DOGSHIT

Paris is notorious for having unwelcoming people -- you know, people just don't smile at you that often. They'd rather throw a grin and look down as they walk. Well, I finally figured out the reason:

You see: the French government spends millions of dollars every year hiring people to pick up dog shit off the street. Apparently, the French like to have their puny-ass chihuahas (and other ridiculously small and skinny dogs) shit on the sidewalks. In fact, it's a normal and accepted thing: dogs just shit on the street, on the pavement of the streets -- despite laws that forbid it -- and no, not on the grass in the park or on the little patch of dirt near the trees or even on the curve where people may not step, but rather right smack dab in the middle of the sidewalk. No one bothers to clean this shit up. They just keep walking after little Rex doodles. Well, the problem is that people are constantly paranoid of dog-shit when they walk. I mean, wouldn't you be too if everyone who had a dog let them shit on the sidewalk and didn't pick up after it?

The only way you can avoid falling victim to this dog shit craze is by looking down as you walk to make sure you avoid the dog shit. And you better look down because if you don't, let me tell you from first hand experience: you WILL soon step on dog shit. Well, what would you suppose happens when everyone is constantly staring at the dark and ugly ground while walking with their heads down in fear of dog-shit? an entire national culture of anti-social depressed unwelcoming people with no sense of community!!! For shit sakes people, pick up after your dogs!!! it's easy: one can see kevin bacon do it in his latest semi-porn flic with meg ryan: the dog shits, then the dog's owner puts on a plastic/latex glove or covers his hand with a plastic bag, picks up the shit, ties a not of the receptacle, and throws it out at the nearest garbage bag.

This in my opinion is reflective of an overall parisian problem: no sense of community or hospitality exists here. I still don't know ANY of my neighbors. People are too busy caring about their own conveniences. They don't pick up after their dogs, they throw their refuse on to the streets filling them with cigarette buds and chewing gum and all sorts of litter and as a result, walk around paranoid, too begruntled to even smile at each other. These larger cultural problems start with the individual so I implore everyone in Paris: please pick up after your dog's shit, please throw out your waste in a bag, and don't be afraid to smile.

DISCLAIMER: There are of course some nice people I've met in France, but I've realized they all live in the suburbs or for some other reason, constantly drive their cars meaning that they don't have to deal with this dog-shit fiasco pedestrian metro-commuters deal with, explaining why they're so much more welcoming and happy, further proving my theory.