• PhobosAnomaly@feddit.uk
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    3 days ago

    I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned this in another post, but I was in Paris one afternoon and stopped off at one of the Hard Rock Cafes - I like the memorabilia, and rather than buy fridge magnets from my travels, I try and get a Hard Rock Cafe shirt. Anyway…

    The waiter comes up, and I’m battling through in basic French, trying to be careful and not be another tourist that made an arse of it, and generally doing my absolute best to not annihilate the beautiful language I was trying to converse in.

    I ended one of the sentences with “je suis desole, mon Français est vraiment mauvais”, a crude bit of self-awareness and a nod to an understanding that it wasn’t perfect.

    The waiter says in accented English “yes, your French is a bit shit”

    I laughed and appreciated the honesty; he laughed because he got to rip the piss out of a Brit; and we all lived happily ever… except for my bank account, because fuck me drinks in the city centre were pricey.

    Anyway, I like staff who are direct and don’t fuck about.

    • Denjin@feddit.uk
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      3 days ago

      Our families thing was finding hard rock cafe t shirts from places that very definitely do not have an actual hard rock cafe. I think my dad’s “Hard Rock Cafe Bujumbura”(capital city of Burundi) is the winner.

      • PhobosAnomaly@feddit.uk
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        3 days ago

        Brilliant. I never thought of collecting comedy knock-off stuff like that!

        If I had the time and effort, it would probably be quite a good business idea too, particularly if mixed in with geek culture. Hard Rock Cafe Alderaan; Hard Rock Cafe Pallet Town; Hard Rock Cafe D’ni; Hard Rock Cafe Winterfell etc etc.

      • tpyo@lemmy.world
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        3 days ago

        Oh man, I’ve got one at home I got from Europe 20 some years ago. I hope to remember to get you a picture when I return

        It says “Hard Rock Cafe Prague” in orange letters that don’t match their font on a black sweater. 1000% unlicensed and I love it (I’m pretty sure that is the correct city)

    • calliope@retrolemmy.com
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      3 days ago

      Hard Rock Cafes can sometimes be kind of hidden gems, surprisingly. But they are quite pricey because of the brand and memorabilia.

      They are owned by the Seminole Tribe of Florida since 2018, which I find notable.

    • pyre@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      you said french is a beautiful language so i don’t know if i believe any of your story