tallyhotravel
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It is my goal to live many lives in one lifetime.
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Post by tallyhotravel on Jun 6, 2011 14:02:40 GMT
Staying this trip in what appears to be a very un-touristy area, I've been taking note of tipping or the lack thereof by the French. While it has always been my understanding that the service is included in the prices quoted on the menu, I have one Parisienne friend who never leaves a tip and another who always tips, no matter what the circumstances of the service provided her. In other words, not only does she tip the waiter at a restaurant, she also insists on tipping the server at the Berthillon ice cream stand.
Coming from a country that allows restaurant workers to be paid less than half the minimum hourly wage with the remainder of their earnings being earned by tips (aka the fleecing of the customer), it is very hard for me not to leave some sort of gratuity. At the same time, I almost wonder if it looks more ridiculous to leave small change rather than to leave nothing at all over the price of the meal.
Would any French residents care to give me your views on this topic?
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Post by Deleted on Jun 6, 2011 14:20:08 GMT
Most of my French friends never tip. I have created my own simple rules about tipping in France (assuming that the service was acceptable) :
1. In an expensive establishment, no tip at all, ever.
2. In a cheap place, a small tip unless I am being served by the owner/manager, who gets no tip.
3. The tip is always less than 1€ and absolutely never more than 0.20€ for just coffee, whether alone or in a group.
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Post by hwinpp on Jun 13, 2011 8:55:38 GMT
I never tip much in Europe. The loose change but I take the 1 and 2EUR coins first.
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Post by onlymark on Jun 13, 2011 14:26:24 GMT
I always tip in Spain and Germany. In the UK rarely, in Egypt mostly and in France......... I just don't go there.
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Post by imec on Jun 15, 2011 2:14:42 GMT
This is a major source of stress for me wherever I travel. Don't want to feel like a cheapskate or a bumpkin but also don't want to seem like a bourgeois fool. The "guidelines" are ALL over the map.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 15, 2011 4:55:40 GMT
This was a recent topic on one of the other travel forums, and I think it went to something like 180 replies in a few days.
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tallyhotravel
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It is my goal to live many lives in one lifetime.
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Post by tallyhotravel on Jun 15, 2011 9:15:39 GMT
This was a recent topic on one of the other travel forums, and I think it went to something like 180 replies in a few days. Difference here being I want to hear from people who live here or work here or have experience quotidien with tipping in France, not every Tom, Dick and Harry who might have spent a week here in 1975. To me, that's what makes this board stand out. Just my deux centimes.  |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 15, 2011 9:35:18 GMT
My rules:
No tip for a coffee.
Small change, less than 1 €, for a simple meal (10/15 €) if the service is correct.
At a family meal (20 people) in a restaurant last month, for a bill of 800 € we gave a tip of 8 € - I even think we were generous.
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Post by Kimby on Jun 15, 2011 17:30:16 GMT
(A 1% tip in the states would be a deliberate slap in the face to the server. But service is almost never included here except for large groups, so we are accustomed to tipping 15 - 20% of the bill.
That's what makes it hard for us usanians to dine in France. First the price seems huge, because we aren't used to seeing the tip included, and second, we fear to tip at all because then servers will come to expect tips and it will become even more expensive to eat out.)
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Jun 15, 2011 17:42:08 GMT
This is a major source of stress for me wherever I travel. Don't want to feel like a cheapskate or a bumpkin but also don't want to seem like a bourgeois fool. The "guidelines" are ALL over the map. oooh me too me too...at home in the UK I generally leave around 10% (but never eat anywhere expensive...so it isn't usually as much as it seems). My first venture abroad was in 2009 (cruise) and on this and subsequent cruises it did seem to be very much left up to the individual. We tended to stick to the 10% rule everywhere...  |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 15, 2011 17:50:18 GMT
I am organizing a meeting and reception for the employees next week in a 4-star hotel, to explain to them how they are going to be fired. It is costing the 'employee committee' 36€ per person just for miniature sandwiches and pastry with some non alcoholic beverages. Now I am wondering about tipping the personnel who will be officiating. We ordered for 40 people.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 16, 2011 19:58:11 GMT
(A 1% tip in the states would be a deliberate slap in the face to the server. But service is almost never included here except for large groups, so we are accustomed to tipping 15 - 20% of the bill. Well, now you make me realize that we were a little bit cheap. We were leaving the restaurant when I realized that we had forgotten the tip. In my family it's generally the guests who leave a tip. I left a 5 € note, the person behind added a few coins The others were already outside. You're right, 1% was not much, but 5% (40 €) would have been grotesque. |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 16, 2011 20:25:40 GMT
Okay, let's make it 2% for a special family event.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 17, 2011 5:37:42 GMT
 or a reception for an employee committee
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Post by Deleted on Jun 17, 2011 6:37:36 GMT
That means a 30€ tip.  There had better not be more than 3 people on duty because I was thinking about 10€ per server. |
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Post by onlymark on Jun 17, 2011 9:47:25 GMT
I tend to adjust the value of the tip to the local situation. What I mean is that in a cheap Egyptian restaurant I'll leave up to 10%. But when I've eaten in a five star hotel here the meal is at European prices (if not more) a tip of that value makes me think I'm being ripped off. We went one time to the Marriott and paid 200 Euros for the meal (a lot of family over and Christmas), a tip of 20 Euro would be about a weeks wages for the waiter.
In Egypt, no matter how expensive the meal, the most I will leave is about 2 or 3 Euro.
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There had better not be more than 3 people on duty because I was thinking about 10€ per server.