"You go to France with a smattering of the language and try to connect: then are greeted with attitude. Instead of being helpful and meeting you halfway on the language, they ridicule."
Indeed. When I visited Paris and tried to ask various street vendors, "Parlez-vous anglais?" in order that I might purchase a drink from them, I often received the response, "Maybe," in English! The vendors were being deliberately ambiguous about their ability to communicate in a way that was convenient for me-- even though they could easily oblige. Most of them knew the English language quite well, but they would speak it only with great reluctance; furthermore, they seemed to hold those who could speak English but not French in contempt.
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Maybe next time you should ask them if they speak German...when they say no tell them they're welcome and walk away.
You should have tried German, a language they are equally familiar with, and very prone to accomodate.