French Cafe Charges Rude Customers More Than Double

Here's a cafe that's being proactive about customer behavior towards waitstaff: A Nice-Matinreporter tweeted a photo of the menu at La Petite Syrah in Nice, France, where customers who order their coffee politely are charged significantly less than those who don't. Customers who order their coffee with a "bonjour" and a "s'il vous plaît" (hello and please, respectively) are charged €1.40 ($1.93 USD). A coffee ordered with no greeting but with "s'il vous plaît" costs €4.25 ($5.85), and a coffee ordered simply as "un café" costs €7 ($9.63).

The cafe owner tells the Local that the tiered pricing structure started as a joke, a response to "very stressed" and "sometimes rude" lunch customers. "I know people say that French service can be rude," he adds "but it's also true that customers can be rude when they're busy." Apparently there has been an improvement in customer attitude. This isn't the first time a cafe or restaurant owner has used pricing to incentivize better behavior in a restaurant. Earlier this year a restaurant in Beirut began offering 10% discount to any customers who would surrender their phones and socialize. Similarly, last year Eva Restaurant in Los Angeles offered a 5% discount to guests who "checked" their phones.