TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Dreams today .. tipping question

Plus, we also learned that the many of the French side restaurants themselves don't want to run a tip transaction after the initial transaction as they have to pay another fee........that sealed the deal for me that they were not expecting us to add one on the card. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/dine.gif" alt="" />

Ask the waiter to add whatever extra amount that you want to tip at the time that you give him your card.

I think most people consider service and tip the same---That is why when they add 15% service on the Dutch side, people either don't tip or leave a small amount for good service.
<img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Crazy.gif" alt="" /> It seems it's almost the same on the French side, since no one seems to tip much, being that service is in the price. Enough said.... <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/jester.gif" alt="" />

Loved Francoise and Mic Mac. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/dine.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Woof.gif" alt="" />

<img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Woof.gif" alt="" />

There are times when I may not have small bills or euros. It happens

just Watching Alfred Hitchcock's "To Catch a Thief" with Cary Grant and Grace Kelly on Netflix and not to far into the film the subject of 'Service Compris' comes up when paying the check in Cannes, France. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/dine.gif" alt="" />

Good flick with great scenery of Cannes.

Now that was a leading man!

Just an update . Bruno did not reply to my email requesting an explanation.
We considered Dreams again Thursday night but in light of no reply and higher expectations of the entertainment we looked and moved on.
We had lunch at Layla's one day and found the food to be a bit better and somewhat more of a value.

my wife suggested Dreams today but in light of the unanswered
questions and failure of Bruno or an agent to clarify the tipping issue we went elsewhere.

There are no unanswered questions. Wait staff in France (including St Martin) are paid a wage, unlike wait staff in US who may, depending on where they are located, be getting only a little more than $2 per hour. In US, restaurant wait staff almost always are specifically called tipped employees. To be "fair" to US wait staff, you need to leave a tip in the range of 15%.

In France, wait staff are happy to get tips (of course!) but it is NOT necessary to tip them to be "fair" to them as it is with tipped employees in US.

Do you really expect an owner or manager of a restaurant to post on a public site (or respond to an email from someone whose motive they do not necessarily understand) and say "hey, you do not need to tip my wait staff." That would go over really well. Tipping or not tipping is your choice!

You decide if you want to tip or not. You can leave nothing, a few coins, a few bucks, or a hundred dollar bill. Do whatever you want. It is purely your choice. Any rationale you have to tip a certain amount is simply your rationale and your choice.

Any waitress at any restaurant in France who "demanded" a 15% tip from me would get nothing from me except a comment to the owner or manager if I knew them personally. Hard to totally blame the waitress, however, if such "demands" work more often than not.

What more clarity can there be?

The OP is is well in their right to ask for clarification from the owner in light of what the wait person said to them demanding a tip and deserves a response from the owner.
You even said so in your statement.
"Any waitress at any restaurant in France who "demanded" a 15% tip from me would get nothing from me except a comment to the owner or manager if I knew them personally."

I think snorkeler answered this question as well as could be answered. This one is done.