"Your mother was a hamster and.....

[skyrover]

... your father smelled of elderberries."

Seriously though, it seems the French aren't too happy with the comments from US tyre manufacturer claiming they are lazy and only work 3 real hours a day.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21539801

Personally if I were the French, I would be asking him on tips for improving workforce productivity.

[Conian]

I'm going away, before you taunt me a 2nd time.

[MikeGTi]

BBC said:

Mr Montebourg replied that Mr Taylor's "extreme" comments showed a "perfect ignorance of what our country is".

Yep, not once did he call them cheese eating surrender monkies.

[AJS-]

You empty headed animal, food trough, waterrr.

The comments were designed to be provocative. Not sure what his agenda was with that, possibly political? But I think everyone knows there's a grain of truth in it anyway.

[IroningMan]

Where's Fechez la Vache when you need him?

[krallicious]

Nice Gallardo in the background...

[rohrl]

Yeah because the French don't know anything about making tyres do they? (Michelin is 25 times the size of this guy's tyre company and 35 times as profitable).

It all depends how you look at life. The Americans see the French as indolent, the way the French see it is that they prefer to work enough to fund a comfortable life whereas Americans work all the hours of the day and night and take ten days holiday a year so they can be the richest corpse in the graveyard.

[The Black Flash]

AJS- said:

You empty headed animal, food trough, waterrr.

"empty-headed animal food-trough wiper"

But done in an outraaaaaageous accont so that "wiper" sounds like "whapper"...
The quote police - like the spelling police, but worse

[AJS-]

The Black Flash said:

AJS- said:

You empty headed animal, food trough, waterrr.

"empty-headed animal food-trough wiper"

But done in an outraaaaaageous accont so that "wiper" sounds like "whapper"...
The quote police - like the spelling police, but worse

Is there anyone else up there I can talk to?




You're right though, at 2:10 That clears up a 25 year old misconception, with a more sensible answer.

[turbobloke]

The second instalment is out as Titan boss Maurice Taylor tells the French they have 'beautiful women and fine wine but no idea how to run a business'.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis...

[JDRoest]

rohrl said:

Yeah because the French don't know anything about making tyres do they? (Michelin is 25 times the size of this guy's tyre company and 35 times as profitable).

It all depends how you look at life. The Americans see the French as indolent, the way the French see it is that they prefer to work enough to fund a comfortable life whereas Americans work all the hours of the day and night and take ten days holiday a year so they can be the richest corpse in the graveyard.

So why don't Michelin buy this operation then? The French are lazy. They may well want to work to be comfortable, but the sad reality is that having a job may actually entail doing some work occasionally.

[Zod]

rohrl said:

Yeah because the French don't know anything about making tyres do they? (Michelin is 25 times the size of this guy's tyre company and 35 times as profitable).

It all depends how you look at life. The Americans see the French as indolent, the way the French see it is that they prefer to work enough to fund a comfortable life whereas Americans work all the hours of the day and night and take ten days holiday a year so they can be the richest corpse in the graveyard.

There's a middle ground and I like to think that it's geographically West of France and East of the US.

[Einion Yrth]

Zod said:

There's a middle ground and I like to think that it's geographically West of France and East of the US.

Spain? They're possibly even lazier than the French.

[ArmaghMan]

The Black Flash said:

AJS- said:

You empty headed animal, food trough, waterrr.

"empty-headed animal food-trough wiper"

But done in an outraaaaaageous accont so that "wiper" sounds like "whapper"...
The quote police - like the spelling police, but worse

Keep up the good work... Without you we would have cunning flans and lovely bubbly at which point life would just not be worth living

[elster]

JDRoest said:

rohrl said:

Yeah because the French don't know anything about making tyres do they? (Michelin is 25 times the size of this guy's tyre company and 35 times as profitable).

It all depends how you look at life. The Americans see the French as indolent, the way the French see it is that they prefer to work enough to fund a comfortable life whereas Americans work all the hours of the day and night and take ten days holiday a year so they can be the richest corpse in the graveyard.

So why don't Michelin buy this operation then? The French are lazy. They may well want to work to be comfortable, but the sad reality is that having a job may actually entail doing some work occasionally.

Michelin don't want to have to entertain more French workers.

Most of their operations are overseas.

[rohrl]

JDRoest said:

rohrl said:

Yeah because the French don't know anything about making tyres do they? (Michelin is 25 times the size of this guy's tyre company and 35 times as profitable).

It all depends how you look at life. The Americans see the French as indolent, the way the French see it is that they prefer to work enough to fund a comfortable life whereas Americans work all the hours of the day and night and take ten days holiday a year so they can be the richest corpse in the graveyard.

So why don't Michelin buy this operation then? The French are lazy. They may well want to work to be comfortable, but the sad reality is that having a job may actually entail doing some work occasionally.

You're looking at life from an American perspective, that's your prerogative but it isn't "right" and the French aren't "wrong", it's just a different point of view.

There are many very successful French companies outdoing American companies in different fields and the French have a very good standard of living. As I've said it's a different culture.

[turbobloke]

rohrl said:

the French have a very good standard of living

So did Brits in general up to about 5 years ago, it was obtained via personal debt and national debt and the position in the rest of the EU appears to be very similar. Is any additional advantage due to the French enjoying the fruits of a Greece lite approach?

[rohrl]

turbobloke said:

rohrl said:

the French have a very good standard of living

So did Brits in general up to about 5 years ago, it was obtained via personal debt and national debt and the position in the rest of the EU appears to be very similar. Is any additional advantage due to the French enjoying the fruits of a Greece lite approach?

Maybe somewhat, as well as making sure the CAP works to their advantage but mainly by being well educated and maintaining a balance between work and leisure. I don't believe France has as high a level of personal debt as the UK.

[turbobloke]

rohrl said:

turbobloke said:

rohrl said:

the French have a very good standard of living

So did Brits in general up to about 5 years ago, it was obtained via personal debt and national debt and the position in the rest of the EU appears to be very similar. Is any additional advantage due to the French enjoying the fruits of a Greece lite approach?

Maybe somewhat, as well as making sure the CAP works to their advantage but mainly by being well educated and maintaining a balance between work and leisure. I don't believe France has as high a level of personal debt as the UK.

Taking a quick look it seems that personal debt in France is indeed lower than UK but was growing significantly 2004-2009 whereas the UK total fell over the same period. Net government debt stock per capita (2012) is apparently higher in France than the UK according to PwC numbers based on IMF data which puts the UK third lowest in the G7 group.

[Mojocvh]

Einion Yrth said:

Zod said:

There's a middle ground and I like to think that it's geographically West of France and East of the US.

Spain?