La Guerite

We went twice for lunch on our February trip, and neither time were we solicited for a tip. Dinner may be different.
 
For us only and always at On The Rocks- never at La Guerite. Using Open Table is a good suggestion as it worked perfectly for us and they gave us the table we requested.
 
actually, no. the words overlap somewhat, but are not synonymous. a pourboire is a tip, but a tip is not necessarily a pourboire.
 
I think you are splitting hairs - a pourboire is a tip...

http://dictionary.reverso.net/french-english/pourboire


I have lived in French-speaking places—France for 10 years and St Barth for 25—and I've never heard any different... maybe the origin of pourboire had a slightly different connotation but a tip by any other name is a pourboire...
not really. un POURBOIRE is usually a small, supplemental something given, traditionally, to a fairly limited set of trades. it is not obligatory. it is a TIP though. a TIP, the english word, can mean exactly the same thing. but, the 15-20% TIP we leave at a restaurant is NOT a POURBOIRE. it is, grosso modo, a payment for the service in toto. in france, the service is included in the price and un POURBOIRE, is something one might leave as a small extra. in my experience, most french do not leave a POURBOIRE at restaurants.

in your linked definition, the POURBOIRE given to the taxi driver is, i think, identical to the english TIP. the first example, un POURBOIRE to un garçon, is classic french little extra to the server in un café. but not the 15-20% TIP we would pay in a casual place for the entire service.
 
We made reservations for Bonito during the last night of the Bucket. We reserved on OpenTable and had to provide a credit card number. We were informed that we would be charged 120 euros/person if we did not arrive for our reservation. Bonito is the most difficult reservation this week.
 
not really. un POURBOIRE is usually a small, supplemental something given, traditionally, to a fairly limited set of trades. it is not obligatory. it is a TIP though. a TIP, the english word, can mean exactly the same thing. but, the 15-20% TIP we leave at a restaurant is NOT a POURBOIRE. it is, grosso modo, a payment for the service in toto. in france, the service is included in the price and un POURBOIRE, is something one might leave as a small extra. in my experience, most french do not leave a POURBOIRE at restaurants.

in your linked definition, the POURBOIRE given to the taxi driver is, i think, identical to the english TIP. the first example, un POURBOIRE to un garçon, is classic french little extra to the server in un café. but not the 15-20% TIP we would pay in a casual place for the entire service.

I am still awaiting my rendezvous with a server at one of the most expensive places to dine on the island to hear his report on tipping, pourboire etc. who said he would share with me his monthly wage, tips (if he was lucky to get them) and accommodation costs. Seems like things might be changing as the island becomes/has been more Americanized IMHO. My guess is that this is why we are hearing reports of tip surfing, less than stellar service as restos, change over in staff etc. Bottom line as I see it is these servers can't afford to live here. Anyone who is claiming they are "making a living wage" is delusional depending on what your concept is of living wage. I am hearing folks argue for the French pourboire tip experience but IMHO that ship has sailed. Call it what you want but in the last 12 years of living here for an extended period of time, I have seen servers, bartenders, resto owners leave this island because they can't afford to live here. Clinging to the French pourboire system of leaving something to the server who is not getting his/her proper cut of the gratuities coming in at the end of the night after the management takes their cut just simply seems lousy to me. This is NOT France and the cost to live here is enormously different (other than South of France) than mainland France. All of you 5 Euro tippers after a 100 Euro meal do proceed onward and consider what someone who is trying to make a living wage and living in housing that none of us would desire, go through. Cling to your ideas that someone working on an island which roughly costs 30% more than mainland France to reside (if not more) equates to what you would leave a server in France. That is why we are seeing an increase in restaurant staff that are not from France because the French don't wan't these jobs. Go ahead and let's start the argument that I am sure will ensue.
 
No argument here Kim. I'm with you. I agree that the reason for the increase in waitstaff asking for tips is the high cost of living as I said before. I don't care what it's called but I leave a tip.
 
No argument here ,...you got it right....and you live and work there so who would know better then you?....someone who spends a week or two there???...hardly .....and as you said, the Americanization continues and eventually they will all "unofficially" embrace the American tipping process just as they have embraced so many other American cultural items

and as I know you know, these are all many of the same issues we both see in our respective resort communities we live and work in during the summer ...hence all the Eastern Europeans replacing American kids at our summer jobs .....for the same reason they are replacing the young starry eyed French citizens who are leaving and heading to greener pastures

all comes with being in the mainstream
 
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