If you are with some friends, and you get the check and some of you have cash and one person has a debit or credit card, there can be some confusion regarding the gratuity.
Each person totals what they think they owe, and calculates the tip, then puts that amount of cash in the check presenter booklet. The holder of the card puts his card in the booklet along with the cash.
The server comes up. "Is this all set?" he asks kindly.
"Yes," is the reply, "Put the rest on the card."
The server at this point is a bit wary. Here is why.
He will go to the computer, subtract mentally or with a calculator the amount of cash received from the total owed, then charge the debit or credit card for the remainder. Due to the fact that the people at the table with cash included their tip in the cash they put in the book, the remaining amount charged on the card will actually be less than what the cardholder owes.
Then the server will put the card, the two copies of the charge receipt and the itemized bill showing the total cost of the meal in the check presenter and bring it back to the table.
"Thank you for coming in, have a good night, folks," he might say, setting the check presenter and a nice pen down on the table.
Then the cardholder opens the booklet and very thoughtfully adds a tip in the amount of twenty percent of what his card was charged.
Since the cash in the booklet has already been weighed against the balance, this means that the only tip received for the entire table is the tip the cardholder put on an amount which actually was far less than what he alone owed!
The other patrons with cash have in effect been stymied in their efforts to leave a good tip. Their tip money was already accounted for, and the cardholder has been charged very little because after all that cash was subtracted, the total remainder might be only a few dollars. In effect, the cardholder owes more money for his meal, plus whatever tip he would like to leave on that amount.
This may seem obscure, but it happens ALL the time, to smart patrons, not to mention their equally smart servers.
If you have a solution or any thoughts, from the perspective of the customer or the server, please write them in the comments below.
The easiest way would be to go ahead and split the one check at the register and then take two books back to the table, one for the cc customer and one for the cash customer, which will contain the cash change from they're portion of the bill.
ReplyDeleteAfter you've dropped off the books be sure to let the table know that you went ahead and split the check for them but didn't include the gratutity- at this point both will realize that they're each responsible for leaving their own tip.
I've had great results using this method. The customers seem pleased that I was 'thoughtful' enough to split the check without them having to ask, um, which could possibly mean a larger tip.
Hope this helps.
Hey, thanks for the comment, that is a great technique. I will try it next time and report back!
ReplyDeleteI love the solution suggested. Being a frequent member of a lunch party of three I will look more attentively to how we split the bill (usually it's with credit cards and we agree on an identical tip). I sure hope I've never been in a group guilty of not tipping fairly.
ReplyDeletei always suggest we split the actual bill (easiest is always by the number of diners, but some people are itemizers!), put that in the envelope and leave the tip on the table. the the cardholder and server can easily figure out what goes on the card. if the cardholder doesn't have cash, she can write her tip on the receipt. it seems to work from the customer point of view, but does it work from the server's?
ReplyDeleteyou are pointing out one of the most irritating customer habits. my solution was to write the full amount of the bill next to the line on the credit card...so it reads 45.00(out of 150.00). this works 99% of the time.
ReplyDelete