French mayor demands manners at town hall

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LHERAULE, France, Dec. 3 (UPI) -- A French mayor has introduced rules to have citizens ejected from the town hall if they don't say "hello" and "thank you" when addressing workers.

Mayor Gerard Plee of Lheraule, a small town of 185 north of Paris, said the new rules are aimed at maintaining the "social standards in the municipality" after a poll earlier in the year found more than half of France's residents cited "a lack of manners" as their top source of stress, France 24 reported Monday.

"I believe that when people enter the town hall they should comply with certain practices like saying hello and goodbye as well as please and thank you," Plee said. "Being polite is the basic gesture of respect towards others which is needed for people to live together in harmony."

"If I don't introduce this rule I have no power to take action against these people because there is no law in France that forces people to say hello, and there's no judge who will condemn someone for not saying it," he said.

A sign posted on the door of the town hall warns visitors of the new policy and asked "the eternally dissatisfied, the rancorous and any other grumpy people" to mind their manners.