tipping in France
 

what are the general customs regarding tipping in France? I understand that it is not the custom to tip waiters, is this correct? how about cab drivers, etc? thanks.

The tip is included but it doesn't hurt to leave the small change, especially for a coffee or a glass of wine on the terrace. I always give the taxi or shuttle drivers a small tip usually less than 5 Euro

Do not tip in cafés or restaurants. Small change up to the nearest whole euro is fine. Anything more indicates lack of awareness.

Tip taxi drivers 5%.

I always leave about a 5% tip in nice restaurants if I receive good service. Never more than 10E, however.

Stu Dudley

Hi L,

You should recognize the difference between a "service charge" (15% included in the price) and a "tip", which is a token of appreciation for service well rendered.

It is customary to round up for decent resto service. Likewise for a cab.
At restos, leave the tip in cash on the table. If you add it to your CC, it goes to the boss.

For poor service. Leave a penny tip.

Enjoy your visit.

((I))

we have learned over time that tipping is not really expected there as it is in the US...we tipped the first trip and now feel like suckers for not realizing that it is not really expected. I agree with the others, a few coins or round up, but don't leave the 15-20% tip you would in the US.

We usually round up for cabs or just 1 or 2 Euros.

Tips are rounded up to the next euro. A 2-euro tip is completely over the top.

>>A 2-euro tip is completely over the top.<<

So - if my wife & I have a very enjoyable 180E birthday/anniversary dinner with kirs & 5 courses at a nice restaurant (Michelin 1 star) and take 3 hrs for the dinner, a 2E tip would be too much???? or is that 4E for two????

I would probably tip about 8-10E.

Stu Dudley

Stu,
But is not the bill "service compris" (by law?) which implies that the 'standard' tip is already built in?

I've followed the round-up/small change rule.

Stu, many French diners in that place would not leave any tip at all.

<i>a 2E tip would be too much?</i>

Yes Stu it is too much.

In a French restaurant the star of the establishment is not he who brings the drinks nor cleans off the tables. The star, the backbone of any restaurant in France is the chef. This is the man who deserves your praise, your admiration or lack thereof. Leaving extra coins on the table is not a recognition of his abilities nor of his execution.

If you really enjoy your dinner, send word to him then return and support his restaurant as you see fit.

>>Stu,
But is not the bill "service compris" (by law?) which implies that the 'standard' tip is already built in?<<

See Ira's note above. Service is included - but the tip is not.

We dine at around 30 to 40 restaurants each year in France. Usually we dine at the "better" places, but not the more formal Michelin 4 & 5 "knife & fork" restaurants or the Michelin 2 & 3 stars. We stay in Gites or apartments where we prepare meals ourselves, so we don't dine out every night. We save our money so we can dine at restaurants where we can find dishes that I can't or won't prepare at home. At an exceptional restaurant in San Francisco (where we reside), if we receive "exceptional" service, I'll tip 20% for a dinner that takes 2 1/2 hours or longer. Friends who we dine with do the same. The "standard" service charge in France is around 12.5 to 15%, I believe.

>>Stu, many French diners in that place would not leave any tip at all.<<

Yep - I've seen them do that too. I did that myself 30 years ago when we had a lot less money.

Stu Dudley

Stu,
I knew you have lost of experience. Just trying to figure out the options.
I may test the tipping technique in June :)

"many French diners in that place would not leave any tip at all."

Just as many would. Leaving €2 after a €180 meal is miserly. Better not to leave anything then.
What's amusing is that when people pay € 4.80 for a drink they'll leave small change, i.e. 20 cts but if they pay €48
for a meal, they'll consider that €2 is over the top !

It is a shame not to respect the traditions of a country, but to use Stu's example I think I will refuse to tip anywhere the next time I return to the U.S. I will just tell them that visitors should impose their local customs when they go to another country.

The "star" may be the chef (as Sarastro said) but the service one receives is hopefully the icing on the cake. The quality of service (and we may all have differing definition of that) can make or break the meal. That goes the world over, whether it's a casual 10 euro meal or a michelin starred one.

Recommendations on tipping in France from the French embassy in Washington DC:
"The bill in restaurants and cafés often includes a 15 percent tip. It is referred to "service compris." However, it is customary to leave small change unless you are dissatisfied. If the service is not included in the price, "service non compris," a 15 percent tip is customary. However, in chic restaurants, leave a generous tip.

Tipping in France is not compulsory but recommended.

Hotels

€1.50 for room service and €1-€1.50 per bag to porters.

Taxi drivers

About 10 percent of the metered charge.

Hairdresser

About 10 percent

Others

Small tips (€.50) are reasonable for cloakroom and washroom attendants and theater ushers. Tip museum tour guides €.75-€1.50. It is also standard practice to tip tour guides and bus drivers after an excursion €1.50 or more. Service station attendants are not tipped for giving gas or oil, but get €.75-€1.50 for checking tires.

"

http://www.ambafrance-us.org/spip.php?article380

Myself, I tip in all countries in western Europe when I am satisfied with the service delivered. However, not as high % of the bill as in the US.

Here is what the Fodors guide says:

"Bills in bars and restaurants include a service charge, but it is customary to round up your bill with some small change unless you are dissatisfied. The amount varies: anywhere from .50E if you've merely bought a beer, to 1-3E (or more) after a meal."

It doesn't specify what the cost of the meal would be where you would tip 1-3E (or more). Certainly the "tip" on a 50E meal at a "steak/frites" place would be less than a 180E meal at a "nice" restaurant.

Stu Dudley

0.50€ as a tip for a beer is ridiculous.

I feel guilty if I don't tip at least 10%. Kerouac, am I really offending someone by leaving a 10% tip? I guess because I am in the service business, I feel different about tipping. I used to leave 20% but my husband feels 10% is good.

In countries where tipping is not uncommon, like in France, generous people tip when satisfied, ungenerous people don't.

There are generous locals and tourists as well as ungenerous locals and tourists.

If you are satisfied with the service and the food and feel happy to leave a tip, do so. The receiver will neither feel ofended, nor think that you are a stupid tourist. However, tips in Europe are not expected to be as high as in the US. Far from. We don't do the 'x % on the total amount calculation'.

And in my opinion, a service charge and a tip are two different things.

I treated my French friend to dinner in Paris two weeks ago. I asked her what to tip. She emphatically encouraged me not to tip more than rounding up to the next Euro, resulting in a few Euro cents. To we Americans it seems cheap, but it's perfectly normal in France.

Luckily, Americans only represent 6% of the visitors, so their weird customs remain in the minority. Thank goodness most of the tourists are French, German, Belgian, British, Spanish, Swiss and Italian with bit more <i>savoir vivre</i> and a proper respect for salaried workers who do not need to grovel for tips.

kerouac
The only French person who has offered an opinion about tipping on this thread, feels differently about tipping than you do.

Stu Dudley

Well, as someone who has lived here for 17 years, and goes out with lots of French friends (even though not a 'French person')I'm with Kerouac.

I would also be surprised, despite what the French Embassy in Washington says, if you ever find a restaurant where the service is NOT included. My understanding is that it must be included so that the French tax department knows how much the restaurant is taking in.

Stu, if you want to tip 20%, go ahead. But it's ridiculous indeed. Waiters don't have to live from tips. If they work in a restaurant/bar that follows the laws, they get a decent salary.
If you tip so much, you ruin it for your co-travellers who know better, and don't tip at all. In Brussels it is nowadays almost expected that foreigners leave a tip. Waiters see/hear it from far away that they have US guests. And I see the $ signs in their eyes!

I had to laugh at Kerouac's proposal to "impose" European tipping customs in America!

An English friend joined us for a couple of days on our recent Paris trip.

The British have a horrendous reputation for being bad tippers in the US, so bad that waitstaff try to foist them off on each other or the newest employees as soon as they hear their accents.

Our friend, on the other hand, tipped like an English milord of the Edwardian era, showering large tips on everyone in sight. It made it hard for us to go back to the same places!

Waitstaff in the US are often young people filling out the years before they start their "real" jobs or waiting for their break as actors or whatever. They get paid crap and make it up on tips. When waiters are professionals and adequately paid, a tip really is a tip. Your guilt or what you do at home does not enter into it.

"I always tip my lawyer and find 15% goes down well. What is your cultural norm? I work in the law business and I understand that lawyers like money."

Oh my gosh listen to yourselves.

Also see this same thread every year in the spring at Fodors.

Europeans are paid to carry out service. Tips are just "pour boire" not payment to make up for poor local management.

Rant over, have a great holiday.

Unfortunately, I have only lived in Paris for 38 years and I still tip more than my French friends -- meaning that I often leave a tip when they don't tip at all. They just look at me as though I am incurable.

hoxa61 wrote: "In countries where tipping is not uncommon, like in France, generous people tip when satisfied, ungenerous people don't."

That sort of judgmental post gets right up my nose.

Herself and I are just back from a few days in France and, as we had hoped, we had some very enjoyable meals. Apart from one special circumstance, we did not tip. I do not feel guilty, and I dislike the implication that I am ungenerous.

We got some much-appreciated help from other people, including shop staff and tourist office employees, and didn't tip them either.

In fact it's very simple: I never get a tip from my boss. I am expected to do my job for the salary that we agreed upon. Same applies to waitstaff, hairdressers, taxi drivers, ... you name it.

kerouac on May 10, 11 at 3:08pm

Luckily, Americans only represent 6% of the visitors, so their weird customs remain in the minority. Thank goodness most of the tourists are French, German, Belgian, British, Spanish, Swiss and Italian with bit more savoir vivre and a proper respect for salaried workers who do not need to grovel for tips.

Kerouac, you forgot us Australians. We get the no tipping thing. Here in Australia I don't tip for poor service and don't feel bad about it at all. Really good service will get a small tip which is customary.

I read the 'tipping guide' from the French Embassy in Washington Dc and honestly I think they are messing with your heads.

I get the tipping thing in the US and I'll be there in a few weeks and will follow the tipping guidelines, but please tell me I'm not expected to tip the person who shows me to my seat in when we go to the theatre?

>>Stu, if you want to tip 20%, go ahead<<

Where did I say I tip 20% in France??? I sometimes tip 20% in San Francisco. Here is wHat I said about tipping in France:
"I always leave about a 5% tip in nice restaurants if I receive good service. Never more than 10E, however."

And then I further explained what a "nice" restaurant is:
"if my wife & I have a very enjoyable 180E birthday/anniversary dinner with kirs & 5 courses at a nice restaurant (Michelin 1 star) and take 3 hrs for the dinner, a 2E tip would be too much???? or is that 4E for two????

I would probably tip about 8-10E."

The US Government's guidlines ae consistent with what is written in the .09 Fodors guide to France.

Stu Dudley

I know this is pissing in the proverbial wind but here are a couple of my experiences with tipping in France vs. the U.S.

A couple of years ago in Lyon I was catching up with friends at a small bouchon. Time got the better of us (along with far too many carafes of wine) and we ended up being the last people in the restaurant by some margin. We'd also run out of cigarettes. All the tabacs were closed and with no way of getting any more, the waitress gave each one of us a cigarette and when we offered to pay for them she refused. When we came to settle the bill, she even refused the five euro tip as she said "it wasn't necessary". Even for service 'above and beyond' some people don't expect a tip. (I did drop off a packet of Lucky Strike at the restaurant for her the following day though).

In a busy bar just outside San Francisco a couple of weeks ago I bought two drinks with a $50 bill. Knowing how much the drinks should cost I was surprised when the barman gave me $8 change. After I managed to catch his attention again, he immediately (without exchanging any words) went to the till and got out the missing $30 from my change. Not wanting to look like a 'miserly Brit' I gave him a dollar tip (when in Rome etc.) and my companion immediately added another $2 to it as she "wanted to be able to show her face in here again".

Tipping customs are different in every country and whether you agree with them or not, you can't really tell other people how they should be spending their money just because it's not what you'd do.

bookmarking

you can tell people because the OP asked ;-)

"I get the tipping thing in the US and I'll be there in a few weeks and will follow the tipping guidelines, but please tell me I'm not expected to tip the person who shows me to my seat in when we go to the theatre?"

No tipping of the usher at the theater in the US. This is different from my experience in Paris, where tips are required in some theaters but not others, depending on whether they are private or state-run.

My only bad experience with tipping happened in Amsterdam many years ago. I took a Dutch lady friend to lunch at nice restaurant near Dam Square. We had a lovely meal and good service, as we chatted in English. When it came time to pay, my companion told me to only round up the amount on the check. I did so, leaving the change on the table. As we left the restaurant our waiter chased after us, catching us at the door, and huffily tried to give me back the tip, saying he was insulted at the amount.

I was stunned, and embarrassed into reaching for my wallet, but my friend lit into that waiter, in Dutch, like an enraged Valkyrie; steam coming from her ears. The waiter slunk away to the applause of the Dutch patrons.

I must admit I do tend to do a bit more than rounding up in touristic European restaurants, after that.

Kerouac, you ARE "incurable" (-;

As for French tipping, and how waiting on Americans in tourist areas affects expectations:

We ate at Angelina in Paris. THe bill was about 16 euros. I gave the server a note to settle the bill. She never returned with change. Her pouting expression when i found her and asked for "la monnaie" conveyed surprise that i would not have rounded up beaucoup d'euros!!

Kerouac,
Did you not have some sort of business link with a restaurant/cafe in Paris?