight:train controllers on strike and my train for Lyon cancelled.

Quite efficient that they messaged you - can't imagine that happening for a train journey in the UK.

loughran said:

Driller said:

....and the day off work "lost" = is several thousand more.

You only earn several thousands a day? No wonder you feel so miserable

Come back to the UK - I had an implant a couple of weeks ago. £1200 and I was in and out in 30 mins.

[Driller]

loughran said:

Driller said:

....and the day off work "lost" = is several thousand more.

You only earn several thousands a day? No wonder you feel so miserable

Jesus, you sound like a Frenchman complaining about people who "mettre plein dans la poche".

Have you considered that I might have charges including 100% national insurance, equipment loans, morgage, employees, materials, instruments etc etc etc to pay? Only a very small portion of that goes in my pocket and then I have to pay tax on it.

No, I know, you didn't consider that.

Edited by Driller on Thursday 4th December 23:19

[loughran]

Sounds to me like you're going to be miserable wherever you live.

I re read the post... just explain to me again how you taking one day off puts you out by several thousand euros ?

[Driller]

loughran said:

Sounds to me like you're going to be miserable wherever you live.

I re read the post... just explain to me again how you taking one day off puts you out by several thousand euros ?

It's an accumulation of this stuff basically, I'm pretty easy going otherwise, honest guv.

Yes "several thousand Euros" sounds a bit dramatic I admit it but hey, I'm really pissed off at having my plans fked up at the last minute by the same old wkers. My dental practice costs €200 Euros an hour to exist. So for an average 10 hour day that's €2000. If I don't work on that day I have to find that money from somewhere.

Can you stop changing the subject please? Grrrrrr, bloody France etc

[Russwhitehouse]

Driller, I sympathise entirely with your frustration. My wife has a successful photography business out here and is constantly punished for any success she manages to generate. I have to question whether or not you did your homework fully back in those heady days when you moved over here? I know we only listened to the bits we wanted to and convinced ourselves that we would " sort out" the rest once we got here, deluded fools that we were. I also think that the people who come here to retire and " do lunch" every day probably have a more, how shall I put it, "rose tinted" perspective than those of us trying to row our own boats on a daily basis.
It's not all bad and there is a lot to be said for living here provided you don't aspire to anything. It's that acceptance of powerlessness that eludes most Brits and makes their lives frustrating and annoying as a result. We have done nearly twelve years here and have had some great times, but a good lunch and cheap wine just doesn't cut it anymore I'm afraid.

[Driller]

Russwhitehouse said:

Driller, I sympathise entirely with your frustration. My wife has a successful photography business out here and is constantly punished for any success she manages to generate. I have to question whether or not you did your homework fully back in those heady days when you moved over here? I know we only listened to the bits we wanted to and convinced ourselves that we would " sort out" the rest once we got here, deluded fools that we were. I also think that the people who come here to retire and " do lunch" every day probably have a more, how shall I put it, "rose tinted" perspective than those of us trying to row our own boats on a daily basis.
It's not all bad and there is a lot to be said for living here provided you don't aspire to anything. It's that acceptance of powerlessness that eludes most Brits and makes their lives frustrating and annoying as a result. We have done nearly twelve years here and have had some great times, but a good lunch and cheap wine just doesn't cut it anymore I'm afraid.

Thanks Russ, I can see that you really, really get what I'm on about, that helps a lot, seriously.

Those phrases "punished for any success" and "provided you don't aspire to anything" are absolutely bloody bang on.

Funnily enough I've just done the 12 years myself and I think it must be some kind of tipping point.

To answer your question, no, no homework done at all, or at least only to find out if my dentistry degree was accepted here. ALL of the other st I've complained about, the rudeness, the mediocrity, the tax and social charges, the lack of service, the agressive driving, the absence of any sense of excellence or aspiring to it, I had absolutely no idea. I never could have imagined people could think like this. Did you realise?

I met my other half 20 years ago when she came over to the UK and right from the start we decided I would go over to France to join her because her qualifications aren't valid in the UK.

The really tragic thing is that some English folk quite like it here because they must think a bit like the French but I didn't realise that the way I think is completely the opposite to everyone over here and the more time that passes you more you get reminded of this fact. And because you know you can't leave you stay and take on another commitment which makes it even more difficult to leave and before you know it you have a wife who can't work in the UK, a baby, a huge house to upkeep and a dental practice that you can't sell.

(I got an email yesterday to tell me the Convention collective (employment law) for my assistants had been updated again (happens every month-what the fk do they need to change every month ?!). So the message goes "get this months update to the convention collective". So I phone them up and politely ask them who I can speak to to find out why they update it so often and the girl on the phone said "rien a foutre" and put the phone down.)

[Perik Omo]

10 years for us this year. I may or may not have said previously but my daughter and son-in-law and three grandchildren (all born in France) have now moved permanently to New Zealand as it was impossible to make money and expand here, he is that rare thing a fully qualified English builder (both civil engineering and building construction qualifications) and he had completed some quite high profile projects locally and was well known for the quality of his work, he had no shortage of work coming in but just could not make it pay, he's type of person who paid his way did the honest thing and would not entertain working on the "black" which cost him dearly in the end as he just couldn't make any money legally. He's now started his own Civil Engineering company in NZ, has recruited 4 people from UK and is doing quite well just eighteen months in. We still get huge demands sent here from RSI even though he hasn't worked in France for nigh on 2 years and his accountant said that getting any sense out of RSI and others is almost impossible, even he has had enough and is going to retire early. Now that the family has gone and won't be coming back here I'm getting pressure from the other half to up-sticks and go back to the UK to be nearer our other daughter and grandchildren but as for me, being retired, I like it here, I like the slow pace of life and don't really want to leave but if I was working I would have left long ago.

[smifffymoto]

The tide is changing albeit at a snail's pace(no pun intended).Youngsters realise that the retire at 50 with a good pension is long gone,however there is still the safety net of being a state employee.Eventually France will have to catch up with the rest of Europe with regards to tax and employment,Sunday trading etc.

I'm,for want of a better word,stuck in France.
MIL died 2 years ago so FIL moved over here.Last month my wifes Aunt moved over with her 93 year old father.As an only child my wife feels responsible for them as they get older.

I was looking forward to getting my retirement visa for Thailand in 6 years.Now I've been snookered.

[Expatloon]

Driller said:

Says the bloke receiving the retirement fund whilst sponging off the securité social

Who was that aimed at ?

[Cloggie]

Perik Omo said:

10 years for us this year. I may or may not have said previously but my daughter and son-in-law and three grandchildren (all born in France) have now moved permanently to New Zealand as it was impossible to make money and expand here, he is that rare thing a fully qualified English builder (both civil engineering and building construction qualifications) and he had completed some quite high profile projects locally and was well known for the quality of his work, he had no shortage of work coming in but just could not make it pay, he's type of person who paid his way did the honest thing and would not entertain working on the "black" which cost him dearly in the end as he just couldn't make any money legally. He's now started his own Civil Engineering company in NZ, has recruited 4 people from UK and is doing quite well just eighteen months in. We still get huge demands sent here from RSI even though he hasn't worked in France for nigh on 2 years and his accountant said that getting any sense out of RSI and others is almost impossible, even he has had enough and is going to retire early. Now that the family has gone and won't be coming back here I'm getting pressure from the other half to up-sticks and go back to the UK to be nearer our other daughter and grandchildren but as for me, being retired, I like it here, I like the slow pace of life and don't really want to leave but if I was working I would have left long ago.

I think that for people who want to run their own business in France, the main stumbling block seems to be the RSI. The RSI seems to be able to ruin many small businesses without being taken to task. Make sure you don't own more than 50% of any one business and you should never have to deal with RSI...
Of course the annoyances, which are the result of the French Politics of Jealousy, can still make me wish I hadn't gotten up that day. But the relaxed way of life in the sticks and the climate make me stay.

[smifffymoto]

If you don't pay RSI,who do you pay?

[Cloggie]

smifffymoto said:

If you don't pay RSI,who do you pay?

CPAM. The RSI is for 'self employed' people. If you own more than 50% of a company, you are seen as self employed and pay the RSI.

If you own less than 50%, you are seen as an employee and pay CPAM. The CPAM is fairly simple and only takes the percentages as the payroll dictates.

In line with France's Politics of Jealousy, the Régime Social des Indépendants (RSI) tends to make extraordinary demands which results in more money being owed to the RSI than actually earned.

[Driller]

Except if you're profession libéral in which case l'état is extremely jealous if you and whatever you do you pay massive amounts to the sécu.

3 more classics just yesterday:

Woke up at 5am to drive to Marne la vallee to get the train to Lyon (because of the wker grevists) and fell asleep on the train with difficulty. Next thing I know some bloke walking past falls on me as the train took a turn. Fair enough, it happens.

Of course he said "oh, I'm so sorry" exceot no he didn't he said "oh merde" and turned and walked off up the train without even a glance.

Arrive at the metro entrance after the conference and there's barriers and a long queue and a security guard at the top of the steps. Walk up to the barrier and start to ask the guy what the problem is and planning to also ask him how it will affect my onward travel.

The words "qu'est ce qu'il se passe?" have just left my lips and this young female student arrives at my him and says "faites des luminaires" (lightshow) out loud without even looking at me and immediately starts a conversation with the guy, with her back to me.

I'm so shocked by the hijack that I start speaking ineffectually to the back of her head in English explaining that I was there first and she should wait her turn but she gives no acknowledgement at all. The guy then lets her through the barrier to the front of the queue and I join the back of the queue.

Get to the station at Marne la vallée busting for a leak.

First of all as usual the signs are ambiguous and utterly useless for finding anything (you get signs and then suddenly, nothing and you don't know where to go). I eventually find the toilets and go in, turn left to go into gents and a female cleaner shouts out "monsieur, c'est 50c!"

I said "I'm not paying you money to go to the toilet!" and she says "oui, oui, c'est obligatoire!". These are public toilets in a public station. She had even made up a piece of A4 paper with "50c" written on it, I had the impression she had even laminated it.

If she wants a tip then she can be polite and maybe she'll get one but trying to make out that I have to pay her by law, jesus the sense of entitlement.

I then drove home, blinded from time to time by oncoming cars with one headlight not working and the other on full beam.

[Russwhitehouse]

A couple used to own a small restaurant near us and were literally put out of business by RSI. I don't know the full details but in a nutshell they recieved a demand for a huge amount of money which they were unable to pay. They asked if they could pay in instalments, which was refused. When they explained they just could not find that sort on money, they were given x amount of days to do just that. When they managed to scrape together a small portion of it by borrowing from friends and family, RSI took it, then promptly initiated proceedings which resulted in them being shut down, all there catering equipment and furniture etc being auctioned off for next to nothing and them left bankrupt with no livelihood.
Had the authorities been reasonable, they would have got their money in instalments, the restaurant would still be in business so they would continue to get money and the couple in question would still be here, contributing to the local economy. As it is, RSI got a fraction of what they demanded and will now get nothing further from them. Blinkered short term thinking and a blind adherence to the rules has achieved nothing.

[psgcarey]

Russwhitehouse said:

A couple used to own a small restaurant near us and were literally put out of business by RSI. I don't know the full details but in a nutshell they recieved a demand for a huge amount of money which they were unable to pay. They asked if they could pay in instalments, which was refused. When they explained they just could not find that sort on money, they were given x amount of days to do just that. When they managed to scrape together a small portion of it by borrowing from friends and family, RSI took it, then promptly initiated proceedings which resulted in them being shut down, all there catering equipment and furniture etc being auctioned off for next to nothing and them left bankrupt with no livelihood.
Had the authorities been reasonable, they would have got their money in instalments, the restaurant would still be in business so they would continue to get money and the couple in question would still be here, contributing to the local economy. As it is, RSI got a fraction of what they demanded and will now get nothing further from them. Blinkered short term thinking and a blind adherence to the rules has achieved nothing.

This sounds identical to what happened to one of my uncles except that he ran an architects bureau rather than a restaurant.
Hit with huge tax bill, had to sell nearly everything, authorities unwilling to be reasonable. Turned out the huge tax bill was because he's been running his tax affairs in a questionable manner and was caught out, so 'pay up now' it was.