Paris tipping?
 

Is 10 percent tip too much for a 50e taxi ride? 5 percent? also casual bistros for lunch/dinner? 10 percent?

No tipping necessary for food establishments. Americans usually do it, my Parisian friends do not.

I usually slip my Parisian taxi cab driver about5 euros for a ride from CDG to my hotel. NOthing for bistros or restaurants unless I get superlative service.

No tips in restaurants/cafes. I may leave the change from paying a bill. If really great service, maybe a tip.

Service charge is included in bill

Tips for taxis and restaurants consist of spare change amounting to less than 1 euro.

I wish the U.S. had the same (non)tipping policies as in France! Lately, there is a "tipping jar" any place there is a cashier. Taxis, bellmen, doormen, maids, EVERYBODY! I guess businesses pay low wages, and expect the customers to make up the difference.

I realize now that on my first trips to Paris I tipped when it was not expected and over-tipped the rest of the time. The service is included at restaurants but some will let you think it is not because they know Americans will tip and we feel weird about not leaving a tip!

Use the extra money for more champagne and pastries!

So, if you plan to be back, tip a little more. What the heck ... we have been remembered on return trips even the next year.... and I do believe the friendliness of the staff gets a bit better... maybe they just like us...

Of course it does. They're in the kitchen winking at each other and saying "Regardez! Ce sont les américains qui nous ont laissé une pourboire assez grande d'acheter un grand crû! Sourriez-vous, tous!"

Autour d'un bon verre de vin,sourire vient facilement.

Roses or wine - I just don't worry or think about it that much....

<<Roses or wine - I just don't worry or think about it that much....>>

?????

StCirq, per google translate, you spoke of roses, and cafegoddess spoke of wine, and seafox, apparently, isn't concerned what they might be saying in the kitchen.

So much for Google translate. I said absolutely nothing about roses. It's the same word in French: roses.

Well, Skip30, you pretty much have your answer above; to each his own I say.

Note that the French do not view "service" and "tip" as one and the same; something which many Americans do.

Service is service; tip is "pourboire", or "to/for drink". In the days of yore, it was for the servant to literally buy himself a drink to quench his thirst (I assume after all the hard work performed). This easily carries over to today with what those who live in Paris are telling you...if they leave something at all, it is some change rounding up.

I find it interesting StCirq that you take so harshly to Seafox's leaving a tip in a restaurant, but you do tip for a taxi from CDG.

I have the opposite pet-peeve and usually don't tip taxis. By the time they've added on the starting meter fare, per-piece of-baggage supplement, Sunday/night-time surcharge, perhaps run the unsuspecting tourist around an extra block or two, AND (my biggest gripe) yakked the whole time one their cell phone while driving--frequently in a very animated, heated conversation--I just really don't care to leave them anything extra.

On the other hand, if I know I was seated in a restaurant at the last prime table instead of being sat by the swinging kitchen doors or near the hallway to Les Toilettes, or if the waitstaff went out of their way, seeing to our every need and even anticipating what would make the occasion special, if they offered to take a momento group picture without being asked to or brought a little "something" so the only person at the table who ordered just a main plat won't be sitting there the only person with an empty setting, then I have no problem showing my appreciation with a tip.

I have never had any such experience with a Parisian taxi driver. I tip them (a very small amount) because they invariably engage me in fascinating discussions throughout the ride. Many of them are Cambodians who survived the Killing Fields, and they have kept me spellbound with their tales of horror and escape to Europe. I don't have an issue with being run around extra blocks because I know where I'm going and speak up if the driver starts to take a longer route (and sometimes it's because they know there's a detour or a march or something - I've had that happen a few times). And I've never had one who yakked on a cell phone, other than to take a brief call from a dispatcher.

Along with being a pourboire, TIP originally meant "to insure promptness." I'll settle for correct delivery of the food.

There's a thread about tipping now on the tripadvisor.com web site that reveals some rather mean-spirited attitudes about tipping housekeeping staff in hotels. The people who say that tipping is wrong, wrong, wrong have appaently never thought much about what some people leave in their rooms for the staff to deal with--and I don't mean just a mess.

I am still in total shock at the idea of tipping a taxi driver 5€ unless he carries all of my baggage spontaneously up my 3 flights of stairs. (Even more so a Cambodian taxi driver, because even fewer tips are given in Cambodia than in France.)

I'm happy to hear Kerouac's take on this, since he lives there fulltime!

Kerouac's info is always great and helpful, but I have other born and raised Paris/France friends who always tip in restaurants where we dine. I will have to ask about taxis for them.

Joan

I tipped 1 euro today because the bill was a round number for the two of us: 34€ My 20€ note and two luncheon vouchers for 7€ covered the amount exactly, and I only had red coins (0.01, 0.02, 0.05) in my pocket plus two 1€ coins. So I overtipped.

Please help me handle this situation, the last time I took a cab from CDG to the Latin quarter the fare came to 55 euros but the driver wanted 60 euros. I gave it to him.

The same thing happened in Nice, the driver wanted more than what the meter displayed. Thinking back, I should have asked the porter to help me deal with the cab driver.

I can identify cafegoddess.

I once had a driver in Paris who was held up by slow traffic and wanted me to pay him and walk the remaining few blocks, with luggage! (I assume he had another fare to pick up) I refused to get out until delivered to the hotel;he fumed the whole way.

cafegoddess - did you check the list of extra charges that is usually in the back of the taxi. This can include charges for luggage, and from what I remember, picking you up at the train station. It's a while since I've taken a taxi from the airport, but that could well be the extra charge. These don't appear on the metre.

I'm always struck by how seldom the driver hangs around for a tip. Usually I have luggage, and while I'm getting that sorted out, he's gone, with the fare, but no tip.

...well...the credit card slips in Parisian restaurants do not have room for a tip so I guess no tip is expected eh.

xyz123 I think it's more usual in Paris to tip by leaving some loose change with the bill. I'm happy to be corrected if that' isn't right though.

klondike, taxi drivers intimidate me in general

Carlux, I will be in Paris later this month, I am going to pay more attention to all the additional fees.

Regarding tipping in the restaurant, because I am in the service business I always tip 10% down from 20 because my husband told me to stop tipping more than that.

Ten percent is plenty for a taxi ride.

You don't tip in restaurants in Paris; the tip is included in the bill (and the law requires that this be marked on the bill, although sometimes it isn't). Adding anything additional only advertises the fact that you're a tourist.

Some restaurants may falsely claim that you owe something additional on top of the included tip. They do this because they are dishonest and know that Americans can easily be convinced to add more money. Don't fall for it.

I am more than happy to shell out 5 euro for a thorough lesson in the Killing Fields. I could buy a Coke for that in Paris, but a 45-minute history lesson seems a little bit more valuable.

Look for the words I believe service inclus or something to that effect on the menu...it's almost always there and tipping is not required nor expected in Paris...a completely different outlook than we have here in the USA (and believe me you won't get any dirty looks or people speaking behind your back if you don't tip).

You will also see "prix nets" on the bottom of the menu.

At the moment, you'll also notice a lot of hoopla on menus of slashed prices advertising going on because the government lowered the TVA (value added tax) on food or some food?...I just never quite figured out why all the prices didn't go down but only a few...seems rational to me that all dishes would see a "baisse".

Please go easy on us Paris newbies. I just returned from my 1st trip last night. Tipping is a way of life in the US, and it's hard to not leave a tip. I know there were a few times we left a few euros and didn't have to, and it took a few days to really get the hang of not doing so. Oh, well.....I found every waiter to be very polite, patient and efficient, so I didn't mind. Next time I know I will feel more comfortable not tipping.

I totally agree with klondike regarding the taxi drivers.

When you ask a waiter in Paris "is the tip included?" he will probably say no -- and he is absolutely right. Service IS included, but that is not the same thing as a tip which is something extra for "special service". If you ask the same waiter "is service included?" he is almost bound to be honest and say yes it is.

It is true that it is not NECESSARY to add a tip over the service charge which is already included. But if you are like me, and have had a lot of special service from a waiter trying to converse in English or listening to me trying to converse in French, and taking time to explain things to you -- things most waiters wouldn't have to do with locals -- then there is nothing wrong with adding a little to "reward him" for his good service which goes above and beyond.

The idea that adding anything only proves you're a tourist? Well, duh. Is there any way the waiter didn't know that already? If BECAUSE you're a tourist he spent extra time with you and went out of his way to help you (as many will) then don't feel "threatened" by those who try to say you're doing something wrong. On the other hand, it's true that if there was no special service, then a tip is pretty pointless.

And some waiters will indeed give tourists short shrift. (This is not a good thing.)

Well sure, some waiters will give tourists short shrift -- especially if the tourist acts like an A-------, like the guy who told me he had to "inform the waiter in Paris that red wine shouldn't be so "chilled". But I've been amazed how often waiters in Paris are very friendly to tourists -- at least to me -- but maybe that's because I smile, I'm friendly, and I'm polite to them. And maybe because many waiters are smart enough to know that if they give special service to Americans they are likely to get a tip. Let's be honest -- no waiter resents getting extra money.