Speaking of labor actions... as I write, New Yorkers are in a tizzy about the prospect of a major transit strike.

Now in Paris, this sort of thing happens all the time. I was there once a few years ago, and heard an announcement while I was on the Métro, that la ligne une was delayed to to trouble with a conducteur. My French is shaky enough that I didn't know if the reference was to people or power lines, so I was somewhat surprised to hear later that it really was one guy shutting down the line as his own particularly focused job action.

So the prissy Parisians have to deal with this sort of thing all the time. And they can handle it. And New Yorkers are worried that they can't. Are they really so frail?