Nobody is ever going to think otherwise in Montréal. Sometimes it's actually harder to get served in French in this damn city, so that reasoning is laughable at best.
That's not even true. I've had times where I was with American friends at a restaurant near my place, and the menus were only in French, and while the staff spoke some English, they weren't so good at it and I had to help translate. Another time, I was on a bus, and a passenger started asking question to the driver and he responded (quite rudely, unfortunately) "Je parle pas anglais moi" and kind of ignored the passenger (I answered their question in place of the driver). And another time I was with anglo friends getting ice cream somewhere, and when they ordered, the clerk smiled nervously and turned to a co-worker apologetically because they didn't understand.
Add to the fact that Montreal, being in Québec, has the
perception of being a French city on an international level. Can't count the number of times I've had people ask me "I want to go to Montreal but I don't speak French, will I be OK?", even for things like just visiting. So it's not true that "nobody is going to think otherwise". Tourists come from all over, and might not know how anglo-friendly Montreal usually is.
Most service staff in Montreal speak English. And it's true that in some places, especially Chinatown, it's sometimes harder to get served in French than English. But it's not that universal. And honestly... being offended at "Bonjour/Hi" is just completely unfathomable to me. It's harmless at the worst, helpful at best.
Or the program is a waste of time unless you want to live/work in French communities or work for the government.
That's not the point, which is that these people still joined it. If you think the program is a waste of time and don't enter it, fine. If you do enter it, and it's useless for actually learning French, that's a problem.
