The great Paris rip-off exposed by a fake American tourist

The original story was in yesterdays le Parisien. The article was written by a French blogger, posing as an American tourist, no actual Americans were specifically involved. However, the point is well taken, that not following the cultural norms of French society, Americans expose themselves to exploitation, both in restaurants and in transportation (taxis) .

Tipping by the French is a modest proposition, a euro here, change from a euro there, or more commonly nothing at all. Service workers in the US, (other than those in states such as California), make a minimum wage of $2.15 per hour and should definitely be tipped for what they do. That is not the case in France, or almost anywhere else, where base workers, no matter their field, are paid relatively equally, receiving 5 weeks paid annual vacation, health care, and retirement.

In France, I rarely, if ever tip; which is the expectation.

Even more entertaining were the reader comments at the end of the article. Based on those, and the constant complaining on Le Frenchies Facebook page regarding waiters, cab drivers and subway security ( handing out fines right and left) I wonder why anyone bothers going to Paris.

I've only spent 2 half days in Paris and feel no need to go back, but I was never treated poorly or felt I was ripped off. But I'm also not rushing to go back. The rest of France is a different story though, I've loved everywhere I've been. I feel bad for citizens of the rest of of France who get lumped into the perception that the entire country is rude and out to get you.

I have to admit I love Paris, and find service staff polite. Not sure that I'd know whether I'd been ripped off or not, but never been charged for water - bu I do specifically ask for a carafe rather than a bottle. And being an Australian they probably know I'm not going to tip:)

However, the point is well taken, that not following the cultural
norms of French society, Americans expose themselves to exploitation,
both in restaurants and in transportation (taxis)

Translation: In France the waiters will over sell to you if they think that you do not know the local standards for service. But lets not blame the waiters. They dont get the extra money, the owner does. So who do you think established the policy of targeting tourists? The waiters or the owners?

Revised Translation: In France the waiters will help the restaurant owners to over sell to you if they think that you do not know the local standards for service.

In literally years of eating out where I live in Europe, this sort of thing has happened to me twice. Both times I caught it. Once at a hotel restaurant (and it went way beyond anything discussed above) ... the hotel that I now never recommend to anyone for any reason. Once at a fairly popular mostly local restaurant on the river front. I found the owner and we "discussed" it. The waiter was never seen again and I am happy to recommend the place.

I've only spent 2 half days in Paris and feel no need to go back

Likewise. I really didn't enjoy Paris and have never had any desire to return even when staying at a resort in the Île-de-France region where central Paris was only a 30 minute train journey away I wasn't tempted however I have enjoyed every other place in France that I have visited and found everywhere to be in complete contrast to Paris.

The waitstaff at a new restaurant around the corner from our home in Brooklyn tried that a few months ago. Added a 25% service charge, we were 5 people, and tried to tell us it wasn’t a tip.
It was discussed, taken off, and of course we will never go there again. Too bad cause their food was really good.
Anyway, my point is, it happens everywhere, everyday, to many people. Locals too. When traveling to a new place, read up on customs (asking for a carafe of free water) and pay attention to your bill. For my husband, most of the time he expects to get cheated, and is always checking.

PS, we loved Paris but we are totally city people.

As someone who has gone to Paris at least once a year for years... sorry this article is just what happens to any tourist at tourist rip off joints. If you pick your dining based on "tik tok" and "instagram" and get ripped off...

I have not paid for water. I have not been pressured at all for tips and in 90% of the places I eat when they serve the wine, they bring the bottle to the table to serve it.

And being an Australian they probably know I'm not going to tip:)

On our recent trip we befriended two Australian couples and I asked about tipping in Australia. Both couples expressed frustration that tipping is starting to penetrate the norms down under. Both say they're still resisting though. We were on a river cruise owned by an Australian company where tips "were included". I asked the couples after we watched several Americans tipping our cruise supplied tour guide in Strasbourg. One couple tipped €20 for the 1 .5 hour tour.

Small change overall. It is disconcerting that waiters are like this for such small change. It is a form of groveling.

Thanks for the article JC. I, also, love Paris although I am totally not a big city gal. I haven't been taken in a Paris cafe in so long I don't remember it. I'm sure I was but it was probably back when I first visited in the 70's. I don't speak French although I can do the polite phrases and ask for "une carafe d'eau, SVP". There are times that I want a bottle of sparkling water so order that over tap water.

I, too, wonder about all the people on Les Frenchies FB site that have gotten taken. The number that have gotten fined on the Metro is amazing and I'm not sure what they are doing wrong. I've gotten "controlled" a number of times on various visits but always had some kind of physical Navigo card that I knew had rides left on it. I have not visited since the new fare system went into effect.

Interestingly I recently was in Scotland for 4 weeks. In Edinburgh when I first got there in June, in the 3 nice restaurants I ate at ALL servers said, when they presented the bill, there is a 10% service charge added but you don't have to pay it if you don't want to. I was surprised and for the 1st one asked if they got part of the service charge and he said yes. I was back in Edinburgh this last Friday and Saturday and the volume of visitors had markedly increased. Neither place I ate at that time mentioned the service charge which I thought was interesting.

I also spent a couple of weeks on Orkney and Shetland. I only remember one restaurant having service included but I was looking for it so was not surprised.

Hmmm. Could this be a reason to avoid looking like an American tourist? Or at least making it harder for someone to guess.

Could this be a reason to avoid looking like an American tourist? Or
at least making it harder for someone to guess.

Good luck with that. And if you have go to that length to enjoy yourself, why not just go somewhere that will welcome you as you are?

I scratch my head at some of these examples. I speak passable French, use it sparingly when necessary, but I make it really clear to the waiter that I want tap water, "un pichet d'eau", etc. I chuckled at the person in the article who was bent out of shape because she says she asked for still water but got a bottle. Well, you are effectively asking for a bottled water when you say "still"...of course tap water is still, but that is not how you ask for it in a restaurant.

From reports it seems to have gotten pretty flagrant in Paris for Americans. This is good that they have done this reporting.

It happened to us once a long time ago but in Murren, Switzerland, and once in Sorrento, both times in Rick Steves recommended restaurants. And we were speaking French. We told those waiters to get lost.

There's a waiter in Murren who I saw doing this to Americans two years in a row, 2023 and 2024, asking for a 10% tip, and a waitress in Wengen who I saw targeting the visiting Americans in 2024. Several Americans protested the padded charges on their bills. Not happy customers.

We were leaving the next day, but I thought about telling WengenK to warn the owner because this seasonal worker was ruining her restaurant's reputation. They are both from Spain because we talked to them.

Not to derail this conversation from being about France, but to respond to the comment above about 10% charges in Edinburgh- that is pretty much standard in many UK restaurants now. 10% or 12.5% is added to your bill as the service charge automatically (and this is intended to go to staff), but you can request to have this removed. I personally like this system because we would normally tip 10% anyway so this makes it easier and you don't have to think about it. In general we tip 10% everywhere in Europe, perhaps that is above what is considered standard in some countries but it's not a huge amount and we are happy to do it. What am I hoping we don't import from the US is tipping for literally every single transaction (e.g. ordering something at a counter). But I can't imagine leaving a restaurant without leaving a tip.

"that is pretty much standard in many UK restaurants now"

In my experience it only happens in the more tourist heavy places. In most of Britain it simply isn't a thing.

Tipping customs are confusing and potentially changing in my observations - too many Americans who, as suggested above by Cat, throw down money right and left leading to new expectations???

I've not been "taken" that I'm aware of in Paris or France, but did use my German to insist that I be given my change from a restaurant bill paid in cash. The change would have represented a "tip" of about 30%. Female server looked surprised as Hubby and I had been seeking English to each other, but returned with my money. Interestingly, this was in Schwerin (a location I otherwise recommend), former Eastern bloc. I have never had any issues in former West Germany.

I asked that a service charge be removed on a recent stop in Durham, England. Service was simply non-existent. I paid at the bar in an effort to leave quickly. Bar tender looked surprised at my request but complied without comment.

12% service added to a restaurant bill is standard across the UK now. The exceptions are some cheaper places, or places that are popular because they’re lower priced eg neighbourhood pizzerias, and chain restaurants like Pizza Express, Nandos, Wagamama etc. They have a very price sensitive customer base and don’t include service.

Any restaurant charging a decent amount per head includes service now, and even plenty that don’t. It’s incredibly rare for me to eat anywhere that doesn’t include the service charge.

Looking at my receipts from our recent trip, which included a week in Paris, some meals showed that the bill included a 10% service charge, others did not. Interestingly one restaurant showed 10% on the food and 20% on the alcohol; and I had a non-alcoholic granita on the first floor of the Eiffel Tower (90 F day--climbing the stairs) and was charged 10% on the drink and 20% on the "souvenir cup". Recycled said cup and was refunded my 2 Euro.

All wait staff in Paris were polite and no one asked us for a tip--neither did we leave one. Salzburg was the only place where we had a waitress show us a "tip screen" with one thumbs up being a 5% tip all the way up to five thumbs up being a 22% tip! We declined. Went back to the same restaurant the next day (what can I say, they made a fantastic apricot strudel), and the waiter didn't show us a tip screen nor try in any way to get us to leave a tip. So perhaps she was just an "enterprising" individual.

Let's be honest here, this is not at all a uniquely French thing. For as long as there have been tourists, and everywhere there have been tourists, people have tried to take advantage of tourists. Why not? They don't live there, they don't vote, they don't pay taxes, they're carrying money, if they complain no one will especially care. I guarantee you this happens to European and Asian tourists in America as well. Just watch some vlogs about all the tourist scams and pickpocketing varieties that are targeted towards us poor tourists in Paris; one vlogger listed about 7 kinds of pickpocketing methods she was aware of.

When I go to certain restaurants here in LA there is a HUGE note in the bill holder that tips are NOT included and "suggests" that 20% is the appropriate amount in America, because people who aren't used to tipping don't tip.

too many Americans who, as suggested above by Cat, throw down money
right and left leading to new expectations???

Every American tourists? Let's say a fourth of them. Does that sound fair? So the tipping culture of Europe is being changed by 2.5% of the tourists? Not saying it's impossible. Just saying.

Honestly, when I see a charge on my bill that I don't know about, I ask them. Even in Paris, they explained it to us and if we didn't want to pay it we had them take it off the bill.

As far as tipping, I don't get the anger. If Americans want to tip waiters, let them tip. My dad's a tipper, if he likes the service and they are nice to him, he tips. If you don't want to tip, don't. People blaming Americans for all their ills are as crazy as Americans who blame locals for a bad vacation.

Personally, all our French waiters were fine.

As far as tipping, I don't get the anger. If Americans want to tip waiters, let them tip. My dad's a tipper, if he likes the service and they are nice to him, he tips. If you don't want to tip, don't. People blaming Americans for all their ills are as crazy as Americans who blame locals for a bad vacation.

I agree with Heather.

And like her dad, I am a tipper. Tip, don't tip, do your own thing...but don't blame me for the rise in service charges and tips in places where that once did not happen.

We were asked to tip/told service wasn't included once during our visit to Paris in 2024. We had eaten at a bistro on the Bd Beaumarchais in the Bastille during an even earlier trip in 2023, a very late dinner and nothing else nearby looked as appealing. We sat next to an old French couple, probably married forever, and we liked what they were eating so asked them what it was. They were great, the waiter was friendly, the food was good though not fancy. So in 2024 we purposely revisited. Different waiter, food not nearly as satisfying, and to our chagrin the waiter asked how much we wanted to tip.
I believe most of the waiters/establishments that bully their customers for tips expect never to see them again. Not the case with us. We like to stay in the Bastille, and might have gone back to this bistro again. We did get bullied into leaving a tip, but right afterward said to each other that we'd be crossing this place off the list forever.
In four trips to Paris since then it's never happened again.

This has gotten enough off-track that someone talked about Salzburg. In Austria and Germany the expected tip is 10%. The waitstaff was not cheating the customer.
But by not knowing the norms in each country, the customer could end up cheating the waitstaff.

Elizabeth; and it would be fairly impossible for every tourist to learn all the customs of every country they visit. Maybe even a little insulting to a country to think someone could by reading the internet. So, what happens? Well a tourist spends maybe on average $3 a day more than a local "might". Against the $15.000 holiday cost, its just part of the cost of the fun, the education and the entertainment. Go ahead let it ruin your day, blame someone else or something you probalby understand too little about to blame anyone for; or smile and keep on enjoying the holiday.

Helen may well be used to paying a 12% service charge where she lives (and be able to afford it) but to extrapolate that across the country is not correct.
If I see somewhere wanting to charge x % service charge it doesn't matter how good they are the restaurant is they have lost my trade.
But there are lots of local dynamics you can't possibly be aware of, as well.

In the Central Lake District high pricing and service charges probably are fairly normal, because the tourists will pay.
But they definitely aren't normal on the fairly untouristed coastal fringe.
What you aren't aware of is the relative poverty on the coast, where many of the locals literally can't afford to pay such prices to eat out, or to eat out at all.

That twee holiday cottage or Air B n B you've rented in the Central Lake District was once someones home. Then some out of towner outbid the locals to have it as a holiday home- now rented out for most of the year.
So the locals have either been priced out or pay a huge % of their income in housing costs.
Yet there is a huge service economy needing staff. The result is that hotels and such have to provide live in accommodation (a hidden cost) and people are travelling long distances round the county to work on minimum wage, as an alternative.
Many of those staff are being bussed around up to 90 minutes each way daily (another hidden cost to the employer) not because they want to, but they literally can't afford to run a car to get to work in a more time efficient manner.

Doubtless much the same could be said in many other local locations across Europe.
Just have a bit more thought next time you want to shout "scam". The story is often way more complex than you can ever possibly know.

And there is this false expectation that if there were no tips and no service charges the 10 euro meal would still cost 10 euro. No it would cost the equivelent of 10 euro plus the service charge and the tip. In my country it would cost a bit more than that because service charges have a lower VAT that the meal does. Replace a 10% service charge with an increase in base cost and I suspect the net will be the meal costing 12 or 13% more because of the VAT issue.

Eliminate untaxed cash tips and the employees will demand a larger pay check. The paycheck is taxed at over 40% so if the employee general gets 10 euro a day in tips, to replace those with a pay check will cost 14 euro and that cost will go into your food cost.

The service charge and cash tips (where it is culturally appropriate) do keep restaurant prices down a bit. Everyone here understands that someone of lower income wont be leaving a tip, so in effect he is getting a discounted meal because of his financial status, while those who can afford pay the difference.

Or not.

all that is irrelevant in France where tipping is not the norm and waiters have health care and a reasonable wage.

I can guarantee that our local friends are not being presented with the tipping screen when they pay in restaurants; I have had it rarely happen in Paris but more often now than even 4 or 5 years ago. We tend to stay on the fringes and not in heavily touristy areas and so I can imagine that if you are in the heart of the Marais or Latin Quarter you will encounter it more often.

The water example in that post is ridiculous. If you ask for 'still water' you are not asking for tap water, you are asking for bottled water. I have been dining in Paris in local cafes to high end restaurants for decades and have never once had an issue with ordering a carafe d'eau -- most places have them already chilled. And while we usually get bubbly water when dining in a restaurant (rather than a cafe) I have noticed that even in pricier places it is common to see carafes of water on the table. The waiter may be trying to sell the rube bottled water, but if the rube responds 'un carafe d'eau or something aproximating that, they will get the free water.

janettravels44, sorry. I didn't realize there were no service charges in France.

But if the rube responds 'un carafe d'eau or something aproximating
that, they will get the free water.

Off subject. I know, but in Budapest, you would ask for tap water as wait staff in Budapest generally, almost always, speaks English. I noticed about the same in Sarajevo and Vienna too.

Both tips good to know. Thanks. I live and learn.

I have been going to Paris every summer for 3 months for the past 20 years. If you have a bad experience as posted here. You did not do your home work. Before visiting another country with a different language and culture always study the verbal pleasantries and customs of the country. The only time I had any issues it was my ignorance to the culture or the language.

When I travel, I generally do not eat out in fancy places, so probably not a big concern for me. But I do have to say, I understand tourists needing to do their homework, but still, can't say I have any respect for those who take advantage of the ignorance of others. That's just scummy.

I did specify in my post that restaurants with a price sensitive customer base don’t tend to include a service charge. If most of your customers are earning minimum wage they’re not going to be inclined to bump up the pay of wait staff who are earning the same as them. That obviously has a geographic element because some parts of the country are far poorer than other parts.

The subject of tipping in the UK always divides the forum. Some posters are totally against it whereas others, like me, always tip around 10% in a restaurant.

The only reason I brought up Salzburg was because that was the only place in 6 different countries where we were "asked" for a tip. And it wasn't so much the ask as the way it was presented--associating a 10% tip with a 2 out of 5 rating. We turned down the tip screen, but did leave money on the table since she told us she couldn't change the total after the tip screen. We did round up in Austria and Germany, resulting in the 5-10% tips mentioned in the RS Vienna Salzburg & Tirol book. Also rounded in up Italy, Switzerland, and Chamonix for that matter since we were so used to doing it by then.