Count Your Change and Be Persistent About Cheaters and other Paris, France Warning Or Danger Tips

When in Paris, I found that vendors give you the wrong change. I bought a cheese sandwich for 18f. I gave him a 50f note which was the smallest I had from changing my money at the airport. He only gave me 2f back and insisted I gave him only a 20f note. I argued with him and kept on telling him I knew it was a 50f note because that was all I had. Finally he gave me correct change when I said I was going to find a police.
So you need to be sure you know what you give them, point it out to them that you are giving them a 50f note, and be persistent. Don't let them cheat you. They assume you aren't familiar with their money and that they can get away with it.
I think France is now using the Euro. This was in 2000.
Indeed, when we returned in 2006, France is using the Euro which makes using money easier. We had no trouble with any of the places trying to cheat us this time which was refreshing.

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When we were in Paris in 2000, we rode the metro every day and did not have any problems with theives but we were careful. There were 4 of us, we stayed together, wore money belts and kept our bags close to our bodies on the front of us. And maybe we were just lucky.
In 2006 when we were here on our tour, our guide told us that several of the members on the tour before us were robbed on the metro. She said it was usually during the times that the electricity went off leaving it in darkness for a few seconds. Even though it was a brief period, it gave a chance for robbery. Our guide recommended that we not take the metro late at night at all and to be very careful during other times. Hold our cameras to our front with our hands, wear a money belt under our clothes. They cut the straps on purses and cameras, and fanny packs and are gone in an instant. Except for the first afternoon when our plane arrived, we had escorted tours on the bus which made us feel safe so we didn't use the metro in 2006. This is a big advantage of going on tours.

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