I know the whole subject of tipping on the French side comes up from time-to-time and I have been going to SXM for years and yours is the best explanation I've seen, thank you! Having traveled a bit in Europe I know that most countries require servers to be paid a living wage and can understand why the "tip" might be referred to as a service charge....but stamping the check, as you mentioned, is unacceptable and basically taking advantage of Americans who are used to generously tipping servers to make up for their pay levels.