William Weber

During an otherwise phenomenal trip with superior restaurant table service for fouteen days throughout Provence and Cote d'Azur, I AM LIVID by the behavior of the waitress at the Mistral Gourmand on September 26: <BR> <BR>12 Avenue Durand Maillane <BR>13210 St. Remy de Provence <BR>Tel: 04 9092 1465 <BR> <BR>Experience demonstrates that table service is generally superior in France than in the United States, even though the service tip, at nearly 20%, is quite high. Moreover, as expereinced travelers to France understand, it is customary to leave spare change to "round out" one's bill. <BR> <BR>My girlfriend and I received above average service at this "$" restaurant on a good $52 meal and offered an additional 12 francs of change; a 10-franc coin and Centimes coins in denominations of 10, 20, and 50; or the equivalent of a $1.70 ON TOP OF THE 20%. <BR> <BR>We then retrieved a jacket from our car parked directly in front of the restaurant. As we turned to go, the waitress emerged from the restaurant AND SUMMARILY THREW THE COINS INTO THE STREET IN OUR PRESENCE. We were so stunned by the extraordinarily rude behavior, we took no action, unsure of how to respond. <BR> <BR>Later, an indifferent hotel staffer conceded that the waitress should not have tossed the coins into the gutter in our presence, but also suggested that we should not have left centimes, and further added that we might have left more of a tip. <BR> <BR>Regardless of whether one agrees about the merits of leaving centimes or more of a tip (remember: a 20% tip, a 10-franc coin on a $52 meal), we were EXTREMELY APPALLED by her tossing the centimes into the street before us. She simply could have thrown them away instead of demonstrating obvious contempt for a couple who have just patronized their retaurant at a time when tourist traffic is down, especially because of the attacks on our country September 11. <BR> <BR>The behavior was INSULTING AND INEXCUSABLE and not representative of the service we received elsewhere in this lovely corner of France. The Mistral Gourmand in St. Remy de Provence should not be patronized. <BR> <BR>WSW

ahhh another

Let's recap: you did the French a favor by going there because tourism is down after 9/11, you left what to the French are pennies, and your "superior restaurant table service" is not worth even the American standard of 20%. <BR> <BR>Here's how it's supposed to work -- you travel because you're interested in the area, not because you want to pat yourself on the back for being so charitable and traveling at this time. And you round off the bill with your spare change, you don't use it as an excuse dump the change you don't want or can't use. And 20% for superior service is the "standard" in the US also. <BR> <BR>

Mary

William, Sorry but I have to agree that I would never leave centimes for a waiter or waitress in France. I was told that it is very insulting. Maybe you would have been better off to leave nothing. People in Paris do it all the time.

????

I thought service was included in the bill. The parton did give a 20% tip as it was already part of the bill so that would be about $10 plus the $1 or so left on the table... It was my understanding that no additional tip is necessary in such establishments, except spare change. <BR> <BR>I also thought if you left too much you were thought of as a stupid rich American, so what are you suppose to do?

John G

William, you should never have left the waitress centimes on the table, that was very insulting. Imagine leaving pennies on the table in an American restuarant. In the restaurant business, to do so means that you have received bad service. It doesn't matter if the tip was included, the waitress obviously thought you were sending her a message that she was a poor server.

Former Waitress

Don't you think that recommending that the resaurant not be patronized over what was likely a misunderstanding and likely an isolated incident is a bit extreme? Do you realize that even though you didn't intend to, you insulted the waitress? It sounds like she overreacted, but maligning the restaurant on the internet also seems like an overreaction.

confused

If you would have left nothing, then she would not have had any centimes to throw back at you. If a 20% tip is already included, why leave anything else at all?

x

On the other hand, why are the French so rude? The waitress must have known that the poster was a tourist. Why can't the French just chalk it up to the fact that maybe Americans aren't aware of their customs. At least the man left some money. Many French that come to America assume tip is included and leave nothing which is a bigger insult.

carol

"The French" are not rude; that particularly waitress was rude, intemperate, and ignorant about foreigners' customs. William was ignorant about the customs of the place HE chose to visit, and therefore made a gesture that was perceived as rude. Now he's compounding the error that both parties made in cross-cultural communication by being just plain vindictive. Both people should be ignored.

joe

Every guide I have on France,and I have quite a few(including Fodors)reccomends that you not leave centimes in a tip. Her bad day and your lack of research should not result in a condemnation of a restaurant or a culture.

xxx

pardon my ignorance, but when did standard tips in the US go up from 15% to 20%. <BR>Also, last time I worked in a restaurant, you got the 15% only if you gave good service. <BR>People didn't have to leave you 15% and if you were a bad server, you would get less. <BR>Of course, there are always those that leave nothing whether the service was good or bad. <BR>I also never saw anyone being chased after by a server for a bad tip. <BR>

insult

Carol's post is dead on; <BR>Mr. Weber is way out of line and sounds quite vindictive in suggesting that no one patronize this restaurant where the food and service was superior. William apparently insulted the waitress...the waitress insulted William; I think the rest of the world shouls be free to patronize the restaurant without insulting anyone

Capo

I also agree with what Carol wrote, very much so. <BR> <BR>Arguing, as William did, that "The Mistral Gourmand in St. Remy de Provence should not be patronized." because <I>one waitress</I> demonstrated very rude behavior (it doesn't matter if William was rude in leaving centimes; rudeness doesn't justify rudeness in return) is unfair to the people who own, and the other people who work at, this restaurant.

Christina

I don't think very many waitresses would have thrown the equivalent of pennies at you, especially since I do think it is common not to leave anything above the included svc charge as tip in France. I think most servers would have just assumed you were leaving the small change as you didn't have any use for it or something. Sometimes servers at places patronized by lots of tourists sort of get tired of them, that's my impression, and I can't blame them from what I've observed sometimes. But what's all this talk about a 20 pct service charge in France? It's always been 15 pct as long as I know, has this gone up or something? (don't confuse VAT with a service charge, the service charge for restaurants is stated on the menu, usually with the percentage, and it's been 15 pct as long as I can recall).

Gretchen

I think everyone has castigated Mr. Weber enough. In his zeal to tell an unpleasant story he may have overstepped about not patronizing the restaurant. We have all learned a bit more about cultural mores (put an accent on that for me) of tipping in France. I would guess that the incident was very upsetting and cast a pall over the otherwise nice evening.

Winston

Just chalk it up to the typical arrogance of French people who work in service trades. It's the price you pay to experience the beauty of France. Most waiters and store clerks are pleasant or at least civil. A surprisingly large minority are completely full of themselves and take pleasure in snubbing tourists. The standards of customer service in America are not the expected norm in France. (An American waiter might not be as skilled, but he or she is nearly always quite pleasant.) When in France, expect coldness or downright rudeness and be pleasantly surprised if it's otherwise.

peter

perhaps the message unstated here is to recognize that as a traveler one has the responsibility to find out the local customs and educate themselves about teem so incidents such as described do not occur. to leasr these facts are fun,educational, and generally lead to a much better travel experience ofr everyone concerned.

Patrick

Once again I hear the unfair generalization that people in France tend to be more rude than Americans. I live in Naples, Florida. One of my best friends is a long time waiter at an upscale restaurant here. Naples is busy with foreign tourists, especially from England and from Germany. There were so many cases of these foreign tourists not leaving any tips and many, many cases of waiters chasing them down the street, insulting them, etc. because they didn't leave tips, that now several restaurants have OK'd their wait staff to add a 15% tip automatically. So don't think the rare case of a waiter chasing down a customer could only happen in France. I agree that we need to learn foreign customs before we go, just as these "well-heeled" foreign tourists should learn that in the US it is customary to tip.

Really?

&gt;there were so many cases of these foreign tourists not leaving any tips and many, many cases of waiters chasing them down the street, insulting them, etc. <BR> <BR>I am rather dubious of the report of waiters at an "upscale" American restaurant chasing customers down the street. The owner or manager would not allow it. A chain restaurant, perhaps, but not one that had any pretentions of being upscale.

Patrick

Ok, so maybe my use of the word "chased" is a bit overstated. It conjurs up images of two people running down the street after each other. No, that didn't happen to my knowledge. Nor am I aware of anyone actually throwing money at the patrons. But it is quite common (and in what I would definitely call "upscale" restaurants) for waiters to have followed the non-tipping person out of the restaurant or even handed back the one dollar bill or loose change left with a comment like, "here, you must need this more than I do" or "apparently you are not familiar with the American custom of tipping" or "I'm sorry you weren't happy with my service, so I won't keep this small token either." Notices in the bill folder written in several languages explaining the American custom of tipping and suggesting 15 to 20% simply weren't working, so quite a few are now adding the tip automatically and often only to "suspect" foreign visitors, sadly. If it is questioned, it is explained. If it is protested, it is removed, but it is my understanding, that once explained it is rarely offensive enough that the customer asks for it to be removed. <BR>I hope I have clarified this, and I apologize for my "exaggeration" of the facts.