How much should I tip?

[Megan le Fey]

I have always worried about how much to tip in each of the several countries where we have lived, which means I have worried about it here in France.  Just now, I found this article http://uk.travel.yahoo.com/p-promo-3311756

which seems to explain it quite well.  I guess I will probably continue to go with 10 - 15 percent where it seems appropriate tho'/

[Quillan]

I gave up giving tips as I started making French friends and realised they don't tip.

[Judith]

I hate tipping - prices should reflect the true cost - so you can tell what you are paying.  That's one of the very good things I like about eating out in France. 

[Cendrillon]

Quillan wrote the following post at 28/04/2010 15:20:

I gave up giving tips as I started making French friends and realised

they don't tip.

Ditto

[Alan Zoff]

The problem - whether here or abroad - is knowing whether the staff rely on tips to get a decent income. My daughters always said that working at local restaurants as students in the UK would not have been worth the hassle had it not been for the tips. It's fine to say that the system needs changing and that tipping only encourages continued payment of poor wages but that's not much comfort to the poor waiter or waitress in the short term.

I have no problem in the small family run establishments I use mainly in France as they do not expect a tip - although I always adopt the rounding up policy.   I have more difficulty in town restaurants where I feel obliged to tip staff. 

[Iceni]

I heve never felt the need to pay a bonus to people for doing the jobs they are paid to do.

John

[nomoss]

I've never left a tip since a waiter in Australia followed me to the door and gave one back to me, saying I probably needed it more than he did.

Edit: I'm still not sure who felt the more insulted.

 

[maude]

Like wise,I was followed to the door by a Sri lankan table cleaner/waiter at a local outdoor feeding station in Singapore after leaving a small change on the table after using the pay loo.there was absolutely no offence/drama/or embarrassment to either party except a big wholehearted smile from the waiter.Very good soul treatment!!! Maude

[LEO]

[quote user="Megan le Fey"]I have always worried about how much to tip in each of the several countries where we have lived, which means I have worried about it here in France.  Just now, I found this article http://uk.travel.yahoo.com/p-promo-3311756

which seems to explain it quite well.  I guess I will probably continue to go with 10 - 15 percent where it seems appropriate tho'/

[/quote]

In most cases in France I cannot justify giving the waiter / waitress a tip!

[Clarkkent]

I remember, several years ago, visiting the Gouffre de Padirac. There were large signs of the wall saying that the boatmen were well paid and should not be tipped. The boatmen themselves seemed to think otherwise and positioned themselves so that departing passengers could not avoid their outstretched palms.

Tipping in an archaic practice for which there should be no place in the modern world. Employees should be paid an adequate wage and should not expect additional payments for merely doing their job. Some posters are mentioning countries where tipping is not customary, I'd like to add Japan to this list.

Tipping encourages employers to pay low wages. Tipping is patronising. Tipping is selective (think of all the occupations where it is not an option). Tipping encourages employees to be selective in the quality of service they offer customers - customers who they think will be generous.

[Judith]

[quote user="Clarkkent"]

Tipping in an archaic practice for which there should be no place in the modern world. Employees should be paid an adequate wage and should not expect additional payments for merely doing their job.

Tipping encourages employers to pay low wages. Tipping is patronising. Tipping is selective (think of all the occupations where it is not an option). Tipping encourages employees to be selective in the quality of service they offer customers - customers who they think will be generous.

[/quote]

 I couldn't agree more!!

[Gardengirl]

We only go to places locallin France where service is good anyway, but we do generally just round up  to the nearest eurowhen leaving payment as we leave. A few places have a pot on the counter in case anyone wants to leave a tip, and many do. Levels of service don't change depending on who is being served and who might leave a tip; it's friendly, not always prompt, as they are very busy etc. Although if we're just having a coffee, it often just arrives without an order being taken.

I find the tipping thing much more difficult in UK; most places where we eat pay decent wages, although we do leave a tip after good service, which it generally is; we don't return if service is poor.

I enjoyed reading about being followed to return tips; we were once chased after a terrible meal and poor service at an airport in USA; the waiter was shouting and demanding a tip. He didn't get one; if service had been at all reasonable we would have left a little, as I understand they depend on tips. Shouting at us definitely didn't work! It concerns me that American tourists in France and UK often leave 15 - 20% tips.

[baypond]

I always tip when the service has been good or deserved. Why not? It makes me feel good and I'm sure it is well recieved by the recipient. I think not giving anything at all is just mean most of the time if service is non compris

[Cendrillon]

"I think not giving anything at all is just mean most of the time if

service is non compris"

BUT Baypond the point is that most of the time in France service is included.

[Benjamin]

[quote user="baypond"]Why not? It makes me feel good

[/quote]

Says it all for me.

I notice all the workers queing up to offer their tips as they leave for the afternoon's work.[:$]

[Gardengirl]

It's interesting seeing waiters from our local cafes and restaurants when they're out in the evenings at other cafes and restaurants - often looking directly across the square at their places of work. I've noticed they round up what they leave. [:)]

[Alan Zoff]

I showed this thread to my daughter. She says she is glad the meanies have left the UK.

[Claude]

My friends, both French and English, soon dissuaded me from leaving tips, thank goodness. Now I don't have to feel embarrassed about leaving too little or emotionally blackmailed into leaving too much.

I have hated tipping ever since I arrived at the airport at New York and a big guy picked up my luggage and carried it a few feet into the hotel. He really did demand with menaces. And there was a taxidriver in Hong Kong who chased us down the street in the pouring rain when we refused to tip as we knew he had taken us the long way round.

[Cendrillon]

Gardengirl wrote

"It concerns me that American tourists in France and UK often leave 15 -

20% tips."

I agree, and surely this will add to the myth that the Americans and British are loaded and can afford such tips!

Alan Zoff wrote the following post at 03/05/2010 19:39:

"I showed this thread to my daughter. She says she is glad the meanies

have left the UK."

Is it not a case of "when in Rome" etc.  The service is mostly included on the bill in France and tips are generally not given by the French in their own country. We should follow local customs. It's O.K. to round up to nearest euro but not to give the hefty tips that some feel they should leave.