Take it from a former Parisian waitress: there are ways to avoid the unofficial ‘tourist tax’ in cafes and bars | Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett

Was I surprised by reports that tourists are being ripped off in France? LOL, non! But there are ways to minimise the risk

When an investigation into the tricks of Parisian waiters found that foreign tourists were being ripped off, all I could think was, Quelle surprise!" Anyone who has stared in shock at a bill for a citron presse and an espresso near the Boulevard St Germain - as I did on one of my recent visits - will no doubt join me in a feeling of vindication. Undercover journalists for Le Parisien, posing as cafe punters around the Champ de Mars, have discovered that foreign tourists are being charged as much as 50% more than French customers, using a variety of tricks including only offering bottled water or more expensive drinks, being told service isn't included when it is, and swapping the wine ordered for the cheapest on the menu.

As a former waitress in the French capital, I'm someone who has been on both sides of this conflict. Before I left home, at 18, to move there, my mother warned me of the tourist tax", having visited with my father in the mid-1980s and noted the suspicious fiver that seemed to appear on all their bills. As a result, I was slightly on guard whenever I was en terrasse, always making sure to ask for tap water and quibbling anything that didn't look right. Then I became a waitress myself.

Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett is a Guardian columnist