Traveling in Paris

I'm currently traveling in Paris, France with my family. The service we have had at restaurants is decent maybe 50% of the time. Nothing has been outstanding. Last evening we had a server pressure me for a tip for dinner. I declined. Then we had some drinks and dessert at a different café and the server paid more attention to a customers dog than us. I've read that by law service at restaurants is include in the prices listed.

So, for those who live in Paris, or know, do you tip when the restaurant service is average or worse?

Grumpyprogfan wrote: I've read that by law service at restaurants is include in the prices listed. So, for those who live in Paris, or know, do you tip when the restaurant service is average or worse?

I don't know about France, but in Belgium, the prices are jacked up 15% to include the service. Nevertheless, despite that, a lot of people/clients still leave loose change on the table.

Paris is world-famous for its snooty/snotty waiters, which is some sort of institution. I understand that they get together fter service and compare clienteles and make fun of them.


But then again, Rome and a few other capitals, have been known recently to have paying service for the dog's waterbowl and other things (bread on table, water carafes and such), when it's totally illegal.



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Sean Trane wrote: Grumpyprogfan wrote: I've read that by law service at restaurants is include in the prices listed. So, for those who live in Paris, or know, do you tip when the restaurant service is average or worse? Paris is world-famous for its snooty/snotty waiters, which is some sort of institution. I understand that they get together fter service and compare clienteles and make fun of them. .

I haven't been to France for a few years but that's very much my experience of French waiters. Maybe it's because we were English but they certainly looked down on my friends and I when we visited Paris. Even when we asked for items in (what we thought was) reasonable French, they just pretended not to understand us.

chopper wrote: I haven't been to France for a few years but that's very much my experience of French waiters. Maybe it's because we were English but they certainly looked down on my friends and I when we visited Paris. Even when we asked for items in (what we thought was) reasonable French, they just pretended not to understand us.

Like Pedro says (above and below), if you find yourselves in less touristic trap areas, things get much better.

Last time I was in Paris was February last year for the Soleil Zeuhl festival in Belleville (that's close to the Père Lachaise cemetary) and the customer service to all walks of life is relatively the same as everywhere (which means normal or even friendly)

moshkito wrote: Hi, My sister, an artist that lives in Paris and has done a lot of shows all over Europe, is non-committal about this ... she says that the places where the tourists spent more time is where the abuse is mostly seen, and she thinks that it is because many of them are very good at taking advantage of the tourists. Which, of course, is bad for business she says, and those places lose customers, but there are always more tourists in the next hour! And Americans that love to show their money!

This coupled with the over-tourism of the last two decades. Some cities or areas are sooooo invaded by unruly tourists, who think everything is due to them, because they spend as little money as possible (or flaunt theirs) is increasingly annoying to the locals. You couple that with those R B&B appartments that are not available to locals anymore and make the demands grow, but not the offer (dwindling because of those B&B places)


Some places (like New Zealand) are actually trying to limit the influx tourists and +/- selecting the wealthy ones (who are not trying to live on 1$/day) and refuse the drinkers/partier ones (who generally create havoc).

I would hate to live in Dubrovnic , where everyday four or five cruiseships are unleashing flocks of wild animals through the streets and those ships are polluting the air (the tourist factory still goes on while they've sent their sheeps to pastures). Apparently one "idle" cruise ship pollutes like the city of Brussels or A'dam, while not on sea. And when you've four/day....



Let's face it, mass-tourism has become a real source of pollution for this planet, and generally, it's less & less the locals benefitting from its revenues, but multinational conglomerates.




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