Tipping Surprise

 

Back from vacation and ready to get back to writing this blog.  As much as I enjoy this I must say it was very nice to get away for a couple of weeks and chill.  Although I did keep an eye out for things to write about upon my return.  We actually got back last Wednesday afternoon.  However after a 10 hour flight and 8 loads of laundry I was pretty much exhausted.  Add in jet lag and a ton of emails to go through and this post was best left for this week.

As I said I was always keeping an eye open for something to write about.  The first topic came almost immediately.  It was sudden and prevalent.  That topic was tipping.  Our first expenditure after landing in Paris was the taxi ride to the hotel.  I had researched this part of the trip and felt that after the long plane ride and our unfamiliarity with the city that a taxi would be our best option.  Bus and train were cheaper options but were a little more complicated and not to mention getting our luggage in and out of the trains.  Taxis in this part of Paris are highly regulated and there are set prices for service from the airport to certain areas of the city.  So we knew in advance what the ride was going to cost.  So, after getting our luggage and getting through customs we found the "official" taxi stand.  A Youtube video warned against taking rides from individuals in the terminal as they were "unregulated".  The Youtube video also told us to check to make sure the taxi accepted credit cards as payment before getting in the vehicle.  So once in the Taxi we were off on our vacation.  As usual, for a vacation it was raining LOL.

Our surprise was not immediately realized.  We got to the hotel and the taxi driver used his hand held device to punch in the amount and my wife tapped her card on it and the receipt printed out.  After this the driver did what all drivers do, he helped us with our bags and then left.  After checking in we walked around the corner to a little cafe to have lunch.  Again the payment process proceeded quickly; hand held device, tap the card, receipt print and we leave.  It finally dawned on me that in both of these encounters we were never prompted for a tip!  The service in both instances was excellent.  Even our dinner that night was sans tip (sans French for "without").  This trip was to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary so dinner was at a Michelin star restaurant.  Once again no prompting for a tip.  There was no screen asking for a 10 to 25 percent tip (or other).

Before going any deeper with this a brief note on how I view tipping here in the United States.  When I tip I have become a much more generous tipper.  This is for several reasons.  Other than rewarding good service the main reason is to express the gratitude I feel for how life has treated me.  A second reason is to be kind to the staff that provide for me and my party.  I do not donate much to charities so tipping is a way to "give back".  A third reason is that now that I am retired we do not go out near as often as we had in the past.  I have time to prepare meals although after 2 weeks of French, Spanish and Italian cuisine I am defiantly going to have to up my game in that department.  Since we dine out less I really like to enjoy the meal out and a generous tip helps in that regard.

One thing I do not like is being asked for a tip before receiving any service. This usually happens at restaurants where one orders and pays at a counter.  When you pay you are usually prompted for a tip.  This always struck me as strange.  I have not been served my meal,  I have yet to taste the food and you are already asking for a tip?  At these places I tip minimally but I have returned to the counter after finishing the meal and left an additional tip due to extra service.  One example was a hamburger joint in Houston.  After ordering at the counter and getting our meal service staff came by to make sure we were enjoying our meal, they brought extra napkins for our Granddaughter. They even brought a bowl of water for our dog (is was an outdoor eatery).  After the meal I returned to the counter and verbally thanked the staff for their service and put an extra 5 dollar bill in the tip jar.

So for the reasons listed above I view tipping as an important part of the dining experience.  This may sound a little ridiculous but without tipping I felt something was missing.  I did a fair bit of research before our trip.  Mostly logistical things; how to get from the airport to our hotel, how far to the Eiffel tower, best time to visit the Louvre , etc..  I found some really neat things by doing this investigating.  The Batobus was an excellent way to get around Paris.  It was a water taxi that had a number of stops on the Seine.  For one daily price you got unlimited hop on and off stops.  It was a great way to get around.  So for all the things I learned prior to our trip I never once thought of looking up tipping.

So I googled "tipping in France" when I got home and this is what came up:

In France, tipping isn't typically expected in restaurants, taxis, and hotels, as the country's hospitality sector includes service charges in its pricing. Unlike in other countries, servers receive a decent monthly wage, paid holidays, and additional benefits. Jun 20, 2023

We did find out from a couple of fellow Americans staying at the same hotel as us that if you wanted to tip you had to tell the waiter before he brought the hand held device to your table.  That way he could add the tip amount into the device before you tapped your card.  The more I experienced this the more intrigued I became.  The staff at all the places we ate were professional.  The thing that separated them from most North American staff was their level of engagement.  I am sure that some of this was due to our obvious air as tourists.  However this level of engagement extended to local patrons as well.  About the best way to describe how I felt was that the staff in these European eateries were more like hosts and hostesses than servers.  They were there to help share the experience and not just there to fill our water glasses.

Why be so professional and engaging when you do not need to be?  As I the google search revealed hospitality workers are well paid and thus have very little incentive to serve customers well.  That will be the topic of my next post.

I have to say that dinning out was by far the most enjoyable day to day experience of our trip.  The sights were breath taking.  However nothing was more enjoyable than stepping out of our hotel walking a couple of blocks to a random street to a cafe, sitting down and enjoying a meal.  That entire experience is a charm that I have rarely encountered here in North America.