Fodor Tipping guidance
 

Fodors, just put a France tipping guide on Facebook

It is barking and needs to be stopped.

For instance Barman E1 to 5, for what? Pouring a drink, which is what their job is for goodness sake.
Taxi 10%
Tour Guide 10%
Rest room E1 in posh restaurant (why should only cleaners of posh loos get a tip, and why a tip at all)
Waiter E1 to 3 (3??????, surely just round up)
Maid service etc etc

I thought better of Fodors. Now is there an emoticon for "mad and steaming"

Looks like the tipping guide for Paris, Texas.

Clearly composed by someone completely out of touch with the tipping norms in France.

I´ll offer my suggestions:

Barman - a gentle <i>merci</i> will suffice.

Taxi - 1€ to 2€ but only if he helps with the luggage

Tour Guide - this is a tough one. Some tour guides work only for tips, maybe 5€ to 10€ if that is the case. Otherwise a polite thank you.

Rest room - only what is asked for which is sometimes .50€

Waiter - certainly 0%. If you should tip anyone in a restaurant, it should be the chef. I´ll occasionally leave change for a café waiter.

Many people give no tips at all -- that is the norm. However, a lot of people also round up a taxi fare or a café or restaurant bill up to the next euro, often just because they don't want to wait for change.

Therefore, most tips are between 0.20€ and 0.80€.

I thought there was a service charge in restaurants and bars in France. If so that is the tip.
What is Facebook? ;-)

The service charge, which is applied or not by various establishments (and anywhere from 10 to 15%), is not a tip. It is a way of calculating wages based on the activity of the restaurant. It benefits every employee from the manager to the clean up crew and increased the wages a little if business is good.

Going back to tips, though, mostly they are mutualized in France and go into a common pot to be shared by all of the workers so that cooks and dishwashers and other staff are not forgotten. When I was involved in the business, all of the tips were thrown into a coffee can and divided among all of the employees once a week.

I leave a tip about once or twice a year. Never more than 5€.
I give a tip to hairdressers and when the taxi driver is nice. Nice for me is discussing with me or on the contrary leaving me alone if I'm in a dark mood or tired;