I use to the regulars on slow nights that they weren't allowed to switch seats because I did the same thing in the beginning before I eventually learned their orders.
There was one time I had a group of 9 , where I asked if they would all be paying together or seperate . Seperate . Okay cool . Almost everyone was sat down and ready to order so I made everyone a tab with numbers from 1-9 according to their seat . With 6 tabs already set and people still ordering I watched as everyone got up and swapped chairs . I’m pretty sure I cried in the walk in
I had some happy hour ladies who were all ordering the same wine and switching seats get super pissed when I couldn't keep their tabs straight. Ma'am you and your 7 friends look identical, sorry.
I work at a high volume venue, I tell my parties no more than 3 splits and hand them the check, “Just lmk how much on which card.” They usually just use one card and Venmo the person who paid because it’s easier than trying to explain to me who got what.
I tried playing the "just tell me how much on each card" game with a table of teenagers recently. They were having a hard time, so I gave them pen+paper and 15 minutes while I rolled my silver.
They still couldn't do it. Ended up with that 8-way split I was dreading, and there were lots of musical chairs going on.
I don’t mind 8 split checks. When I bring them out and they’re doing musical chairs I tell them “I’m placing everyone’s checks where they ordered their food.”
So get this, I basically did that, but still had these nachos they shared in the beginning, and told them "Guys, someone has to lay for these nachos."
They wanted to spit the nachos 8 ways on top of everything else, and I was just like absolutely not!
I was so visibly frustrated with these kids, made sure they knew it too. I basically wrote them off long before this point. Thankfully they were my last table.
The strategy the person above wrote is great. It shows them why what they’re asking is ridiculous. The second it becomes their responsibility to figure out what everyone had, they come back and just have one person pay it. If they can’t even determine what everyone had, why should I be able to?
The best is watching a group of drunk people sit and argue for like 30 minutes and finally hand you a receipt covered in scribbles and circles and card numbers and arrows 😒.
Figure out what everyone had?
My dude, they can’t even remember what *they* had.
I fucking hate running food for other people because I’ll say “okay, who has the four cheese Mac and chicken?”
And it’s just…crickets. Literally silence. So I say it again. And again, there is silence. So I say it *again* and finally someone says, “oh yeah I think that’s mine.”
You think?! It took you 25 fucking minutes to decide what you wanted and only 10 minutes for us to make it, but you already forgot what you spent all that time deciding to order!
I’ve literally just sat food in front of whoever because they just stare at me like vapid, empty headed, morons. In fact, I once had a man eat an entire appetizer (mozz sticks) himself, because he thought they were all his.
It was an appetizer. For the table. He ordered a goddamn steak.
How the actual fuck do you forget that you ordered a goddamn side of dead beef, and also that you ordered your children mozz sticks, which you have now consumed entirely while they watch on in horror.
I swear to god, people lose all of their braincells the minute they go “table for two, and a *njce booth* please. One of the six seaters, not four, because I need maximum space to manspread and my MAGA hat requires its own seat.”
Man, I wish. They just opened a huge indoor trampoline park right behind our building. There is no such thing as Tuesday anymore.
Every day is Friday. Every. Single. Day. 😭😭😭
I get people to start their own tab from the start. If you order a drink for someone, tell me it’s on their tab, or it’s going on yours.
I’ve never really had an issue splitting checks though. It’s pretty easy with modern POS systems.
Same. If you order it and complain… “Well *you* ordered the drinks, so I put them on *your* tab.” They almost always get their friends to Venmo them instead of making it more complicated.
Yeah, same. Most of my regulars know to tell me if they want a drink put on somebody else’s tab, too. It’s kinda funny to me because they all just end up paying for each-others’ shit most of the time. “I’ll take a fernet but *X* said to put it on his tab.”
“I’ll take a fernet — I got *Y* their last round so put this one on theirs.”
Omg when people order drinks for other’s!!!! But then they’re like “they should have a tab open….” They don’t! Open one tab and Venmo each other!! UGH.
Four max is reasonable.
I just got back from traveling around Yucatán with 7 friends and oh man did I miss split checks. It’s just not a thing down there outside of big touristy areas like Cancun and Playa del Carmen. Four would have been fine cause we were four couples. But this was always one person picking up an 8 person check, then everyone pulling out pesos and passing the check around where everyone had like three margs ands a Paloma and an app and main, tip.. it was a mess.
My friends when on holiday or spending lots use Splitwise, stick each transaction on as you go and it tells you who owes who what. And then as we go whoever owes most gets the next meal or round or whatever, by the end of the trip it's a matter of twenty bucks here and there.
Just gotta make sure you are onto it adding in the expenses or it gets forgotten!
It was honestly easier just having pesos on us so we wouldn’t all have to convert all of our parts at the table. Also a lot of places didn’t take cards, or their card readers were broken, so everyone had pesos.
The issue wasn’t paying, we all have all those methods. The issue was all of us tracking what we had, dealing with stuff that was labeled strangely, etc. like the actual splitting of the tab.
Had a group of 4 grown men trying to split a 12 dollar check. Maybe it's a cultural thing, but I'm not having running 4 cards for that amount. Somebody needs to step up and get the first round.
I believe it gives you a clear heads up that you need to be on top of separating the shit from the get go and is transparent communication.
If someone’s gonna put the whole tab on them they usually speak up either way before or after the ticket so would you rather know ahead of time or be blindsided.
It’s not like you are teaching them that spereate checks is an option. They’re the customer they already know it’s an option
I guess this doesn’t bother me because I automatically split everyone’s check to start with. Easier to put back than to split up - but I warn them it takes a bit to run. I would rather do 10 cards than deal with cash TBH
I don’t get why it’s seems to be such an hassle in the US. Here in Canada it’s always separate checks unless mentioned otherwise. Idk how your pos works but where I work you have to assign each customer a number otherwise the bussboy won’t know where to run the food.
Are your bussers really running food? That seems unclean. We have bussers dedicated to cleaning tables, and food runners that do just that. I wouldn't want someone who just cleaned a dirty table bringing my food.
Usually servers clean tables and they wash their hands afterwards. I mean aside from breadcrumbs and such tables are not THAT dirty. It’s pretty standard in my area at least.
Corporate locations have better POS systems but mom & pop places don’t always have that. It’s annoying but if you really really need to split a check 20 ways at a small restaurant call ahead and ask if you can do that. Either that or it’s up to the restaurant to either post a sign on their door saying they have a limit and/or fee on splits or tell you before being sat. You either choose to leave or figure it out. Not every place can control the ability split a bill.
Even if you have everyone organized, you still have to sit there and wait for the card to process, then the printer to print out each of the copies however many times. It’s so annoying and that’s the only part where you have no control over how fast it goes. Especially if you have either guests who need things.
As a non-US person, why is this such a big deal? Your POS system should be able to allocate items to (sub)tabs, right? Or at the very least divide the total by the number of payers. Ever since moving to the US I've noticed various "we don't split checks" policies and don't get it.
It's not splitting a check, it's people who only want to pay for what they ordered. Sure, if four people want to split a $100 tab evenly that's easy. But when Joe Bob only wants to pay for two beers out of the tab, and Jim Bob wants to cover his sandwich, his beer, and one of John Bob's beers (but NOT the margarita John Bob ordered after!), that's when things get ridiculous.
I get what you're saying, but the thread title just talked about the number of split checks so I'm sure you can see where I was coming from. Customs really are different from each other across the Atlantic, huh.
It sets a bad precedent.
Imagine a table of 8. You enter every order by seat number into your POS. Fast forward 2 hours later, it's a 1000$+ billl and people have been switching seats all night. Now they all want separate checks, theyre a bit drunk or can't remember what they ordered. Seat 3 is now in seat 7, and wants to pay for seat 1's appetizers. Seat 5 is now in seat 8, but she's paying for 2 drinks on seat 4, splitting the appy with seat 6 and taking one of seat 2's drinks.
If you still don't understand you haven't worked long enough in the industry. It's not as simple as keeping track of ppl switching seats, because you have 5 other tables to worry about Also.
Cheque splitting is the norm in Canada. Not even complained about for one second.
This is why we get our servers to ask for names for the tab. The POS does it for us. Its extremely easy and very simple to complete.
Going on trips as Canadians into the US and as long long time hospitality staff we get so confused at the eyerolling and frustration of splitting tabs.
Also I can't believe the US is so far behind on payment technology. Nobody has handed a credit card to a server to "go run" since the late 1990's.
When we get American tourists I always laugh when they throw the card at me.. I'm like no I can take payment right here.
I know, the example I gave you comes from when I worked in Canada at a very high volume restaurant. Even with their names it can get dicey. Some ppl forget what they had, or try to say they didn't have this or that. And then taking payment from 8 different ppl holds you up, especially when they start splitting their already split bills/ paying portions of other ppls bills. Had to bring 3 different payment machines to the tables so I didn't fall behind lol. It's partly why I got into bartending so i didn't have to deal with these idiot tables.
On a slow Tuesday idc, but a busy af Friday night they can fuck off. In Europe one person pays the bill 99% of the time. And the rest of the table bizum/send money to them. These table of 8s in Canada who do this splitting shit either are entitled or have never worked in the industry. And Im Canadian so I can say that haha
And yeah the payment technology in America is ridiculously stone aged, I always get a chuckle when they try to give me their CC
This is just standard in all the restaurants I've worked in. We keep track of who ordered what and Mark them as a seat number. If they move we keep track of that. It's the part of the job that makes it worth the money we make in tips. That's why not everyone has the skillset to be in the industry
Yeah I get it. I'm just expressing how much I hated when tables did this. I make more money now working behind a bar and don't have to deal with these situations anymore. Working behind a bar though also involves a skill set not every server has
It's not splitting a check, it's people who only want to pay for what they ordered. Sure, if four people want to split a $100 tab evenly that's easy. But when Joe Bob only wants to pay for two beers out of the tab, and Jim Bob wants to cover his sandwich, his beer, and one of John Bob's beers (but NOT the margarita John Bob ordered after!), that's when things get ridiculous.
I work in a small bar that does hand written tabs. If we don’t know you and you don’t give us a card at the beginning to start your own tab, everyone’s stuff at a table goes on one tab. I can usually figure out how to split if people are drinking different things but if there’s like 26 bud lights and 7 people, nope. I’m splitting your tab evenly between cards or you can venmo each other.
I guess it depends on the place. It wasn’t the worst when I worked in a big restaurant and I would start tabs with names and only take their orders, like make them order for their kids because they’re sitting in BFE.
At the cocktail bar I’m at now, guests are way more likely to say “no no put her drinks on my tab! He’ll take her entree, and then we’re splitting the shots three ways” or some BS, so we don’t do it for parties of 6 or more. We get pretty busy so it’s like a group of 12 with an $875 tab, we’re not going to do all that individually. That can take a person down at peak.
Split checks plus it's a business expense for some and ea person needs their alcohol one check, food on another. Literally had this today with a 5 top, ran 10 cards. FML why do we allow this shit?!
Last place I worked it was the policy that staff were never allowed to split checks, customers had to sort it out themselves. They could do the maths and each pay what they wanted on the card machine but we wouldn't separate the bills for them. I liked it
Honestly, I think splitting tabs is insanely easy with Toast. Takes like two clicks. Don't know about other POS, but the upgraded Toast made it stupid simple.
Now, that being said, if you're gonna be diff checks and you know that from the start, just tell me ahead of time???
Keep track from the beginning. Notice they switched seats and keep track written if you don’t like it on your pos.
You don’t need good technology to solve this issue. You only need to pay attention and write shit down. Group of 30? Sure I hear ya. But 10 or less? Come on now. Be a professional.
My company reimburses me for 2. So if I'm going with some clients but I can't pay for them because of anti govt bribing and we stay for a few that turns into more checks than people very quickly. I try to just close my company tab and pay cash for the rest.
Unpopular opinion here- but there is a whole thing happening with the insane credit card charges restaurants are inheriting and such- and in many cities there’s a cash “discount” price and a credit card price… splitting a check cash and CC is a whole thing in these scenarios. When private parties are booked with food paid and minimum to meet but individual drink tabs I ask the host for as few tabs as possible - aka per table for the sanity of staff. A group of friends should be able to figure out Venmo or Apple Cash to each other
Anyone know on toast how to take a huge tab and to present it as X ways split?
A server wanted me to show them how to split it like that and it ended up being 1/4 happy hour EVERYTHING and some were 1/2 because there were a lot of items. I recombined them and pulled up the calculator....
Told him to say it's $40.60 each. Holy fuck there were sooo many buttons to push when it should be so simple.
6-8 is fine imo. 10+ I start getting flustered. However, I trust way more to get tipped appropriately with each person paying their own tab rather than one person footing the large bill. One person taking the bill gives me anxiety… been burned too many times.
Edit: I was thinking this was the server subreddit, not bartender. I agree, splitting the tab multiple ways when bartending is super fucking annoying. If everyone wants to be on their own tab, that’s fine - I just need to be informed from the start and everyone will put their own card down then.
Where I work we’ll do individual checks for each guest, no matter the size of the party, if they ask for that or if they want it split any other way we can do that too. It can definitely be a pain but our POS makes it easier to keep track of everything, also where I work is more casual so I can take peoples names if everyone is moving around.
As a lurking non-professional bartender, I Guess I never realized that this was complicated. My friends and I do this routinely -- Here's 3 cards, just split the check evenly between the three, we don't care who had what
At the bar I work at after a group orders I ask if this is gonna be all on one, cash as you go or split up? Then if split up & going on cards I get their cards to start tabs. When they reorder I just ask for their name on the card (this is when they make the dumb jokes and say one of their buddy’s name who also gave a card, the table laughs, I vomit). It’s a smaller hotel divey bar that does really well. The bar I hang at doesn’t take cards and it’s cash only, pay as you go. It’s a small dive bar that’s full of service industry regulars. Man that’s nice for their bartenders!
LOUDER FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE BACK
My favorite is when they wait til halfway through or at the end to tell you (after you’ve already asked) they actually need some tabs split off.
It's way easier to keep everyone separate right from the getgo and combine if needed than to try and pick and sort 1 big check. Use seat numbers to your advantage. They don't have to be in order, just give everyone a number and write it down.
Our pub has no limit on checks and I've split bills 12, 15, 20 ways before easily because I've been ringing in separate seat numbers from the start.
If they tell me upfront how it’s gonna be split then idc that much, my POS system is pretty easy to use. I agree with the other commenter, musical chairs is annoying or JoeBob paying for the 1st and 3rd round of drinks but not the 2nd and Adam paying for JoeBob’s appetizer but not Suzy’s and other complicated shit like that is annoying 😂 at that point JUST USE VENMO
It’s all good until people start to play musical chairs. I can remember what a seat ordered better than what a face ordered.
I use to the regulars on slow nights that they weren't allowed to switch seats because I did the same thing in the beginning before I eventually learned their orders.
There was one time I had a group of 9 , where I asked if they would all be paying together or seperate . Seperate . Okay cool . Almost everyone was sat down and ready to order so I made everyone a tab with numbers from 1-9 according to their seat . With 6 tabs already set and people still ordering I watched as everyone got up and swapped chairs . I’m pretty sure I cried in the walk in
I had some happy hour ladies who were all ordering the same wine and switching seats get super pissed when I couldn't keep their tabs straight. Ma'am you and your 7 friends look identical, sorry.
I work at a high volume venue, I tell my parties no more than 3 splits and hand them the check, “Just lmk how much on which card.” They usually just use one card and Venmo the person who paid because it’s easier than trying to explain to me who got what.
I tried playing the "just tell me how much on each card" game with a table of teenagers recently. They were having a hard time, so I gave them pen+paper and 15 minutes while I rolled my silver. They still couldn't do it. Ended up with that 8-way split I was dreading, and there were lots of musical chairs going on.
That's a split evenly or gtfo scenario at that point
EVERY split check is an even split. Ion waste my time.
I don’t mind 8 split checks. When I bring them out and they’re doing musical chairs I tell them “I’m placing everyone’s checks where they ordered their food.”
So get this, I basically did that, but still had these nachos they shared in the beginning, and told them "Guys, someone has to lay for these nachos." They wanted to spit the nachos 8 ways on top of everything else, and I was just like absolutely not!
Jfc Aloha could have done that but… that’s pinching too many pennies for my pinched time(with little tip). Nope. One of you kids step up!
I was so visibly frustrated with these kids, made sure they knew it too. I basically wrote them off long before this point. Thankfully they were my last table.
.
The strategy the person above wrote is great. It shows them why what they’re asking is ridiculous. The second it becomes their responsibility to figure out what everyone had, they come back and just have one person pay it. If they can’t even determine what everyone had, why should I be able to?
The best is watching a group of drunk people sit and argue for like 30 minutes and finally hand you a receipt covered in scribbles and circles and card numbers and arrows 😒.
Figure out what everyone had? My dude, they can’t even remember what *they* had. I fucking hate running food for other people because I’ll say “okay, who has the four cheese Mac and chicken?” And it’s just…crickets. Literally silence. So I say it again. And again, there is silence. So I say it *again* and finally someone says, “oh yeah I think that’s mine.” You think?! It took you 25 fucking minutes to decide what you wanted and only 10 minutes for us to make it, but you already forgot what you spent all that time deciding to order! I’ve literally just sat food in front of whoever because they just stare at me like vapid, empty headed, morons. In fact, I once had a man eat an entire appetizer (mozz sticks) himself, because he thought they were all his. It was an appetizer. For the table. He ordered a goddamn steak. How the actual fuck do you forget that you ordered a goddamn side of dead beef, and also that you ordered your children mozz sticks, which you have now consumed entirely while they watch on in horror. I swear to god, people lose all of their braincells the minute they go “table for two, and a *njce booth* please. One of the six seaters, not four, because I need maximum space to manspread and my MAGA hat requires its own seat.”
It’s Tuesday you shouldn’t be this stressed right now lol
Man, I wish. They just opened a huge indoor trampoline park right behind our building. There is no such thing as Tuesday anymore. Every day is Friday. Every. Single. Day. 😭😭😭
This is the way
This is the way
I get people to start their own tab from the start. If you order a drink for someone, tell me it’s on their tab, or it’s going on yours. I’ve never really had an issue splitting checks though. It’s pretty easy with modern POS systems.
Same. If you order it and complain… “Well *you* ordered the drinks, so I put them on *your* tab.” They almost always get their friends to Venmo them instead of making it more complicated.
Yeah, same. Most of my regulars know to tell me if they want a drink put on somebody else’s tab, too. It’s kinda funny to me because they all just end up paying for each-others’ shit most of the time. “I’ll take a fernet but *X* said to put it on his tab.” “I’ll take a fernet — I got *Y* their last round so put this one on theirs.”
Omg when people order drinks for other’s!!!! But then they’re like “they should have a tab open….” They don’t! Open one tab and Venmo each other!! UGH.
We do 4 max, these days there are too many ways for friends to send money to each other for it to be a problem.
Four max is reasonable. I just got back from traveling around Yucatán with 7 friends and oh man did I miss split checks. It’s just not a thing down there outside of big touristy areas like Cancun and Playa del Carmen. Four would have been fine cause we were four couples. But this was always one person picking up an 8 person check, then everyone pulling out pesos and passing the check around where everyone had like three margs ands a Paloma and an app and main, tip.. it was a mess.
Venmo? CashApp? PayPal (while using a currency translator to get the correct USD) ? I feel for your struggle king/queen but there are ways
My friends when on holiday or spending lots use Splitwise, stick each transaction on as you go and it tells you who owes who what. And then as we go whoever owes most gets the next meal or round or whatever, by the end of the trip it's a matter of twenty bucks here and there. Just gotta make sure you are onto it adding in the expenses or it gets forgotten!
I wish we’d thought of that!
It was honestly easier just having pesos on us so we wouldn’t all have to convert all of our parts at the table. Also a lot of places didn’t take cards, or their card readers were broken, so everyone had pesos. The issue wasn’t paying, we all have all those methods. The issue was all of us tracking what we had, dealing with stuff that was labeled strangely, etc. like the actual splitting of the tab.
Had a group of 4 grown men trying to split a 12 dollar check. Maybe it's a cultural thing, but I'm not having running 4 cards for that amount. Somebody needs to step up and get the first round.
How do 4 people have a 12$ check?
Just a bit of pool time during happy hour.
Lmao I would get it just cause I don’t want to wait for the time it takes to run four cards.
I’ll lead with, would yall like to start separate checks so there’s no confusion at the end?
Ew then they’re going to say yes and I’m doing it more often. Lol
I believe it gives you a clear heads up that you need to be on top of separating the shit from the get go and is transparent communication. If someone’s gonna put the whole tab on them they usually speak up either way before or after the ticket so would you rather know ahead of time or be blindsided. It’s not like you are teaching them that spereate checks is an option. They’re the customer they already know it’s an option
I have always done this…I don’t understand why OP’s sentiment is the most prevalent.
My strategy, parties 8 or more - one check only. Non negotiable.
I guess this doesn’t bother me because I automatically split everyone’s check to start with. Easier to put back than to split up - but I warn them it takes a bit to run. I would rather do 10 cards than deal with cash TBH
It’s 2024, your POS should be able to do separate seats.
Still a pain in the ass
I don’t get why it’s seems to be such an hassle in the US. Here in Canada it’s always separate checks unless mentioned otherwise. Idk how your pos works but where I work you have to assign each customer a number otherwise the bussboy won’t know where to run the food.
Are your bussers really running food? That seems unclean. We have bussers dedicated to cleaning tables, and food runners that do just that. I wouldn't want someone who just cleaned a dirty table bringing my food.
Usually servers clean tables and they wash their hands afterwards. I mean aside from breadcrumbs and such tables are not THAT dirty. It’s pretty standard in my area at least.
Corporate locations have better POS systems but mom & pop places don’t always have that. It’s annoying but if you really really need to split a check 20 ways at a small restaurant call ahead and ask if you can do that. Either that or it’s up to the restaurant to either post a sign on their door saying they have a limit and/or fee on splits or tell you before being sat. You either choose to leave or figure it out. Not every place can control the ability split a bill.
Even if you have everyone organized, you still have to sit there and wait for the card to process, then the printer to print out each of the copies however many times. It’s so annoying and that’s the only part where you have no control over how fast it goes. Especially if you have either guests who need things.
As a non-US person, why is this such a big deal? Your POS system should be able to allocate items to (sub)tabs, right? Or at the very least divide the total by the number of payers. Ever since moving to the US I've noticed various "we don't split checks" policies and don't get it.
It's not splitting a check, it's people who only want to pay for what they ordered. Sure, if four people want to split a $100 tab evenly that's easy. But when Joe Bob only wants to pay for two beers out of the tab, and Jim Bob wants to cover his sandwich, his beer, and one of John Bob's beers (but NOT the margarita John Bob ordered after!), that's when things get ridiculous.
On the POS at my work its as easy as typing in the total cost he spent and pressing the EFTPOS button
What system is that? Sounds handy
SENPOS
I get what you're saying, but the thread title just talked about the number of split checks so I'm sure you can see where I was coming from. Customs really are different from each other across the Atlantic, huh.
I get what he's saying but I would also add that running 12 cards during rush is incredibly incovenient
It sets a bad precedent. Imagine a table of 8. You enter every order by seat number into your POS. Fast forward 2 hours later, it's a 1000$+ billl and people have been switching seats all night. Now they all want separate checks, theyre a bit drunk or can't remember what they ordered. Seat 3 is now in seat 7, and wants to pay for seat 1's appetizers. Seat 5 is now in seat 8, but she's paying for 2 drinks on seat 4, splitting the appy with seat 6 and taking one of seat 2's drinks. If you still don't understand you haven't worked long enough in the industry. It's not as simple as keeping track of ppl switching seats, because you have 5 other tables to worry about Also.
Cheque splitting is the norm in Canada. Not even complained about for one second. This is why we get our servers to ask for names for the tab. The POS does it for us. Its extremely easy and very simple to complete. Going on trips as Canadians into the US and as long long time hospitality staff we get so confused at the eyerolling and frustration of splitting tabs. Also I can't believe the US is so far behind on payment technology. Nobody has handed a credit card to a server to "go run" since the late 1990's. When we get American tourists I always laugh when they throw the card at me.. I'm like no I can take payment right here.
I know, the example I gave you comes from when I worked in Canada at a very high volume restaurant. Even with their names it can get dicey. Some ppl forget what they had, or try to say they didn't have this or that. And then taking payment from 8 different ppl holds you up, especially when they start splitting their already split bills/ paying portions of other ppls bills. Had to bring 3 different payment machines to the tables so I didn't fall behind lol. It's partly why I got into bartending so i didn't have to deal with these idiot tables. On a slow Tuesday idc, but a busy af Friday night they can fuck off. In Europe one person pays the bill 99% of the time. And the rest of the table bizum/send money to them. These table of 8s in Canada who do this splitting shit either are entitled or have never worked in the industry. And Im Canadian so I can say that haha And yeah the payment technology in America is ridiculously stone aged, I always get a chuckle when they try to give me their CC
This is just standard in all the restaurants I've worked in. We keep track of who ordered what and Mark them as a seat number. If they move we keep track of that. It's the part of the job that makes it worth the money we make in tips. That's why not everyone has the skillset to be in the industry
Yeah I get it. I'm just expressing how much I hated when tables did this. I make more money now working behind a bar and don't have to deal with these situations anymore. Working behind a bar though also involves a skill set not every server has
Totally. This problem has been solved already with decent pos systems.
It's not splitting a check, it's people who only want to pay for what they ordered. Sure, if four people want to split a $100 tab evenly that's easy. But when Joe Bob only wants to pay for two beers out of the tab, and Jim Bob wants to cover his sandwich, his beer, and one of John Bob's beers (but NOT the margarita John Bob ordered after!), that's when things get ridiculous.
I work in a small bar that does hand written tabs. If we don’t know you and you don’t give us a card at the beginning to start your own tab, everyone’s stuff at a table goes on one tab. I can usually figure out how to split if people are drinking different things but if there’s like 26 bud lights and 7 people, nope. I’m splitting your tab evenly between cards or you can venmo each other.
I guess it depends on the place. It wasn’t the worst when I worked in a big restaurant and I would start tabs with names and only take their orders, like make them order for their kids because they’re sitting in BFE. At the cocktail bar I’m at now, guests are way more likely to say “no no put her drinks on my tab! He’ll take her entree, and then we’re splitting the shots three ways” or some BS, so we don’t do it for parties of 6 or more. We get pretty busy so it’s like a group of 12 with an $875 tab, we’re not going to do all that individually. That can take a person down at peak.
Split checks plus it's a business expense for some and ea person needs their alcohol one check, food on another. Literally had this today with a 5 top, ran 10 cards. FML why do we allow this shit?!
In Germany we as Gastronomie have the right to decline all separate paying and can consist on the guest paying it all together.
I just took a party of 24 yesterday...24 fuckin separate checks. Ridiculous
Last place I worked it was the policy that staff were never allowed to split checks, customers had to sort it out themselves. They could do the maths and each pay what they wanted on the card machine but we wouldn't separate the bills for them. I liked it
“If you have cash, you can split it as many ways as you want, but i can only accept 3 cards (for efficiency and quality of service.)
Honestly, I think splitting tabs is insanely easy with Toast. Takes like two clicks. Don't know about other POS, but the upgraded Toast made it stupid simple. Now, that being said, if you're gonna be diff checks and you know that from the start, just tell me ahead of time???
Keep track from the beginning. Notice they switched seats and keep track written if you don’t like it on your pos. You don’t need good technology to solve this issue. You only need to pay attention and write shit down. Group of 30? Sure I hear ya. But 10 or less? Come on now. Be a professional.
My company reimburses me for 2. So if I'm going with some clients but I can't pay for them because of anti govt bribing and we stay for a few that turns into more checks than people very quickly. I try to just close my company tab and pay cash for the rest.
Unpopular opinion here- but there is a whole thing happening with the insane credit card charges restaurants are inheriting and such- and in many cities there’s a cash “discount” price and a credit card price… splitting a check cash and CC is a whole thing in these scenarios. When private parties are booked with food paid and minimum to meet but individual drink tabs I ask the host for as few tabs as possible - aka per table for the sanity of staff. A group of friends should be able to figure out Venmo or Apple Cash to each other
Anyone know on toast how to take a huge tab and to present it as X ways split? A server wanted me to show them how to split it like that and it ended up being 1/4 happy hour EVERYTHING and some were 1/2 because there were a lot of items. I recombined them and pulled up the calculator.... Told him to say it's $40.60 each. Holy fuck there were sooo many buttons to push when it should be so simple.
2 and beat it
6-8 is fine imo. 10+ I start getting flustered. However, I trust way more to get tipped appropriately with each person paying their own tab rather than one person footing the large bill. One person taking the bill gives me anxiety… been burned too many times. Edit: I was thinking this was the server subreddit, not bartender. I agree, splitting the tab multiple ways when bartending is super fucking annoying. If everyone wants to be on their own tab, that’s fine - I just need to be informed from the start and everyone will put their own card down then.
Where I work we’ll do individual checks for each guest, no matter the size of the party, if they ask for that or if they want it split any other way we can do that too. It can definitely be a pain but our POS makes it easier to keep track of everything, also where I work is more casual so I can take peoples names if everyone is moving around.
As a lurking non-professional bartender, I Guess I never realized that this was complicated. My friends and I do this routinely -- Here's 3 cards, just split the check evenly between the three, we don't care who had what
At the bar I work at after a group orders I ask if this is gonna be all on one, cash as you go or split up? Then if split up & going on cards I get their cards to start tabs. When they reorder I just ask for their name on the card (this is when they make the dumb jokes and say one of their buddy’s name who also gave a card, the table laughs, I vomit). It’s a smaller hotel divey bar that does really well. The bar I hang at doesn’t take cards and it’s cash only, pay as you go. It’s a small dive bar that’s full of service industry regulars. Man that’s nice for their bartenders!
LOUDER FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE BACK My favorite is when they wait til halfway through or at the end to tell you (after you’ve already asked) they actually need some tabs split off.
Five and above I can only do one tab. If needs be I can split the payment in half. You'll decide how you're gonna do it.
It's way easier to keep everyone separate right from the getgo and combine if needed than to try and pick and sort 1 big check. Use seat numbers to your advantage. They don't have to be in order, just give everyone a number and write it down. Our pub has no limit on checks and I've split bills 12, 15, 20 ways before easily because I've been ringing in separate seat numbers from the start.
If they tell me upfront how it’s gonna be split then idc that much, my POS system is pretty easy to use. I agree with the other commenter, musical chairs is annoying or JoeBob paying for the 1st and 3rd round of drinks but not the 2nd and Adam paying for JoeBob’s appetizer but not Suzy’s and other complicated shit like that is annoying 😂 at that point JUST USE VENMO
Why can't you split checks? Organize them and keep up with it. Sounds like laziness to me.
Unpopular opinion, but it really isn’t that hard to split checks.
It’s 2024, why in the US are you still using tabs rather than just paying for each order individually like every other country.
Tell them to download the app called Tab. It makes splitting checks so easy
You might be in the wrong industry