just one bit of anecdotal evidence, when me and my wife were first dating, she had also learned french in highschool, and she wanted to try her hand at conversational french with some native speakers
so as a gung ho boyfriend i loaded up my old opel and took her for a long weekend to paris
the trip was awesome
the interaction with the locals was not
they were, in our estimation, jerks
so the next time we went to the french speaking part of belgium, and you know what?
she loved it, the people were just so much warmer
so, based on my experience, the french have a deserved reputation, but then again, to the best of my knowledge, i never met you, did i, mon ami?