French waiter says he shouldn't have been fired for being rude because it's part of his culture

A booth inside a restaurant.
(Image credit: Robert Mora/Getty Images)

Canadians have a reputation for being unfailingly nice, while the French ... don't, and waiter Guillaume Rey says this clash of cultures cost him his job.

Rey was fired from his job at a Vancouver restaurant for being "aggressive, rude, and disrespectful," The Guardian reports. The French waiter is not denying that he can be short with people, but he doesn't see the problem with his behavior and has filed a complaint with British Columbia's Human Rights Tribunal. Rey said French people tend to be "more direct and expressive," and his firing shows clear "discrimination against my culture."

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.