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26/03/2008, 9:25 Rose Joined on 06/02/2007 Dordogne (24) Posts 678 Do you tip? Dear all - this may be a daft questions but... This morning 4 very nice gentlemen arrived to start work on the house... I've made coffee and left them to it, but I'm not quite sure what the normal rules are in France... should I make tea/coffee?  Biscuits?  When they finish is it normal just to shake hands and say thank you?  I'm thinking I should just do what I would do in the UK but at the same time I don't want to cause offence or make a faux pas? your advice as always gratefully received    Report

26/03/2008, 9:37 cooperlola Joined on 05/05/2006 72 - Sarthe - home of les 24 heures du Mans Posts 6,376 Re: Do you tip? I don't know whether we did the right thing or not but when our builders were here we made coffee twice a day - mid-morning and mid afternoon (certainly not tea - offered at first but always turned down).  In hot weather, I left a load of bottled water for them too. On the final day, we brought out the beer when they'd finished.  They seemed very happy with that, and were always jolly and polite and worked incredibly hard. One thing I noticed - the coffee breaks lasted as long as it took them to drink it and no longer.  No leaning on shovels and chatting at all. Healthcare Issues Site    Report

26/03/2008, 9:40 Rose Joined on 06/02/2007 Dordogne (24) Posts 678 Re: Do you tip? Thank you coops... They certainly arrived bright and early and started work... I'll pop to the shops later and get some beer!  Thanks    Report

26/03/2008, 10:08 Rose Joined on 06/02/2007 Dordogne (24) Posts 678 Re: Do you tip? Sorry... next stupid questions... what would be a good 'brand' of beer for 4 jolly frenchmen? Don't drink it myself...    Report

26/03/2008, 10:30 Pierre ZFP Joined on 12/11/2004 PdC(62)/Luxembourg Posts 1,663 Re: Do you tip? I'm sure a box of stubbies would be appreciated.  Maybe best to get a 'brand' like Stella Atoris or 1666 Kronenburg rather than the supermarket 'no name' stuff which might be thought of as less than optimum quality if you get my meaning BTW, did you know that the Brasserie St Omer in, well, St Omer near Calais, not only makes their own beer (and OK it is too) but also sells exactly the same stuff as a lot of the supermarket in-house beer and even makes the Tesco's and Sainsbury's  'French' beer too.  Amazing innit?   Fool me once, shame on you Fool me twice, shame on me Fool me 3 times and you can see a statistical tendency    Report

26/03/2008, 10:33 Rose Joined on 06/02/2007 Dordogne (24) Posts 678 Re: Do you tip?  Pierre ZFP wrote: BTW, did you know that the Brasserie St Omer in, well, St Omer near Calais, not only makes their own beer (and OK it is too) but also sells exactly the same stuff as a lot of the supermarket in-house beer and even makes the Tesco's and Sainsbury's  'French' beer too.  Amazing innit? ummm no... I didn't know that Pierre!   But thanks for the tip about the beer!    Report

26/03/2008, 14:34 Gardian Joined on 15/02/2006 Gard Posts 1,279 Re: Do you tip? Do you tip? Occasionally.  So a couple of weeks ago, when we had some people in to cut down and lop some of our trees, I gave the guy who was here all the time (and who was the 'up the tree' man) €40 when they'd finished.  It was hard work over 3 days, and he was very pleasant and considerate. We'll need his help again, so anything that smoothes the way for next time, has to be money well spent.    Report

27/03/2008, 17:01 vergule Joined on 27/03/2008 Posts 1 Re: Do you tip?  Gardian wrote: Do you tip? Occasionally.  So a couple of weeks ago, when we had some people in to cut down and lop some of our trees, I gave the guy who was here all the time (and who was the 'up the tree' man) €40 when they'd finished.  It was hard work over 3 days, and he was very pleasant and considerate. We'll need his help again, so anything that smoothes the way for next time, has to be money well spent.       A bottle of pastis would have been sufficient and would have saved you 25€    Report

France Forum » French Culture » French Culture » Do you tip?

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