XP: France gratuities!
- Thread starter Peter Creasey
- Start date
georg lauer
georg lauer
sounds about right
Jonathan Loesberg
Jonathan Loesberg
Where I stay, in Provence, until about 5-7 years ago, really no one left a tip. It is still, no sense expected. The service compris figure I see on menus is 18%, I think. I'll look again the next time. All that said, it is common to leave around 5% of a bill if nothing about the service has been objectionable. Usually, this will be rounding up to the nearest 5 or 10 Euros on a bill.
Peter Creasey
Peter Creasey
Georg, thanks for the confirmation!
Jonathan, That's good info, thanks.
I've heard somewhere that adding a tip to the credit card charge means the server probably doesn't receive it. I wonder if this is really true!?!
. . . . Pete
Jonathan, That's good info, thanks.
I've heard somewhere that adding a tip to the credit card charge means the server probably doesn't receive it. I wonder if this is really true!?!
. . . . Pete
Jay Miller
Jay Miller
It says that in the article you linked.
Tristan Welles
Tristan Welles
That is a blog post from David Lebovitz. So you can take it as fairly authoritative. On Paris, food, baking, his blog is a great resource. Also note that it is almost 10 years old, so some of the initial base prices have changed.
robert ames
robert ames
unless things have changed in the last couple years, there is no tip line on the credit card slip and if you want to leave additional you need to be carrying cash.
Jonathan Loesberg
Jonathan Loesberg
No, they haven't changed. This is accurate. The ruling position still is that service is included and restaurant staff is paid accordingly. The relatively new practice of adding a small tip could be seen as creeping Americanism. It does, however, accord with another French practice in small privately owned business (wine domaines, butcher's shops, etc.) of sometimes giving a client fidele who has just made a larger than usual purchase a small gift. In that sense, it is part of a French practice of pretending that capitalism is just the rules they feel compelled to live by while wanting to show that it really isn't how they feel about people with whom they do business. This may just be Provence though.
Jeff Grossman
Jeff Grossman
Bakers are nice people, apparently.
Jonathan Loesberg
Jonathan Loesberg
Nah, bakers never do that. You plunk down your euro, you get your baguette and you both say bonne journée and smile.
Jeff Grossman
Jeff Grossman
I was thinking of the baker's dozen.
Jay Miller
Jay Miller
you mean Cliff shortchanged us at the last dinner? I want my money back!