#Spell faux pas how to
I believe this was my very first work etiquette faux pas: I didn’t know how to address people. Where on earth do you draw the line? Who don’t you tip? One day, I read one of these Reader’s Digest “Holiday Tipping” lists and I realized in horror that I was supposed to tip a long list of people-the letter carrier, the garbage collector, the neighborhood’s cops association if any… hell, pretty much anyone I ever interacted with. Why do people deserve a tip to do their job? I’m sorry, it’s cultural and I don’t get it-although I don’t blame them for gladly accepting a tip, but I have issues with the expectation of it. Really? Why? Getting a haircut in Canada is expensive, I don’t know my stylist and he/she typically spends about 20 minutes cutting my hair while chatting with colleagues. What I really didn’t know was that other professionals also expected a tip. It remained a dilemma for me for a while because I never knew how much to tip and I suck at math, but I did it anyway (and I’m pretty sure I tipped too much most of the time). In Canada, I quickly learned that I had to tip in the food service industry. At most, you leave the taxi driver or the waiter your spare change, i.e. Like most Europeans, French don’t tip-the service ( or lack thereof) is included in the price. Here are three faux pas I committed, or must have committed, in my first few months in Canada. But I was also very French when I settled in Canada, and my Frenchness led to me to commit many involuntarily social “oops”. I like to think my parents raised me well and that I’m usually a polite and considerate person. The term “faux pas” comes originally from French (it literally means “misstep”)-I guess the French are so prone to cultural awkwardness they needed a word for it.
These standard customs vary widely from culture to culture, and what is considered good manners in one culture can be considered a faux pas in another.
A faux pas is a violation of accepted social norms.