Tip Solicitation List

it wins. You got me.

theres no "getting".....it's just different viewpoints from different points of reference ...

I always loved when I lived in St Croix and would tell them they drank from the American Kool Aid pitcher, how defensive they would get and assault me verbally telling me emphatically how wrong I was, while they were sitting there in their Levi shorts, an NFL T shirt and while eating a bacon cheeseburger, Doritos, and washed down with a nice cold Bud :cool:


yeah...right..got it...carry on
 
I did the math. If I dine out every night for 3 weeks and leave a $20 tip (which isn't even 15% at times) it comes out, on average, to .016 of my overall expenses per trip. When I consider the challenges that the working class face on a daily basis in "paradise", it's literally the least I can do.

I very good point Ricky. I am looking forward to spending some time chatting with a server I know at a beachfront high end property on the island who said he would share with me the break down on the tipping scene as witnessed by a server at such establishment. When I have the intel I will report wages, tips, cost of housing deducted from wages, break down of how gratuities are spread out amongst the staff etc. I will report back when I have the complete scoop. Interesting is the fact that he is NOT French but from a Eastern European country which is becoming a little more normal to see in the restaurants to some degree. Stand by and I will report my findings.
 
Kim....that's interesting that you have Eastern Europeans working there ...they make up about 40% of our summer help in PTown.....been that way for about ten years now ...and a lot of them go out to Colorado ski country when the Cape season ends
 
Kim....that's interesting that you have Eastern Europeans working there ...they make up about 40% of our summer help in PTown.....been that way for about ten years now ...and a lot of them go out to Colorado ski country when the Cape season ends

I would prefer to comment later when I have all the facts but........I have been hearing that there are more workers here this season that are not from France due the the fact the the usual St. Tropez to SBH crew are tired of the housing situation and the low wages and tips. This is not my personal assessment but that of someone who actually does the job. Initial intel is that many people are not leaving tips and those that are left go to management (that don't wait on the table) and then they get trickled down after the house and management takes their cut. Please refrain from posting bothersome ill-informed insights to what was reported to me by someone who actually lives and WORKS here for 6 months, until I get the full story. The fact that other people are being brought here that are not French to fill positions is telling. Mike, we too have loads of Eastern Europeans on Nantucket in the summer fulfilling the jobs that Americans don't want I guess. Things on both islands have changed. I remember when I moved to Nantucket in 88' that a waiter position was a "professional job" and was filled by American professional wait staff who would bring in (depending where they worked) $300-400 bucks a night in tips. Housing became more expensive on Nantucket like SBH and we started to lose the "professional" wait staff. Now, you could go to almost any fine dinning establishment on Nantucket and you are going to be served by someone from another country who is working 3 jobs and sharing a room with 3 other people paying $ 250 a week each per person to have no kitchen privileges and also have a share of 8 people to one bathroom. The same thing is happening here but I suspect I will hear flack for posting the facts that are given to me via resto workers we know.
 
"The same thing is happening here but I suspect I will hear flack for posting the facts that are given to me via resto workers we know."

Kim- the truth never hurts. And it makes sense now why so many waitstaff have been asking for tips. The high cost of living is taking a toll on many workers.
 
Kim....yeah same situation in PTown as in ACK .....10 Bulgarians in a two bedroom shack all working three jobs ....very sad ..

and please....post away...some of us prefer hearing the truth from a credible source ...the Pollyanna s who see an island which really doesn't exist will spin it their way anyway ,so I wouldn't worry about them
 
this
is a very personal point of view

My first visit in St Barth was in 1990, and I live here now for the last 7 years. 10 000 % agree. Some clients want everything like home ! But the problem, in St Barths, nobody say " No, it's not possible ". Just think about car like 4X4 Jeeps.......just an example....
 
I try and leave 2 to 3 euros either on a check or cash, never on a credit card as the waiter may not receive it. I have left as much as 5 euros if the service was exceptional.
 
. Some clients want everything like home ..........

BINGO....we have a winner

and thats EXACTLY what we Americans do...we discover a place , fall in love with it, and then immediately discount their culture and try to force feed our culture into it instead ....and we do it with the leverage our money and wealthy influence creates ...its sickening

and then we wonder why the world opinion of us is what it is
 
BINGO....we have a winner

and thats EXACTLY what we Americans do...we discover a place , fall in love with it, and then immediately discount their culture and try to force feed our culture into it instead ....and we do it with the leverage our money and wealthy influence creates ...its sickening

and then we wonder why the world opinion of us is what it is


Nothing to add.......
 
Jeep.... you will appreciate this story

Many years ago (24) there was a lovely woman who ran Petit Colombe in Colombier ..and my wife and her became friendly and would often sit together and have an espresso before my wife would order the bread and pastries to take back to the bungalow ......and the woman had utter contempt for Americans who would come in and couldn't be bothered to at least know enough French to order what they wanted and she told her workers to NOT speak English to them ( most of them couldn't speak it anyway ) as they're not in America and that's that ....and she would go off on my wife in French when a guy would come in and attempt to speak English louder as if that would make them understand English better, and my wife would just laugh and calm her down ......sadly she got cancer and had to go back to France ....and as we know that sort of atmosphere no longer exists on the Island as the Island as embraced English as the main language now ....
 
in what sense has the island embraced english as the main language now? most french, including islanders, as well as most europeans, speak english on some level now in the 21st century. it's a business necessity in many industries. obviously there are many other factors including an increasingly digital world. in my experience, people that i encounter on the island speak french and i speak french to them. i often coax a petit french lesson out of them. and show my appreciation with a little something with which to boire un coup. just curious what experience you're referring to...
 
They spoke very little English as little as 25 years ago ...you literally struggled if you didn't know at least a little French .....however they all speak it now....that's the sense of how they embraced it ...regardless of the reason, they have embraced it .....wake up and see it for what it is
 
Jeep.... you will appreciate this story

Many years ago (24) there was a lovely woman who ran Petit Colombe in Colombier ..and my wife and her became friendly and would often sit together and have an espresso before my wife would order the bread and pastries to take back to the bungalow ......and the woman had utter contempt for Americans who would come in and couldn't be bothered to at least know enough French to order what they wanted and she told her workers to NOT speak English to them ( most of them couldn't speak it anyway ) as they're not in America and that's that ....and she would go off on my wife in French when a guy would come in and attempt to speak English louder as if that would make them understand English better, and my wife would just laugh and calm her down ......sadly she got cancer and had to go back to France ....and as we know that sort of atmosphere no longer exists on the Island as the Island as embraced English as the main language now ....

I'm French and my wife in Scottish.....I can't support tourists and especially US visitors when they don't try to do just a small effort to say "Bonjour". No more.....I Just one word.....We lived for ten years in Val d'Isere, and my wife was in charge of a ski school. Everytime one British come in the office and start to speak directly in English...my wife began to speak French...just to show them that they have to do just a small effort and they're not in UK .....Just to be polite.... ( In fact, sorry for my english...).
 
I'm French and my wife in Scottish.....I can't support tourists and especially US visitors when they don't try to do just a small effort to say "Bonjour". No more.....I Just one word.....We lived for ten years in Val d'Isere, and my wife was in charge of a ski school. Everytime one British come in the office and start to speak directly in English...my wife began to speak French...just to show them that they have to do just a small effort and they're not in UK .....Just to be polite.... ( In fact, sorry for my english...).

Funny you mention ski school because conversely I was in charge of ski school sales for a few years here where I live and the European customers all knew to speak English when they came in to purchase products ...funny how that works ....

we re cretins ...LOL
 
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