Gratuity à la Française

Picture this: You walk into a Parisian café, sit down and order a drink, maybe a croissant too. You enjoy your snack, chat with your friend, and when you're done, you get ready to pay for your meal. As you approach the counter to pay, the server hands you a credit card machine, prompting you to tap your card, but before you can pay, you're faced with a question. 

"Souhaitez-vous ajouter un pourboire ?" translating to, "would you like to add a tip?"

Historically, tipping is not an expected part of French restaurant culture. While a few extra euros are always appreciated by waiters, tipping is not required in French restaurants, as opposed to in the United States, where tipping is seen as a given.

So, what are the reasons for these differences? Well, it can mainly be boiled down to restaurant pricing models and the fact that in France, the cost of service is already written into the bill before you pay, meaning that service workers do not need to depend on tips to make a living. In the U.S. it's a different story since servers are often paid a base rate far below minimum wage and need additional tips to earn a livable salary.

America vs. Abroad

Zahaan is a master's student at AUP who has been working in the service industry for five years. With experience in eight different restaurants in both the U.S. and France, he has valuable insight into the differences between the American and French service industries, especially in regards to the rules and expectations surrounding tipping culture in both countries. 

When describing his time working in the United States, Zahaan said that his base salary was around two or three dollars an hour, meaning that in order to make a reliable income, he needed to depend on tips. "There would be nights when I would work on a Saturday, and I would leave with 700 dollars in my pocket, non-taxed" he explained, highlighting the large difference between hourly wages and additional income made from tips in America. 

"Here, [in France], it's a lot different because I get a base wage that is the majority of my salary," Zahaan commented. "I've had an interesting experience with tips. There are nights where I earn 20 to 30 euros, then there are others where I make 95 a night." 

Reya, an AUP student who works in the on-campus Amex Café as well as in another restaurant in the 15th arrondisement also described her experience with tipping as a server in Paris. "[At the Amex], we don't openly ask for tips, but we do keep a little tip jar that says 'tip a cig' or 'Team Jeremiah vs. Team Conrad,'" she explained. "We usually make like three euros in tips a day."

The difference between three euros and 700 dollars in tips per day is not small. While Americans are used to paying anywhere from 15-25% at the end of their meal service that same expectation is non-existent in France, unless perhaps, you are serving an American.

Tourists Beware

While tipping in France might not be expected among French people, when it comes to tourists, the same rules don't apply. 

That's where the "tourist tax" comes in, a well-known ploy to get non-French customers (usually Americans) to pay extra through tips or by upselling items on the menu.

"I'm nice to all my customers, but I will be especially nice to Americans," remarked Zahaan. "As a former server in the U.S., I know what the tipping culture is like, and I know they are willing to pay. Now, if I have an American client, before they pay, I will always ask them if they want to leave a tip. I would never ask an English, German, Korean, French, or Italian person that question, but I will always ask an American...Every single person has said yes."

Evidently, for servers in Paris, there is a clear distinction between their American and non-American clients that mostly stems from the different cultures surrounding tipping. If the restaurant-goer comes from a country where tipping is not the norm, they are off the hook, but if they come from one where it is, the anticipation for a tip is there.

At the other Parisian restaurant where Reya works, she also described a difference in tipping expectations when it comes to American clients. "I also waitress at a restaurant in the 15th and I don't get tipped there," she said, "unless it's a big American family or a bunch of Americans out to drinks, but even then, it's not like the 20% people give in the U.S." 

So, if Americans are used to tipping back in the States, should they also be expected to tip in France?

According to Zahaan, the answer is yes. "If a French person doesn't tip me, I will never take it personally, whereas if an American doesn't tip me, I take that personally because they are used to tipping."

When asked about whether or not having different expectations for American and non-American clients was problematic, Zahaan explained that, to him, there are two sides to it: one side where servers may take advantage of Americans because they don't know better, and another side where Americans take advantage of French people in the hospitality industry. 

"Why would you tip in the U.S. and not here?" he asked. "If that's part of your culture, why do you think you can come here and take advantage of that?"

A "Tourist Tax" for Non-Tourists

Although France and other European countries are known for having service fees included in their bills at restaurants, leading to minimum tip expectancy, there has been a recent increased prevalence of tipping culture in Parisian restaurants, regardless of whether or not the client is French or foreign.

From automated pop-ups on credit card machines or restaurant payment apps asking for an additional contribution of a couple of euros, to tip jars at cafés and bars, a new tipping culture seems to be on the rise in Paris. 

Although the expectation of the minimum amount for a tip in France is lower than in the United States, usually ranging from one to five euros, the rising expectation that there is one at all marks a shift in French society.

Can this be a result of increased globalization and American influence on French society? Or is it instead just a way for Parisian servers and restaurants to make some extra cash?

Regardless, the main takeaway that restaurant-goers should keep in mind is that all servers, French or American, are doing their best to please their clients, and make sure that they have a pleasant dining experience. No matter where you are from, showing your appreciation in the form of a tip, big or small, is always appreciated, and can even make a huge difference in your server's salary.