When I go to Paris, I like to sit at the bar on the first floor of the Galeries Lafayette and watch the world. The ground floor of the galleries is always a spectacle, even more so during the winter holidays.
In the middle, right under the majestic tree, is, in December, a splendid, magnificent, sparkling Guerlain stand, as is everything this great perfume house does.
A gentleman was there to show off the house’s private Guerlain collection, one of the most memorable, lush collections I know.
I watched him for the hour I sat with a glass of champagne in front of me, and wondered how he could stand there all day and be so smiling, so benevolent (I’d stopped by that booth, too, and he was exemplary), eager to show everyone the novelty of the private collection: the limited-edition Imagine perfume, of which the Galleries had received 12 bottles. That’s for real collectors only.
Coming back to that gentleman, I keep wondering what makes him enthusiastic, tireless, energetic, joyful, and unselfconscious in front of all the customers from all corners of the world, to seem to spread, with the fragrance of one of the oldest houses, that “joie de vivre” that many have lost somewhere in a lost corner of the world.
What do you think makes such a man seem so passionate about what he does?