NPO star Gijs Groenteman, known as a presenter of Media Inside and as the husband of Aaf Brandt Corstius, has scolded a shocked inspector in Paris. “Asshole!”
Gijs Groenteman has misbehaved terribly in a Paris metro station. “A large metro station at Rue de Rivoli”, he confesses in the podcast Teun & Gijs Tell Everything† “I wanted to get out of there and then I thought, oh no, shit, I must have another exit. Then I walked back, had already thrown my ticket away and pushed myself through one of those doors.”
Hand full of tickets
At that point, it all went wrong. “We were stopped by such an inspector who saw that we were being clumsy. He said: ‘You are not wearing a mask.’ I had already taken it off, so I put on my mouth cap. “Yes, and your ticket?” I then showed my hand full of tickets, because as soon as you take the metro I have completely lost the thread of those tickets.”
However, all those tickets from Gijs were not valid at all. “He ran them all through the machine and then it turned out that there was not the one card that I should have had at that moment. I threw it away because I thought I was out already, but I still wanted to go to another exit.”
Le principle
Gijs was together with his wife Aaf Brandt Corstius and their two children. “Aaf also showed twenty new cards of: ‘We are in good faith, sir.’ That man adamant. A 60 euro fine had to be paid. Well, the money doesn’t even matter to me, but le principle.”
The metro station was then completely turned upside down by Gijs. “Then such an incredible urge comes up in me that I actually find disgusting, because you know at that moment: this man just wants to exercise his authority over us, that’s just his hobby.”
‘Asshole!’
Gijs actually wants to remain calm at such a moment. “The fact is that you come into a situation where you know that you have to pay those 60 euros, you are there with your family, your wife and your two blood children. Then you really just have to control yourself, right? That you think: okay, I’ll pay that 60 euros, I won’t eat less steak and we continue laughing.”
“But no! I then have to get all hot again and say he’s acting like an asshole. In the meantime I had switched to English after three words of French. I let myself go. At that moment, Aaf saw another family from our primary school walk by with wide eyes. It was not pleasant.”
To the ground
Gijs paid and received a receipt. “I threw the receipt he gave me that came from such an ATM on the floor in front of his feet. Yes, I just let myself go. That’s just a drive that I recognize from my mother, by the way. He has that too. That’s something instinctive.”
When did he feel embarrassed? “Right away when walking away. Very soon. (…) I am not proud of it.”
Teun & Gijs
The podcast Teun & Gijs Tell Everything: