French rudeness

I have no doubt that in a city the size of Paris, one can find rude Parisians. My experience, though, has been the exact opposite. Even when I do something I shouldn't or find my rudimentary French unable to express what I need, Parisians have been warm, patient, and extremely helpful. Two examples: last night I must have grabbed the wrong bottle of wine at the Monoprix, and I was charged 38 euros for the bottle (I thought it was around 4 euros). I didn't catch this until after paying, so I stopped by the exchanges desk. They were so apologetic, and even wanted to go check to make sure that I wasn't right about the price, and when, alas, I was proven wrong, they quickly and happily refunded to money. Have you tried exchanging anything at Walmart lately? Secondly, today I stumbled upon the "Pavillion de l'eau", the museum of water. When I walked in, I was immediately greeted and given quite a spiel. I caught enough to nod knowingly at times and say things like "les mechaniques, oui". At the end though, he asked me a question that I just couldn't make out and was a afraid a "oui" or "non" wouldn't suffice, so I had to admit my feeble grasp of his language. He immediately apologized several times and redid the spiel in English, although his English was about as good as my French. I wonder how many times somebody at a smaller museum in SoCal is simply told "no Espanol" and sent on his way? While so many other French stereotypes may ring true (seldom do they pick up their dog poop, they smoke too much, everyone must have a closet of black coats, etc.), I've always been impressed with the friendliness I find in this large city. Pictures today--A closeup of Oscar Wilde's freshly kissed grave (not by me, mind you), the Eiffel Tower in the background of Cemetiere Passy, and my favorite lunch, fresh breton oysters and brown bread with a glass of sancerre. Au revoir!