I've had to survive in predominantly French speaks parts of Belgium. I learned enough to find dinner and shop at the local stores. A day trip to Paris required a bit more care to purchase tickets from the edge of the city to a station near the Eiffel Tower. The next "horror" immersion was coming back from Wales. I got into my car at Calais and missed my turn leaving the parking lot. I was driving a long way down a dark toll road without a map. A mini-mart on the inside median had maps. I purchased one using my best attempts to speak French. Figured out where I was and plotted a path back to Mons, Belgium. I rolled into the parking lot at 4 AM and just packed my bags and headed to the airport in Brussels for my flight home. I recovered the bad turn with just 90 minutes to spare.
What a near nightmare!
Good thing you knew some French to get that map and back on your way. More people in EU (and Quebec) know some basic English than they let on. Wonder if that happened to you as I assume the person at the mini-mart surely knew you spoke something not FR.
When in Quebec, referendum for separation was in hot motion. To certain FR people, anyone who spoke EN was presumed one of those CAN-EN bad guys still wed to the British ... and not conversing in EN under any circumstances was their weapon. For most of the CAN-FR I met or dealt with (tickets, food etc) were civil, pleasant - sometimes we would speak Franglais to each other.